The commercial. (Union City, Tenn.) 190?-193?, 1914-08-14

heaps and piled corpses made an lnsui
mountable barrier for those who 70
lowed Thus was the second squadro
in turn mown down, annihilated, leav
ing its task to be accomplished by thos
lwho came after.
| When for the third time the me-
were called upon tocharge and respond
ed with invincible heroism, Prospe
found that his companions were princi
pally Hussars and Chesseurs d'France
Regiments and squadrons, as organiza
tons, had ceased to exist; their constit
ent element we're drops in the mighty
wave that alternately broke and reared
its crest again, to swallow up all tina
lay in its destructive path. All about
horses we're rearing, paving the air and
falling backward; men were dismount.
ed as il torn from their saddle by the
blast Of tornado, while others, shot
through some vital part, retained their
seat and rode onward in the ranks with
vacant, sightless eyes. And looking
back over the additional two hundred
yards that this effort had won for them,
they could see the field OF yellow stub
bic strewn thick with dead and dying.
Some there were who had fallen head
long from their saddles and buried their
faces in the soft earth. Others had alight-
ed on their backs and we're staring up
into the sun with terror-strieken eyes
that seemed bursting from their SOCK
cts. The survivors in the wings wheeled
their horses and fell back to concentrate
their strength for a fresh onset.
Finally it was the fourth squadron,
which, on the fourth attempt, reached
the Prussian lines. Blood flowed in tor
rents. The clamor around became so
great that one could not hear his own
voice, although bis throat seemed split
ting from the yells that issued from it.
But behind the first Prussian line there
was another, and then another, and then
another still. Their gallant efforts went
for nothing; those dense masses OF men
were like tangled jungle that closed
around the horses and riders who en-
tered it and buried them in the rank
growths. They might hew down those
who were within reach OF their sabres;
others stood ready to take their places,
the last squadrons were lost and swal-
lowed up in their vast numbers. The
firing, at pointblank range, was so furi-
Gus that the mems clothing was ignit-
ed. Nothing could stand before it, all
went down; and the work that it left
unfinished was completed by bayonet
and musket butt. OF the brave men
who rode into action that day two-thirds
remained upon the battle field, and the
sole end achieved by that mad charge
was to add glorious page to history.
THE AFTERMATH.
In the vast room, the wide door OF
which was standing open, not only every |
bed occupied, but there was no more
room upon the litter that had been
shaken down on the floor at the end Of
he apartment. They we're beginning
o strew straw in the spaces between the
,eds, the wounded we're crowded to-
.ether SO closely that they were in con-
act. Through the lofty windows the
'itiless white daylight streamed in upon
hat aggregation Of suffering humanity.
Tow and then an unguarded movement
licited an involuntary cry Of anguish.
he death rattle rose on the warm,
amp air. Down the room a low,
lournful wall, almost a lullaby, went
n and ceased not. And all about was
Hence, intense, profound, the stolid
ssignation Of despair, the solemn still
ess Of the death chamber, broken only
y the tread and whispers Of the attend
nts.
Rents in tattered, sheItorn uniforms
isclosed gaping wounds, some OF which
ad received hasty dressing on the
attlefeld, while others were still raw {
nd bleeding. There we're feet, still
lcased in their coarse shoes, crushed
ito mass like jelly; from knees and \
bows, that we're as if they had been
mashed by a hammer, depended inert
mbs. There we're broken hands, and /
ngers almost severed, ready to drop, 2
tanned only by strip Of skin. Most r
Imerous among the casualties we're the 4
actures; the poor arms and legs, red 2
ID swollen, throbbed intolerably and !,
ere heavy as lead. But the most v
vigorous hurts we're those in the abdo- !.
en-, chest and head. There we're =
.wning assures that laid open the en-