The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1915-09-23

he udu #lappeu mOunlaln3 streams ana
dug out a laundry where man could
wash his shirt and go up and be killed
in it all in a morning, had drained
trenches so muddy that to stretch in
them was an offense, and at the bot
tom of the hill it looked like a hydro
pathic establishment Oh the stage. He
had created baths where half bat
TALON at a time could wash.
Didn't Tell of Past Battles.
He never told me how all that coun-
try had been fought over as fiercely
as Ypres in the west nor what blood
had gone down the valleys before his
trenches were pushed over the scalped
mountain top No, he stretched out
new endeavors in earth and stones and
trees for the comfort of his men on
that populous mountain, and there
came priest who was sublieutenant
out Of a wood Of snuff brown shadows
and half yelled trunks.
Would it please me to look at a chap
ell? It was all open to the hillside,
most tenderly and devoutly done in
rustic work with readings of peeled
branches and panels of moss and
| thatch-St Hubert's own shrine. l
saw the hunters who passed before it
going to the chase on the far side Of
the mountain where their game lay.
Alan carried me off to tea the same
| evening in a town where he seemed to
know everybody. He had spent the
| afternoon on another mountain top in
specting gun positions whereby he had
been shelled-"a little marmite," Is
slang for it-and he had spotted a
bOche position which was marmitable.
"And we may get shelled now" he
added hopefully. "They shell this town
whenever they think of it. Perhaps
they'll shell us at tea"
It was a quantity beautiful little
| place with it's mixture of French and
German ideas, its old bridge and gentle
minded river between cultivated hills.
The sandbagged cellar doors, the ruin
ed houses and the holes in the pave
ment looked as unreal as violence of a
cinema against that soft and simple
setting.
Bursting Shells Are Warnings.
The people were abroad in the streets,
and the little children were playing. A
big shell gives notice enough for one
to get shelter if shelter is near enough.
That appears to be as much as any one
expects in world where one is shelled,
and that world had settled down to it.
The peoples lips are little firmer, the
modelling Of the brows is little more
pronounced, and maybe there is a
change in the expression Of the eyes,
but nothing that the casual afternoon
caller need particularly notice.
The house where we took tea was
the big house Of the place, old and
massive, a treasure house of ancient
furniture. It had everything that the
heart of moderate man could desire
gardens, garages, outbuildings and the
air of peace that goes with beauty in
age. 1t stood over a high cellarage,
and opposite the cellar door was
brand new blindage of earth packed
between timbers. -'--
Tea During Bombardment
The cellar was hospital with it's
beds and stores, and under the electric
light the orderly waited, ready for
cases to be carried down out of the
streets.
Yes, they are all civil cases." said
he. 'They come without much warn
1ng-a woman gashed by falling tim
Der, child with it's temple crushed
by a flying stone, an urgent amputa-
t1on case, and so on One never
knows
Bombardment, the boche textbooks
say, is designed to terrify the civil pop
| ulation so that they may put pressure
on their politicians to conclude peace.
In real life men are very rarely sooth-
ed by the sight of their women being
tortured.
We took tea in the house upstairs
with a propriety and an interchange of
compliments that suited the little &C.
casion. There was no attempt to dis
gu1se the existence of the lombard
ment, but it was not allowed to over
weigh talk of lighter matters. I know
one guest who sat through it as near
as might be inarticulate with wonder,
but he was English, and when Alan
asked him whether, he had enjoyed
himself he said, ooh, yes, thank you;
very much"
"Nice people, aren't they?" Alan
went on. - I'll.
"Oh, very nice-and such good tea"
he managed to convey few of his
sentiments to Alan after dinner.
"But what else could the people have
! done?" said he. 'They are French"
INVISIBL FISHING llNEc