Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1918-03-12
The American Trenches

The portion of the american line We
visited hes low through q swaTnpy
.gish streams The German trenches
sare from sevelty-fve 10 900 yards dis
stant They are always on higher
ground. though most of the elevations
ARE tri6ing. In the distance is a string
.of low hills, all held by the enemy.
sThey are dominated by Mont-Sec.
bare hill something like fat Ger
-nan sausage in form. There are q few
patches of thin wood upon it, and
white roads criss-cross it's surface The
svinage of Mont-Sec lies half way up
sthe bulge OF it's side
There are days-beautiful. foggy,
srainy days-when one may ride in d
car almost to the entrances OF the
trenches The Nosgian country spe-
.cialiZes in fogs and low-hanging mists
sand a highly developed form OF dank-
ness on such DAYS the German cannot
see from his hiEh-placed observation
<posts what is going on along the Amer
s1can line He cannot even see where
his shells burst SO that If he shells the
s,cads ii is out of pure neanness. On
asuch days neither side works, but the
sgunners stand by like cats watching a
srnousehole- If the sun comes out for a
Srnonent they begin to register. Be
tween times they sit in their dugouts
waiting for a call On the German
side they play skat- The Americans
favor rum
Fortune favored Us. The day was not
a an ideal one perhaps, for the rain
stopped several times, and Mont-Sec
was plainly visible at all times When
1--WE called at division headquarters the
general commanding said it would be
quite impossible to use the big car on
the road 10 the trenches. He did not
ENTER into details of his explanation,
but they were not needed. We had
heard such details before They are 70
the effect that cars cost money and Of
ficers are hard to replace. No soldier
ever seems to think OF the high cost OF
r.z-S
.use the big car. we were permitted to
scoot up the road in side cars
Pass Through the Village.
We spattered through Slightly
damaged village in our own aura OF
vhirling mud and water. There were
villa gers here-not many, but some had
refused TO give up their homes. All
American soldier was carrying tiny
girl across the street She was an ex-
uaordinarily muddy and gumrny little
girl These poor villagers behind the
lines are filled with such pathetic waits
No one knows what has become OF
fathers or mothers They live by the
charity of under-fed elders. = young
woman picked her way in the roadside
muck One huge wooden shoe stuck
and she stood il an attitude OF fixed at
tention, one foot in the air. watching
US we passed IN the next village
an American was reasoning With :,
listening. The third village had beer
well battered.
Here American soldiers were COINS
about their lawful occupations with tina
air of nonchalant industry that onl,
the soldier wears Men were carrying
water, and diving into the ruins of shell
smashed houses for bits of wood witt
which to build cooking fires when dark
ness came, and standing guard, and do
ing errandS. It was hard to realiz.
that only a few months ago these mel
were for the most part city-paIe civil
ians- Some of them had begun TO rur
TO fat and bent shoulders Now the,
are brown, hard and thick. Thei
launches are thinning down and thei
shoulders broadening. The barred fore
arms OF a working party we passe,
were round and heavy as though the,
were blacksmiths. The fourth villag
was just ruins