Newark evening star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1909-1916, 1914-10-09
BY WILLIAM PHILIP SIMMS .
OF the United Press.


PARIS, Oct l (by mail to New
York).-I am just back from the
front where the fighting is actually
going on, and from the battlefields
where French and English and Ger
man soldiers have added new and
lustrous pages to history. 1t was not
the actual front which impressed me
most: the bloody front where rapid
flrers purred and Lebels spat and
shrapnel spilled their singing spears
of death. 1t was rather the wake Of
armies, where the women and chill
dren and crippled old men sat and
blinked and stared dazedly, be-
numbed-not appreciating as yet the
fullness of the castrophic thing which
had just passed over them
Coming out of scissors, | met a
caravan of wounded walking south
wards towards Chateau-Thierry and
Meuax There were men of all arms
and all the fighting ages-men from
Algeria, Tunis, Morocco and Senegal;
there were French, English and
Hindu, all with their blood-encrusted
bandages applied to arms, heads and
limbs, hobbling slowly down the
muddy road under a cold soaking
drizzle. They were the only slightly
wounded eyacuating the firing lines
upon their own legs. And they were
pitiful. But south of Meaux, bound
northward to the plains of the Marine,
l passed another caravan more pitt
full still. 1t was a caravan of old
men, women, girls and babies bound
home after being driven beyond
Paris by the southwark sweep of the
great war.
They were from the farms, the bat
20 syifr 10 OF f,a N
most of them were compelled to walk,
there being rickety carts and wagons
enough for only a few of the sick,
the too old or too young to march.
One woman | saw barefoot. She had
trudged her shoes off her feet 1t
was raining. This was the same day
| saw the wounded evacuating Sois-
sons and the roads were deep In mud.
Pushing a baby carriage were two
children and one ola woman. Her
skirts dragged the mud as she leaned
forward. She was despatched to the
waist. Bareheaded under the drizzle
she struggled on, feverish light in
her eyes and twin spots glowing on
her cheeks. A soaked brownish cape
failed to keep the wet from penetrat-
ing through to the skin.
Suffering, But Hopeful.
spoke to her and learned her hus-
band was "in the east" somewhere
on the firing line. She had not heard
from him. Yes, she was very uneasy
Suddenly l asked her what she
thought Of the war.
Its glorious, isn't It," she replied
in her Champagne country dialect
1--WE are pushing the Germans bach
out of our country. If ours continue
to fight as they are fighting now, we
shall win soon. Don't you think So
with the English to help?"
1t was an unlooked-for reply.
had expected something elsa TRADE
against everything and everybody, the
wall of tired, worn-out woman, an.
other of the wars wounded.
This caravan was only one of many
that fled from their villages and farms
as the Germans advanced, hamlets
and neighborhood going together
Their horses and their good vehicles
were often seized, leaving only those
unfit, the two-wheel carts.
At night they camped by the road
side whether it rained or the stars
came out. The only food they hao
was that with which they began the
last stage of the journey. They had
no meat and their bread was stale
and wet and soggy. They slept in
their clothes, some of them under the
carts and wagons to keep out of the
worst of the downpour.
Left Prosperous Farms Behind.
These are the real sufferers of the
war. They left farms which looked
like great gardens OF fruit trees