New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1916-08-13
SECOND ARTICLE.

gi41O-ND An / ANAfifs
As soon as twilight fell we started on the
nightly round. Here was Section of the
American Ambulance doing hot service for
Hill 3O4 and Dead Mans Hill. 1t was on this
ride that | saw the real Verdun, the centre
of the deadliest action since men learned how
TO kill. The real Verdun is the focused
strength of all France, flowing Up the main
roads trucking down the side roads and
tovetfowug upon the fields. The real YER
dun is,@fed and armed by the thousands OF
motor cars that bray their way from forty
miles distant, by the network of tiny narrow
gauge railways, and by the horses that fill the
meadows and forests.
Tiny trucks and trains are stretched
through all the sector. They look ike a
child's railroad. the locomotive not more than
four feet high. They brush along by the
road. and wander through fields and get lost
in woods The story goes in the field service
that one of these wee trains runs along on
hillside. and Just back of it IS battery o.
zoos which shoot straight across the tracks at
. height of three feet The little train comes
chugging along full of ammunition. The ar
tillery men yell Attention" and begin hring
all together The train waits till there seems
to be a lull, and goes by.
We were still far enough from the 'front.' 10
see this enginery Of war as spectacle Inc
flashing cars and bright winged aeroplaneS'
the immense concourse of horses, the vast or
derlv tumult. thousands of mixed items, sepa-
rate things and men, all shaped by one Will
oil If IL clothed IN
wonder. full Of speed and color-this pro-
digious spectacle brought to me with ire
sistible appeal memory Of childhood.
"What does it remind me Of" kept say
ing to myself. Now had it:
When | was a very little boy | used to get
ND early on two mornings of the year: one
was the Fourth Of July and the other was the
dav the circus came to town. The circus
came while it was yet dark in the summer
morning. unloaded the animals. unpacked the
snakes and freaks, and built its house from
the ground UP. Very swiftly the great tents
were slung, and deftly the swinging trapezes
were dropped Ropes uncoiled into patterns.
The three rings came full circle. Seats rose
tier on tier Then the same invisible will
created a mile long parade down Main Street,
gave two performances of two hours each, and
hacked up the circus which disappeared down
the road before the Presbyterian church bell
rang midnight.
A man once said 10 me Of world famous
general: "He is a great executive. He could
run a circus on moving day" 1t was the per-
feet tribute SO can give no clearer picture
Of what Petain and his five tingers-the
generals Of his staff accomplishing than
to say they are running one thousand eircuses,
and every day is moving day.
Our little car was like carriage dog in
the skill with which it kept out of the way
Of traffic while travelling in the centre OF the
road. Three ton trucks pounded down upon
il and the small cuss breezed round and came
out the other side The boys told me that
one Of our jitneys once pushed huge cannon
down over rayine, and went on innocent and
unconcerned and never discovered its work
as wrecker till next day.
But soon we passed out Of the zone OF
TRANSPORTS and into the shell sprinkled area.
We went through a deserted village that is
shelled once or twice day. There is moth
ing so dead as a place, lately inhabited,
where killing goes on. There Is the smell Of
tumbled masonry and Wondering flesh, the
Stiffness that waits for fresh horror. Just as
we left the village, the road narrowed down
like the neck of bottle. 1t is so narrow that
only one stream of traffic can flow through.
The young man with me had been bending
over his steering gear. few days before,
when shrapnel ball cut through the seat
at just the level Of his head II he had been
sitting upright the bullet would have killed
him. And another bullet went past the face
al TIA hAr with him ThA American FialA