The Hartford republican. (Hartford, Ky.) 18??-1926, 1917-02-02
FRENCH INFANTS BORN WITHIN
SOUND OF HEAVY CAN
NONADING.
TOTS ARE VENTURESOME
NIothsrs Call Them In When The
Shrnpnel Begins to Fall Close
At Hand.


a psychological riddle. 1t is start
ling 20 the newcomer at the war q
find them here at all 1t is uuCluul
to see them at play where shell
might break at almost any moment
utterly oh'iyious to the soldiers am
scenes about them. and with sense
SO attuned 20 the ordinary nerve.
racking noises that only prolonged
!Uii in the cCaseleEs roar Ct guns
would cause them the least concern
They cling with their elders 20
: the remnants OF their shelI-s1auered
bones in the bombardeG towns ana
villages whore even yet the Ger
man guns send their shells Some
have heen born within sound Of thu
cannon. and others have come into
their first sense Of being in the midst
Of battle. The strange phenomenon
OF life to them will he unwont"i
stiffness OF peace.
4 striking picture it is to see q lit
tie French girl, five or six years Old.
with plated pig tall down her
back. tripping. bareheaded. along a
road where soldier men venture on
~ under the protection of their big
steel hats. Such little girl sat ana
softly sang and knitted in front nj
her home near an old Flemish mill
one bright and warm December noon
while a score OF aeroplanes whirled
and fought overhead and the high
blue sky was filled with the ileecy
cotton balls that come from burst
ing shrapnel shells She could see
distant hills. which were the enemy
trenches. and still further back. the
occasional white-hot flashes OF emo
my guns.
No stranger school can he found
in all the world than that az Arras.
Some of the houses are just as their
owners left them during the first
BON bardment in October two years
ago. Others have been pUlverized
along with the cathedral, the city
hail and the railway station-thre"
lavorite targets Of the German gun
ners. The enemy lines skirt the
eastern edge OF the city and daily
these messengers Of death are sent
shriekins into Arras bursting in
fury from the sky.
IN the midst OF all this maIignity
OF war some two score children or
more go TO school Their classroom
is i'm the cellar of a house so well de-
molished that a few additional shells
would scarcely change the character
o! the mass Of debris that serves a.
protective roof. II would take a
terrific hombardment to interrupt
them at their lesosns. The muifled
sound OF shells crashing in the die
lance has become far too common
place 10 attract attention.
All arras lives underground. There
are quiet periods OF the day whom
the women. children and old men
venture abroad for friendly call az
a neighbOring cellar or for the sake
OF a stroll and a breath OF fresh air.
Opportunity after opportunity has
been given them 10 leave. but they
prefer TO remain with what is, or was,
their own. Three persons were
killed just outside the school one
day. but the children in the cellar
knew nothing OF the tragedy. When
school is out each afternoon the chill
drcn are told to hurry home as fast
as they can go, and there is a great
rattcring Of little wOOdon-sOled shoes
down the melancholy streets.
Called Out of Shell Rain.
There are scores OF other towns
within the ire zone, but not quite
SO close to the war area where chit
dren live by hundreds. II Is no in
frequent thing to hear mothers cali
ing their children in from desulto-
ry bombardment just as they would
from a shower OF rain.
Several mnths ago enemy aero
planes dropped bombs in village
six or seven miles behind the firing
line. It was Sunday afternoon and
the streets were thronged. Outside
a soldiers moving picture theater
line of children were waiting for the
doors TO open. One OF the bombs
fell near where they stood. They
scattered like so many mice, but
within minute or two all were
scrambling back 10 their places In
the queue as if nothing at all had
happened.
English Tommies love children ant
when billeted In a village can always
Be seen playing with tho tots, buy
irE then al sorts o. candies and
sToe,rest5, ald aTev Hbce ag tbsp