Wauwatosa news. [volume] (Wauwatosa, Wis.) 1900-1948, 1915-01-08
BY MAURICE sARREs Of the French
Academy.

HCauemy.
The other evening, leaving the
trenches of the first line. we went
about to press the hands of cur sol
diers through the shelters thanking the
hill, where they came every three days
TO lie. And then. after | had seen a
little teasing of the Prussians, was
led into little wood, 800 meters dis
tant from their line. One of them
was stationed in advance. standing be-
tween two apple trees. We looked
at him. He gazed back at us. And
no one on either side moved
Twilight was descending. Between
that nDan and US lay the bodies of dead
men which could not be gathered up.
shall never forget the sinister spot,
and the harmony between living be-
;ngs and landscape Is it possible that
our rich plains have come to such
desdlation; that the best, morally and
physically, of France, are hidden in
these kennels of beasts, and that ideas
of hate and of death alone occupy the
minds of the millions of individuals
who face each other along this i'm
meDse line of battle? OF what dreams
that Prussian before me, as he
watches me through the mist of eve
ming? He thinks of annihilating me,
and l. in the same way, think of de-
stroying him. These are circum-
stances in which the most particular
spirit loses it's identity in all the
others, in which no soul is kept apart.
That duty is evident, certain. But
how deep do its roots strike down into
darkness!
Facts and Mysteries.
In vain did my companion-no one
better experienced in the affairs of
this war continue to give me interest
ing details by the thousand. Behind
the facts there raises itself barrier
of mystery. And while we went back
through the stretch of country to
which this campaign has come, new
er ceased to ponder upon it.
From time to time we came upon
people of our side, cooking in the lit
tie hollows of the plain. They were
laughing, chatting among themselves.
Then we went on again into the ST.
lence and into the thickening night.
That ending of our visit to the adj
vance posts resembled a return of
late hunters in autumn, but mingled
with it was an extraordinary disquiet
of heart Never have / known such
vital feeling of brotherhood as on
that journey; never more profound
sense of the mystery in which our ex-
istence is bathed.
All around us now there reigned un-
imaginable silence, and one distin-
guished objects so PAGES away with
difficulty.
BE careful" said my companion
80 me. "You have the river on your
left"
We arrived finally at a point where
the plain is cut away abruptly into
a deep valley, and leaning over, saw
far below me, at the foot of the cliff
on which we stood, little pools still
beneath tall poplars. Their waters
shone with sinister light through
the riffs of shroud of fog. Mournful
vapors rose and grouped themselves
IN great moving masses.
There" / said, lis the kingdom of
drsolation."
Wounded Man on the Marshes.
During five days we had seen and
had listened to wounded German,
whom no one could relieve. He was
one of a patrol upon which we fired
His comrades had saved themselves
without a thought of carrying him
with them The poor devil lay there
with a broken thigh. AS you can see,
it was not easy to go hunting for him
In those rayines and concealed
marshes. At last, on the fifth day, we
were able to carry him to our ambu-
lance, where he died, thanking US.
You will be interested, / believe, in
the emotions which animated that Ger
man, wounded and abandoned.