Semi-weekly herald., 1915-05-27

present one, battles mean deaths.
The taking of place like "Hill
co. means the going out Of many
precious lives. My experience in
the trenches, and my observations
in three days spent with the
army Of northern France make it
matter of surprise to me that
any man escapes who is in a
trench or in the firing line in any
position. Take the 400 miles of
trenches through Belgium and
France, with more than 100000
of men in them, and what can
happen but death. Other corre-
spondents can tell their funny
stories about the glories of trench
life, but | have none to tell. The
trenches are places of slaughter.
Speaking of trenches, reminds me
that the London Times in a careful
editorial indicates that the respective
armies in Belgium and France are
practically in the same positions that
they were last October at the time
the Germans captured Antwerp. Ant
werp gave the Germans full posses
sion of Belgium with the exception of
one corner touching the North sea
which corner IS occupied by King AL
bert and 250,000 Belgian troops. These
troops are generally reckoned in the
part of the armies of the allies. There
has been fighting at given times, al
different positions on the lines, and
there have been slight changes, but
nothing very material as yet.
Test of ENDURANCE.
If this war is not to be long one
then it must be bloody one. Foul
hundred miles of fortified trenches
mean that if one army triumphs over
the other the result must come afte,
bloody assaults have been made, anc
such assaults would mean an appal.
ling loss of life. The other alterna.
tive is for the lines to hold their po
sitions, bringing on practical siege
The German. lines would be fed anC
reinforced from their rear, and th,
allied lines from their rear. Thi.
would bring on a test of endurance
and test of money.
am not able to predict which di
rection the war is to take, whether il
is to be sudden and desperately bloody
or whether each side is to continue
the waiting game. / judge from thc
tone of the London newspapers that
there are some people in England who
are anxious to force the fighting. They
think the British army has had suf.
ficient time to be drilled and convert.
ed into active units. If l read tn.
London papers correctly there is s
sort of "On to Richmond feeling II
the British capital. l presume tn,
troops themselves are anxious for bat
tie. This is singular thing in arm
les that men are so ready to be calleC
into action.
No RespectOr of Persons.
War is no respector of persons. TIL,
tidings from the front bring the news
Of deaths. / have formed the acquain.-
ance of Monsieur NJ. Casenave of the
French diplomatic service here. He
has much to do with the foreign cor.
respondents. He had arranged to sal
to the United States on the steame,
Espangne, whicn sails today for New
York. Yesterday he received a mes.
sage from the front stating that his
only son, aged 20, had been killed in
battle on that day. Strangely enough
that an order had just gone forth by
which he was to be decorated for
valor in a former action. NJ. Case
nave cancelled his sailing and will not
go to America at present. He had
another son who died at the age of
10 and this distinguished Frenchman
is now childless.
Young Gladstone Killed.
Readers will have discovered that
grandson of the late William E.
Gladstone has been killed on the Brit
ish lines. 1t seems that rifleshots had
been swapping above the trench and
that Lieut.. Gladstone arose to an ex-
posed position to see where the shots
came from. Sticking his head up, he
received bullet in the forehead. One
can hardly imagine an officer doing
such thing. He had expressed him
self as being unfit for soldier and
had only enlisted because of duty. Ev-
cry man who has anything to do with
the trenches will feel that he certain
ly was not fitted for military service
although having plenty of courage.
have found that the correspond
ents of Paris, representing American
newspapers, are conservative and