Willmar tribune. [volume] (Willmar, Minn.) 1895-1931, 1914-11-18
CHAPTER VI.
The bikes Blown 10,

AAIuul luuI u1SuL ueI0,
we were told. were provisions, tobacco
and every thing for which we rraved.
Hut the main canal from Zuandam
and Amsterdam was hopelessiy jam
med with craft, and we were glad of
chance opening that enabled us to
get out Of the main column and lie up
in kind Of little harbor very much
neglected and weed grown before a de-
serted house. We broke iuto this and
found some behring's In barrel,
heap Of chetSes and stone bottles of
gin in the cellar. and with this cheer
ed my starving men. We made fires
and toasted the cheese and grilled our
behring's. None Of us had slept for
nearly forty hours. and determined
to stay in this refuge until dawn. ami
then. If the traffic was still choked,
leave the barge and march the rest Of
the way into Alkmaar
This place we had got into was per-
haps hundred yards from the canal.
and underneath little brick bridge
we could see the hotilla still and hear
five or six other baryes came through
and lay up in the mere near by ns.
and with two Of these full OF men Of
the Antrim regiment | shared my find
OF provisions In return we got to-
bacco \ large eXpanse Of water
spread to the westward Of MS. and be-
yond were a cluster Of roofs and one
or two church towers. The barge was
rather cramped FOR so many men. and
! let several squads, thirty or forty
perhaps altogether. bivonac on the
bank. did not let them go into the
house on account Of the furniture, anc
l left note of Indebtedness for the
food we had taken We were par
tiCnlarly glad Of onr tobacco and fires
because Of the numerous mosquitoes
that rose about us.
THE gate Of the house from which
we had provisioned ourselves was
adorned with the legend 'Vreugde BIZ
vrede' r.Joy with peace',. and it bore
every mark Of the busy retirement Of
comfort loving proprietor. | went
along his garden. which was gay and
delightful with big bushes of rose and
sweetbrier. to Il quaint little summer
house. and there sat and watched
the men in groups cooking and squat
ting along the bank The sun was
setting in a nearly cloudless sky.
For the last two weeks had been a
wholly occupied man. intent only upon
obeying the orders that came down to
me. All through this time l had been
working to the very limit of my mental
and physical faculties and my only
moments of rest had been devoted to
snatches of sleep Now came this rare.
unexpected interlude and could look
detachedly upon what ! was doing and
feel something of it's infinite wonder
fulncss. | was irradiated with affec-
ton for the men Of my company and
with admiration at their cheerful ac-
qulescence in the subOrdinutiOn and
needs of our position. watched their
proceedings and heard their pleasant
voices. How willing those men were!
How ready to accept leadership and
= fget themselves in collective ends. |
thought how manfully they had gone
through all the strain and toll of the
last two weeks, how they had toughen-
ed and shaken down to cOmradeshiD
together and how much sweetness
there is after all in our foolish human
blood. For they were just one casual
sample of the species-their patience;
and readiness lay, as the energy Of the
atom had lain. still waiting to be prop
erly utilized. Again it came to me
with overpowering force that the su-
preme need of our race is leading, that
the supreme task is to discover lead
Ing. to forget oneself in realizing the
collective purpose Of the race. Once
more l saw life plain.'
Very characteristic is that of the
rather too corpulent" young officer,
who was afterward to set it all down
In the wander Jahre." Very charac.
ter1stic, too. it is of the change in men
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 "sal-
vatiOn." All that was then no doubt
very moving and original; now it seems
only the most obvious commonplace of
human life.
The glow of the sunset faded, the
twilight deepened into night. The fires
Ournt the brighter. and some Irishmen
away across the mere started singing
QI,t Do
that sort Of thing. and soon the bank
and the barge were heaped with Sleep
ing forms.
Il alone seemed unable to Sleep
suppose l was overweary, and after
a little feverish slumber by the tiller
of the barge l sat up. awake and un-
easy.
THAT night Holland seemed all sky.
There was just little black lower rim
to things. a steeple perhaps or line
of poplars. and then the great hemis-
phere swept over US. And at first the
sky was empty. Yet my uneasiness
referred itself in some vague way to
the sky.
And now was melancholy.
found something strangely sorrowfui
and submissive In the sleepers 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 signitied nothing and
consumed everything. this mere fever
of fighting saw how little and
feeble is the life of man, a thing of
chances, preposterously unable to find
the will to realize even the most timid