The St. Joseph observer. [volume] (St. Joseph, Mo.) 1906-1932, 1917-06-02
BATTLE CEASES
AS BABY CREEPS
INNOMANSLAND

NEW YORK.-The following Incl
dent, written by Edgar Won Schmidt
Paul. Prussian cavalry officer, who
is on the western front, for the Ger
man newspapers, is a remarkable ex-
perience witnessed by himself and his
men; "Donnerwetter-wha a hellish
noise! Above me shells are bursting and
all around me is the rat-rat-rat of ma
chine guns. 1t is Just before dawn,
and the fog is so thick that one can
scarcely see a ydrd ahead. All we
know is that our troops during the
night stormed and captured the French
village over yonder. 1 want to see
how our left wing is situated, and
therefore ride to the village where the
enemys bullets are falling as thick as
hailstones during a heavy storm. The
fog continues thick, but il is not cold.
find a shelter where other cavalry
men are taking a little rest and at once
proceed to get some needed sleep my
SELF ordering the lieutenant to rouse
me in case of necessity. Suddenly
am awakened by a peculiar, uncom-
Portable stillness-as is the case often
where sleeper is awakened either by
a sudden noise or the cessation OF
noise. AS 1 emerge from the dugout,
the lieutenant winks at me somewhat
mischievously and points directly in
front of him. Carefully I raise my
head over the top of the trench to
get a view of things. The sun has ris-
en- and the fog has disappeared. In
front of us is a meadow, and there
midway between our trenches and
those of the enemy, is-God, 1t is i'm
possible, IL must be a delusion. A Fata
Morgana; but no-there In the middle
of the field, crawling on hands and
knees is little child, a baby. 1t ap-
pears perfectly happy and contented.
and seem to be enjoying itself Not
sound is to be heard, not q shot is
fired. Every man has become numb
from amazement. "A child has fallen
from heaven! cries a soldier near me.
Well, that is about the case, for where
else could that child have come from?
Before my weary brain can summon
up any convincing reasons how that
child got there-whether some poor
mother lost 1t in the panic due to the
battle Of the night before--a German
soldier jumps out of the trench and
runs to where the child is crawling out.
Absolute stiffness prevails in the
trenches, and only to our right, from
which this extraordinary sight is hid
den by a clump of trees, is the sound
Of gunfire heard. And this spot,
which all thru the night had been a
veritable inferno of shot and shell, is
now like some peaceful island or a
cool, friendly oasis in burning desert.
over there in the enemys trenches we
can see the helmets of the French
men as they peer over the edges. No
one is any longer thinking of the enc
my or the war or the danger. All eyes
are on the tall soldier and the child
which he is approaching. And as he
picks up that little frightened, help
less piece of humanity and fondly takes
1t in his arms, laugh. low friendly
laugh passes along our entire column.
The laugh is infectious, and we can
feel how 1t is going along tho ranks
over yonder. And suddenly-what
are they going to shoot7 No, on the
contrary, a great wave OF applause
with shouts of 'Bravov from thousands
of French throats breaks the stiffness.
Then, as the soldier jumps back into
our trench with the child safely in his
arms, our ranks, too. burst into a
triumphant shout which passes all
along the line. Even for some time
after not shot is fired. II is as IL we
felt ashamed of ourselves, and no one
touched a gun while that child was
in our midst. When the firing did
start again it was rather desultory and
Indifferent and there was nothing
dangerous about it. The little caild
had worked wonderful change in the
hearts of both friend and foe that
morning"