The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1914-10-12

l vrede' tsJoy with peaceO, and 1t bore every mark of the busy retirement oe a comfort loving proprietor. I went 1long his garden. which was gay and delightful with big bushes Of rose and sweetbrfer, to quaint little summer house, and there sat and watched the men In groups cooking and squat l ting along the bank. The sun was setting ina nearly cloudIess sky.
 .B'ol. the last two weeks had been wholly occupied man, intent only upon obeying thet orders that came Edqwn to me. All through this time had been working to the very limit of my mental and physical faculties and my only moments of rest had been devoSed to snatches of sleep. Now came this rare unexpected interlude and could look detachedly upon what I was doing and feel something of its infinite wonder fitness Twas irradtated with adec- ton for the men of my company ana with admiration at their cheer2uI ae- quiescence in the subordination and needs of our position. I watched thair proceedings and heard their pleasant voices. How willing those men sveref How ready to accept leadership and forget themselves in collective endsl T thought how manfuI1y they had gone through all the strain ana toll Of the last two weeks, how they had tougher ed and shaken down to comradeship together and how much sweetness there is after all in our foolish human blood. For they were just one casual sample of the specfes-thelr patiahes and readiness lay, as the energy of me atom had lain, still waiting to be prop erly utilized Again it cams to me with overpOwering force that ths s1l- prenne need Of our race is Ieadi1g thae the supreme task is to discover lead- ing, to forget oneself in realizing the collective purpose of the race Once more saw life plain 5
 Very characteristic Is that of the rather too corpulent' young ofdcer. who was afterward b set it all down in the Wander Jahres Very ehaFac- terfstic, too, it is of the change lo mems hearts that was even then preparing a new phase of human history
 He goes on to write Of the escape from individuality in science and ser vice and of his discovery of this sssal- vattoIl.'' All that was then no doubt very moving and original; now 1t see1ns only the most obvious commonplace Of human life
 The glow of the sunset faded, the twilight deepened into night The fires burnt the brighter, and some Trishmen away across the mere started singing. But Barnet's men were too weary for that sort Of thing, and soon the bank and the barge were heaped with sleep ing forms
 1I alone seemed unable to sleep suppose was ovefWeary. and after little feverlsh slumber by the tfller of the barge I sat up. awake and un- easy.
 saThat night Holland seemed all sky. There was just a little black lower rim to things, a steeple perhaps or a line of poplars, and then the great henlis- phere swept over us. And at first the sky was empty. Yet my uneasinesa referred itself in some vague way t0 the sky.
 sAnd now was melancholy. found something strangely sorroWful and submissive in the zsleepers all about me, those men who had marched so far, who had left all the established texture of their lives behind them to come upon this mad campaign, this campaign that signified nothing and consumed everything, this mere fever of fighting. I saw how little and feeble is the life of man, thing oe chances, preposterous1y unable to find the will to realize even the most timid of it's dreams. And wondered if al- ways it would be So, if man was a doomed animal who would never to the last days of his time take hold oE fate and change it to his will Always. ie may be, he will remain kindly but jeaIeus desirous but discuVsIves able and ulawiseIy impuIsiye, until Saturn who begot him shall devour him in his turn.
 q was reused from these thoughts by the sudden realization of the pres ence of a squadron of aeropIanes faE away to the northeast and very high. They looked like little black dsshes against the midnight blue rsmen1- Der that locked up at them at drss rather idIy-as one might mo1ice flight of birds Then [ perceived that they were only the extreme wing of great feet that was advancing in long line very swiftly from the dsrec- ton of the frontier and my attention frightened.
 ssDirectly I saw that feet I was as tonished not to have,seen tt before.
 .tI stood up softly, undesirous of dis turbing my companions, but with my heart beating now rather more rapidly with surprise and excitement strain ed my ears for any sound of guns along our front. Almost 1nst1nctiVsly I turned about for protection to khe south and west and peered, and tla I saw coming as fast and much aaeras to me, as if they had sprung out oI Iaes darkness, three banks of aereplanes. q group of squadrons very high main body at height perhaps of one or two thousand feet, and a doubtful number flying: low and very indistinct- The middle ones were so thick they kept putting out groups of stars. And 2 realized that, after alI there was tl be fighting in the air.
 gro Be continued.1