The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1918-04-12

ming Skull on one side and a nan
rotted corpse on the other for a few
will swear and from a full heart. But
his profanity is surely looked down
on by tn great God as the human
outpouring of pent emotion which
part and parcel of az man until he
becomes insane from the very repres-
sion of his hate for all things Ger
man.
II believe in God, and SO does every
man or boy who has entered the
trenches" asserted Peat in direct
Contradiction of the opinion of some
Topeka church men that Peat was an
atheist To-day 1 am PROUD to
stan6 here anC proclaim the great
ness OF our Goo. But the God wor-
ship and pray to every night is not
the benighted and cruel god of the
Germans. My God does not look with
favor on the outrage of little girls,
the mutilation of women, and the
crucifIxion of men, and other things
too horrible to mention
The Bloody Yprcs Battle.
Telling of a charge at Ypres dur
ing the early days of the war, during
the first gas attack, the picture of
death and desolation was brought
r1gi.t home to the audience and many
was the jaw that set more firmly and
the eye that showed the blood lust.
morning. First we lined up on the
famous Ypres- essines road" said
Private Peat. LEFT wheel, right
turn ordered the officers and the
column started its march to YpreS.
The column had gone but a little way
on the famous road when it became
increasingly apparent that the refu-
gees streaming out of the city could
be numbered in thousands. Finally
we stopped at a point about three
miles from the city.
Look, Peat, at that little girl over
there beside the road spoke up one
burly soldier, calling attention to a
girl about IA or 5 years old, who
carried the stump of one arm wrapped
in a shawl to stop the bleeding. And
the cutting off of her arm was not
all-she had been the playthIng of
the German soldiers, and looked at
her and thought that might have
been. my sister,
Then the order came to move on,
but we remembered the girl and
thought how glad we were that our
mothers and sisters were not subject
to such treatment. We reached the
trenches, and soon a whistle shrilled
and over the top, lads. and the best
O. luck
Going Over the Top.
I'VE moved forward for about half
a mile in the direction of st. Julian.
We had a mile and a half to go. We
dropped to the ground. Very soon
my pal exclaimed Look, Peat, what is
it?' We all saw it. It could not be
smoke, nor could it be fog 1t came
on in a solid wall about s feet high.
1t came over and blotted our COM
rades from sight. We opened our
mouths for air, and all around we
heard the gurgling of our comrades.
1t passed soon and a few of us were
left 1 looked down and saw my pal
blue in the face as these shoulder
straps I wear with foam coming from
his mouth like a mad dog. 1t was
the gas.
I'VE had a mile to go. We went
and when we reached their trenches
we felt our hearts going every which
way, and a whirling sensation in our
head We looked down and saw pair
of blue eyes under a spiked helmet.
A voice came up from under the he'll
met mercy. Kamerad, Mercy" We
thought of the little girl on the road
back there and of our comrades gasp
ing out their life in the choking gas.
What did we do? Do you think we
threw our rifles aside and grasped the
Hun by the hand and said God bless
you Kamerad?' ont us. We said,
TO hell with you, Kamerad.'" The
movement that accompanied that
statement left no doubt in the minds
of the audience as to lust what was
done.
Private Peat's final warning was to
the womenfolk. He urged them to
write, every day if possible once a
week at the very least. MANY is the
battle in Flanders that has turned on
whether the boys had heard from
home or not