The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-10-18

uniforms. Their limp bodies had an un-
 human appearance. and in the gray light
 they seemed to be merely clods of the earth on which they lay.
 Fl Nearly every dead Frenchman. on the other hand. bore the imprint of the excit- i fns moment which had been his last. One
 soldier whom I noticed particularly had been killed in the act of firing. His
 hayersack was upon his back and all his
 aecoutrements in proper place. Using | every bit of possible cover he had been
 kneeling in the shallow ditch at the edge
 of the road. resting his shoulder upon the
 mound of loose earth in front of him. peering over it's edge. When the bullet
 struck him his head fell a little forward,
 as If he was resting, but otherwise his position remained the same. For days and days, through rain, sunshine and the
 darkness of night, this silent slsirmisher
 had been pointing at an enemy who had I fled.
 Full Length Upon His Back
 A lew feet ahead of him lay a big
 fellow who had been struck as he
 uashed across the open toward the hos tile lines. He had fallen full length upon his back the haversack upon his
 back bolstering out his chest The
 swelling of his body had wiped out the lines of agony on his blackened faco put his forearms were raised into the air, his stiffened fingers tense in the attitude of reaching at something in- visible. The roadside had its quota of
 dead but many had been killed far from cover: or had been struck as they pcered around the corners of hay stacks. falling forward over their rifles in those strange cramped positions Which no living man can assume Itifles, canteens and bayonets were scattered over the fields and in the road. It is needless to comment upon the odor that pervaded every corner of the battlefield.
 Such was the scene that presented itself between Acy and Betz All along this ehastly lane I was reminded of , the paintings of Detaille and the oth-
 CT famous artists of the Franco Prus-
 sian war; The country was the same
 the uniforms of the soldiers the same the methods of fighting the same. The bodies scattered around the haystaclSs
 continually recalled to me those great pictures with which nearly everyone Is familiar.
 Betz, too. had suffered considerably, as the town had been shelled Some buildings had been completely shot down, others burned. Antilly had been
 more fortunate but a gaping hole in
 a stout graveyard fence showed that 1t also had been in the line of fire. 1 Thury- Valois. the next town. bore evidences of artillery and small arms fire and, except for two youths Of
 about 16 who silently watched us pass,
 wis deserted. Flying on in the rair..
 which had now become torrent, we Ireached Marbles at l2:10. Here we at tempted to get on the other side of the River Ourcq. but the bride across
 this stream had been dynamited and though it had been repaired to some
 extent, yet upon examination we decided not 10 risk the car and so turned back
 and took another road.
 ! Town ChoIscd With Supply Trains l Speeding on into the forest of villers CoIterets, whose stately avenues had
 been spared from bloodshed. we short ly reached the town of the same name, Which Is a place of some importance. The town was choked with supply trains on the move and long lines of caissons ready to start. A regiment of calvary occupied the public square, | cheering themselves as much as pos
 sible with their cigarettes over log fires. Their horses were close at hand and Indeed they seemed to be taking i merely a respite of an hour or so be- | fore starting again on the march. With | in two hours they could be again har- assing the enemy. As we wormed our way through the jam of men, motor
 cars and wagons we heard someone
 shout: "Voyez les Bcsches!" ''Bosches'' | is term of raillery which the French
 apply to the invaders. Looking ahead
 We saw half dozsn grey coated pris- oners each holding the reins of a pair l of horses which he was being made, to drive. Several dragoons in the roar. with carbines held loosely overs their
 saddles, were keeping an ,~eye upon
 them As we passed by Ifregarded the prisoners closely. They. sdemed to take | their' plight as a matter of course and
 not to be in any manner disturbed f-- showed signs of refinement. was grey around taic temples. He was a private soldier and he must have been 55 or 1 60, which seems to bear out the con- ltention that the Germans are impress ling old men as well as boys into the service.
 Road Is Crowded
 l Leaving vilers-Cotterets we had some difficulty in passing along the crowded roads, though the rain had considerably abated. Just as we were moving into the | carx forest again, a squadron of dra- goons came out at fast trot. They had probably come straight away from the l line of battle and I must say they pre- l scented a fine picture on their slender | horses. their sabres dangling at their l sides and carbines bobbing over their shoulders. Their steel helmets were cov- cred with the campaign cover of brown canvas but the horse tails that are at 1 tached thereto were flying above their backs.
 | Two roads led into the forest, and we were at loss which to take. At~this moment a light motor ambulance dashed out of the woods. so we yelled at it | to stop and asked the two young men in front how to get to Soissons and how Mar it was.
 You're on the right road-it's 2S kilo- metres. But be careful, they are fighting up there. Have you got any tobacco?" vas the answer we got. We had a large supply of cigarettes. so we gave them each a package. and while they were thanking us and telling us what a rare article the weed had become in the army noticed a big. square-shoul- dered German peering out at us through the folds of the cover.
 At 1:05 we reached Corey. a little will lage on the edge of the forest, IS kilo- metres from Soissons. A number If