The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-12-27

takinR up arms Tn Oelense UT ihell country. all three of the premier's sons who are of military age being now with the forces The second of them in point Of seniority. Herbert Asquith, was gazetted this week as a lieutenant in the Royal Naval Reserve Volunteers. while the eldest. Lieut. Arthur Asquith, is in the Royal Naval Reserve. and the youngest of the three, Lieut. Cyril As- quith. is with the Queens Westmn- sters.
 Lieut.. Arthur Asquith. as everybody knows, made good" in the trenches at Antwerp. when, after only three days as commissioned officer. he led his company with rare intelligence and courage. The men of his company swear they would follow hum anywhere He is now at Davenport where he is to ee seen in shirt sleeves, strenuously drill ing his men.
 Lieut. Herbert Asquith was engaged in rather an important job in a govern ment department, but the call for men was irresistible and he joined the naval volunteers. He is the premters second son. and married the pretty daughter of Lord Wemyss the Hon. Synthia Mary Evelyn Charteris. It was one of the smartest weddings of the 1910 sea son. Lieut. Cyril Asauith, although probably the least ropust of the three, has thrown in his lot with a famous regiment which has done extraordinari- ly we'll in Flanders. While, with his sis ter Violet, he was the guest Of Lord Kitchener, in khartoum, last year, he was taken suddenly i'll and had to un- dergo an operation. l understand, how ever. that he offered himself at the out set of hostilities but was rejected. He tried again and this time managed to pass the doctor successfully.
 DisObeyed Orders and Won V. C.
 Rarely has the Victoria Cross been awarded for an act of insubordination.
 however brave. but a private soldier ramed Wilson. who belongs to the High
 land Light infantry. has just won this
 greatly coveted honor by deed of gal
 luntry performed, if not exactly against
 orders, at any rate. strictly without per
 mission. Another Highland Light infan-
 try man. who is now in London with
 wound told me yesterday how Wilson
 won the cross.
 "The Germans had a Maxim gun in a
 wood," he said and we could not find
 its position and stop them using 1t. It
 was a regular nuisance.
 Wilson, who is d real rough diamond,
 and nothing like an Adonis. asked leave
 of his officer to go Into the wood and put
 an end to 1t.
 Certainly not the officer said and
 it did not seem a likely sort of thing to
 bring off. But Wilson had taken a real
 dislike to that Maxim. and after time
 he and another fellow slipped off and got
 into the wood.
 Wilson's pal was killed, but Wilson
 crept about in the wood and potted at the Maxim party. until he had shot them all except the officer. l understod there were five, but the paper says seven. When he had potted the men Wilson went up with the bayonet and settled the officer. Then he smashed the German Maxim up and carried 1t back with him. !" There's the Maxim, sir!' he said. sa- luting his officer, and throwing down the broken gun.
 "The officer heard his story and asked where the little affair happened q" Over there said Wilson, and the of ficer went off and found the dead bodies of the Germans Wilson had killed. That
 was how he won the " C.'
 Cleaning House Ever since the end of it's mobilization, France has been busy cleaning house, clearing it of objectionable foreign grcwths that have accumulated there at a | rapid rate since the war of TO. The belligerent nations have had the OtIlCldt stdi Ol tHt government IdBRtu on to the doors of their business places, decorations of distinction have been torn from the breasts of the enemy citizens; the concentration camp has a | frightened arm around those who pre- ferred to keep to French soil Now after the calm that follows this house. hold sweeping and throwing out, one 1 looks about and sees that another prob lem looms up, must be faced and a solution found
 What shall be done with the art of 1 the enemy that has been bought in our | time. and has been given places of prominence in the national museums? 1 The agitation for the moment cen | ters around the marble bust inscribed
 as Destiny" and in the work of q Prussian, Arnold Rosenberg. Three days before the war began | Rosenberg quietly left Paris and soon | the news was received in this city that
 the sculptor was a lieutenant of re-
 serves In regiment of hussars in the | German army.
 | Under these unpleasant conditions
 what will be the destiny of his ousti
 For many years Reschberk had an
 atelier on the hem of the Latin quar- | ter in the Impasse du Maine, rickety | looking little street where, neverthe- l less, many noted artists have their stu dios.
 
 peeper that Rosenberg had an intimacy | not only with the German a,nbass | dor and his attaches, but with the ti- | tied of his own land as we'll Be- | fore his door the push cart and 1um- bering wagons had to make way for luxurious limouslnes.
 "The Spade Wins Battles' Either the war office has informa : | tion that Germany is about to attempt | a raid on the coast, or it is adopting | a most strenuous method of framing the new army. During the last week 1 thousands of them have been working at top speed digging trenches on the l east coast and as near London as 1 Ripping Forest. Details have been sent | from Epson. from Aldershot and even 1 from Salisbury Plain. In the mean | time, the first 500.000 of the new army is fast approaching the comple- l tion of its training. The troops have l been inspected within the last few days and pronounced exceptionally fit and I am told that 100000 of them are l going to the front in a couple of weeks In the meantime, most of the territo- rials have gone to France and theiI place at the east coast defenses has l been taken by men of the new army | A number of batta1ions of the naval volunteer brigade will be clad in khak l like soldiers, and will be use dexactly 1 as infantry in the trenches. | One of the most amusing sideights of l the war is revealed by the fact that there has been great difficulty in providing the men of the new army with the brass regimental badges which they wear or 1 their caps and collars. The reason is that all these badges have been made in l Germany and 1t took sometime to find British firms able to undertake the con-