Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1915-03-16

! ming down on the symphony
and suddenly clear note detaches it.
self from the darkness-a tune which
enraptured death is playing to himself
till his fiddle splits is that a
human being coming up. running,
here! he Is coming with q
rush he will leap upon our
backs halt! halt! halt! He
stumbles upright into the trenches,
and tumbles sobhing and bowling,
among our rifles. He strikes out at
| US with hands and feet he is
crying and struggling like a child, and
yet no man dares 60 up to him
| for now he ia rising on his knee
and then we see! Half his face has
been torn away :. one eye gone
l.. the twitching muscle Of the
| cheek is hanging down he is
kneeling, and opening and closing his
hands, and is bowling to us for
| mercy.
We gaze at him horror-stricken and
are paralyzed then at length
the yokel-and our eyes thank him for
it-raises the butt of his rife and
places the muzzle against the sound
temple bang! and
! the MANNED wreckage falls over back
ward and lies still in his blood. +.
And again the darkness casts up
| shapes they run up and reel
about like drunken men they
fall over and pick themselves up anew
/. they race forward through the
night in zigzags, until they at last
collapse exhausted, and lie still under
our very eyes and make an end OF
And at length some one comes
! crawling toward us he is
crawling up on all tours he is
dragging something behind him with
his body, and all the time he is whin-
ing like a sick dog, and is bowling
| shrilly in long-drawn tones he
| is still crawling along fast-ard when
he has reached us we see-and the
blood stands still in our hearts-they
/ are his entrails hanging out Of his
| body :. his belly has been ripped
! u2 from below he is crawling,
he is crawling up on his entrails
!. he is coming the en-
trails are coming horror
breaks out from every pore !.
for hardly three PAGES away from me
he lies still and then {.
May Gcd forgive me! he
raises himself slowly on his hands
I. he succeeds\ for a moment
4 ana loobs Nercfftll
God! he looks at me, and re-
fuses to let my eyes go again .
I can see nothing except these great,
death-stricken eyes Merciful
God! his eyes, those eyes!
Those are a mothers eyes looking
| down on me unspeakably that
is son of his mother lying there
| before US butchered. ! Will
break out of my fastness. !. ~.
will throw myself on him. sobbing, and
kiss his face, and battle his anguish
away in my tears. I will do
It! will! and cannot stir
myself from my rigid tension. +.
Then the monstrous strain relaxes-
his arms give way he falls
forward on his face and sinks down
on his tortured body. His hands
witch once more then he
4 lies still and kisses Mother Earth,
who has slain her children so hor-
ribly.
| am done my hands are
trembling. -. Then all Of sud-
den, q voice behind Us begins to sing
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS.
"Now thank we all our God" -.
that is madness singing there
we are all next door to madness.
I look round, and see gray, dis
torted faces. and blazing, startled eye
balls. And suddenly the sing
ing voice changes to loud, impudent
burst of laughter.
"Ha! Ha! Ha! Hal" The laugh "a
full of horror, and mingles with the
dying whine beyond. The
laugh grows ever louder. and ever
wilder, and laughs in triumph at the
naked. pitiful dying, littering the
ground.
'Drummers! Strike up!" shouts the
voice.
Uncover for prayer!"
We recognize him; he 10 reservist
belonging to some pious sect. A ser
geant has seized him, and tries to
hold him {. the captain has run
up. but tho mailman tears himself
away and runs ahead Of them to Z
rife pit =. he stands aloft, Z
black, wild silhouette against the
pale sky, and spreads out his arms IN
blessing over the sick night
he stands there like q rapt priest, and
raves, and is blessing the mangled
darkness. I'm the name Of the Father
and Of the Son, ana OF the Hoiy
Ghost"
Then arms seize him from behind
and pull him down they DRAG
him to the ground. Our Fa
Their" he howis aloud. and strikes and
kicks out all round him, and goes on
praying from his raging body until q,
length breath fails him =. they
have tied him hand and foot, and have
gagged him.
But now the thing hap
pens-that none the less was bound
to happen.
And when the voice calls out n
comes over me 10 II had lived Il IL
"Cantainls aho,yta thu hard nakad