The Kansas City sun. (Kansas City, Mo.) 1908-1924, 1917-07-28

mouths. The last we heard of Carson he was
~prodding the government like the very devil to
put venom into their blows at We, and more power
to his elbow while he's at that work, say we.
As for home rule, we mean to have it, and we'll
get it, please God, when we're licked! Put that
in yer pipes and smoke it,"
The two names for the Germans in use among
the Irish troops are "Gerrys' and Ga corruption Of
the French "Allemand" for Germany "Alleymans."
Brief informal truces are not infreQuently come
to between the opposing for ces at particular sec
lions of the lines, so that one or other, or both,
may bring in, after a raid, their wounded and
their slain. One of the most uplifting stories 1
have heard was told me by a captain Of the Royal
Irish Fusiliers.
Out there in front of the trench held by his
company lay a figure in khaki writing in pain and
wailing for help. Will no one come to me?" he
cried, in a voice broken with anguish. He had
been disabled in the course of a raid on the Ger
man trenches made the night before by a battalion
which was relieved in the morning.
These appeals of his were like stabs to the COM
passionate hearts of the Irish Fusiliers. Several
of them told the captain they could stand it no
longer and must go out to the wounded man. If
they were shot in the attempt, what matter!
1t happened that a little dog was then making
himself quite at home in both the British and
German trenches at this part of the line. He was
a neutral he took no sides he regularly crossed
from one TO the other and found in both friends
to give him food and a kind word with a pat on
the head. The happy thought came to the cap
tain to make a messenger of the dog. So he
wrote: May we take our wounded man in?' tied
the note to the dogs tail, and sent him to the
German trenches. The message was in English,
for the captain did not know German, and had to
trust to the chance of the enemy being able to
read it.
In a short time the dog returned with the an
swer. 1t was in English, and it ran: Yes; you
can have five minutes" So the captain and a
man went ont with q Stratchpr and hroupht tho
poor fellow back to our lines.
Then, standing on the top of the parapet, the
captain took off his hat and called out: "Give the
Germans three hearty cheers, boys" The re-
sponse was most enthusiastic. With the cheers
were mingled such cries as :"Sure, the Gerrys
are not all bad chaps, after all" and May the
heavens be the bed of those of them we may
kill" More than that, the incident brought tears
to many a mans eyes on the Irish side; and, 1t
may be, on the German side, too. Certainly, an
swering cheers came from their trenches.
I have had from a French officer, who was
wounded in a cavalry charge early in the war, an
account of a pathetic incident which took place
close to where he lay. Among his companions in
affiiction were two who were far gone on the way
of death. One was a private in the Uhlans and
the other a private in the Royal Irish Dragons.
The Irishman got, with a painful effort, from an
inside pocket of his tunic a rosary of beads which
had a crucifx attached to it. Then he commenced
to mutter to himself the invocations to the Blessed
Virgin, of which the rosary is composed.
Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with
thee; blessed art thou among women, and blessed
is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus"
The German, lying huddled close by, stirred
with the uneasy movements of a man weak from
pain and loss of blood on hearing the murmur of
prayer, and, looking round in a dazed condition.
the sight of the beads In the hands of his fellow
In distress seemed to recall to his mind other
times and different circumstances-famiIy prayers
at home somewhere in Bavaria, and Sunday eve
ming d~evotions in church-for he made, in his
own tongue, the response TO the invocation "Holy
Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners now at
the hour of our death. Amen"
So the voices intermingled in address and
prayer-the wrapt CALCULATIONS of the Irishman,
the deep cultural of the Communicating weak
er and weaker, in the process of dissolution, until
they were hushed on earth forever more