The Press., 1916-08-03
\ Singular
 Find
It Occurred on a Bat.
 tlefield In France.
By F. A. MITCHELL

ooooooooooooooo oooooooooooooo
 George Elliott lived south of the bor- 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 possi- | ble wife and family of children.
 It is this kind of man which, when q war breaks out, furnishes food for powder. When a man sees only mis- cry before him in life he looks upon death us not altogether undesirable. Besides, till 1t 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 a bullet in q vital part that will end his misery at once. He doesn't consider being maimed and turned again on to the world in a 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 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-
 " after him through her tears till he had passed out of sight, then. sobbing convulsively, went into the house.
 | A year later Private George Elliott, l who had been enlisted in Canadian
 regiment of sharpshooters, was con
 cealed among the branches of a tree
 in northern France picking off the enemy with his rife when a shell
 burst under his perch. When George came to himself he was lying in the crater or hole made by the explosion. He 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. It was iron, manufactured iron, and, Judging from what was uncov-
 cred by the earth, it was sheet iron. One who covets death from dis
 tance is not so anxious for 1t as 1t ap- ] breaches. Georges desire had been ] for a sudden taking off without knew , ing what was to happen. Now, lying t In a shell hole in the ground, neither friend nor enemy about, he was very , much concerned lest he die from ln attention. He knew that he had been wounded, but how seriously he was Ignorant. He made another effort te D draw up his leg, and this time sue ceeded. It had only been benumbeo f As to his ann, that was in very baC
 shape. It had been mangled, and arte
 rial blood was flowing from it. Un
 fortunately he had been unconscious . only a few moments, and there was
 yet time to stop the bleeding. Makint
 a tourniquet of his handkerchief, h.
 succeeded in compressing the orific'
 through which he was bleeding.
 tl Having lain quiet for some time ant V feeling desirous to do something 10
 his safety, he sat up and looked abou r him. Being in a hole, he could no
 look far. Indeed, the only thing o
 any interest whatever was his meta u pillow. Only one or two square fee were uncovered, and George, tappin a on it with the knuckle of his righ st hand, made up his mind that 1t wa hnl1nW hf l- meath 1t.
 w Meanwhile shells were falling an ,d bursting about him. He had bee , when dropped from the tree in advanc - of the British line, and it did not seer = to be any nearer him now. Nor did 's appear that the Germans were an 5. nearer. He had some curiosity t ln know what was under the iron GOV er ering, but, wounded as he was, th1 r. was impracticable. Having nothing in do, he looked up at the tree above hin in It was peculiar shape, and he notice k. this particularly. al Presently shell burst so near hi1
 that it shook down some earth frol the side of the hole he was in and CO u' cred the metal that had interested hin 1h He was sorry for this, because he ha he been contemplating an effort to e l. anime it more thoroughly. But he Wf d. very weak and would not likely haN as succeeded. Soon after this he heal sh men tramping, the word of comman CT and his comrades charged past nm. no It was not long after this that u II. Red Cross people came and, puttll :, George on stretcher, took him to U
 rear. where he was examined. H e arm had been so badly shattered a fragment of the shell that the su
 geon attending him decided to amp nd tate it. George sighed. He had con
 to the war to find release from mise
 and misery had been added. He h'
 lost an arm, which would necessita his being discharged. Death was
 far from him as it had been before
 enlist ed.
 D., When George was discharged fro ar, the hospital and the army he was to
 that he would be sent back to Canad iss He said nothing. but he thought go Ike deal. He would have liked to see
 beloved Ellen again, but it would on of be a renewal of a situation Wh1 for would again have to be ended.
 might be returned to Canada, but fro
 there would go anywhere so long as lth was not back to her. While he W ce, waiting he thought of the hole he
 a fallen into when knocked out of t
 tree and was seized with desire il. know more of his iron pillow. The hv was not much change in the situati -, of the British and German lines, he thought it likely that he might
 able to visit the spot.
 One day he went out in search
 1t and found that his comrades
 dug a line of trenches about guar