Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1916-01-19
By WILLIAM G. SHEPHERD

t SALONICA. Dec. II.
The French retreat began to sweep past
Strumnitza while we were dining. The
valley of the Vardar was filled with NOV
ing lights, with the clatter of wagons,
the confused sounds of the camp and the
occasional rumble of a railroad train.
Everything was coming down the valley
from Krivolak 40 miles away, men, sup
plies and all The French had tried to
reach the Serbians; the long arms of
their cavalry scouting parties and the
even longer fingers of their seventy
fives" had been feeling, feeling through
the Serbian mountains in an effort to come
I'm contact with the Serbian right and
thus save Monastir and southern Serbia.
But the Serbian right had been turned
back; the Serbians in their hillside
trenches where 1 had seen them a week
before had been routed. Krivolak. there
fore. was no longer of benefit to the
French or the Serbians, and the French
were retiring from 1t.
We dined at long table in stone
shed. The shed was new. 1t had been
built next TO the railroad station for
dining room for General Ba'llaud's
staf. the General himself occupying the
station This was the first day the stone
shed had been used, and Doctor Vassal,
director OF the medical corps OF General
Baillaud's division, 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.
PROUD OF WORK
"The cement is not yet dry" he said,
but our men worked hard to put up
the building out of such rough pieces OF
stone as they could find along the river
bank, and we are very proud of It,"
What did It matter that after a merry
dinner one end of the room caved in while
Eyseri, a poet from Paris. was reclting
In a loud roaring voice n poem he had
writtan about the Caillaux case. Some of
the stones fell on him. too, though most
of them went on to the table. What did
1t matter II the whole new stone house
went down? 1t would have been better
SO. for, within two days. as the fates
of war were to have II, the Bulgars were
TO own Strumintza. railroad station,
stone dining room and all.
But only one end of the room caved in. |
so we were able to go on with our dinner |
fun. Bardat. an actor from Paris, whose |
name and face are often on the bill |
boards there, and who looks like Ray
mond Hitchcock, spoke funny pieces.
John McCutcheon, of the Chicago Tribune,
with @ big pencil, made caricatures of
our hosts on the side of the railroad sta
tion, which formed the one safe wall of
the dining room, and Richard Harding
Davis made a speech, presenting to our
hosts the cnricatures as a permanent re- |
minder of their American newspaper
L
mired the sketches by this time.
CHATS WITH PRIYATES. [
Ii isn't often, in this war. that n news |
paper man finds the opportunity to sit at
a campfire In the midst of tents and talk
with ordinary soldiers.
Most of the views that newspaper men
have of the war have been obtained under
the guidance OF high officers and in a
routine and scheduled way. So, when / |
saw n chance later In the evening to
leave the hospital tent where we were
10 sleep and risk my neck In finding my
way quarter of a mile across country
TO where the campfires were bright, l
took a chance.
There were lights in many OF the tents.
though 1t was after IL o'clock. l heard
the sounds OF q poker game coming from
one tent In a brightly lighted automo-
bile ambulance discovered another poker
game under way. No one seemed TO be
either sleeping or sleepy,
Most OF the talk l heard was happv
talk, banter and joking This was not to
be wondered at. These men had been
nghting in mud and snow against odds
Tor several weeks. They had done their
nest, IT was the Serbian army that had
failed because 1t had been tired out by
weeks of retreat These Frenchmen were
honorably retiring from a position which
was no longer of use to the allied cause
l was partly right. perhaps, but the
real reason that there was so little sleep
was that the camp was to be torn up
and moved at o'clock In the morning.
Halo! Who are you?' a sentry stand
Ing beside big log fire challenged me-
All about him were picketed horses and
mules.
Press correspondent with passes" l
explained.
Come here and show them to me-" he
iaid.
I walked into the centre of the ring of
horses and showed my papers. Three or
our Frenchmen with steel hats came up
o see them. too. A civilian! American!
Rare BIRDS" said one soldier Would l
III down ON this Jog beside the fire. A
older brought out a canteen and asked
woul have drink. He poured me a