Baraboo weekly news. [volume] (Baraboo, Wis.) 1912-197?, 1919-03-20


high pitch. Such thoughts as these
were ours as we made that two kilo-
meter advance.
We were soon in position again,
ready to fire. This time we were not
to be disappointed. 1t is true that the
moments that We did wait seemed like
hours but now we could hear the man
at the telephone. What was passing
over that wire we were soon to know.
1t was but a few seconds, and the
skipper" emerged from the telephone
dugout and began issuing firing data.
The gun was laid exactly by the time
the last cipher of the range reached
the GUNNER cOrpOraPS ears. We then
waited but few seconds and the COM
mand fire" was given and at the same
instant four shrapnel were ON their
mission toward F'ritz's line-if we
could only see the effect, but we were
too busy to bother with that now.
The range was changed a couple Of
times, and the DETECTION was changed
a couple of times-then, we were fir
For hours we continued that hail Of
iron on Fritzs lines; when the gun
got hot we would sWab the barrel out
with water and then again get back
into the action.
| shall never forget the events OF
that next few hours and that night.
They flashed as might a moving pic
tuTe super-thrillers before my eyes. 4
shell burst near me and | was hurled
violently to the ground, stunned by
the terrific explosion. | was buried IN
the mud, but when | came to my right
senses, much to my surprise | found
that | was not dead-nOt even wound
ed was again back at the gun.
And so the battle went on-and with
it came night.
Things are mysterious enough in the
daytime, but night with it's suspicious
darkness makes tn ngs even more TO
mantle and horrible.
Much to our surprise, this war was
not a bit like the wars we studied
about-neither was it even like the
same war. Of all the wonderful writ
ers we have, none Of them will even
be able to draw pictures in print that
will be vivid enough to make people
realize just what it was like.
One reason why it took the United
States SO long to get in the mlX-up
was because Germany had sprung on
humanity such an entirely new kind OF
wal
Up to August, 1914, war had been
very simple and elementary sort OF i
fair. mucn like a fist fight on a large
scale. Two rulers got sore at each
other. They got their armies together
and went TO i'll horse, foot anu
dragons; fist, feet and paving blocks
no holds barred, and the devil had the
man underneath.
Then, a man was a man and he
fought like a man, with the same
ideas, the same qualities, the same
tempers and the same temperments
that governed him in civilian life.
War didn't change them. They were,
the same men they had been before,
only low engaged in different Oc-
cupation. They brought with them
the same virtues and the same vices
that had been theirs ~c-ure. Ii their
word had been good before, it was
good now. If they had peen kindly and
lne1ciIul peI0re, they WeIe the same
now. Women and children did not en-
ter into those wars tney were the
audiance-lt was man against man
not brute against child.
Our first Me44 as lac revolutionary
war, any man that had squirrel gun
a pound of shot and a horn Oh poWder
lust donned his fighting clothes, went
ont behind a stone wall and let fly
the war was OH.
Then came the civil val. L never
could see why they called it a civil
war until L learned a little OF the IN
side stuff on this scTape-it certainly
was a gentlenan's war beside tnls
one. If you were a good runner you
could stay ahead of a cannon ball that
might come rolling your way.
Then came the war With Spain.
That was a little rougher. They began
then to use hard and heavy iron-still
it didn't compare with this war. If the
others were war, think there is a
word to describe this mixup still not
in the long column Of 'Webster's I'm
abridged In August, 1914, the papers
said that war was declared. They
should have said that the dominion OF
hell had come to earth. When Greece
was a world empire she thought that
the gods took sides in the wars, es-
pecially at the siege of Troy; and so
it seems to have been in this war; the
devil was with his rival, the kaiser.
But the Lord always remained on the
side of humanity. Things looked
pretty dark at times but we know that
victory was waiting for us in the end.
1t was the beginning Of the end of
that final charge to victory that found
US in position on little hill overlook
ing the city of Cologne.
The doughboys were just ahead of
us routing out one machine gun nest