The Owosso times. (Owosso, Mich.) 1897-1926, 1916-01-28

was my Detrotneu. 1 IunCicu 4 IA
pallor stealing over his face, but II dis
appeared so soon that l thought little
about 1t. Afterward Clochette told me
that he had proposed to her the day
before asked her to be my wife.
can now see what shock my an.
nOuncement must have been to him.
But neither of us could have Clio
Ghetto then, for suddenly the war broke
out, and Henri and l were both called
to the colors. going to the front in the
same regiment. BY this time l had
learned that Henri had met with a
great disappointment in losing Clio
Ghetto, and told him the day we were
entrained for the front that in case l
was killed 1t was my wish that he
should marry Clochette; that l had eX-
pressed this wish to her and she had
promised me she would accede to it.
"You see. madame, by this time I
made it the interest of Henri that
should be killed. Had he been a vii
lain he could have shot me in battle,
and no one but himself would have
known that he was murderer. But /
knew he was not that kind of man.
Henri and joined that army which
extended southeastward through Bel
GUM and along the border Of France
and were in the battles occurring while
we were being driven back toward
Paris. Then came the battle of the
Marine and the subsequent fighting for
thn nnSSnSciOn Of (Nn1niS DrrinCp oil
this time neither Henri nor l received
scratch. When later we were struck
Henri received his death wound and
lost my leg.
You remember, madame, when late
in September, in the second year of the
war, we and the British, after four
weeks sending storm of missiles
against the German trenches, moved
forward along the whole line. Well, in
that movement, in which 1t seemed to
us and our enemies as If the end Of the
world had come, Henri advanced
with the rest, and, being not only In the
same regiment but in the same COM
pany, We were near together Once
through the horrible surroundings,
when 1 was stumbling over dead and
wounded. the din of 10000 thunder
storms beating on my eardrums, I
caught sight Of Henri. His eyes were
momentarily fixed on me as If fearful
that l would never come out Of the
tempest alive.
1--WE followed the retreating foe too
fast for the rest of the line, and a
number of us were cut off. Henri and
I took refuge In deserted trench. 1t
was not time for taking prisoners.
In the first place. the enemy. as we'll
as ourselves, were war mad, and In the
second there was no way of bringing
prisoners behind the lines. 1t became
evident that Henri and must leave
our hiding place and get back to our
men or be shot down.
'But the changes were so rapid that
before we could make up our minds to
take our chances in fight a gentle
breeze from the southeast waited q
noxious cloud upon us that drove us
down into the very bottom of the
trench and held us there with our
faces buried. our eyes closed, in the
soil. Then the enemy charged upon
our men. and down came the bodies Of
those who were shot while crossing
the trench, burying us under pile Of
dead and wounded.
ITO be thus crushed was no better
than TO inhale noXiOus gas. and,
struggling against our covering. we
reached u point where we could look
about us. The gas had been blown to
our own trenches and had been fol
lowed by a bavonet charge of the en-