The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-10-14
DARING TOUR IF FRENCH LINES BY
 ENGLISH WOMAN Lady Teynham Writes Very Sprightly Account of Her JOurney-Was Under
 German Fire

l London, October 1.-(Speeial) )-Lady ; Teynham has Just returned to England from motor car tour of the French front. She was one of small party that went out to discover just what could DC
 done to relieve the civilian population. She appears to have had opportunities and experiences enjoyed by no other woman and the vivid account she writes of her trip is so interesting that l am
 quoting it to you at some length. We have been just under thousand miles in France, right along all the French lines. and some way through the British she says. We have been under fire several times We slept the night in town somewhere in Franeea-- tiny
 town. We were arrested for half an
 hour when we arrived. as there was some
 mistake about the permit. but 1t was alright after and they were awfuliy nice to us
 ''The place is bombarded all the time by the Germans, but was quiet for short time after we arrived, but it bega, about Il at night and went on all night I hardly slept at all and one of the party never took his clothes off, but walked about the passages all night. We We're the only two women, myself and another lady who came with us, who were
 allowed to sleep in the town, which is nearly all in ruins.
 We had to leave the town hy 5 in the
 morning. as nothing is allowed to move
 after 5, and it was so unsafe the officers
 were anxious to get us out of the place.
 Just outside this town we saw a
 French aeroplane being shelled, quite
 close, by Germans. 1t was most excit- ing to see the shells bursting above and
 below and all round, but I am glad to
 say never hitting it: 1t was a fine sight against the aVpninV pa ba
 wrong road to the town, and the captain said we were very lucky. as the Ger mans fire right across that road and the soldiers are never allowed u use it.
 We had been right along the battle- fields of the Marne and seen hundreds of graves. for miles and miles. In some places the corn had grown high, and you see the caps of the dead soldiers standing above it. as they hang them on the little cross they put up. Germans buried with nothing put up at all
 We got some fine German shells from the battefields, or at least from one, as the battlefields extend for miles. We went right along the Aisne and right across Central France to the Vosges and into Alsace. Once we went up a sort of mountain covered with fir woods, up to the German frontier. Here there used to be a fine hotel and several houses and customs house, but it had been badly shelled two days before we came, and was in ruins
 There was a French general and two stan officers here and lot of soldiers, They welcomed us with open arms. They had been whole year without seeing woman, and not even a civilian, so they made a great fuss of us. The general said he vas awfully nervous of our being there. that he would never forgive him self if anything happened to us, and that it was a most dangerous place, as shells were constantly coming. and there was one space that one is allowed to cross, it is not safe. We went into huge dug-outs here pitch dark, with a match to guide us. Tt is a long place, and takes about 10 minutes to get out at the other end. Here I got piece of shell from the Germans biggest guns.
 "A captain up a hill still higher, when he heard we were there, sent down to ask us to come and see his battery of three guns, so we crept up under the trees, and, after a good climb, came up to them. He gave us cotton wool for our ears, and then the guns commenced fir ing one after the other; the noise was terrific. and the shock nearly knocked me down.
 "Then he asked if would fire the gun myself, so I said I would, though I felt awfully nervous. but they were so de- lighted that I felt well rewarded though I really felt after as if was stunned, the roise was so immense.
 Each of the soldiers seized my hand after and shook it. and cried out, 'Vive I l'Anglais.' They gave me the fuse of the shell I had fired as a souvenir. also a curious chain connected with it. I felt I rad avenged the deaths of some of my friends