Morgan County republican., 1914-05-14
What War really Means

description, which / copy from the In
dependent, is all too true:
No more thunder of artillery, nc
more blare of trumpets, no more
beat of drums; only the low moan OF
pain and the rattle of death. In the
,rampled ground some redly-glimmer-
ing pools, lakes of blood: all the
crops destroyed. only here and there
a piece of land left untouched, and
still covered with. stubble the smiling
villages of Yesterday turned into ruins
and rubbish. The trees burned and
hacked in the forests. the hedges torn
with-grapeshot. And on this battle-
ground thousands and thousands OF
men dead and dying--lying without
aid. No blossoms of flowers are to
be seen on wayside or meadow: bnt
saddles, bayonets, knapsacks, cloaks,
overturned ammunition wagons, pow
der wagons blown into the air, can
non with broken carriages. Near the
cannon, whose n.uzzles are black with
smoke, the ground is bl3odiest.
There the greatest number and the
most mangled of dead and half-dead
men are lying literally torn to pieces
with shot; and the dead and the half
dead which raise themselves on their
iect-such as they have let them
only to sink again: then raise the
selves up once more and fall d, wn
again. I'll they only riiSr their heads
to Shrek out their pan laden d, ath-
cries. There is a hollow way quite
filled wi h cOrpscs lrodden into the
mlre. The p or creature, had taken
refuge there, no doubt to get cover
but battery had driven over them,
and they have been crushed by the
horses boots and The wheels. Many
of them are still alive, pnlp,,
bleeding mass, but "s,iIl alive"
1t is impossible to depict it accu-
ra,ely. Flies were feeding on their
open wounds. which were covered
with them; their gaze, flaming with
fever, wandered about asking and
seeking for SOM help for refresh
ment, for water and bread. Coat,
shirt, flesh and blood formed in the
case OF most OF them one repulsive
mass. Worms were beginning to
generate in this mass and to feed on
them. A horrible Cdor filled every
place. All these soldiers were lying
on the bare ground: only a few had
got little straw on which they could
rcpose their miserable bodies. Some
who had nothing under them bu,
clayey, swampy ground had hali-sunk
into the mud it formed-,hey had moi
the strength to get out of it.
In MaNoved, place of about fifty
houses, there were lying. eight day
after the battle, about 100 wounded
1t was not so much their shrieks O
agony as their abandonment withou
any consolation which appealed t,
heaven. In one single barn alone
sixty OF these poor wre,chcs were
crowded. Every one of their wounds
had originally been severe, but the,
had become hopeless in consequence,
OF their unasssted condition, an,
their want of nursing and feeding
almost all were gangrenous Limb
crushed by shot formed now mer
heaps OF purifying flesh, faces a mer
mass of coagulated blood, covcre,
with filth. in which the mouth wa
represented by shapeless blac
opening, from which irightiul groan
kept yelling out. The progress c
the pu,rciaction separated whole MOI
tilted pieces from these pitiable bod
les. The living were lying close t
dead bodies which had begun to ia
,ntn ruirnInrtinn nnI fnr ,uL;rL IL