The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1915-09-23
NOUN TAIN TOP
GERMAN ARTILLERY
Villagers, Not Warned of Bonn
bardment, Calmly Take
Their Tea as Shells Burst.

rssary, or sometimes overhanging it In
ragged splinters or bushy tops. Bits
Of cloth not French showed too In the
uneven line Of debris at the trench tip,
and some thoughtful soul had marked
an unexpected boche trench sweeper as
not to be touched. 1t was young
lawyer from Paris who pointed that
out to me.
Devastation Everywhere.
We met the colonel at the head Of
an INDISPENSABLE pit Of ruin, full of SUM-
shine, whose steps ran down very
steep hillside under the lee of an al
most vertically plunging parapet. 10
the left Of that parapet the whole hill
side was one cruel Of smashed trees,
split stones and powdered soil. 1t
might have been ragpicker's dump
heap on a colossal scale. Alan looked
at it critically I think he had helped
make it not long before.
1--WE are on the top of the hill now,
and the boches are below" said he.
1--WE gave them a very fair sickener
lately" ~
'"This," said the colonel, ''is the front
line"
There were overhead guards against
hand bombs, which disposed me to be.
lieve him, but what convinced me most
was a corporal urging us in whispers
not to talk so loud. The men were at
dinner, and a good smell Of food filed
the trench. This was the first smell
had encountered in my long travels up
hill-a mixed, entirely wholesome fla
vor of stew, leather, earth and rifle OIL
A proportion of men were standing to
arms while others ate, but dinner time
is slack time even among animals, and
it was close to noon.
. Boches Get Their Soup.
"The boches got their soup a few
days ago." some one whispered.
I thought of pulverized hillside and
hoped it had been hot enough.
We edged along the still trench
where the soldiers stared with justi-
fed contempt, I thought, upon the
civilian who scuttled through their life
for a few emotional minutes in order
to make words out Of their blood. It
reminded me of coming in late to a
play and incommoding the long line
Of packed stalls. The. whispered dia.
logue was much the same.
Pardon; beg your pardon, mon
sieur. To the right, monsieur. If mon
sieur will lower his head; one sees best
from here, monsieur"
1t was their day and night long bust
ness, carried through without display
or heat OF doubt or 1ndecision. -..-
Those off duty not five feet behind
in the dugout were deep in their pa
pers or their meals or their letters,
while death stood ready every minute
to drop down into the narrow cut from
out Of the narrow strip Of unconcerned
sky.
The Germans In Sight.
And for the better part Of a week
one had skirted miles of such q frieze.
The loopholes not in use were plugged
rather like old fashioned hives. Said
the colonel, removing plug:
Here are the bOches Look and
you'll see their sandbags."
Through the tumble of riven trees
and stones one saw what might have
been bit of green sacking.
They're about seven meters dis
tant here" the colonel went on. That
was true too.
We entered a little fortalice with a
cannon in 1t in an embrasure, which
at that moment struck me as unneces-
sarily vast, even though it was partly
closed by frail packing case lid. The
colonel sat him down in front of it and
explained the theory Of this sort of
redoubt. --
by the way" he said to gunner
at last, "can't you find something bet
ter than that? I think it's too light"
he twitched the lid aside. "Get log
Of wood or something"
. loved that colonel. He knew his
men, and he knew the boches had them
marked down like birds. Whenh he said
they were beside dead trees or behind
boulders sure enough, there they were;
hnt rs hovo sold dippor ho~,. T. -,