The sun., 1916-12-10
Julian Allen, Son of New York Law.
yer, Had Early Training Of
Hero Making Sort

1876 pounds. lie Is as hard as nails
and as supple as wire and has the
nerve Of a grcnadier.
His letters horne are filed with the
stir and action OF the great events In
which he is living. He speaks French
fiuently and his letters bristle with
soldier slang and with the terse speech
OF his native land.
I'VE have been very busy" he begins
n Of his letters. 81 have had one
nights sleep out OF the last four and
tonight / must work again. This II
poste de occurs work. and all that we
have seen before Is child's play COM
pared to this.
The roads here are awful. Shell
holes make them nearly impossible.
Fortunately We have the moon to give
us some light. We go through the
villages. which are continually shelled
and 1t is not very pleasant. French
batteries are right beside the road. and
last night during a tir de barrage II
was awful. The air was red with
shells and the air filled with their
whistle and roar.
THE boches, thank heavens, were
too busy Smelling the trenches to pay
any attention to the roads. However,
they sent a few gas shells into b.
"A village which we must go through.
The smell was awful. However, We
got through without having to use
our masks. Two big $50 shells fell
about fifteen yards from us. but they
fell on soft ground in a field and did
no harm"
IIarp ora ANNA rIipnnanc ~ tha lfa
the hoy has been leading as given in
another letter:
II am de piquct for twenty-four
hours In this God forsaken village.
The dust is covering the roads. For
five days 10 II has not rained and the
mud turned to dust. From time to
time a shell comes whistling and roar
ing into houses. already damaged. that
line the main road. Flies are every
where. A black. buzzinG mass hat sets
you crazy. now lighting on your hands
and now on your face. The car IL
covered with them. They are mad
dcning.
my hands are disgusting. There IL
no water to he had. Gasolcne Is more
cleansing. ] spent the other night in
the depths of an ahri tdugout or shell
teri that smell OF all the disgusting
things one could imagine. Beside me
a man was snoring loudl.: on n bench
n maladc was coughing steadily. In
"A corner a blesst was lying on q
From time To time a ~brancardisr tried
To comfort him.
Outside the steady rumble OF pass
ing wagons was heard, then the roar
and crash Of n shell. the frightened
gallop OF the horses. the cri' of the
drivers and cracking OF whips. Then
all was quiet but for the coughs and
the means and the snoros and ! fell
asleep
Here is the light hearted way In
which he speaks OF the narrow escape
he had from death:
Monday night W went to Marie.
IN the road up we were fired upon by
mitrailleuses. Friday night | went
up to Marie again. They put several
shrapnel shells into the village. one
landing just across the street, an cclat.
hit my helmet and shraonel balls fell
about us"
New birds are beginning TO come
in" he writes again. SUNDAY night
| went up the hill lie Mort Hommel
about midnight. Four OF us were out
sid the ahri when suddenly a shell
reared in and fell twenty yards dis
tnnt. Naturally We ducked and for
%,unately we did. Even So we were
struck by falling stones and dirt. I
was hit in the neck-just scratched.
For two hours the boches shelled the
poste and you may be sure we were
in tho abri."