The central record. (Lancaster, Ky.) 18??-current, 1916-02-03
Guns Result of Collaboration.

Guns Result of Collaboration.
That. of course. is all Shakespeare
ever got out of the alphabet. French
artillerymen make their own guns. as
he made his plays. 1t Is just as simple
us that.
There is nothing going on for a mo
ment." said the commandment. 1T is
too misty. | fancy that the boches,
being of all things methodical. intro
duce the amateurs to the batteries In
the intervals. At least there are hours.
healthy and unhealthy. which vary
with each position. But" the com.
mandant reflected. there. let us say. is
a place and distance"
He gave range. The gun servers
stood back with the bored contempt of
the professional for the layman who
intrudes ON his mysteries. Other civil
ians had come that way before. had
seen and grinned and complimented
and gone their way, leaving the gun
ner high UP on the back of the bleak
hillside to grill or mildcw or freeze for
weeks and months.
Then she spoke Her voice was high
er pitched. 1t seemed, than ours. with
a more shrewish tang to the speeding
shell. Her recoil was as swift and as
graceful as the shrug of French
mans shoulders. The empty case leap
ed forth and changed against the trail.
the tops of two or three pines fifty
yards away nodded knowingly TO each
other. though there was no wind.
They'll be bothered down below to
know the meaning of our single shot
We don't give them one dose ut a time
rs a rule
Somebody laughed. We waited In the
fragrant silence. Nothing came back
from the mist over that clogged lower
ground. though no shell Of this war
was ever launched with more earnest
prayers that 1t may do harm.
French Psychology Changed.
They talked about the lives OF guns,
what number OF rounds some will
stand and others will not how one
,an make two good guns out Of three
ol'OAcu ouCS uhh hat Niu<y iueh SoAhc
times goes with u single shot or blind
salvo. A shell must fall somewhere
and by the law Of averages occasional
ly alights as straight as homing pi- |
geon on the one spot where 1t can ,
wreck the most Then the earth opens
for yards around and men must be
dug out. some. merely GREATNESS. who
shake their ears and carry on, and 9th |
ers whose souls have gone loose among
the terrors. These have to be dealt
with as their psychology demands, and .
a French officer Is a good psychologist. ,
One OF them said:
Our national psychology has
changed | do not recognize 1t my
self. What made the change? The
boche. II he had been quiet for an
other twenty years the world must
have been rs rotten as his. But II Is
all his now. He Is saving the world.
How? Because he has shown us what
evil is. We, you and |. England and
civilization, had begun to doubt the cx.
istence of evil. The boche is say.
ing u.s.
Then we had another look nj the an
imal in its trench, Il little nearer this
time than before and quieter on ac-
count of the mist having picked up.
Anywhere you please you shall find
the same observation post, table, map.
observer and telephonist. 1t is always
hidden, the guns are always ready. and
the same smeared wisp Of trenches is
smoking and flaring from Switzerland
to the sea. The handling of the war
varies with the nature Of the country.
but the tools are unatered One looks
upon them at last with the same weari-
ness of wonder that the eye receives
from an endless repetition of Egyptian
SYMBOLS of the Conflict.