The Seattle star. [volume] (Seattle, Wash.) 1899-1947, 1916-01-13
OLD MEN FIGHT
ON SERB FRONT
Bill Shepherd Finds Men of
SO and Over Before
Monastir
THEY'RE Sd RESERVE
~ WILLIAM G. SHEPHERD
Omitted Press staff correspondent)

( Omitted Press stair correspondent)
I MoNAsTlR. Serbia. Dec, 90 OBy
Mail A man standing IN the mid.
die OF the road looking thru a tele.
scope on n tripod
That's our front, says Col. Vas
sich. pointing az the man.
The car stops and We get out. On
our left gentle slope runs from
the road on our right there II also
slope. and stretching up these
are ribbons Of red. winding along
the face OF the hills They are the
Serbian trenches
I Before us unfolds a flat. beauti.
fal valley. the valley OF Halinchi.
Six miles across this valley rise
mountain sides. the Golden Cross,
5000 feet high. and other topping
peaks
over there are the nulFars: II
they can come across this flat val.
Icy. Morastir ~ miles behind MS
Ia theira. with all tho women aud
children. churches. schools and
homes at their mercy
Sees the Enemy's Lines
Look thru your glasses and You
will see them" SAYS Commander
Nahsich.
Ills voice Is tired aud his eyes
are dark and dropping. he wears
two coats. tho the sunshine In
warm. and huge mufflcr Is about
his neck
There they are The nuigars'
4 wagon train Is marching along
road at th. foot of the distant
hills. soldiers tramp behind II. It's
the same road you've been riding
on. only you haven't been on that
particular section OF H.
They're human beings over
there. ms No are but they seem OF
another world
Death lies between here and
there
Thru glasses over there. mrn are
looking at us. perhaps.
To them WE seem inhuman and
the Serbian trenches along the hin
slopes are places Of death. the
width OF the world away. And yet
We two sets OF humans are only
slx. snnnhiny miles apart. across n
beautiful valley filled with piowed
farms. It's u. black magic OF war.
Old Men In Trenches
We climb the slope. walking be-
hind the trench.
The nulgars are too far away for
rife FIR. and their cannon. for
some reason We do not know. are
Just now silent
nnt the men remain In the
trenches. according to orders. Each
man has his rifi. ready. resting on
the ridge of earth before him. They
ar. elderly men not one appears
To he less than as
"Thes. men are from vrani." OF.
plains the colonel They are
serbiss third and last reserve"
You may wonder about Ger.
msry's reserves ard how many
men she can yet put into the
field: or about how many
classes France has left, or how
many soldiers Great Britain
ear raise. but there's neither
any doubt nor any secret about
serbis's resources She's al.
uost thru: shes on her last
elsss OF men. men In the SOS,
and more.
Here they are. before your eyes.
With their rifles ready.
Their beds are these nests %
straw along the bottom OF the
trenches
Their firesides land most mon %
80 have learned 10 love their fire
Sides. are these little ovens cut
Into the clay sides Of the trenches
With memories Of home and chill
dren-all those deep memories that
are part Of the habits and life ~ q
man of S0-they spend their time
here waiting 10 KIN or 10 be killed.
willing 10 defend with their lives
the city OF Monantir. the last hig
city that In left to tho SerhlAns Of
all the cities that. two months ago,
they were 50 proud OF