The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1915-01-26

Newspaper sharps from picking up
any tips OF military value.
About tho ~nl,- thing worth seeing
around Sedan is the small French
fort Les Ayvelles. In the little wood
just outside the entrance is a SOLITARY
grave, with a faded French infantry
cap and faded flowers on top and a
wooden tombstone at its head a large
Iron Cross painted ia black on top.
and nderneath the Inscriptions:
SIS the brave Commandant
" Vi not bear To survive
= of the fortress
"1e 7 to him.
Eith this Sill e3b b,,oden cross
the German 5, - honors
also in yot. ne
hero Of duty
Landwehr Pioneer Conpattv
VIII A. X
Sept. 10, 1914
The brave commandant is alleged
70 nave committed suicide when sur
render was inevitable. You don't
wonder, for over a small draw bridge
You cross the moat around the fort
and then. after passing q few iron
| gates and feeling your way through
| long tunnel, you come to light and
| see what happens when q fort OF the
I old school tries to stop modern artil-
| lery. a small mountain of mud sur
| rounded by heaps OF yellow bricks is
all that is left Of Les Ayvelles. II
| must have taken months to build: il
| stopped the German advance for a
day. There is nothing left to show
| where the silenced French guns We're
| but from the twisted iron bars at the
windows Of the living quarters, the
! caved-in underground passag ges, and
| the shattered masonry Of the lnaga-
. zine you get a faint mixing of what
a hell it must have been. and second
the tribute TO the 'brave com
| mander'
A run of few hundred kiloneters
| brings you to d good place to have q
| reakdoWn-the strangest garage il
the world where is neither honest
graft for chauffeurs nor any charge
for repairs. 1t is the automobile park
and repair station Of the nth army
which has 1000 motor cars OF all de
ScriptiOnS i'll its service. Auto casual
ties figure out at about 10 per cent
and from $50 to 200 are always here
undergoing overha uling.
Everything on Motor Trucks.
The military magic wand has
charmed a complete plant here on thi.
beetroot field. miles from the neares
town, and the curious thing is tha
. | the whole outfit could move on to
ward Paris in an hour, for the super
intendent's office is in motor bus
and lathes. forges, blacksmith!
shops, and machine shops are al
mounted on motor trucks. The skilled
mechanics and helpers are uniformed
soldiers, and there is no loafing on TIL
Job.
You are confidentially informe'
that the monster field garage is pro
| tected by battery Of two 42-centi
+, meter mortars, and one of the "ney
81, and when you are invited t
= view them, you accept with alacrity
a | for no reputable neWspap per man ha
y | even professed to have seen one 0
! the ''Stout Berthas" or ''Brummers
| 1t turns out to be the favorite oil
;. Landsturm joke-a fake battery clev
| erly cOntrived with long sheet-irO
| pipes mounted on wheels, and straw
: | stuffed "gunners.'
= Al Bourgogne, go 20 church, by o.
means. MaSons are AT work maxim
: much-needed repairs. under the di
:. rection Of the military authorities. bU
a You can still see where wicked
: French sheIl-a French shell thi
h time-blew in at the side, missing tn
: altar by ten feet, but wrecking tn
a organ. and fell at the mailed feet @
: a small statue OF Jeanne d dArc WithOu
{ exploding, so-calied "blindSanger;
q but the pious villagers are convince
e that La Prucelie performed a Inlracl
and saved their church.
e -Four miles from the firing line
! within sound OF the cannOnadlng. 20
5 see something quite incongruous,
9 Millet picture. French peasant
Il working IN the fields 1t becomes
o frequent sight. The countryside
Y dotted wherever you go, with vel
l. -
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