The Birmingham age-herald., 1916-02-13

That is not one of our dogs" said
 the colonel. That is a German sentry
 dog. He has heard us talking
 But that dog is not across that val ley" I objected. Hes on this hill. He's
 not 200 yards below us."
 1 THROUGH BARB WIRE
 1.-Two hundred yards,' said the soldier. l The soldier grinned and leaning over the top log, pointed directly beneath us. It was as though we were on the roof of a l house looking over the edge at some one on the front steps. I stared down through
 the giant pine trees towering like masts, l mysterious, motionless, silent with the s- lence of centuries. Through the interlac- ing bcughs, I saw only shifting shadows
 or, where shaft of sunlight fell upon a moss, a flash of vivid green. Unable
 to believe, I shook my head. Even the l Boche watchdog, now thoroughly annoy 1 ed, did not convince me. As though read ing my doubts, an officer beckoned and
 we stepped outside the breastworks and into an intricate cats cradle of barbed wire. It was lashed to heavy stakes and wound around the tree trunks, and had
 the officer not led the way, it would 1 have been impossible for me to get
 either in or out At intervals, like
 clothes on a line, on the wires were
 strung empty tin cans, pans and pots,
 and glass bottles. To attempt to cross
 the entanglement would have made a
 noise like a peddler's cart pumping over cobbles
 1 We came to the edge of the barb wire,
 and what looked like part of a tree l trunk turned into a man-sized birds nest. | The sentry in the nest had his back to
 us and was peering intently down 1 through the branches of the tree tops.
 He remained so long motionless that I
 thought he was not aware of our ap. l ha hal Op1x i
 was no part of his orders to make abrupt l movements. With infinite caution, with
 the most considerate solwness, he turn 1 ed, scowled and waved us back. It was | the care with which he made even so l slight a gesture that persuaded me
 the Germans were as close as the colo
 mel had said. My curiosity concerning them was satisfied The sentry did not 1 need to wave me back. l was already on my way.
 At the post of observation I saw a dog | kennel
 'There are watch dogs on our side, i also,' I said.
 Yes" the officer assented doubtfully ',The idea is that their hearing is bet | ter than that of men, and in case of night attacks they will warn us. But
 during the day, they get so excited bark ing at the Boche dogs that when dark
 ness comes, and we need them, they are l worn out ana 1dSC asleep.
 l We continued our walk through the 1 forest and wherever we went found men
 at work repairing the path and pushing
 the barb wire and trenches nearer the | enemy. In some places they worked 1 With great caution hidden by the ferns
 and dragging behind them the coils of wire; sometimes they were able to work openly, and the forest resounded with the blows of axes and the crash of a
 falling tree. But an ax in forest does
 not suggest war and the scene was still
 one of peace and beauty
 PEACEFUL SCENES
 For miles the men had lined the path
 with borders of moss six inches wide and with strips of bark had decorated the huts and shelters. Across the tiny ravines they had thrown what in seed catalogues are called rustic bridges. As we walked in single file between these carefully laid borders of moss and past the shelters
 that suggested only a gamekeeper's lodge, we might have been on a walking tour in the Alps. You expected at every turn to l come upon a chalet like Swiss clock and patient COW and young woman in velvet bodice who would offer you | warm milk
 Instead, from overhead there burst sud- denly the barking of shrapnel and through an opening in the tree tops we saw a
 French biplane pursued by German shells.
 It was late in the afternoon, but the sun was still shining and, entirely out of her turn, the moon also was shining In the blue sky she hung like a silver shield. and toward her it seemed almost to her 1 level rose the biplane. She also was all silver. She shone and glistened Like a great bird, she flung out tilting wings.
 The sun kissed them and turned them into flashing mirrors Behind her the | htIr iv, . smoke, feathery, delicate, as innocent
 looking as the tips of ostrich plumes The | b1plane ran before them and seemed to play With them as children race up the 1 beach laughing at the pursuing waves
 The biplane darted left, darted right, climbed unseen aerial trails, toboreaned
 down vast imaginary mountains or, as a gull skins the crests of the waves. dived
 into cloud and appeared again. her
 wings dripping. gistening and radiant.
 As she turned and winged her way back
 to France you felt no fear for her. She l seemed beyond the power of man to harm, something supreme, superhuman
 A sister to the sun and moon, the prin-
 cess royal of the air.
 Alter you have been in the trenches. if 1 seems so selfish to be feasting and drink ing that you have no appetite for dinner
 At least, not until dinner is actually an- 1 nounced. When you go through trench where every man is encased in mud
 where his uniform and his underclothes are stiff with mud, where he eats and drinks mud sleeps in mud, where the ram and sleet lash his face and iced
 water rises to his knees, and you in a
 waiting to take you to a warm inn far rom smells and gases. pass him by. it is surprising he does not take his entrencb- l ing spade or his rifle and hit you a whack over the head.
 l often have wondered why one of them did not. l have even wished one of them wou,o ! nave fe't so mean and selfish at the sight of such discofnfort and d.nN ger so quietly and splendidly borne. that have almost invited a poilu to take a shot at me just for luck. would have felt less like an intruder and more like a brother Elk" There was onlv one man wno seemed to share my point of O uy1 q o