The citizen-Republican. (Scotland, Bon Homme County, S.D.) 1???-19??, 1917-05-03
CHILDREN FEARLESS
IN SHATTERED TOWN

E.N3SGNE 4&4%@Ez&Ef<&14S%1
with the British Armies ~ FFances-
SBymail.9-To those Who hAve lived
among them the children of the
choiogicaiyriddle It II startling toStho
newcomer 1t the war to find them here
It all. II ~ Observation-Disclosures
them at play where 9 she'll might break
almost any moment. utterly oblivious
70 the soldiers and acenes about them
and with sengeS SO attuned to the Or6ts
nary nerve racking noises that only q
prolonged luli in the ceaseless roar Of
gums would cAuse them the least con
Germ.
They cling with their elders TO tho
remnants OF their shell shattered homes
tnt the bumbarded towns and illagssss.
where even vet the German, guns send
their shells. Some have been born With.
In the sound OF the cannon and others
have come into their first EMS of be
Ing in the midst of battle. The strange
phenomenon of life to them will be the
unwonted stiffness of q
"A striking picture il 10 70 see q little
French girl. S or s years old. with ~
plated .pigtail' down her back, trip-
ping b~areheaded along a road where
even soldier men@syenture only under
b protection Of their big steel hatE.
Such q little girl SAT and softly sang
ii sim vi AsSe&
an old Flemish mill one bright and
warm December noon while q score Of
airplanes. whirled and fought overhead
and the high blue sky was filled with
the fleecy cotton balls that come from
bursting shrapnel shells. She could see
the scared and SCARED line on the dis
tant hills which were the enemy
trenches. and. still farther back, the
occasional white hot flashes Of enemy
guns.
No stranger school can be found In
allSthes wor1d4tlan that at4Arras. Arras
Itself is a strange and ghostly city.
Some of the houses are just as their
owners. left them during the first bonn
bardment in October two years ago.
Others have been pulverized along with
the cathedral. III city hall and the
railway station-three favorite targets
of the German gunners. The enemy
lines skirt the eastern edge of the city
and daily from these messengers Of
death are sent shrieking into Arras-
bursting in fury from the sky.
In the midst OF all this malignity OF
war some two score children or more
go to school. Their class room is in
the cellar Of a house so well demolished
that a few additional shells would
scarcely change the character OF the
mass of debris that serves as a protec-
tive roof. 1t would tax a terrific bonn
~bardnents to interrupt them at their les
L CeHS ~ 81 SOAiio vi E ollS1tN
crashing in h distance has become far
too commonplace to attract attention.
All Arras lives underground. Thera
are quiet periods CT the day when the
women, children and old men venture
abroad for friendly call at a neighbor-
ing CELIA, or for the sake OF a stroll and
a breath of fresh air, Opportunity after
opportunity has been given them TO
leave. but they prefer to remain with
what IS, or was, their very cw'n. Three
persons were killed Just outside the
school n day, but the children in the
cellar knew nothing of the tragedy.
When school is out each afternoon the
children are told to hurry home as fast
as they can go. and there is a great pat
tering of little wooden soled shoes
down the melancholy streets.
There are scores of other towns
within the fire zone, but not quite so
close to the var as Arras. where chill
dren live by hundreds. 1t is no infre-
quent thing to hear mothers calling
their children in from q desults y bonn
bardment, just as they would from a
shower of rain.
Several months ago enemy airpianes
dropped bombs in a village six or sever
miles behind the firing line. 1t was
Sunday afternoon n the streets were
thronged. Outside a soldiers moving
picture theater a line of children was
waiting for the doors to open. One vi
The bombs fell near where they stood
They scattered like so many mice, but
within a minute or two all were scram.
bling back to their places in the queue
as II nothing at all had happened.
English Tomnlies love the children
and when billeted in a village can al
ways be seen playing with the tots
buying them all sorts of candies AM
sweetmeats and even wheeling thep
gaily along in perambulators while fonG
mothers look on.