The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1915-07-29

are unpret entious buildings where the
farmers go to chat and drink Cnstead
of to the drug store in the village for
an ice cream Soda get it last.
A stretcher was being borne into the
door of this estaminet and abova the
doorway of the estaminet was chalked
some lettering which indicated that it
was a first clearing station for the
wounded Lying on stretchers OF the
floor were some wounded men. They
looked @ little stunned which was only
natural when you have been as close as
they had to q burst of d she'll shell
that made a hit. The conclusion was
bound to have this effect.
A third man was the best illustration
of shell desuuctiveness. Bullets make
only holes. Shells make gouges. frac-
lures and pulp. He too had Daacag-
ed head, and had been bit il several
places; but the worst wound ws in
the leg, where an artery had been
cut. causing a loss Of blood. He
was weak with sort of - Where am
I!'' look in his eyes. II that fragment
which had hit his leg had hit his head
or his meek or his abdomen he would
have been killed instantly. He was an
illustration Of now HARD il is to XIII
man even with several shell fragments
unless some Of them strike in the right
place. For ne was going to live. the
surgeon had whispered that fact in his
ear, that one important fact He had
beaten that Boche shell, after all.
And it was the one successful shell
out of the thousand; that one which
was supposed to make the waste OF the
other nine hundred and ninety nine
worth while.
The occasional officer or man who
passed the door on some errard did not
turn his head to look in. No groups of
men went past. Despite the dense
foliage some German observer might
see that there was enough to be worth
shell. We walked on as far a. we
might go, seeing nothing but road To
have moved off at random toward the
front would mean that a German sharp
shooter would see you before you saw
him as you passed through an opening
in the foliage.
He might be watching that opening
in the hope that il might frame human
figure under the sight of his rife Not
far away behind the green screen that
held stagnant the heated air, part Of
the line seemed to be suffering feverish
local irritation to judge by the sounds.
Returning by the same road by W hich
We came an automobile passed swiftly
blythe only kind Of car allowed on
that road. We had glimpse Of the
big painted red cross on an ambulance
side and, at the rear where the courtains
were rolled up for ventilation, Of four
pairs of soldier bootsoles at the end of
four stretchers which had been slid
nolselessly into place at the estaminet
by the sturdy, kindly, experienced
medical corps men.
Only one ambulance, dust covered,
of the color Of the road itself, came
along clear of any blast Of shells.
nothing at the front sends the same
chill down the spine as the thought
Of man wounded by shell being hit
by a shell a second time. livery rarely
happens, so prompt and so shrewd is
the work of the Royal Army Medical
Corps.
AS we walked along one of our
guns of battery near by spoke again
in the course of desultory cannon
ade, seeking to pay back in kind for
injuries which the four PROSTATE fig
ures in the ambulance had received.
Before we reached the village the
ambulance passed US on the way back
to the estaminet. Very soon after
the shell burst a telephone bell had
rung down the line from the extreme
front calling for that ambulance and
stating the Eumber of men hit so that
everybody along the line would know
what to prepare for. At the village,
which was out of the immediate dan
ger zone, there was another clearing
station. Here the stretchers were
taken out into house, taken out with
out single jolt by men who were
specialists in handling stretchers for
any redressing, if necessary, before
another ambulance started them on
journey, with motor trucks and staff
automobiles giving it the right of way,
to a big spotless white hospital ship,
which would bring them home to
England the next night. 1t had been
an incident Of life at the front and of
the organization of war causing less
furry than an ambulance call to an
accident in great city.