The review. [volume] (High Point, N.C.) 1908-19??, 1918-05-16


battles, training camps and dreams to
a maelstrom of fierce realities, the
American soldiers are proving they are
made of the same stuff which carried
their forefathers through the tests or
the trying periods of American his
tory, writes Don Martin in the New
York Herald.
1 have seen them in action. / have
seen them under shell fire which lit
orally sprayed them with flying earth
and shrapnel, and their relatives ana
friends back in New York, California,
Maine, Florida, Montana or wherever
you please, may take the word OF an
eyewitness that they have already
taken their places among the most
valorous and sturdy fighters of this gil
gantic world war.
Very recently Twisted them in lit
tie village as close to the enemy lines
as units canIbe Quartered. l had gone
to see the artillerymen at their task
and instead of anticipated tranquility
ran into the flercest kind of excitement
the first these particular Yankees
had known. It all burst suddenly and
Opments break.
Shells Break 1900 Yards Away.
From the rear window of headquar-
tiers in charge Of an American captain
and q French officer shells could be
seen breaking on a SfOping hillside.
The nearest one while was observing
fell perhaps 1900 feet away. They
were aimed at an American battery.
Its nothing" said the captain, q
stalwart, handsome man, who only
few years ago was q renowned football
player in q Michigan university. ''They
throw over a few shells ~every day, but
they never hit the town.
With the musical kissing Of the
shells for an accompaniment we con-
versed about news in America and had
luncheon-a good luncheon, too. There
was no talk of war. Beside the table
at which we ate was a sagging cot
with wrinkled blankets. The captain
sleeps there.
sometimes at night" he said, 1.-The
Smelling is pretty heavy and it's hard
to sleep, but I'm getting used to it,"
Clerk Indifferent to Smelling.
Just beside the open window in the
rear-the window was more like q
barn door than a window and had no
glass-a clerk was pegging away at a
typewriter. The dropping of the shells
made no impression upon him. At
home, learned, he is a clerk in an
express ofice-a 1.-the, we'll groomed
youth who has dreams of future COM
mercial greatness.
''These shells come little too close
for comfort, don't they?" I observed.
'"They won't get any nearer"
To a war amateur the spectacle OF
shells striking so near yet coming no
nearer, when it would have been so
easy to blow the town to bits, was a
matter of wonder.
Eyes, they could hit the town, of
course" was the captains comment,
"but they never have shelled it. Sort
of an unwritten understanding, ina
CINE They have towns similarly situ-
ated which we could shell, but they
don't want them shelled."
Other understandings were that the
their own people have property In
them. Whatever may be the reason
for sparing certain towns all reason
ing was wrong with respect to this
particular village where l was having
luncheon. We had just finished when
q noncOmmisSiOned officer entered the
upstairs room, considerably out of
breath, but in no way excited, and
after saluting said:
Battery Connections Broken.
"Our battery is being shelled with
gas and telephone connections have
been broken"
Hurried orders were issued. 1t was
all done quickly and quietly. The foot
ball player, now a captain, acted as if
he were coaching an old team at
school. Presently men were seen sour
rying off through the fields toward the
shell-swept zone wherein the batteries
lay. They dropped fiat two or three
times, but all crossed the danger belt
safely and disappeared in the more
thickly spattered region. This action
had just been put into effect when an
other soldier appeared before the cap
tain and, saluting and standing erect.
said:
81 have to report, sir, that the shell
FIRE is becoming more severe. Shells !
are now falling in the village" /
The nearby whizz of the flying
things and the boom and crash at the
end of the street gave terrifying en-
phasis to the sharp cut words of the
soldier No one was so vexing as to
ask about the "unwritten understand
ing not to bomb the town. Where
shells had been falling at the rate of
two every three minutes, they were
now dropping at the rate of four or
five a minute, They were striking in
many parts of the village.
There being nothing to do in the
town word was given to evacuate. In
~