The Washington times., 1918-09-27
BLIND SOLON TELLS.
OF BATTLE FRONT

bombardment, the desolation and the
grimness.
Everywhere ! could see the SOL
diers-some coming back from the
front lines, wounded, but CHEEKY, de-
spite their suffering: others golnG
ahead. And all cheered as they saw
mean American woman, the hrst
they had seen in many long months
1t made me feel mighty proud, I tell
you. to see the reverence with which
these boys regarded me.
Had Narrow Escapes.
''Time and again we had narrow
escapes, till they became monotonous.
While we would be sitting in still
unhit house, shells would fall all
about us. 1t was not easy for Mr..
Schall to get permission to take me
to the front and into the front lines.
AS one Y. NJ. c. A. secretary told him:
"EIf those boys up there on the
firing line had known you intended to
bring your wife up there, they would
never have let you do It But as Ions
as she did go, they were glad beyond
words to see her.
"As we toured the roads just behind
the fighting line in our car, with the
great u. s. in big letters on the sides,
the boys at the machine gun stations.
concealed here and there in the woods,
would rise and cheer. They saw me,
and they cheered-and 1 stuck my
head out OF the window despite the
danger and cheered back.
OF course, We had lots of grue-
some experiences. The American ad-
vance was so rapid that when we Wis
- ~ had vet found
time to bury many OF the corpses. OF
course, the smell was terrible. But
it's war.
Souvenir From Corpse.
One instance remember. Our guide.
an officer, was leading us about near
the front when he asked Mr.. Schall:
"'would you like a souvenir
"Of course, Mr.. Schal1 said yes, and
the officer left US to return with an
aluminium ring. on which were the
coiors of the Teutonic allies. As /
handed IL to Mr.. Schall, explaining
the design to him (which he could
not see) he remarked about the odor
On It. which was, to say the least,
queer.
"'oh,' replied our guide, Il just
took that from big, bloated German
back there. saw 1t on his finger
several days ago and meant to get 1T
then, but didn't find the opportunity
until today But L sure did have an
awful hard time getting his finger
on
"That shows how war changes one.
Though had been at the front but a
few days. still that little incident did
not strike me In near the horribly
Eruesome way IL would have before
visited the fighting line.
Wonderful Experience.
at was certainly q wonderful ex-
1erIence for me and I would never
have missed IT. It was only on &C.
count OF Mr.. SchaIrs blindness that
I was enabled to visit the very front
as he needed a guide that knew how
TO guide him-and who could do that
better than IT ,, ..
"And everybody was so kind to me.
Since my trip / have a much clearer
conception OF American manhood and
American ideals. - ~
And Wen win the vsr-soon."
II was on their way back to Amer
Tea that Congressman and Mrs. Schsll
were torpedoed. They were on the
returning L. S. transport Mt Yer
ilton Lewis and other officials and
notables.
His interrupted Bath.
1t was about $50 miles our when
but let Mr.. SchaIl tell the story:
~ was in my bath. We were in
the suite OF the crown princo-the
Mt Vernon was formerly a German
liner.
suddenly our after-gun barked.
Then five seconds later the torpedo
hit had gotten out OF the tub
when 1 heard the gun When the
explosion came. the ship was thrown
over to one side. was thrown
across the bathroom; everything
went helter-skelter; broken glars.
noise, confusion.
II dashed into our cabin to hear
Mrs. Schall running about quite ex-
cited, asking: