The Daily Ardmoreite. [volume] (Ardmore, Okla.) 1893-current, 1917-11-09


snickered. He's the bloke wot counted
forty.four steps up the majors dug
out"
Back 10 "Blighty.'
A man staggered down the trench
with blood running over his face and
over his uniform There was so little
room at this point that we had To fiat
ten against the wall 10 permit him to
pass Close behind was another sol
dcr with small red cross on his
sleeve, not n Red Cross nurse, as they
never are at the front He started 10
tell us that the wounded man had just
taken his helmet off-but the wounded
man preferred to tell the story himself
81 just took Off me tin hat TO scratch
me blooming top-piece, when whang'
| Shrapnel And now it's me back TO
blighty under me own power" He wob-
bled on.
! thought nothing OF that blood. Back
in America | would not have had din.
ner after such sight. am tell.
ing you "A few grisly things. America
should know that war is more than
innocent chatter of machine guns" and
"hummocks OF chewed.up ground in No
Mans Land" The business of war is
to kill the enemy, and each side strives
to cut down the wastaSe Of ammuni.
tion to a minimum. The war is the
least grisly on the side which is the
best equipped. ! hope the obstruction.
lists in congress won't make the war
extremely grisly for our boys when
they reach the front.
1t is possible to find an occasional
skeleton, more or less intact, back of
the front. Usually these are hurriedly
buried Germans who have been uproo;
ed by their own comrades shells. If
the position is an exposed one, the
skeleton remains to whiten.
We had in our party one man who
took so reverential a view of every hard
contested section of the front that he
became a nuisance, particularly to our
British military escort. These officers
under constant trial. have no time for
emotion. To them silence and "A grave
face IS the right veneration for a bat
tlefeld-perhaps with an occasional
MY God" My friend murmured over
and over such comments as This is
hallowed ground" We dropped down
into one shell crater where there were
two wde-topped skulls, fragments of
German uniforms projecting out Of the
ground and several pairs of boots in
which leg bones stuck out like canes
in an umbrella jar. 1t was a sight
which, at the time, was grotesque. Ii
laughed, / hope the sin will be forgiven
me, but my profoundly sentimental
companion announced in a dramatic
hush that he would like to lie down and
cry for an hour.
The officers later were able to wreak
satisfactory vengeance on this tragic
American. He had mourntLlly retLs2d
every souvenir 1T would be rohbing
the cemetery of civilization to re"lcN =
even a clod of earth from these battle
fields" he said. or course, we respected
every helmet, bayonet. gun stock OF
cartridge case that was used as a grave
marker whether. German or British
But he would not take n small eXplod-
ed shell that makes most des;rFhe
vase. Getting back TO our car we cross.
ed gully in which there were several
skeletons partly hidden by long yellow
grass.
Here! You won't find this awkward
to carry" said one of the officers. jump
ing down into the ditch. He picked
up a skull and pulled out tooth. which
he offered my companion. 1t seems
a bit ghastly now, but l had a sharp
feeling Of gayety then. No; the tooth
was not accepted.
The business of reinterring is left %
East Indians. Chinese coolies and Egyp. |
tians. when some distance back Of th"
front. The British labor battalons are I
the only grave diggers at the front |
German prisoners sometimes are used |
within thirty kilometers Of the firms
line. when they are able TO rebury their !
own countrymen As the Germans are |
retreating on the western front. thev
alone have to desert their dead.
Prepare for the News.
AS the time gets nearer when our
boys Will be in the front line, taking |
the brunt of shell and shock with the |
others who have been pounding away
now for more than three years We
ought. TO begin to prepare ours alves !
for the news which is bound to come to |
some of us sooner or later.
II is not much use telling a woman
who has just said goodbye to her man
that he is only running the same risk
as he does in a railway journey "r in
his daily work. This may be hoIna cut
by statistics. but II does not seem 10
convince us and much less when YOU
see the streets OF the cities over here
where wounded men and GAINED men
are easy enough TO meet in any district.
BIT ! must confess that even during
tHe warm weather when every man who
cgul6 bulge was sent out Of CooI 4. the
eject was not Of a crowd Of inNuli1s
ana now that l think OF it. even In
these first days after l arrived.
7 was not shocked bv the nunEeI Of
rodpded not as l expected u be
Fut wherever YOU 40. to co-certs and !
plays or meetings, there are IlWa s
wounded soldiers; they always have the |
best seats and people crowd back TO let
them pass as they used to do for roy.
atty
The other morning l horp,rei ID h-
passing Buckingham Palace arl seeing !