Evening journal., 1916-01-18

United Press Staff Corresondent q
SALONIKA, Dec. 1.-THE French |
retreat began to sweep past Strum- S
nitza while we were dining. The I
valley was filled with moving lights, {
with the clatter Of wagons, the con-
fused sounds Of the camp and the oc-
casional rumble OF a railroad train.
Everything was coming down the val
ley from Krivolak forty miles away. {
men. supplies and all. The French
had tried 10 reach the Serbians the
long arms OF their cavalry scouting
parties and the longer fingers OF their
"seventy-fves" had been feeling
through the Serbian mountains in an
effort to come in contact with the
Serbian right and thus save Monastir
and southern Serbia.
IL But the Serbian right had been
turned back; the Serbians in their
hillside trenches where | had seen
them a week before. had been routed.
! Krivolak, therefore was no longer Of
benefit to the French or the Serbians.
and the French were retiring from it.
We dined at a long table in stone
shed. The shed was new. 1t had
been built next to the railroad sta
ton for a dining room for General
Baillaud's staff, the general himself I
occupying the station. This was the !
first day the stone shed had been used, 4
and DR.. Vassal, director of the medi- |
cal corps Of General Baillaud's di- /
vision, who sat at the head of the
table, told us he was very proud to
have us dedicate the new dining room
by our presence.
THE cement it not yet dry he
said, but our men worked harder TO
put up the building out OF such rough
pieces of stone as they could find
. along the river bank, and we are very
C proud of it,"
What did IL matter after a merry
dinner If one end Of the room caved
s in while Eysseri. a poet from Paris
3 was reciting in a loud, roaring voice
poem he had written about the Call
! laux case? Some OF the stones fell
; on him. too. though most Of them
went on to the table. What did it mat
( ter If the whole new stone house went
down? II would have been better so,
Q for within two days, as the fates Of
n war were to have it, the Bulgars were
y to own Strumnitza. railroad station,
. stone dining room and all.
y But only one end Of the room caved
l in. so we were able 10 90 on with our
b. dinner fun. Bardat, an actor from
a Paris. whose name and face are often
on the billboards there, and who looks
.5 like Raymond Hitchcock. spoke funny
IS pieces. John McCutcheon, of the Chicago
Is Tribune. with big pencil, made carica-
-fl tures of our hosts on the side Of the
,e railroad station which formed the one
safe wall of the diningroQm, and Rich
L.
1senting to our hosts the caricatures as
* a permanent reminder Of their American
20 newspaper guests. Some Bulgarian Off
4 Ger had admired the sketches by TIM
~ time
81 Amid all our merriment there was th'
Do noise of retreat, tho sound Of voices
III from many tents, the ncighing of th'
% horses picketed for the night. the rat
tie of hundFcds of wagons along thl
nearby road and the rumble of steam
he trains.
l. It isn't often, i'm this war, that Z
70 new spaper man finds the opportunity t.
sit at campfire in the midst of tent
and talk with ordinary soldiers. Mos
T2 of the views that newspaper men havl
a of the war have been secured under th
30 guidance of high officers aud in routin
26 and scheduled way. So, when ! saw
30 chance later in the evening. TO leav
25 the hospital tent whore we were 20 slee
- ana risk my neck in finding my wa,
81 across a quarter Of a mile across couu
try to where the oampfires were bright
SO / took a chance.
13 There we're lights in many of tn
O1 tents, though il was after II O'Clock
81 I heard the sounds of a poker gam
"a coming from one tent In a bright
% lighted automobile ambulance ! dis
. covered another poker game urde
16 way No one seemed to be eithe
sleeping or sleepy Most OF the tai
I heard was a happy talk. banter an
joking. This was not to be wondere
at. These men had been fighting i
L. mud and snow. against odds for seN
ny eral weeks. They had gone thei
on best; it was the Serbian army that ha
he failed, because it had been tired on
The by weeks Of retreat. These Frencl
ill men were honorably retiring from
for position which was not longer OF Us
ac- to the Allied cause. They were nj
of running away in rout: they were n,
ne being whipped. Their job was don
and their pleasure at leaving an VI
=. pleasant position was only naturi
son and it struck me. as I walked throue
der the camp that it was happiness thi
ow was keeping them awake.
ins was partly right, perhaps, but q
son real reason that there was so lit
ter. sleep was that the camp was 10
&. torn up and moved at 3 o'clock in u
oul morning.
ow "Hallol Who are you?" sent
for standing beside big log fire challen
ed me- All about him we're pickett
ihorses and mules.
Press corresponds with passes
n.el I explained.
Us n Come here and show them to me
~ he said.
ne walked into the center of Il
ing ring of horses and showed my paper
lng Three or four Frenchmen with ste
9od hats came up TO see them too. A ci
nge. ilian! An Americanl
2 Y. Rare BIRDS" said one sOldis
on Would / sit down on this log, besi
for the fire. A soldier brought out
rom canteen and asked if ! would have
Iale. .......,......,..............
20