Baraboo weekly news. [volume] (Baraboo, Wis.) 1912-197?, 1919-02-27
YOUNG SOLDER STARTED FOR FRONT WITT ccET-2
fUNWEANED PUPPIES ADDED TO HIS PACK AT CHATEAU
TEEERRY---BARABOO BOY ADOPTS MOTHER AND ONE PUP

A40h0u nundH interest story regard
ing an incident that came into the life
OF the American soldiers fighting in
France, the article pertaining to :
mother dog and her puppies. A similar
story was printed last June in France
in the Stars and Stripes. a copy OF
which was sent Mr.. and Mrs. J. F.
Stekl, by their son, Lieutenant Clau
sen Stekl, and accompanied by a let
ter in which he says: During our
trip we gathered in a couple of mas
cots. While we were on our way a
couple of marines gave us two pup
pies; ! guess they couldn't feed them
for they didn't hardly have their eyes
open yet That night, low and behold,
here came the old mother and say if
you could have seen the joyous re-
union. We had attempted to feed the
youngsters but didn't succeed very
we'll. Now we don't have to worry.
for the old mother is taking care of
that. have one of the puppies and il
can am going to bring back my dog
with me-
Just recently Mr. and Mrs. Stekl re-
ceived some pictures of the mother
dog and one of the puppies which now
belongs to Lieutenant Stekl. This
lends more local interest to the fol-
lowing story of "Verdun Belle" as
printed in the Stars and Stripes:
This is the story of Verdun Belle, a
trench dog who adopted a young
Ieatherneck, of how she followed him
TO the edge Of the battle around Cha
teau-Thierry and was writing for him
when they carried him out 1t is a
true story. (,
Belle is setter bitch, shappy white,
with great splotches of chocolate
brown in her coat. Her ears are
brown and silken. Her ancestry is du-
bious. She is under size and would
not stand chance among the haugh-
ter breeds they show in splendor at
Madison Square Garden back home.
But the Marines think there never was
a dog like her since the world began.
No one in the regiment knows
whence she came, nor why, when she
Joined the outfit in a sector near Yer
dun she singled out one of the priv
ates as her very own and attached her
self to him for the duration of the
war The young marine would talk
long and earnestly to her and every
one swore that Belle could "compree"
English.
She used to curl up at his feet when
he slept or follow silently to keep him
company at the listening post She
would sit hopefully in front of him
whenever he settled down with his
laden mess-kit, which the cooks always
heaped extra high in honor of Belle.
She Knew the Game
Belle was as used to war as the most
poilu. The tremble of
the ground did not disturb her and the
whining whirr Of the shells overhead
only made her twitch and wrinkle her
nose in her sleep. She was trench
broken. You could have put plate of
savory pork chops on the parapet and
nothing would have induced her to go
up after them.
She weathered many a gas attack.
Her master contrived protection for
her by cutting down and twisting a
French gas mask. At first this sack
over her nose irritated her tremen-
dously, but once, when she was trying
to claw it off with her forepaws, she
got Whit of the poisoned air. Then
a great light dawned on Belle, and
after that, at the first alerte, she would
race for her raask. You could not have
taken it from her until her masters
pat on her back told her everything
was all right.
In the middle of May, Belle present
ed a proud but not particularly aston
ished regiment with nine confused and
puppies, black and white or,
like their mother, brown and white,
and possessed of incredible appetites.
Seven of these were alive and kick
ing when, not so very many days ago,
the order came for the regiment to
pull up stakes and speed across France
to help stem the German tide north OF
the troubled Marine.
In the rush and hubbub of march
ing orders, Belle and her brood were
forgotten by everyone but the young
Marine. It never once entered his
head to leave her or her pups behind.
he found a market basket
and tumbled the litter into that. He
could carry the pups, he explained,
and the mother dog would trot at his
heels.
Now the amount of hardware a Ma
rine is expected to carry on the march
is carefully calculated to the maxi
mum strength of the average soldier,
vet this leatherneck found extra mus
Gle somewhere for his precious basket
If it came to the worst, he thought, he
could jettison his pack. 1t was not
very clear in his mind what he would
do with his charges during battle,
but he trusted to luck and Verdun
Belle
For 40 kilometers he carried his bur-
den along the parched French high
way. No one wanted to kid him out
of it nor could have, il they would.
+l.ora fnI1ourod fnA0 advance