The Lakeland evening telegram., 1917-06-27
The Cremi;e,x
Brothers
By ELlNOR MARSH

AS III tue tTencneS nSnung
The Germans. Antoine was a robust
young man. Francois the reverse. The
latter was very delicately made-in-
deed, too delicately made for a soldier.
Soldiers are disposed to resent any
thing like cowardice in companion.
Francois inability to bear without
starting the explosion Of q shell about
his head drew down upon him the con.
tempt of his fellow soldiers. Antoine
defended his brother, but a defense
served no purpose, for ''one convinced
against his will is Of the same opin,
ion still"
One evening the command was or.
dered TO make a raid on the enemy's
trenches The Cremieux brothers were
IN the same company and marched
out shoulder to shoulder The French
drove their enemies out of their
stronghold and some distance beyond
to the second line. Then the Germans
turned upon their enemies and drove
them back
1t was impossible to see in the dark.
ness who fell in the engagement It
| was not till the roll was called, or,
rather moses were counted" who had
returned. Then it was discovered that
Antoine Cremieux had been left be-
hind on the field
Great was the distress of his broth,
er. Indeed. he shed tears. His com
! rades endeavored to cheer him, but to
no purpose Those who were permit
ted to sleep slept, but Francois Gre.
mieuX remained awake bowed down
with grief
Later in the evening Francois was
missed, The captain of his company
caused search to be made for him,
but he could not be found. Some one
suggested that he had deserted to the
enemy. Since he was not popular Oh
account Of his want Of manly strength,
this explanation Of his absence came
to be believed
During the night the groans Of those
who had been left wounded on the
field were distressing. The commander
of the force called for volunteers to
|
the Germans were supposed to be very
near. and the men who had encoun'
tered murderous fire on their sally
were in no mood to encounter 1t q
second time
About 3 o'clock IN the morning, when
< the line. one Of the French soldiers
saw n dark object which seemed to he
coming from the direction Of the enc
nv. There we're some trees left tint,
had not been TORN away by shot and
shell. or, at least, the trunks were Still
!. standing. The soldier saw the DARK
+, figure move slowly as though stagger
. ing between two of these giant tree
q trunks At first he was about to rouse
the command, thinking that he saw
one OF many who were skulklng for
: ward to make surprise attack; but
seeing no others, he concluded t.
+ await further demonstration. Present
" he saw the figure again or anothe
!, he could not till which-rise slowl.
! from the ground and appear at full
length The upper part OF the bod.
was very large as though mantl
we're wrapped around it. But, since
was only a dark mass, nothing furtbe
could be distinguished.
The soldier watching concluded I
= call some of his comrades, who wer
sleeping under arms, but when the
% strained their eyes for the figure
r. was not to be seen. But while the
Il pierced through the darkness it agai
i. rose up like some large animal on II
hind legs and resumed its staggerin
forward movement. Some OF the me
le leyeled their rifles at it, but no on
81 fired.
1r Nearer and nearer approached tn
Is nnseefnly mass till it was within fe'
wards of the trench. Then 1t fell in
heap Several sprang over the PR
tecting emhanklnent and took up tw
- men, one had been carrying the otht
on his shoulder Both were carrie
into the trench, and when light wa
brought % bear on their faces the
were found TO be the Cremieux brotl
ers. Antoine was previously woun'
ed. Francois was eAHauSUeu.
And now 1t began to dawn upon IL
command that this weakling, Francoi
had dared to do what they had NJ
dared. True, he had gone for II
brother he loved so well; nevertheless
be had performed a deed of herois
from which they had shrunk.
When day came again the gener
commanding the division was inform
ed of Francois act, and the youI
soldier was ordered to headquarter
There the general complimented hi
ON his deed Of heroism. What did u
hoy do but burst into tears.
something entered the general
head a suspicion that this youth WI
a masauerader He spoke soothing
10 him. Then, having sent all d
Francois away, he said:
you are not man. You are W
man"
Francois, or. rather, Louise, COMES
| Oh She had been married to Anton