The review. [volume] (High Point, N.C.) 1908-19??, 1918-09-26
By CLARENCE q. HOLLAND.

Paris.-A man can be only SO
frightened. After that he dies sudden
~, or laughs, or both. Also, no mat
ter how scared you are, curiosity sur
wives ...-
If a shell is coming, you want to see
it>land.' If tbs going to swat you, you
want to see how it goes about it.
We were going back from the front
back. The battle was behind us.
Privately each one of us didn't care
how much farther behind us it got. 1t
could pick up it's belongings and move
away from us as fast as we were NOV
ing away from it if it wanted. No
body would hear q protest from any of
us.
At a crossroads our meteoric prog
ress was halted by young and severe
soldier with NJ. P. on his sleeve.
"You can't pass" he said; they're
Smelling the road ahead"
He didn't need to tell us. We knew
1t. AS a matter of fact we could have
told him things about that road being
shelled that he would never know.
A shell came screaming over our
heads to "wham" down alongside the
road a hundred yards beyond. 1t
wasn't q big shell. In a calmer mo-
ment, and at. greater distance, /
might have admitted that it was a lit
tie shell, an insignificant shell, q neg
lig;ble threeeinch shell. But when it
went over my head l was willing to
take oath that it was AZ centimeter.
When was dug out of the ditch into
which I had dived and the mud
sc1aped out of my eyes 1 took a last
look down the road.
Cap as Shock Absorber.
Something was paining me in the re-
giOu of the knees. Also there was
sound resembling that made by Broth
er Bones in the minstrel show. Minute
eXamina ton demonstrated that the
pain was caused by the knees assault
ing each other venOmOusly. I stuck
my cap between them as a shock alb
sorDer and looked again.
1t was busy little road. 1t was not
a popular road. Everybody on it had
taken a dislike to it and was moving
away with enthusiasm. In the dis
lance were three German prisoners
and one American private. The pri-
vate was on horse. 1t looked a very
fast horse, but the Germans were hav-
ing trouble with it. 1t kept getting in
their way. They stumbled over it.
''Wham" came another shell. It's
explosion was almost drowned out by
the sounds of conclusion at my side.
They were caused by the beating to-
gether of the knees of the driver of
the 7. NJ. c. A. car and by those of
a buck private. Their note was differ
ent and the meter dissimilar, but the
air was much the same. I could not
quite make out which accomplished the
most knocks to the minute, nor which
was loudest.
Several ration carts were approach
Ing. 1t was no slow, dignified, matron-
ly progress Anybody who believes
team Of males is incapable of speed
should have been there to see. The ra-
ton carts were filed with hard tack.
The hard tack was as scared as any
thing else, and was trying to keep up
to the cart-but it was out of luck.
1t hi no arms to hang on with. The
air was full of hard tack. 1t flowed |
out behind those ration carts like a |
ribbon. 1t was a snowstorm of hard |
tack, and nobody paused to ask where |
it fell.
bitches Are Popular.
Every ditch was unbelievably popu- |
lar. 1t didn't have to be a deep ditch |
nor clean ditch. Any common or |
garden variety of ditch would do. A |
six-foot man was perfectly able to con- /
ceal himself in a six-inch ditch. Heads |
would poke. UP. and another shell
would land. Immediately it would be-
come scene Of deso1ation, q lfeless
waste. .~1
After awhile an airplane went over
head to locate the battery that was
causing all the rumpus. Then the bat
terry stopped. * -.
go ahead" said the M. P. They're
through now
He is the last N. P. L shall ever be-
lieve. This is positive. He meant well,
and spoke the truth according to his
lights, but HIS lights were dim. We !,