The Washington times., 1915-10-03
JEAN ELd0TeH
LETTER.


chanced to be. an OLD acquaintanes. Mr..
Irwin; Will Irwin. the writer chap.
After q bit Of proddins he rosrsd risht
Justify, Ewing us clean cut word pic
lures Of the human side Of this most In
human war, OF the Individual tragedies.
yes, and bits Of comedy that 80 to make
up this supreme tragedy. Mr.. Irwin was
in Europe when the war broke out and
was one Of the four mad Americana"
who went to the war in taxicab. rid
ing out from BRUSSELS straight into tho
teeth of the advancing German army,
There were many adventures. OF course.
some Of which Mr.. Irwin retailed to us.
With = raro touch Of humor-but he has
written of them SO much better than !
could tell them that dare not attempt
the task. 81
Mr.. irwin was at Boulosne. the Eng.
lish hospital base. for many weeks ana
claims that, with the exception Of the
British headquarters. II 10 the best place
in Europe from which to obtain com
prehensive idea Of what is going on. He
was in Paris, where .he heard Cnena'
sing tho Marseillaise to an audience
literally swept OF It's feet.
."f was 90 stirred" he said. that II
there had been a recruiting station for
the foreign legion at the door. shouio
not be hero now"
Ana then. at the end. whom every one
was IN tears, a Britisher neighbor turn
cd To him and said Pretty girl. ISN'T
shef"
He was also In London for several
weeks and he 10 planning to return to
Europe IA the autumn, p.
4 argt met Mr.. Irwin In stockholn'
gNSr AA was sent over to "cover' u
,iIyupic games for Coiher's, He wrote
a wond rful story. which brought out
Tie sB'rit Of that great gathsring ~ did,
nothing else that read on tho subject.
~. Led a little over these GOOD times
that have been knocked galley west By
tho war; but tho rest Of the party soon
made It evident that war talk and not
much else but war talk was expected
from one who was recently back from
the scene Of action.
Apropos Of this he had a good story
TO tell. 1t seems he was asked to join
tho famous 'douEhnut lunch" a gather
ing of officials. leaders among the news
paper mon and other men folk who
spSA40 sobothot unity ~ eAahS' "ssA1
the request that he do q little roaring.
He was ready to be obliging. thinking
that probably the story was fresher
here than In New York. which has been
the haven for 30 many returning from
tho battle ground: but. in starting his
tale. he chanced to mention Stone
wall jackson. There were two or three
Southerners In the party and--here he
grinned appreciatively--"they are still
lighting the civil war. and haven't had
= chance to say word yet
WIN Irwin has bright eyes that
twinkle behind his glasses and a very
expressive face. For the rest-well-
In passing through a crowded hospital
one dav no saw q hand feebly waving
and stopped beside tho bedside of a
young soldier boy.
"Amertcanr' asked the lad.
"Yes."
."I thought so by the cut Of your Nb.
I'm from Detroit. Shake" That de-
scribes him very well.
He had plenty of tales of tragedy to
tell. OF Paris In mourning: of the Latin
quarter with its men gone and its
women literally starving: of London
realizing that It has "muddled" too
long: Of only sons listed missing and
Of the fine flower of the English aris-
tocracy literally moved down. For the
English Tommy will be led by none
but gentlemen and for him leading Is
literal term, He expects his Officers
to brave what he braves-and a little
more. SO they die in droves. The Ger
man may order his company into battle,
may watch from the rear and return
saying, I've lost my company, Civ,
me another" But the Englishman-well
1T isn't DONE"
Then. lust when I was preparing to
smother most unbecoming sniffle hed
give us humorous bit. for instance
the story Of the cocckney who was pick
ing up survivors from one OF the Germal
cruisers sunk off the Falkland Islands
He reached out with a boathook, clutch
ed a fat spiuttering German by the cola
ana said, Come ere. you blarsted Dutc
sausage and get your bloody life syved.
And then the story Of Ashmead,
Bartlett. war correspondent. It seem
that the London Daily Mail had offere,
a prize Of e1.Ooo for the best photo
graph taken during a certain time an
consequently the world-the world O
the Daily Mail at least-was goin
round with camera In his pocket
Bartlett was on the Meganic. or one o
the British troop ships that was sun
In the Mediterranean. went down wit
the ship and came up fairly exhausted
He swan round for some time, an
finally gave q feeble hail to a boa
which appeared just off his bows Blu
mo luck" he said. every man In tn
boat was busy operating a camera
But there. Susan. didn't start ou
to write q book. Maybe l will one O
these days. but 1t won't be this weel
and besides have sundry bits Of gos
sip for your ear.
-
Emily Elliott Is to wear an unusuall
handsome Irish point lace veil. an he'll
loom which came to her from her great
sreat-grandmother. when she Is Marie
to Harry Badeau on October l6. The maj
riGge Is to take place at the apartmer
Of her brother and sister-in-law. ID
and Mrs. Henry r. Elliott. In the Drei
den Emily--her full name Is Emi!
Louise-is the daughter OF the la
Henry r. Elliott and Mrs. Elliott. VIII
though Washington people. lived
Alexandria for some fifteen years. 81
will he unattended. but Mr. Badeau wi