New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1914-09-17
SCISSORS SHOWS
RAVAGES OF WAR
Continued from mage l

soldiers rha, the first aid had failed
TO save.
After death the body is mcrcifully
robbed of its human aspect. You are
spared the thought that what is lying
in the trenches among the shattered
trees and in the wheat fields staring up
Mt the skv was once a man. 1t appears
to be only bundle of clothes, scare
crow that has tumbled among the grain
it once protected. But it gives ter
rible meaning to the word missing"
When you read in the reports from the
missing" you like to think of them
safely cared for in hospital or drag
ging out the period Of the war as pris-
oners. But the real missing are those
saw to-day, the unidentified dead.
Some peasant will bury them tonight
or tomorrow, but he will not under
stand the purpose Of the medal each
wears around his neck. With him will
be buried his name and the number Of
his regiment. No one will know where
he fell or where he lies. Some one
will always hope that he will return.
For among the dead his name did not
appear. He was reported only as miss
ing.
The utter wastefulness Of war vas
seldom more clearly shown. Carcasses
of horses lined the road. Some few Of
these had been killed by shell ire.
Others, worn out and enrac!atel and
bearing the brand of the German army,
had been mercifully destroyed, but the
greater number of them were the farm
horses of peasants, still wearing their
headstalls or the harness of the
plough. That they might not aid the
enemy as remounts, the Germans IN
their retreat had shot them. | saw
four and FIVE together in the yards OF
s-sbles, the bullet hole of an auto
matte in the head of each. Others lay
beside the market cart, others by the
canal, where they had sought water.
More of Wars Waste.
Less pitiful, but still evidencing the
was:efulness of war, were the motor
trl cks and automobiles that in the
fight had been abandoned. They mad
broken down, or the petrol, of which
the German army is said to be greatly
in need, had been exhausted, and
sooner than that they should fall INTO
TIE hands of the enemy the Germans
had smashed the motors or beneath
them had lighted fires. Others had
been showed over embankments. In
the forest Of Villers- Cotterets
counted in one place fifteen eat
motor trucks completely destroyed. 4
heap Of empty gasolene 1arrels told
the story. For twenty mileG these au-
tomobiles were scattered along the
road. There were so many one stopped
counting them. Added to their loss
were two shattered German airships.
Ore | saw twenty-six kilometres out
side of Meaux and one at Bonneville.
As they fell they had buried heir
motors deep in the soft earth, and their
wings were. twisted wrecks of silk and
steel.
All the fields through which the army
Passed had become waste land. Shells
had reploughed them. Horses and men
had slept in them. The haystacks,
gathered by the sweat of the brow and
/ patiently set in trim rows, were tram
pied in the mud and scattered to the
winds. All the smaller villages
through which | passed were empty Of
! people, and since the day before. when
the Germans occupied them, none of
the inhabitants had returned. These
villages were just as the Germans had
! left them. The streets were piled with
/ grain, on winch the soldiers had slept,
and on the sidewalks in front of the
better class Of houses tables around
which the officers had eaten still re-
manned. the bottles half empty, the
I f"nd half eaten.
/ In chateau beyond Neufchelles the
doors and windows were open and lace
/ curtains were blowing in the breeze.
From the garden you could see paint
( iiIgs on the walls, books on the tables.
( Outside, on the lawn, surrounded by
/ oiG 81 charming gardens, apparently
: to-. E. neral and his staff had prepared
/ to dine. The table was set for a dozen
and on it were candles in silver sticks,
many bottles Of red and white wine.
champagne, liqueurs, and coffee cups
= OF he finest china. From their ban
/ GGet some alarm had summoned the
! officers. The place was as they had left
/ IL. the coIee unlaSleu, the candles
, burned to the candlesticks. and red
tans on the cloth where brandy had
/ sPilled. In the bright sunlight and
surrounded by flowers, the deserted
( table and the silent, stately chateau
rocmcd like the sleeping palace of the
! fairy tale.
/ Though the humor of troops retreat.
! ing is an ugly one. saw no outrages
sIch as | saw in Belgium. Except in
/ the villages of Neufchelles and Var
rcddes there was no sign of loOting or
wanton destruction. In those two viii
lagos the interior of every home and
hop was completely wrecked. In the
ufher villages the destruction was such
a. is permitted by the usages of war,
UGH as the blowing up of bridges, the
burning of the railroad station and the
cutting Of telegraph wires.
Saw Artillery Duel.
Not until Bonneville, thirty kilo-
metres beyond Meaux, did | catch IN
with the Allies. There | met some
. English Tommies who were irving To
. Z 10 their column. Thpy Rad No Lpou,I