South Bend news-times. (South Bend, Ind.) 1913-1938, 1916-02-24
Pierre Lott Visits the Silent Army of the Dead
q Do Not Think That Any Human Imagination Can Ever Anything Sad This Va
Young Soldiers the Desert in the Silence Which One YKws Be Wa o
and Thaous and with These Terrible Ndgb Whose Menace One Feels Hanging Over ALL

is certain, and II IS the mIcrophones that have
done it. The firing will keep up and there Is
no shelter anywhere. not a trench, not a hole.
Down on the ground, commandaat." cries
Osman to me from afar, for he sees a second
shell coming toward me. while my attention
is fixed on the graves. OF what good Is il 10
lie down? That is useful in case OF solid
shells. but not with shrspnel ballets. which
fall from above. No what we need is our steel
helmets. but rashly, not thinking there was
danger here, we have left them IN the auto with
our gas masks. We must escape. we must run,
that is all there IS 10 do. Osman runs 20 me
with his spade and his second little bottle l
cry to him, No, no. 1t is too late; save your.
self"
Good heavens! remember that our auto has
not been turned in the right directoni II would
have been an elementary precautiOn 10 do that
when we arrived here. have committed a
series of stupidities today; what is the matter
with my head? IL was because everything
seemed so calm when we came into this ceme-
terry. l cry to the two chauffeurs who are still
photographing, Leave everything turn the
auto quick, but not quickly to make
noise!" Osman has seized the opportunity OF
nv speaking to the chauffeurs to begin digging
near me. No. stop that" l say 70 him. you
see that they still firing; and hide
behind tree in the road" But it is almost
done commandment he answers. by the time
the auto is turned il will be finished"
After ALL rather prefer that he should dis
obev me a little and finish his work Never
was hole more hastily dug or bottle more
hastily buried. When he has put in the bottle
be throws back the earth, jumps on II TO flatten
il out and throws his grave digger's spade
away Then we run as hard as We can over
the hillocks of our dead, silently begging them
10 pardon us. There Is nothing so ridiculous,
nothing which looks so foolish running I'M
der fire But / am not alone; ! have the re-
sponsibility OF the lives Of these soldiers, and
| should be criminal II / should delay for
second the fight OF all Of them
The shrapnel shells continue 10 burst, scat
tering all around US their deadly hail. How
strange are the refnements OF modern war;
death seeks US in the depths Of the invisible.
in the heart of the white clouds upon the hori-
zon, hurled at by people whom we do not
see and who do not see Us, hurled blindly but
sure to find sooner or later.
During this wild flight my imagination. left
at liberty turns back 10 that cemetery and its
dead. The shrapnel Shells how strangely they
sounded in the midst of that silence and in
that extraordinary fog which increased as
does a micrOphone the noise OF their flight
1t is, perhaps, the first time that / heard them
thus, playing a solo separated from all the
habitual noises of the battle front in intimacy,
II / may saw so. and paying me the honor OF
a visit TO myself alone. Never have before
experienced the almost physical sensation OF
the mad speed OF small, hard object, and OF
what must be the effect Of lis collision against
a fragile obstacle, such as a chest or a head
The adventure is over, return 10 the vii
lage Of B. There the shrapnels can no
longer hurt The heavy calibre guns alone
could reach Us there We have not aad WIN
dow broken, we have not received q scratch
By instinct the chauffeurs come to a stop Id
the road at the moment when ! was going 20
tell them TO do so, not because the auto has
need of a breathing spell, but because We have
need TO look at our belongings, 10 put little
order in our things which were thrown IN pe.t
nell and which during our flight have been
leading a wild dance In which Photographic
cameras, helmets and revOlvers take a promi
nent part.
Then, like people who have at last found
sheltering doorway after running through the
rain, we look at another and feel desire
to laugh. Yes We desire TO laugh in spite OF
the agonizing memory Of our dead so fresh in
our minds, to laugh at our escape. 20 laugh
al having succeeded in what We wished % do
and especially at having foiled tie fellows Who
were shooting at US.