The north Mississippi herald., 1919-02-07

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; ged them to spare his home, hut hi
pieadlngs only succeeded in arousin,
the fury Of the beasts who in thei,
blazing wrath shot him to death be
fore her very eyes. Not content will
thelr foul murder, they chased the olC
iady and her remaining family from
the house, using the butts Of theil
rlfes as clubs, and burned it to tht
ground. Then one, more loathsomt
than the rest, grabbed the little pir
by. her wrist, and drawing a huge
knife from his belt, slashed off he,
hand. Think of it-a poor little
helpless girl who viii bear the marx
OF German Kultur to her grave. a
very close friendship binds that old
lady, Doc and myself. We spent
many pleasant evenings together in
that little room, hours which we shall
never forget-hours where the inter-
p1ingling of kind words and loving
friends bring to the tired heart
rest, and to the soul of us-peace.
The last time we saw her, on the
morning we departed for Camp
CGetquidan, she was standing by the
SIDE OF the road waving goodbye to
US with her handkerchief and CRYING
as tho her poor dear heart was break
ing.
HiKED TO CAMP COEToUIDoN:-
At z o'clock on a clear bright
morning we bade farewell to Messac
and began our 20 mile hike to Camp
! Coetquidan, where we were to re-
!, celve our last training before being
I sent to the Front. 1t was fine day
with just enough chill to the air to
make it bracing. The BOYS had fully
recovered from our siege at Brest
and were feeling like a bunch of 2
year-olds. The time of march was
thus; first hour, as minutes hiking
and 15 minutes rest-and for ali
succeeding hours, so minutes hiking
and 10 minutes rest.
We went thru some very pretty
country and now and then passed
some little rural districts where the
natives would stare at US in frank
amazement. Every so often, gener-
ally at the forks of the road, we would
come upon a large beautiful Cruel
fix, 80 placed that the people who
passed could worship. These figures
OF our Saviour served two fold pur-
pose; first they reminded US of the
fact that Supreme Being lived and
was watching over US, and secondly.
they impressed upon US the realiza-
ton that we, like Christ, were fighting
for Righteous Cause. Then. too. it
brought to mind the many brave lads,
i've. II would Sc Gel perhaps ff a; 81 rRtsrasf
to know that, during all the terrific
German bombardments on churches
and large cathedrals, not once has the
figure of Christ been destroyed, but
always has stood upright and un-
touched amid the surrounding ruins
and debris--a symbol which all the
demons of hell and earth cannot over
throw. A Y. M. c. A. Secretary who
had been sent out from Coetquidan
to meet US, drove up in motorcycle |
with packages Of cakes and cigarettes.
These he graciously gave to the boys,
and shortly aftrward, we resumed
our march, reaching Camp in the early
afternoon. We were placed in long
wooden buildings which served as
barracks and Immediately began ar
ranging our equipment, etc. pre-
paratory to settling down to the
rigid training on which we would
start the next morning.
THE BRIGADE PROBLEM
Perhaps the most interesting thing
to you of our stay at Camp Coetqui- |
dan would be an account Of our
Brigade Problem" which we fired
just prior to the signing of the Ar
mistice. For several weeks we had
been having Artillery practice, schools
for the Radio, Telephone, Signal,
Camoufiage and Machine gun details.
and now we were to face the final
blow, the acid test of our worth, 81
to speak--the Brigade Problem, al
ter which, should the execution be
successful, the men are sent to the
Front in the shortest time possible.
Every man in the Brigade took part
in the Problem. There were 18 Bat
teries present, and it was the most
spectacular, magnificent thing have
ever witnessed in my life. The Bat
teries had taken up their positions as
tho going into actual battle, and ev-
erything was heavily camoufiaged--
guns, gunpits, B. G. Stations, Bat
terry, Regimental and Brigade Head
quarters, telephone stations, Battery
and Regtl. o. P's.--everything. Miles
of telephone communication were in
use and dozens of instruments were
in operation. For a solid week it
had been raining steadily, and the
great Range was q seathing sea of
mud and water. All were in readi-
ness and when the signal was flashed
down to open fire there belched forth
from the mouths of "a French 1868
and 48 French 76's and the 36 Ma
chine guns which fianked cur either
side, the most terrific noise ever heard
by mortal man. The sky was ablaze
with bursting shells, the fare of
rockets, exploding shrapnel and the
never ending rat-a-tat-tat Of the ma
chine guns, the crews lying fiat on
their stomachs, half buried in mud
and water. It was superb; beyond
the power of mere man TO describe,
and the boys--God bless 'em--were
splendid. For 40 solid hours with no
sleep, no rest, their ears stuffed with
waste, their faces caked with dirt