The Dawson news. (Dawson, Ga.) 1889-current, 1914-11-03
WAR is HE'LL MORE THAN
u,,ED BY THE CONDITIONS
DprvAILING IN EUROPE.
,fIN THE FIELDS AND ROADS

uomen and Children In Great num-
"% ,..s Leave Homes Carrying Vari-
household Articles and Cry
Uyyhere Shall We Coz"
,rNTJS France.-The villagers of
,,,rs Cotterat had been told they
~ leave their homes and fee; 1
-, MT know what was on foot until
aoticed the men, women and chill
mining along the sidewalks
.rirg various household articles.
roc about to see the start of one
Il .bo hundreds of heart-breaking
& .nr,images that the town folk of
.lrinm and France have been fore
u IN make since the war began. The
.r,a and town officials had gone
..,m hose to house with the terri
IL news. The French soldiers were
,;,o to leave Villers Cotteret; they
po,a going to let the Germans come
nh and we're then going to return
a nounce on the Allemands and
,ioo them out. They would proba-
H. have to wipe out the village also,
a nd 50 the town folks must leave.
where shall we go?" was the cry.
i r was forenoon and the dictum gave
tbo villagers twelve hours. go back
ovard Crepy!' was all the advice
4 ba army men could give. The may
i, of the town went about from
kroup to group. 'No time to wor-
~ nv Children" he said to the viii
ayers. What has to be done must
% done. Don't try to carry too much.
Eou must be out before shutdown" "
The first thing I noticed was the
bn folks. They had been dragged
rom freside corners, and, judging
bv the weakness of some of them,
Avpn from their beds. They went
spluctantly complaining. "You go
hi let me stay in peace" heard an
SH woman say to her daughter, who
BIS also gray-haired, but the old
sDman was bundled into the town
srcher's two-wheeled cart with two
l her very aged women and the cart
kttled off over the cobble stones to-
bard the west of town. Settlers in
be wild west days of America could
sever have been worse off than these
blks of Villers Cotteret; Sioux In
/ ans could never have inspired a
reater fear than they suffered. The
ettlers had only the prairie to flee
0. but these folks had nothing bet
err before them. All the villages
bout them were deserted as their
lwn would be; food would be as
carce as if they we're in mtd-desert;
he water, we heard, had been pofs-
med
The peaceful villagers were to be
urned out into the open to live like
ayages, in a savage land. All they
ad gained by their years of toll they
'ere to leave behind; their orchards,
heir gardens, their fowls were to be.
eft at the mercy of their enemy. l
aw a sick woman wheeled off in
ably carriage. I saw a crippled girl
eing carried by two young boys; an
Id man, facing the last few days of
is life, it seemed, summoning the
asst spark of his mans desire to shell
er the weak and the leading of a
mall group of women and children
oward the country road; he couldn't
ave walked very far; the women
must have taken care of him before
ong.
I saw little girls clutching their
oils or trying to carry babies almost
S large as themselves. One deter
lined little girl was trying to carry
he big family dog, which was TAX
lg it very patiently, with his hind
uarters dragging along the ground
ats mewed in baskets. Most of the
omen wore shawls over their heads,
It looked as if it might rain.
The fugitives walked in the midd
the streets, ignoring the sid'
aIks; the streets were muddy, b.
nat did that matter with the miles
mud ahead?
By four in the afternoon most OF
ne houses and shops in the village
ere locked and shattered. I could
ee down a long tree bordered road
Re trudging parties of sad women
nd children who were soon to be
in the open, like women
I'd children of the cave men days.
Here and there by the roadside
'uId see fires, but they were the
res Of soldiers in their automobile
.mps. I don't suppose that any OF
le fugitives suffered for supper this
ght. Perhaps some of the women
I'd children were taken into tn
'mps and allowed to sleep in thu
g auto trucks. But, by tomorrow
ght. the folks of Villers Cotteret
III be out of the army zone, ming
lg on the French roads with thous-
Ids of other fugitives from other