The Holly chieftain., 1914-11-06
HOW FRANCES BLACK MEN FROM
AFRICA FIGHT THEIR BATTLES


and his cap like fez without tassel.
His Moroccan campaigns. he said,
were mere practical jokes to the pres
ent butchery, and he told me this
story of the trenches, from which he
had just returned:
I'VE have hard time making the
men stay down under cover. They
want to see what is going on. They
want to jump out and wave their guns
and shout insults at the enemy oc-
casionally as they used to In Mo-
rocco. Our captain, who was, OF
course. Frenchman, was as bad as
any. Except to sleep. he absolutely
refused to descend into the trenches.
He would kneel for hours on the
ground little to the rear watching
the enemy through his glasses and d.
recting our fire. When we remon-
strated with him he merely said, like
any Mohammedan, that bullet would
find him when his time came-neither
sooner nor later. But SO many OF
our men paid for their temerity with
their lives that he, too. finally con-
sented to come down out of the hail
of bullets which had never ceased
about him. Yesterday was his first
day in the trenches. About three
o'clock in the afternoon a shell burst
overhead. A piece of 1t hit him on
the crown and killed him instantly"
so you think 1t was because his
time had Gomez"
What else can one think7 He had
found safety in the midst of death,
but death had found him in what
should have been the midst of safety.
The captain was right. 1t is written"
Think "AII's Fair In War"
do not know the origin of the
proverb. "Alfs fair in love and war"
but 1t has an ancient, oriental SAVIOR
and I suspect the Turcos thoroughly
subscribe to 1t. These African fight
ers are the only ones among the
allies whom have heard speak open
ly in praise of German ruses.
They're sly ones!" say the Turcos,
and wag their brown heads and grin
appreciation. They think it very
good scheme of the Germans not to
make any effort to bury their dead
before retreating from one position to
another, for thus the pursuing enemy
must either bother to do the job him
self or else run the risk of discomfort
and even disease. They especially
admire the German trick of standing
up their dead, helmet on and gun In
hand. along deserted trench, SO that
the French will think the trench is
still defended. And the wonder to
them is. not that the Germans have
burned and shelled towns, but that
they have not done SO more frequent
ly.
seneaaiese Worship Fetishes.
The Senegalese t1railleurs, although
resembling the Turcos in certain of
their military ethics, are beings Of
an altogether different order. There
is but one Allah, and Mohammed is
his prophet" means nothing to them.
They worship fetishes. They are
black men of Timbuctoo and the
Ivory coast, where the fiery harmat-
tan blows southwestward of the Sa-
hara toward the sea-
many of our own good American ne
groes had been captured by English
and Portuguese slavers in precisely
these regions, I expected to find some
thing familiar in the aspect of the
Senegalese rifemen. I was destined
to disillusion. Three days ago on the
road to Reims. overlook an entire
nfy
sprawled for several hundred yards
along the grass at the edge OF the
winding road, resting under the pop
lars, their rifles stacked their white
officers withdrawn into groups, al.
ways at some distance from the men.
Save for red sash under their tu.
MICS, they were uniformed entirely in
dark blue, even to their cloth caps
and their putties. walked past
them slowly, fascinated. Most wore
shoes, some were barefooted in sand
dals, but I had to look very closely
at the dark feet to distinguish this
difference. They seemed very tired
under the weight Of their haversacks
Their eyelids dropped like those OF an
exhausted animal or of a man who has
been drugged.
Their Look Causes Shudder.
1t may have been this, or It may
have been the blodshot whites of
their eyes which caused me to shud.
der slightly when one looked at me.
They scarcely spoke. Some sat star.
ing into space, bent forward over
hot,