Evening star., 1916-09-24
Copyright, 1851
BY HERBERT COREY.


PARIS, September 1o.-one might cal.
these shrapne1 stories. They are all
small, but each has its value. They
help one to understand war.
This establishment has sent almost
1000 men to the war;" said one Of the
managers Of the Bon Marche.
How did you I'LL their places?'
That was easy. We had 1900 girls
in the workroom. We sent them to the
counters. The workroom is almost
idle"
Even So
Look about you" said the manager.
There are six girls at that counter.
There is not enough work for two
A visitor walked through the wards
OF the American ambulance at Neuf1ly.
She stopped by the side of bed occu-
pied by great hulk of a man-beard-
ed, hairy, ferce-eyed He had been
wounded at Verdun.
II know a young man who is at Hill
304. near Verdun." said the visitor HE
has been there since the battle began
and has never been wounded"
I was at Hill 304." said the big man.
Hell get 1t if he stays. We all do"
Then he turned his back and faced
the white wall.
The actual physical labor the men
undergo during such fighting as that of
the Anglo-Fr offensive is crushing.
There have been numerous cases of or
ganizations going without sleep for five
and six days The men dozed when they
sat down. They dropped off to sleep
standing up" as one said.
An English officer Is responsible for
this story:
I'VE were caught in a sweep Of fire
wood" said he. Il yelled at my men
to lie down.
'.They hooked themselves to the
earth. as the French say. We lay there
in shell holes and in such cover as we
could dig for ourselves. for half an
hour.
'Then one Of our batteries got the
Boche on the hip and stopped his nom
sense. We ran forward.
IT stopped a bullet on the run. but 1t
erward I recrossed that field, on the
hunt for a dressing station. In one OF
the shell holes where we had hooked
ourselves I found a man Of my COM
pany fast asleep"
This comes from Holland. Recently
the Germans have, according to this
story. put old territorials on guard at
the Dutch frontier, to prevent the es-
cape of Belgians into the neutral
ground. This released better troops
for the work of fighting.
The guard duty annoyed the old ter
ritorials. Sometimes they have been
on guard fourteen to sixteen hours a
day. They began to desert.
An order was issued:
Thereafter the frontier shall be
dier Of pair shall be responsible for
the conduct Of his comrade. II one de-
sert. the remaining soldier shall be
punished"
Since then, the Dutch say, the ter
ritorials have deserted in pairs.
In one Of the villages through which
the French have pushed their advance
on the Somme Is deep underground
mans. One of the big French shells
smashed hole in the top of this case
mate. so that the sunlight streams in.
TN the dugout on one side of this
hole are the Germans" said my inform
ant. "and we are on the other. In the
der officer, seated at the telephone. The
corpse is frightfully swollen and dis.
torted The telephonist's hood Is still
clasped to his ears.
Neither side can get at him. except
at the risk of death. Neither cares t.
get at him, perhaps. One dead man
more or less. does not count.
but the other day a weird thing hap.
pened. Perhaps by the shock Of an ex.
ploding shell the wires Of the telephon.
station were put in contact with live
wires somewhere else, and for houri