New-York tribune., 1914-12-21
ALLIES UNDAUNTED
BY TRENCH LIFE
Wounded and Begrimed
Soldiers Cheerful, in
Spite of Hardship.
HARD WON VICTORY
NOW SPURS THEM ON
King Albert, Proud of Belgian
Mud, Refuses to Have His
Uniform Cleaned.

81 tdDe 10 Inc Alu4ItI
London, Dec. 2l.-"The Daily News
publishes the following dispatch re-
ceived yesterday from correspondent
in Northern France: ..c
"This week. a week Of many slgnln-
cant things, has ended in the widest
whirl of weather imaginable. Inc
rains have been terrific, binding ana
tropical in their almost ceaseless roar
and fury. Surely only madmen or
hends would fight in such an elemental
maelstrom. We may be both, and per,
Eaps we are, now that the whole Wor'd
is topsy-turvy, for We are gong say.
agelv on at this deadly business, haI
blind and wholly desperate. II the
furious sky were TO rain rcdhot pltcn ,
forks the contending armies would SUN
DC undismayed, and would crawl II not
fy at one another's throats.
"But there is no romance IN tIeHcH
fighting. II is sickening, demora uzlne
Ask any soldier who has been at II loF
a time and he will pour few PLAIN
truths into your shocked ear. DoWI
at the rail head to-day ! met some oi
them, a queer mixture. Ihere was
hatch of German prisoners, there was
a SQUAD of wounded Belgians and there
we're four lost, stolen or strayed Brit-
ish soldiers from the Seventh DIVISION,
a sergeant and three men. Ihev were
all so plastered over with dirt that II
was difficult 20 sort out their national
tiles.
"What struck me most was their abb
solute and undisguised cheeriulness. !
have a lively recollection of the hrst
German prisoners ! saw, in the early
davs of the war. They were IN gray
funk. which is several degrees more
sheer than a blue funk. They .abso-
lutelv believed that the next moment
would be their last on this wOful earth
and that they would be shot out Of
hand.
Trenches Plague Spots.
"The young Prussians | met to-day
declared that they had been having a
very thin time recently, that their food
was bad and getting worse and more
scanty every day, that pneumonia and
rheumatism we're rife in their trenches,
TO saw nothing of the dreaded typhoid,
and that they were tremendously glad
to be out Of il all. They understood
they we're going TO England. Anyway,
they hoped so fervently.
"The Belgian soldiers were sll slight
lv wounded cases. mostly leg and arm.
The mud and slime of the trenches
north of Furnes had not yet dried upon
their clothes. and they were cold and
and desperately hungry. for
their train had been held up for hours.
ain spite of the pain their hUrrledly
dressed wounds were giving them, they,
too, were cheerful.
. IN e,raat nearf cQNn nf
them. for we are moving on surely and
certainly. This week something new
has come TO US. The knell of retreat
no longer sounds in Or hearts. The
tocsin rings there instead. We a e
marching on; we are driving the bar
barians back. Every inch Of our moth
erland regained is sweet and precious
II us. Three days ago saw our King.
He was muddy and stalled, Monsieur,
as | am now. An officer who was with
him would remove the mud from his
clothes.
King Proud of His Mud.
"'But no! said the King. Let 1t
STAY. If my own land should cling
thus TO me, let it stay. 1t is better
that il should be So and he laughed
gladly as he passed OF and we all
cheered him and he laughed the more,
showing a shining face and biddin-, us
take good heart as a brighter day was
dawning. So We went into the night
that evening afraid of nothing.
"In rain and mist we charged a
small village with a mighty shout.
Though our numbers were small, We
charged. We were beaten back, and
thin we charged again. Ny bayonet
broke short in the breast of a huge
German. and then in the dark and mist
a great crowd swept over US as we
both went down.
81 came to in the dawn. Our men
we're singing the chant of victory. The
gray enemy had gone. The village
smoking and shattered, was ours. IN
the evening guns were rattling up the
street to take another and a stronger
position.
"'A small victory, perhaps, but none
the less sweet for that. Alas! ] could
not follow. and they brought me on
here. The fortunes of war are hard
He raised himself painfully. The
big sergeant from the lost legion COM
ing along at that m m)mCut picked him
up like a baby, hoisted him on his
shoulders and bore him along through
the mud to the clearing house beyond
the station yard.
"Iucky chap said the sergeant.
HE is going 10 have a warm, snug
Christmas, il a snug, warm hospital,
and here's me only lost in this bloom
/. z swamp and got to report for dut.'
somewhere in the morning. Lord
knows where He grinned ruefully at
me-"