The Lakeland evening telegram. (Lakeland, Fla.) 1911-1922, 1916-06-03
A Singular
Find
1t Occurred on a Bat
tIefieId In France.
By F. A. mitchell

oooooooooooooooooooooooooe
George Elliott lived south of the Dor
der line separating Canada from the
state Of Maine. George was desperate
He was very poor, he was in love, and
the country about him was a dead
and alive region wherein it was hard
enough for man to pick up living
for himself, TO say nothing of "A posi-
BILE wife and family of children.
1t is this kind of man which, when
a war breaks out, furnishes food for
powder. When a man sees only mis-
cry before him in life he looks upon
death as not altogether undesirable.
Besides, till it comes he has no re-
sponsibility as TO food and clothes.
The government takes care of him till
he is told to stand up before an enemy
and be shot down. His idea of being
shot is bullet in Il vital part that will
end his misery at once. He doesn't
consider being manned and turned
again on to the world in far worse
fix than before.
One day George went to see his girl,
Ellen Barry, and told her that he was
going up into Canada to enlist He re-
minded her that it was madness for
them to think Of marrying and his go
ing to the war would be as good a way
as any TO end what was becoming tor
ture. The only response on Ellen's part
was tears. This made it all the harder
for George, and, taking her in his
arms, he kissed her, then, releasing
her, turned and walked away without
looking back Ellen gazed mournful-
ly after him through her tears till he
had passed out Of sight, then. sobbing
conyulsively, went into the house.
A year later Private George Elliott.
who had been enlisted in a Canadian
regiment of sharpshooterS, was CON
cealed among the branches of a tree
in northern France picking off the
enemy with his rifle when d shell
burst under his perch. When George
came to himself he was lying in the
crater or hole made by the explosion.
lie tried to draw up one leg and fail
ed. Then he tried to move his left
arm and failed at that His cheek
was resting on something hard and
cold, and he managed to raise his head
sufficiently to see what his rigid pillow
was. 1t was iron, manufactured iron.
and, judging from what was uncov-
cred by the earth, it was sheet iron.
One who covets death from dis
lance is not so anxious for it as it ap-
proaches. Georges desire had been
for sudden taking off without know
Ing what was to happen. Now, lying
In shell hole in the ground, neither
friend nor enemy about, he was very
much concerned lest he die from in.
attention. He knew that he had been
wounded, but how seriously he was
ignorant. He made another effort to
draw up hiS leg, and this time sue.
ceeded. 1t had only been benumbed.
As to his arm, that was In very bad
shape. 1t had been mangled, and arte-
rial blood was flowing from it. On.
fortunately he had been unconscious
only few moments, and there was
yet time to stop the bleeding. Making
a tourniquet of his handkerchief, he
succeeded In COMPRISING the orifice
through which he was bleeding.
Having lain quiet for some time and
feeling DESTROYS to do something for
his safety, he sat up and looked about
him. Being in a hole, he could not
look far. Indeed, the only thing of
any interest whatever was his metal
pillow. Only one or two square feet
were uncovered, and George, tapping
ON 1t with the knuckle of his right
hand, made up his mind that it was
thin and there was hollow space be-
meath 1t.
Meanwhile shells were falling and
bursting about him. He had been
when dropped from the tree In advance
Of the British line, and 1t did not seem
to be any nearer him now. Nor did 1t
appear that the Germans were any
nearer. He had some curiosity to
know what was under the iron COW
ering, but, wounded as he was, this
was impracticable. Having nothing to
do, he looked up at the tree above him.
1t was peculiar shape and he noticed
this particularly.
Presently shell burst so near him
that 1t shook down some earth from
the side of the hole he was in and COW
cred the metal that had interested him.
he was sorry for this, because he had
been contemplating an effort to ex-
anime it more thoroughly. But he was
very weak and would not likely have
succeeded. Soon after this he heard
men tramping, the word OF command.
and his comrades charged past him.
1t was not long after this that the
Red Cross people came and, putting
George on a stretcher, took him to the
rear. where he was examined. His
arm had been so badly shattered by
fragment of the shell that the sur
geon attending him decided to ampu-
tate it. George sighed. He had come
to the war to find release from misery
and misery had been added. BE had
lost an arm, which would necessitate
his being discharged. Death was as
far from him as it had been before he
enlisted.
When George was discharged from
the hospital and the army he was told
that he would be sent back to Canada.
He said nothing, but he thought good