The Ocala evening star. [volume] (Ocala, Fla.) 1895-1943, 1914-09-19

1t was while retiring that / got the
wound in my knee"
Private P. McGlade writes from
somewhere in France to his
mother in Ireland: y
I'VE were all beat up after four
days of the hardest soldering you
ever dreamt of. / am glad to say
we accounted for ourselves and for
our share of the German trash, who
are a poor lot when it comes to a
good square ruction in the open.
Eve tried hard to get at them
many a time, bat they would never
wait for us when they saw the bright
bits of steel at the business end OF
our rifles. Some of them squealed
like pigs on killing day when they
happened to see the steel ready.
Some of our finest lads are now
sleeping their last sleep in Belgium,
but, mother dear. you can take your
sons word for it that for every son
of Ireland who will never come back,
there are at least three Germans
who will never be heard of again.
Before leaving Belgium we arranged
with priest to have Masses said for
the souls of our dead, and we scrap
ed together what odd money we had,
but his reverence would not hear of
it, taking money for prayers for the
repose of the brave lads who had
died so far from the Old Land to rid
Belgium soil of the unmannerly Ger
! man scrubs.
''When we got here we sang Pad
dies Evermore'' till we were hoarse,
and then we were off to chapel to
pray for the souls of the lads that
are gone.
tYou will probably hear all sorts Of
strange stories at home, but it's sure
you may be that we are all in good
heart, and only want to get at the
Germans again. Some of them don't
understand why Irishmen should
| fight so hard for England, but that
| just shows how little they know
about u.s.
A Seaforth Highlander who was
wounded near Namur said:
ut was something hellish- The
Germans only worked their artillery
on us. They were afraid to get near
US. If they had done so they would
have got a good shaping
Their rifle fire was simply rotten.
In one instance party approached
within two hundred yards of us, but
although we were in the open with
no cover they couldn't hit us. Our
ARTILLERY was as good as theirs, and
made hacks of them"
"A West Kent man who fought in
South Africa, said:
THE Boer War was game of
skittles TO this. They came at us in
great masses. 1t was like shooting
rabbits, only as fast as you shot one
lot down another came up. You
couldn't help hitting them.
1--WE had plenty of time to take
aim, and if we weren't reaching Bis
ley standard all the time, we must
have done a mighty lot of execution.
AS for their rife fire, they couldn't
hit a haystack., Some of them fired
from their hips and must have vast
ed a lot of ammunition"
1.-The German generals don't seem
to mind what price their men have
to pay so long as they can break
through our lines" said a young
! lancer who received a sword cut in
the neck recently. They were cut
down like ripe corn in harvest time,
| but they didn't seem to mind it at
all. 1t was always on, and on again.
until they could stand it no longer,
and then others took their places.
"They attached lot of Importance
to massed artillery fire, and for hours
all their guns seem TO play on one
little spot of our line until the din
and the noise and the screening Of
the shells overhead became SO ter
rible that you feel as If it would be a
relief to cry out.
THE effect on the nerves is terri
BILE, and / suppose it is intended to
shatter the nerves OF our men. Only
the strongest can stand it for long
AMI most OF rs found it best 10 stuff
our ears with Gotten, wool or tear up