AFTER A GERMAN RETREAT.
A Graphic Ktory of the Ruin Wrought
in French Towns by the Inhuman
Acts of the Boosted German Army.
What Roosted German Kultur
Means.
(Literary Digest.) .
An orgy of destruction seems to oe
eur cach time the Germans take an
other step in their "retreat Jo vic
*>ry. as the Berlin Lokal Anzeiger
cheerily terms it. French and Brit
ish correspondents entering the evac
uated cities find them, they aver,
desolated by systematic wrecking
undertaken not for any military
advantage, but from a degenerate
lust for destruction," says the Lon
don Evening News. Writing in the
Paris Matin, Mr. L. Bugnicourt, di
rector of the Journal de. l'Aisne,
?ays:
"It is necessary to show the world
how the Germans have laid waste
the country which they have evacu
ated. Chauny is nothing more than a
heap of lath and plaster and walls
burned black. Out of 2,500 houses
over 1,800 have been destroyed by
fire. The two churches of St. Mar
tin and Notre Dame, the Palais de
Justice, the Ecole Primaire, the hos
pital, almshouses, and Hotel de Ville
are no more. Only ten streets were
spared in the Brouage quarter, where
what wju left of the population was
herded. Here some 300 houses shel
tered about half the inhabitant? of
the thirteen surrounding communes.
"The German military authorities
only left behind men over sixty; all
males between fourteen and sixty
were carried off. After abandoning
the placo the enemy bombarded the
only quarter of the town which they
had left to our unfortunate fellow
countrymen, training their guns on
the seminary in the St. Charles quar
ter, where only the feeble and aged
were housed, and on the Brouage
quarter, where the women and chil
dren were huddled together. This act
would condemn the German race for
ever were it not that it has already
been condemned long ago. Twelve old
men, who were ill, were killed in
their beds, and six other civilians met
a similar fate. The inhabitants are
physically worn out by the long tale
of misery under the German occupa
tion."
Describing his impressions after
entering Peronne, Mr. H. M. Tomlin
son, the special correspondent of the
London Daily News, writes:
"The Germans have destroyed the
town. The French and the British
have spared it as much as possible.
There is not much evidence of shell
fire. I could not find a shell-hole in
the roadway of the Grande Place. But
there is not in Peronne one habitable
house. The Boche has blown out the
fronts of most of the buildings. The
others he has burned. These, yester
day, were still smoldering and oc
casionally breaking into flames again.
The sixteenth-century church of St.
Jean is but a relic. The Hotel de Ville
has been partially destroyed ? enough
being left to support a notice-board
put there to greet the British: 'Nieht
argern ? nur wundern' (Do not grow
angry ? only wonder) ; and that, as
a matter of fact, is exactly what the
British officers I met in the place
felt about it. The Boche has an un
enviable mind, the workings of
wmcn now ao not anger otner men so
much as cause them to wonder about
the mysteries of creation."
The Manchester Guardian prints
an almost incredible dispatch from
its correspondent at the front, in
which he says:
"I should like to put on record in
more deliberate detail than was pos
sible in huilried telegrams written
at the end of long and laborious
journeys the naked facts of the Ger
man evacuation of French towns and
villages. I have traversed many blast
ed villages, and have spent almost
leisurely hours in Peronne. With such
opportunities it is not difficult to tell
how much of the ruin has been
wrought by shell, mine, or fire, or by
army house-breakers. Calculated bru
tality, scientific evisceration, can not
cloak themselves under the guise of
acts of war. The facts are these:
"As soon as the inhabitants were
driven off and sent behind the great
fortified line of which the German pa
pers boast, all that was worth hav
ing was carted off and all the rest
destroyed. The manner of destruction
varied with the thing to be destroyed.
In Peronne are many fine trees
planted for ornament. The German
military authorities, probably from
lack of labor, could not cart them
away, could not even spend time in
felling them. So instructions were
given to hack every tree as a hedge
layer cuts hedge-stakes ? just deep
enough to insure the death of the
tTee. So the German left 'his mark' ?
a V-shaped convict's mark cut half
way through each trunk of the ave
nue. Fruit trees are more carefully
severed than ornamental trees, and
especial care has been taken to de
stroy completely the espaliers and
prettily trained fruit-trees in which
French gardeners take special and
peculiar delight. I do not know why,
but the sight of these little fruit-trees !
with their throats cut tilled me with !
more trenchant rage against the
German mind than all the rest of the
havoc."
Passing on to describe what took
place with the deserted houses, the
correspondent continues:
"Now for the houses. Along whole
streets where every front wall was
rent open I could tind 110 vestige of
any shell-hole. The work has been
done, I am wholly convinced, by small
charges of ammonal, one of which
was found, and most bravely carried
away by one of the party. The quar
ters of the town where the shells had
been directed were very well de
fined, and it was in these only that
the front walls were erect, though
damaged. Within the houses mess and
filth were invariable. The general im
pression of desolation wrought by
some bull-headed Minotaur, or vulture
? harp, was etched into the features
of a more odious because more hu
man and intelligent monster when
the minor individual details of this
general wreckage reached the imag
ination.
"Here was a long mirror hung
against the wall. It was shivered by
means of a hammer, still lying on the
floor. Here was a cabinet with shal
low shelves, each of which had been
hacked by some blunt instrument.
Here again was a Renaissance man
telpiece, finely cut and designed in
marble. It had been battered out of
shape and pattern by the blunt, side
of an ax. A certain number of books
had been left in a fine library, but
the greater number were thrown
about the floor and wantonly torn
and fouled. No pictures were left in
tact, no single table or chair or
piece of crockery."
PASSING OF PRISON STRIPES.
Only In The Backward States Does
Ancient Convict Garb Persist.
(Indianapolis News.)
Prisoners were originally dressed
in striped garments so that in case
they escaped they could be easily
identified. It was argued that since
no sane person would wear such an
outfit, any person seen wearing it
would excite suspicion.
This, of course, increased the des
peration of escaping prisoners, who
as soon as they had left the prison
behind, began to look about for a
change of clothes, and was often ac
complished by committing a serious
crime. But the stripe theory was not
easily abandoned, for as the years
passed it became a tradition that con
victs should wear stripes and have
their hair clipped. The stripes and
hair clipping became a part of prison
punishment.
But in the more progressive
States where new ideas in prison
management have proved their worth,
the stripe has given way to the gray
suit. In New York State there is now
not a jail' or prison where prisoners
are required to wear stripes. Accord
ing to a report of the State prison
commission the last two prisoners to
make the change clung to the old
theory until this year, when the pres
sure of modern opinion became too
great and they joined the majority.
The gray uniform has replaced the
bizarre stripe.
The abolishment oi prison stripes
is but another indication of the new
idea in prison management. The
lockstep, which in the case of men re
quired to serve a long sentence often
marked them for life, has been abol
ished in many prisons. The idea that
the first step in reforming a crimin
al is to reduce him to a state of tor
pid misery and keep him that way
has also passed. And the bullying
warden has been forced to step aside
to make room for broad men who see
in prisoners not enemies of society
who must be punished, but social
misfits who have been withdrawn
from society for a time in order that
they may be led to realize its oppor
tunities.
April Like a Young Girl.
April, like a young girl,
Plays her game of cheer ?
Now a smile of sunshine;
Next, a silver tear.
Off with the gray thoughts,
On with the new,
Tinged wilh the sunshine
And sweet with the dew.
Not long for shadows,
This world of ours,
Decking its meadows
With sunbeams and flowers.
Young hearts for action,
Brave dreams that light
The path of the old flag
With strength for the fight.
Now comes the south wind,
Bringing the rose
As over the green vales
Of April it blows.
? Baltimore Sun.
DONT PUT OFF SCREENING
your house ? do it now. Phone us,
we have the Screens. Cotter Hard
ware Co., Smithfield, N. C.
ALL EUROPE FEARS FAMINE.
Intensified I' -Boat Campaign Im
presses Danger On Kritain. Limi
tation of Food Expected by June 1.
Shipyards Working Desperately to
Replace Lost Tonnage.
(A. S. Draper, in Baltimore Sun.)
London, April 26. ? By June 1 ev
ery European country, with the pos
sible exception of England, will have
adopted compulsory rationing as well
as some form of food cards. This
applies both to neutrals and to bel
ligerents.
The probabilities are that Eng
land will be included, though it is
possible the Government will delay
rationing until July.
I'-Boats Cause Alarm.
I make these statements after a
talk with an official familiar with
every detail of the food situation.
Nothing has brought home the se
riousness of the food situation so well
as the Admiralty list of the sinkings
of the past week. All the warnings
of Lloyd George, Sir Edward Carson
and Lord Davenport failed to impress
the people that they must economize
as much as the report of the loss of
55 British ships in one week.
With the store windows filled with
bread and cakes, groceries, fruits
and candies, with many people en
joying the greatest income of their
lives, a large part of the country has
continued to smile wisely and consid
er the disappearance of the potato
and the shortage of sugar as merely
interesting incidents of little actual
consequence.
Campaign Intensified.
In the last week the people have
begun to understand that the German
offensive on the sea is not of second
ary importance; that Great Britain is
involved in two major campaigns;
that she cannot succeed on land
without winning on the sea and that
on her supremacy at sea depends her
whole life.
Better weather and longer days
have given the submarines the oppor
tunity they were awaiting. More sub
marines are now at work torpedoing
and laying ruines. In fact, the Ger
mans seem to have concentrated on
mine layers, probably -because,
though the mine layer's power of de
struction is more uncertain, it can
work with less risk, as it does not
have to rise to the surface. How
many submersibles are now oper
ating, or whether the whole fleet is
cruising, is not known, but there is
no question that the campaign has
been greatly intensified.
Losses Increasing.
Since the Admiralty has introduc
ed the practice of giving numbers
without tonnage it has announced the
loss of 1(38 ships of over 1,(>00 tons
and 72 under that tonnage. In these
figures, ships in the Government ser
vice are not included. Then there is
the loss of Dutch, Swedish, Norwe
gian, Danish and Spanish ships to
wmMtr. . ?
In a little over two months German
torpedoes and mines have probably
destroyed more ships than in any
four previous months.
There is strong agitation for a re
vision of the Admiralty decision not
to reveal the losses in tonnage, its
opponents holding that it is more im
portant to impress the public with the
seriousness of the situation than to
withhold information which might
help the enemy.
Working Under Pressure.
Even without the Admiralty fig
ures on tonnage, the people will soon
have a disagreeable proof that waste
or extravagance with food is crim
inal.
British shipyards never worked un
der greater pressure than today. Hut
Great Britain needs every ton that
America can launch. She needs it
now.
Thousands and thousands of men
and women are working every spare
moment in their gardens ? some are
even digging and planting by moon
light.
But these gardens will not begin to
yield until the middle of June at the
earliest. Dependence on this season's
crops is dangerous, because the
weather may be against a good har
vest.
All Iyooking to America.
That is why the food controller is
building the machinery for compul
sory ratigning, meanwhile beseeching
the people to practice economy and
hoping that America will appreciate
the tremendous importance its eco
nomic assistance will be.
In many homes bread is no longer
eaten, not because it is impossible to
get, but because people can afford
only a substitute. At most public din
ners bread is either omitted from
the menu or oatmeal crackers are
substituted. Many people have stop
ped using sugar in their tea or cof
fee. Potatoes from the Canaries are
being sold at 50 cents a pound and
all other kinds are being used only
for planting.
It seems highly probable that the
Government soon will prohibit the
brewing of ale, while much of th?
bonded spirits may be commandeered
for the manufacture of high explo- |
sives. Pickled herrings, Swedish tur
nips, gulls' eggs and many other
foods seldom used in Great Britain
are now being utilized.
The pinch is bound to come, but
its severity depends largely upon the j
help America gives. War does not
Wait. ?
The Word of a Dog.
"See that man walking along the
street with a dog trailing him?"
asked J. V. Simms of the Junior Ob- |
server the other afternoon as he trav
eled down Church street.
And across the street he saw a
neat appearing young man walking I
along, swinging a cane, and a few
feet behind ambled the poorest look
ing specimen of a dog it has been my
fortune to cast eyes upon in many
moons.
This dog had lost a good part of
his tail, his hair, or the most of it,
turned the wrong way, and he appear
ed to be mangy and in need of that
attention which is apparent in dog
or man. when he loses self-respect.
Otherwise the dog was all right.
"Now if you or I went down street
in Charlotte with such an animal
trailing along behind, every man,
woman and child we met would turn
and laugh and probably have some
thing to say either about the dog or
the man, or probably both. But that
fellow can get away with anything
he tries. And he is not especially
fond of that dog, either. Probably
just took up with him, as I have
known a number of other dogs to do.
In fact, any sort of a dog, from the
highest bred to the lowest cur, will
follow him, and if the door is not
shut, he will follow him into his of
fice and curl up as near his feet as
possible. He will lie there until he is
driven out or until that fellow goes,
then he will trail him as long as he
is on the streets.
"Never saw anything like that
fellow. People and animals find in
him something to admire, I might
say, love. I envy him every time I
see him, and I do not remember ever
having seen him on the street with
out some sort of a dog, usually a
mondescript, following him."
I know the man, and Mr. Simms'
estimate of him is mine. He's a dandy
fellow, but if I did not know him to
be such, I should take the word of
the dogs who follow him. ? Junior
Observer, in Charlotte Observer.
Died In Dunn.
We learn from the Dunn Guide of
the death of Mr. P. G. A. Tart who
passed away last week at his home in
Dunn at the age of 69. He was the
father of Mr. B. I. Tart, Cashier of
the Bank of Four Oaks, and Miss
Maggie Tart, of Four Oaks.
Thought the under dog gets a lot
of sympathy, the upper canine gets
the gate receipts.
ARKANSAS KINGBIRD
Tyraonua vertical!*
Length, nine Inches. The white
edge of the feather on each Bide of the
tail distinguishes this from all other
flycatchers except the gray and sal
mon-colored scissortail of Texas.
Range: Breeds from Minnesota,
Kansas, and Texas to the Pacific
ocean and from northern Mexico to
southern Canada; winters from Mex
ico to Guatemala.
Habits and economic status: The
Arkansas kingbird is not so domestio
as its eastern relative and seems to
prefer the hill country with scattered
oaks rather than the orchard or the
vicinity of ranch buildings, but It
sometimes places Its rude and con- i
spicuous nest in trees on village
streets. The bird's yearly food Is com
posed of 87 per cent animal matter
and 13 per cent vegetable. The ani
mal food is composed almost entirely
of insects. Like the eastern species,
it has been accused of destroying
honeybees to a harmful extent, and re
mains of honeybees were found to
constitute five per cent of the food of
the individuals examined, but nearly
til those eaten were drones. Bees
and wasps, in general, are the biggest
Item of food (38 per cent), grasshop
pers and crickets stand next (20 per
cent), and beetles, mostly of noxious
species, constitute 14 per cent of the .
food. The vegetable food consists
mostly of fruit, such as the elder and
other berries, with a few seeds. This
bird should be strictly preserved.
Begin the Day With Music
(Adopted From John Wanamaker.)
If, in every home, the day were begun with Music, What
an incalculable benefit it would be to the World!
We begin our business day with song. It puts the
store in tune for the day.
Have YOU ever tried beginning the day in your home
with music? Try it. Have the piano or Victrola, or
Grafonola lead you in some song every day for a week.
See how nearer it will bring you all together, how much
more deeply you will appreciate life! Then a song by the
children, their little voices joining in some hymn of
praise, will bring new visions of joy that will make glad
the whole day.
Why, it is almost more important than breakfast !
Both are foundations upon which the happenings of
the day should be built.
The Cash Store
It Pays to Trade for Cash
Good Dress Ginghams 10c
Better Dress Ginghams 12'/ic
Fine Bleaching
Better Quality 13 '/jc
Good Long Cloth 13 ViC
Good Sea Island 10c
Hose for Men, Ladies, Boys and Girls 10c
Ladies' Silk Hose 25c
Ladies' Silk Hose, Better 33c
Ladies' Silk Hose, original quality 50c
Ladies' Silk Hose, original quality $1.00
We have a large stock of the above. Every customer
should get her share. These are but a few of the thou
sands of values that we can afford to offer under our
Cash System.
We pay 25 cents per dozen for eggs in trade.
SPIERS BPOS.
Smith field, N. C.
Books for Children
The average child likes a Book, and the parent who
provides his child with a good Book, is doing a good deed.
We have in the list below a few Books suitable for Chil
dren from four to ten years of age. We have one copy
each of the following:
Squinty, the Comical Pig 50c
Flop Ear, the Funny Rabbit 50c
Pilgrims Progress, in words of one syllable 25c
The Tale of Brownie Beaver 40c
The Adventures of Reddy Fox 50c
The Adventures of Johnny Chuck 50c
Mr. Possum's Great Balloon Trip 50c
Mr. Rabbit's Big Dinner 50c
How Mr. Rabbit Lost His Tail 50c
How Mr. Dog Got Even 50c
Making Up With Mr. Dog 50c
When Jack Rabbit Was a Little Boy 50c
For Older Children
Waste Not, Want Not Stories 50c
Bird World, by Stickney and Holfman 50c
Books for Boys
The Woodcraft Manual, by E. S. Thompson 50c
Lives of the Presidents, by E. S. Ellis 50c
Civil War Stories ? From St. Nicholas 50c
Life of Thomas A. Edison 50c
George Washington, by W. O. Stoddard 50c
Herald Book Store
Smithfield, N. C.
Let us do your Job Printing --Best work
and moderate prices.