New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1917-09-16

more wsYering consultations, nothing but
the fixed stars plunged TO their very hits.
They are really all one sees; in spite o.
ones self one stares at them and assumes
gallant and naughty air for these remote
worlds, whose whole interest, by the bye,
must at present be centred in Artauds
white horse.
Paying Up Small Deots
A we are forbidden 20 sit down. the men
lean back to back, cushioned by their haver-
sacks. and thus take their rest in couples,
talking softly together as they face, one
toward the French darkness and the other
toward The darkness Of Alsscc. 7. is our
first battle, and We are beginning to b. ok
out the thoughts and gestures that we shall
have once we are fighters. We don't yet
shake hands with each other, but our Glsrres
are So heavy that il they fall upon a neigh
boris Indifferent eyes he has, perforce. b
smile at us. We don't make our wills, but
the soldiers who owe each other small
sums pay them back or cancel the debt.
Only one man in the company sets down
his last wishes: this is Latre, who leaves
his business to his wife and his wife TO
his father. We jokngly hand the paper
about, and Latre follows It from squad to
squad as if to guard precious heritage
Of his cwn.
Jaicot and | take turn on the road.
The men are collecting in groups. The
square platoons have melted into roGrded
formations, and both walking and thinking
come more easily along this battalion with
no sharp corners. We exchange quiet words
of recognition with the comrades we meet
in the dark: "C'est toi?" "0ui, c'est MOL
"C'est vous?' TIE fellows whose frs.
chance i; is 20 show what stuff they are
made Of are lighting their cigarettes more
tenderly than usual That chap yonder
seems TO feel a remote drowsiness stealing
over him-the sleep that comes after battle
and he yawns. All at once our ignorance
of war weighs us down as If this were the
night before an examination. We are al
most ready to go over our military theory
again, and feel guilty to have neglected our
settings and our deployments But chiefly,
without respite, we think of the first
wounded and the first dead Of the battalion.
All the mental power we have stumblcs
sharply ovor this first corpse. We under.
stand the second, and the .hird, and toward
the hundredth we ourselves stretch our
stark length on the ground; but suddenly.
in spite of US, the first dead whom we have
finally laid out in our minds comes back
to life, scrambles 20 his feet, and the whole
thing has to be done over again.
A noise OF gallopiug-the captain OF the
General Staff brings the colonel an order to
attack the village Of Euschingen. The
church tower can be seen, just ahead of Us,
two kilometres further on. . lie also
feels it necessary 70 make speech:
Forward, men of Rosnne, rs you charged
the Austrians"
That's an old story. We did, in fact, beat
the Austrians in 1914, at Roanne itself
but
and attention. You are urder heavy
artillery fire"
He finally leaves US. No, he is coming
back again, still at a gsllop.
'You are under light artillery fire"
viii he reappear in this way for every
new cslibre-for carbines and revolvers?
The colonel lifts his arm and lets it drop.
We are off.
The four companies advance in line,
hundred yards apart, all in close ranks and
quite silent. The men don't utter word,
in spite Of their desire to know just what
they are doing-whether this is march of
approach or a charge, and IL there will be
any machine guns. Here and there a miner
or weaver has taken the precaution to
put out his pipe or cigarette, as he does
at the factory gate. The men are advancing
very fast. The crisis Of discipline they are
undergoing for the first time resolves itself
into silence and speed, and the most disci-
plned are marching double-quck. The four