The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1914-10-22
4 Little Gray.Haired Priest
Does Noble Work.
Wearing Besmirched Surplice,
He Trudges Cory Battlefield.
PRAYING As NE MARCHES
Minister Prays for French and
Germans Alike.
Consoles the SorrOwing and
Buries the Dead.
rHv william G. Shepherd

rBy William g. Shepherd
On the Battlefield OF Soissons' Oct'
22.-I wish I could show you the little
rray-haired priest Of this village near
Scissors as he goes about MS duties
these days. There's the peace Oh
certain warless land that ne KNOWS
about on his face and he reads ms
.e~v,ces over a dead German with the
came tender tones and the same smile
~ hope that he has for the dead SOL
6,er who sleeps in the red, white ana
blue of France.
I,f,rst saw him as he passed through
%he village square in his robes tnat
had once been white. His surpnce va
eI..hed with the mud OF hunoreos oI
smtomohiies which dash through the
narrow. wet streets. On MS 1eee W.
army shoes, as muddy as any sooner .:
But he raised his face as ne cna s.
q service from q book IN ms nan nr.e
and when I saw his smile, forgot the
crime. Behind him marched -FOUR
men. xuarded by soldiers. Even pc
fore knew who or what they were
i saw that there was something -es-
pecially evil and gruesome ABOUT thenl'
"A French officer explained the process
sion to me:
Four LOotefs.
..rhese men are Germans who were
caught wearing civilian clothes May
he they were spies; who knows! But
they are worse than spies. They were
caught looting the French and Ger
man dead out there on the battleneio.
They are being taken out now 10 De
shot"
II WAS a thing to shudder over. but
cI0 marched on WITH
Tho look of hope and mercy on MS
face as II he knew someone who I'M
derstood and even controlled all this
madness and evil into which human
fly has fallen, someone who knows the
weakness of humanity so we'll that he
might have pity even on man VINO
had robbed the dead.
The next time I saw the little clergy
man was at the entrance to the Red
Cross hospital. Three caskets stood In
the high hallway, which opened onto
the street. A line Of French soldiers
stood at attention. facing the door
way. A Red Cross ambulance drew up
and the soldiers broke their rigid for
nation to make way for five wounded
soldiers who were carried past the
collins where three dead soldiers
rested.
The soldiers reformed again. There
was evidently a hitch in the proceed
street and, by the glances of the off,
GERS towards the church door. 1 could
see they were waiting for the clergy
man. Then I saw him come to the
door.
Gods Soldier.
Five women and two little girls, all
in black. were following him, persist
emily, and speaking to him. He stopped
and spoke moment with each
Thnv a a
on the sidewalk, as he raised his hand
in blessing. over each mourning be-
decked head. He held his hands on
the heads Of the little girls and raised
his face upwards as if he were tell
ing someone to take special notice of
All this time the soldiers were watt
ing. The priest walked across the
street, through the mud, his soldiers
shoes scattering the dirt onto his sur
plice, the officers saluted, the soldiers
raised the caskets, the little priest led
on through the slush and the three
dead soldiers of France were started
on their last march.
I've seen the little priest a score of
times since then. He marches more
than any soldier. There are scores of
dead to bury; there are dozens of
stories and confessions to hear from
dying men in the hospitals; there are
the broken-hearted women and chill
dren Of the village who have lost their
soldier loved ones to be comforted,
and his task was SO great that it
seemed to me that II 1 were the little
priest and saw so much of such ter
rible sorrow in a world gone SO far
awry 1 would take off my white robe
and fold it way and say, God has
forgotten US. What's the use,?''
Only 1 know by the little clergy
mans race that he knows that God
has not forgotten us, even though the
cannons Of men who are hungry to
Kill are sounding above the chant of
the funeral services and even though
each crash means more broken hearts
and more dead to bury.
Claim She Is German.