Little Falls herald., 1914-10-16


meant. He shrugged his shoulders and
replied. Perhaps sries. = Every thing
went 80 smooth the people were taken
by surprise. It was evident they wer.
watched carefully from the time they
entered France.
Saturday afternoon. while returning
from walk in town near M0ntre
Jean. suddenly found MYSELF facing q
French army officer. He yelled grufhy
at me in French. eyed me from head to
foot. etc l couldn't understand what
he was talking about, when finally he
said and Restured something that made
me think he meant passport. So l
pulled it out of my pocket. It being
In English and the fellow evidently q
total stranger to that language. he
couldn get any satisfaction out Of it.
Things were getting pretty hot. the
crowd was gathering and the officer
was about convinced be had made the
capture of the German spy. He told
another soldier to watch me. He went
into the house, returned and command
ed me to follow him, where to don't
know. II could only have spoken
French it would have been all right.
Well. at this moment caught sight of
q French priest at some distance away.
caught bold Of the officers arm. led
him to the priest, to whom explained
in Latin my circumstances. The officer
was very disappointed, but not entirely
convinced of my being harmless and
insisted upon accompanying me to my
hotel. There the proprietor relieved
him of all his doubts. He begged my
pardon, explained the troublesome
times and / was asked to have glass
of wine.
l arrived at Lourdes Saturday night
about 80 That same night train
with over 400 wounded soldiers pulled
in. The night before. Aug. 81. l30
more and last night 25O more wounded
were bYcught IN, making almost 400
wounded soldiers. in this little town
alone. From these figures you can
form some estimate of what deadly
war this u.s. These are only slightly
wounded, ttat is. so hurt as to be Of no
use on the battlefield. 1t means broken
arms, smashed or wounded arms and
hands, feet, legs. head. face. Now il
800 slightly wounded find their way to
one little town smaller than Little
Falls, what must be the total wounded
slightly and seriously and the dead OF
the French side alone?
l went to the depot to see the sights.
The depot was crowded with almost
the entire population. pushing. pulling,
talking. yelling. In front of the depot
were lined buses. automobiles. ambu
Iances, etc., flying the Red Cross flag.
Lined up in front of these were Red
Cross servants and nurses with stretch
ers. Officers and soldiers were making
some show at keeping order. When
the train pulled IN everybody yelled
and every wounded soldier was greet.
ed with roueinR cheer. Some limPed
ia on crutches and canes. their feet tr
legs wrapped up in bandages. others
were carried on stretchers. both legs
30 inju.ed they were unable to help
themselves, or others had their heads
90 badly wounded they wouldn't t man.
aye it alone. One fellow had band.
age around bis face and nose. / learned
afterwards bis whole nose was shot
away. Others were pretty ragged. q
sleeve cut to get at the wound in
hurry. Load after load was hauled Ia
some hospital or place OF care. have
taken some pictures of some soldiers,
wounded. Shall send some as soon az I
develop, them.
Sometime this week the government
will send some Belgian families, who
were chased from their homes. with
nothing to eat, little clothing and no
food. to the hotel In which I am stay
ing. Staying here is also a French
lady and her daughter, who speaks
English. She acts as my interpreter.
translates out Of the newspapers and
the conversation Of the people for me.
ETC.. They have asked me several
times to 60 walking with them and
from them have received pretty
good view Of the war. The French and
English blame the Germans and Aus.
trians, the Germans; and AustrIans lay
all the blame on the French and Eng
lish. So there you are! II the Ger
mans are guilty Of all the cruelties. or
even part of those attributed them by
French papers, they don't deserve to
VIM But it isn't wise to judge from
the reports of one side alone. Only
after the smoke of battle has cleared
away and the dove of peace shall
stretch its wings and COO its message
over this miserable land shall the
grains OF truth te discerned to some
extent from the rubbish of falseh0ods
and lies. But one thing is certain,
"war is hell -
On the French line are soldiers from
! 2l to Is years. From Is to IS are
reserves. Yesterday call came fol
those Of 20 years Of age. Az you walk
along the streets of the cities. what
you miss is young men. Hardly anS
are to be seen. Upon these falls the
brunt Of the fight. So imagine the
number of cripples that are going tc
fill this land when peace 10 again
declared.
Here the women are busily enga ged
IL making shirts and handkerchief, il
supply ing the poor soldiers socks and
underwear. for many or most. il not all,
have only the clothes they have on.
Sept. 8: Wounded soldiers arr
streaming in every day. Yesterday
train Of 14O arrived. They had no sleeJ
for four days. A government ofiicia
declared yesterday that this towl
l