Mohave County miner., 1918-03-30

Past miseries fly so rapidly from | our recollection, and the events of our present terrible war have followed each other with such great rapidity, that its earlier incidents, Belgium's destruction by the Huns, and the utter disregard the Germans have for the secredness of life, liberty, and even for God, are likely to be forgotten un- less we realize the facts in the case.
 In this great war which was made in-Germany, knew that the work of American mothers would cover an enormous field. This is also our war, and we must stand with the men in spirit and in service. When first decided to serve my country and my sex, after war began, Iknew that should first go to the front and see and hear what was taking place. l have been there, I have seen and heard many things which no words or photographs could describe. But l hope bv means of what 1 say to give you a clearer idea of what IS taking place over there. I want to aid in wlp- ing out forever the strange queries l heard so often before had been on the battle-filds, such as, "Do you be- Ieve the Germans are actually com hitting all the crimes laid to them Tn Belgium? Have you been there and seen with your own eyes? Why should they ruthlessly slay innocent women and children?"
 Most of these questions came before we had many real photographs ot their unthinkable atrocities. These defilers of civilization had seen to 1t that no photographs were taken out of the land, and that the real exist ing conditions were kept from other countries, especially America. Now the conditions are known, and espe- cially what the women and children are doing and suffering.
 I studied all the branches of serv- ice, and especially the part that the women are playing. The 75 meter shell, for instance, that the French are using passes through the hands of 246 women before it is ready for service. There are three eight-hour shifts at the munition factories; and the exactness with which each detail of the work on shell is done IS be- yond comprehension. watched sev- eral women whose sole duty 1t was to take electric lights and carefully examine the inside of big shell to see that not speck of picrlc acld was lodged there. The tiniest flaw will oftentimes cause the shell to burst and kill numbers of the men op- erating the machines. At the begin ming of the war many lives were lost by the carelessness of workers.
 The thing that impressed me most at the munition factories was the sight of women removing the immense shells from the boiling pots of metal. By means of long prong, resembling an ice prong, one shell at time was dipped up carefully and laid about six feet away to cool. Each shift averag- ed about 1000 shells per day, thus making 5000 per day for the entire factory. There were many factories run entirely by women. l was the second woman permitted to visit the factories. The interesting life there, with its secrecy, myriads of wonders and new discoveries in the art of mak- ing munitions, would do justice to a Jules Verne novel.
 One of the most interesting expert ences I had was while in an officers dug-out, just behind the back trenches, during a lull in the battle of the Marne The officer, who was con ducting our party, told me to look up. I did so, and strangely enough l saw green foliage and beautiful flowers above me. Between steel girders l could see the flowers. At first l al most doubted my senses but the off eer told me were were undr green house.
 Later, as we entered the green house, several shells burst within a few hundred yards of us. We could see hundreds of civilians in the dis tance, mostly old women and young children, hurrying, helter-skelter, to conceal themselves behind shelter. Most of them had ventured out to gather bits of green growing things and pick up SUCKS or IlreWOOu UO use for cooking.
 One of the French officers showed us the blue prints of the trenches, which he explained in detail, pointing out a circuitous route before me. We went on for several klos and came to a very peculiar underground tunnel through which we practically crawled for some distance. Finally, he told me look up, and away above us saw a man, so high up that he appeared no larger than a doll, sitting m a swing. The officer pressed a button and signaled for him to come down. He did so by climbing down improvls- ed steps made in the stone, and when he reached us the officer asked me to c}iD,b m and look out l did so, and