The Birmingham age-herald., 1918-01-15
CARRYING WATER ID FRONT LINE IS
 TEST OF BRAVERY
This Very Necessary Part of War Work is Consid-
 cred the Most Danger Ous of All

| London. December 10.--(Corresp spondence Of the Associated Press. .)-Carrying water to the thirsty fighting men in the front 1 line trenches through double barrage 1 of bursting shells from both British and ; German guns, while the multi-colored flares from the German trenches cast weird light over a shell riven battlefield puts to test the nerve and courage of the bravest. Yet the work must be done while the battle is in progress. Stumbling over the bodies of dead comrades or falling exhausted among them floundering through the mud or into shell craters, the water carrier yet must struggle on until he reaches the first line, unless death relieves him of the task. A vivid story of one such journey is told by Victor Grayson, for merly a member of the British Parlia- ment. now serving as a private in the British army.
 q found myself one of party de- tailed to carry up rations to the front lime trenches through dual barrage, he writes We all knew that the boys | break the following morning, but we were not aware until our sergeant major 1 told us, that they had been without ra- tions for 12 hours.
 ! "As much as the mud would permit our pace was speeded up, and we were soon in line upon the duckboards (board- walks laid in mud) myself and my inn mediate companions each laden with two petrol tins of water.
 The front Inc was about two miles away For the first part of the jour ney bright moon made the traveling Comparatively easy. But suddenly the duckboards ended, the moon completely disappeared and the resulting darkness acted like signal to the opposing bat teries The air was torn with the howlS and shrieks of shells
 "It became a matter of infinite care and considerable skill to pick our way pe- tween the deep shellhoes. which were sometimes so close together as to be di- vided only by a sloping ridge of less than a foot in width The enemy was firing wild and shells were exploding on all sides with a propinquity that made us involuntarily duck our heads and wait for the inevitable shower of dirt and mud, or worse. Every now and then a man would lose his footing, and he and his cans would roll with splash into a gaping shellhole.
 Ut seems inconceivable, even irrever- ent, that one should laugh in the midst of such horrors. But when I saw my pal in front dart away from a menacing shellburst on the right. straight into the arms, so to speak, of a muddy she'll hole on the left, l laughed till stitch came into my side.
 | stZyhao ue rPaChed the SIlpport tranc h. es a halt was ealled-not moment toe ! soon-for a rest. My water cans had become amazingly heavy, and all of us were panting as we crouched beside oui comrades who were waiting in the sup port trench in reserve. I had recently 7 suffered from cold, and l heartily : wished that my journey might soon end l After five minutes We started out again , and the sergeant major set pace that } knew I could not sustain. Gradually , felt myself falling behind, and every 1 fresh effort to catch up with my party only served to increase my exhaustion and limit my breath. At last, with g feeling of utter desolation. I fell beside my cans. The flares revealed to m,
 that l should soon lose contact witt my hurrying comrades, and the mad mu , ] sic of the hurtling shells stimulated mt to fresh effort.
 r For couple of hundred yards
 
 of wind, l went down once more anC watched, with sort of guilty despera tion, the real file of my party dsap | pear over ridge between two lonely | shell stricken trees. It was terrible tt
 feel alone on that tortured field, ye l was not altogether alone. The ftfu
 glares lighted up for me the unnistak able faces and forms of the dead, com
 rades who had fallen on their way tt the front line.
 "A great weariness seized me, and iI t spite of the noise and uncanny sur 5 rouidings l could have gone to sleep A chagrined dread of falling in m, task nerved me, however. to a fina effort. found my way through the starl
 blindly, with no further sense of di
 reeton, I finally heard voices, Britisi [ jvoices, and was soon looking down int, a communication trench.
 Get down quick, digger cried an of | ficer. Never mind your cans i But those cans had become a ore cious part of myself, and gripping then affectionately l slithered into the trencl | and comparative safety The experience
 had been thrilling and unforgetable, au there was water for IS men. And tn. ,, sight of the boys eagerly filling thei water bottles made everything wonder fully worth while.
 
 duly delivered their burdens and re
 turned, so that my Journey back to tn, dug-out had to be accomplished alone freely confess that I felt fairly soueam ish as I climbed out of that trench ant faced that dreadful field again. Ever,
 flare seemed to me to have for it's sol
 motive the discovery of my overwrough form to the enemy.
 After half an hour of we'll l-nigh hope
 less wandering, shriekihg shell ex { ploded so close to me that the concus sion lifted my steel helmet from my heat
 and almost blew me of my feet At tn, , same moment I trpped over somethin,
 and fel--between two dead soldiers
 They had fallen facing each other theil
 arms extended. For a moment l enviet
 them their pain-free sleep.
 2 "An inscrutabie Providence. rathe c than any conscious effort on my part f brought me to my dank but weIcom. dug-out. My comrades were hugely re ? tIa ciOh ~f