The Washington herald., 1914-05-31

| fall upon the bewiIdered foe and annihi-
late him. While the Prussians and
Saxons were hurriedly falling back in an
! struck one division of them. as much to
his own surprise as to theirs, on a lofty
plateau above Jena
A Strange Battlefield.
The scholastic repose Of that ancient
and celebrated university town is guard
ed by two towering sentinel heights, one
the Bismarkturn and the other the Land
grafenberg. whose topmost height Is
called the Napoleonstein- For 1t is there
on that brow OF the Landgrafenberg that
Napoleon pitched his bivouac in a waning
October day. and there in the dawn Of
the following day he opened the famous
battle of Jena
The landscape of the plateau is de-
lightfully German. with its old windmills
ana its little poster villages, where the
farmers. instead of dwelling apart on
their acres, gather to make their homes
about the kirche and the gasthof. 1t
was around those tranquil little hamlets
that the strife ragged in greatest fury as
Gaul and Teuton took and retook them
while a hail OF lead peited their walls.
Against the tiny town of Vierzehnhcil-
iEen in particular the battle tide surged
for full half day. Beside its modest.
old church today there rises cross in
memory Of the men who were slain in
its winding lanes and dooryards, while
Its tavern walls are covered with rusty
souvenirs Of the field of combat Al
though divided by stone walls into many
thrifty, little German farms, the size of
the battlefield is better suited for golf
two great armies. -
The Night Before.
The larger part of that small field
slams and Saxons when Napoleon climbed
up the front Of the Landgrafenberg.
which rises as steep as roof from the
valley In which Jera drowses beside the
River Saale. He saw the allies across
the field. hardly mile away. where they
were fiattering themselves that they were
secure against the approach Of the enc
my. They held the only high road from
the big hill in the rear. while the almost
perpendicular front Of the hill lose like
an impregnable breastwork for their pro-
lection The thought that a great army
Napoleon, however. had not sent an army
up the walls Of the Alps to be daunted
now by the Landgrafenberg and he or
dered his columns to scramble after him
As night drew on the lights Of the allied
camp blazed forth. Meanwhile over at
the brow of the blur. where a tree and
seat now mark the site of Napoleon's
unnoticed in the outer darkness. It was
the only light permitted in the French
camp. and the Emperor sat by It study
ing his plans for the morrow.
At night his soldiers were toiling up
the stony beds Of the dry brooks, but
they extinguished their lanterns as they
entered upon the plateau and Joined their
sleeping comrades In the silent encamp-
meut II was the Emperor's habit, how
ever, to sleep little the night before a
battle. Most commanders at such times
issue their orders for the next day and
so 10 bed. Napoleon. on the contrary,
took his rest first and planned his battles
after refreshing himself with sleep and
when he was in possession Of the latest
reports to reach his headquartersL
Il lie down at s O'clock" he wrote
Josephine from the Prussian Campaign,
and rise at midnight. I sometimes
think that you are not yet abed."-,
When he rose at midnight before the l
bas1ie OF Jena and made the round Of
his lines, he found some heavy guns had
been stalled in the steep track up the !
ylaa end Fnedlaad, The Distant FIsAs