The Madison daily leader. [volume] (Madison, S.D.) 1890-current, 1913-03-03

Sons at Front-Defeat Meant De-
struction of Country - Flower OF
Youth Slain on Battlefield - Fears
Peace Will Be Delayed.
Written to a friend In this country
by a Bulgarian woman, the mother OF
a family, the following letter describes
conditions in the warlike little Balkan
state as they were In the middle of
January, when all the men OF military
age who were not lying III or wounded
In the hospitals were with the army
facing the Turks at the front. The
name of the town from which the let
ter comes is omitted. 1t is dated
Jan. II:
"@@s 1t seems only a few years
q that we were sitting In that room.
with the windows open toward the
beautiful view on the Bosporus. I"
But as l see the eager faces of my
daughters bend over my shoulder and
a look In their eyes full of curiosity to
know what message this letter from
America brought us In these troubled
times my dream fades away. awak,
to the reality of the long time passed
since we parted. t*s
Yes, our country is In great distress.
Many of our near and dear are down in
the battlefields. and many young and
promising lives are lost forever. But
the righteousness of our cause, with
the moral and material help of all the
civilized world, sustains us. Thanks to
God that our arms are ~conquering, for
were Ii otherwise, after so many sacri.
fees and so much bloodshed, 1t would
be total destruction for our country.
Entire Nation involved.
A Bulgaria has only 1900 900 peo-
pie and had to give an army of 500,O 900
soldiers, this wal became a national
war. All the nation is engaged In II.
Rare are the homes that have not sent
q member of their family to the battle
field, while many have sent two or
three eve four, sons. | know one
mother who has six soldier sons, while
the other day / read in our papers an
a&tAaA ~ AGAt1lu uiQAltI Ulu
ten sons in the warl
my husband has passed his fifty
years and so is out of the army.
Thanks be to God. my boys are not
old enough! One Is seventeen, the 9TH
or only thirteen years old. But in
stead of them there Is my son-in-law,
which for us means just the same as a
son. My heart aches when | think OF
all the dangers and hardships to which
he is exposed down there. Yet | must
show myself courageous TO my mar
ried daughter. Her husband has TAX
en- part In the assault and taking Of
Lozengrad Turkish name Kirk XII
lise), a famous and well fortified fort
next after A%drianople. He was also In
tine awful battles of Lule Burgas. etc,
the great and bloody combats Of five
days, which were fatal for the Turks
and covered our army with glory.
Awful Sacrifice.
"But how many lives were sacri-
fcedl My son-in-law was slightly
wounded In the leg and continued 70
fight, but there be lost his younger
brother, an intelligent young man, a
promising lawyer, who finished his
studies only a year ago in Paris. His
poor mother had three sons down
there, aud she did not know for which
n to pray or to think first. Now she
prays that the other two may be spared
her.
"The other day l was present at q
requiem for two brothers killed In the
war; a third brother Is wounded, and
of the fourth his family has no news.
Our best young men are In the army
professors, lawyers, engineers, etc. All
Of them have fought bravely. and
many have given their lives to liberate
the slaves of Macedonia, as II was so
many years ago In your civil war.
MY brother, whom you well know
as a military man, is now of the rank
of general. / have also two brothers
in-law, a colonel and a captain. Both
took part In several combats. The
second Is seriously i'll after exposure
to rain and cold. My brother-in-law
on my husbands side is now one of
the Bulgarian delegates to the peace
conference in London. My niece's hus-
band, a doctor, is also in the front
lines near the battlefield, besides many
other relatives and a great many
friends.
Hoping For Peace News.
Nov We are awaiting with great
anxiety the conference in London. Diff
ferent news reaches us, encouraging
and disappointing. This expectation
between hope and fear is very distress
ing for our nerves, which are strained
till they seem ready to burst, unable
to bear any more. When shall we hear
the words Peace to the earth?' In
these days we had our Christmas and
hoped that II would bring peace, but In
vain. Shall we hear again the roar Of
the cannon? The Turks are so evash.
evash Turkish. yayash, yavash. slow
~, slowly In their ways, and there are
30 many and various interests and ap-
petites In Europe that 1t appears we
may have yet long to wait for the olive
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