MY
FOURTEEN
MONTHS
AT
THE FRONT
An American Boy'$
Bap'.i$m of Fir
WILLIAM XR0BINS0N
Copyright. Utile, Brews t C
CHAPTER V.
Tha "Mao" Major."
THE nursts In tbe hospitals art
worshiped and adored by tba
aoldiera, and surely thla la aa It
should be, for tbey are suffering al
oioHt aa much aa the men, and yet tbey
keep cheerful and supply tbe tender
womanly sympathy wblcb mean ao
much when In physical anguish. They
are a wonderful body of women, and
their work la appreciated. Some of
Whan a Man Haa Boon Kilted Hla Let.
tort Aro Marked "Killed.'
Mn'ui aro close enough to tbe front to
!c under lire, and they are aa brkre aa
yp ini'ii when It cornea to facing dan-
(IT. '
During an aeroplane raid lait fall 1
I.H.I a chuiice to watch some of tbe
ii'MKf. Wo lmd about thirty German
froplant over our encampment drop-
I a bomlw. Aa they went back te
tlvlr own lines they flew over a hos
pital located In an open field. There
ure huso red crosses painted on tbe
top of every teat, ao It would seem
li nt any mistake aa to tbe nature of
the enmp would be Impossible. Nerer
thelcss as tlio taobea passed over tbey
tlropiK'd several botnha In tbe bospltal
mid killed quite a number of the poor
I'lmps who were already wounded. Tbe
nurses worked us bard aa they could
trying to quiet the rest of tbe men,
and It l no easy task, for, while a sol
dier may face almost anything when
ht Is well, It la a very different matter
when he Is lying helpless, wounded and
In pn in, on a stretcher.
I was very much Interested to learn
how a man's mail was taken care of
when anything .had happened to blm.
It seemed to mo that the chance of bla
letters being returned before bla people
rould be notified was very great Ob
asking nhout this I found tnnt when a
man has been killed hla letters are
marked "Killed," but Instead of be-
inn mm uirwuy xo nis people xney are
returned to the. war olOce and are aent
iroiu mere, artijr the casualty haa Men
made known, to hla relatives. In thla
way nmiy people are saved a great
deal of premature worry and. uueasl-
I shnll mrer forget the tlmff I saw
Hie Roynt Horse artillery go lntoJctton,
for a more thrlllUig sight wotild be
bard to liimiilno. I was out. alone In
Urn car. and I bad been doing patrol
tiJiv I went rather closer to our Br
In;' line than I Intended to, but decided
to pimh on until I struck the "route
tiatlnate." ao I would have a good road
1 tbe rest of the -way back to camp,
1 hnd to go through tbe village of
Pli I cbusch, and us I came to tbe erose
roml Just outside tbe village a sentry
stopped me and said I could not go on.
It seoms that some Gtfrmsns had got a
tr.neUfna gun. In tbe steeple of tbe
church and were cleaning op every
thing that tried to pass. The boras
Irtrtlet7 t .nfl been aent for, and I learn,
ed (but they were ou their wa even
then.
I decided to wait around and aee
what 'happened, so I pulled In to tbe
aide o f the roitd. I bad hardly stopped
wbeir, l heard a rush and -rattle that
toui.ded like an old flivver In the dls
tan oft Around the curve daahed eight
, bovsea on the dead gallop, pulling an
v eighteen pounder behind them. They
dashed by, but about fifty yards ahead
of me tbey awung around and trained
that gun on the church.
There waa a momenfa pause, and
then abe spoke, and away went steeple,
Germane, machine gun ami all The
first shot had been a direct hit, and It
couldn't have been' better If they bad
tried thousand years.
' It was the very next day after this
vent inai I got inio as iignt a u
ever care to find myself. I was order
ed to take thKM officers to a ulace call-
d KmmiiTl' Thil bean tEar befon. !
and from what I bad seen then I wasn't
eager about making tba trip again.
We started off about 1 o'clock and
expected to be back by 8. I noticed as
I came to the Kemmel road 'bat there
were two sentries on duty there, but
aa tbey only saluted the officers and
didn't ssy anything I thought no more
about It Now, Kemmel Ilea at tbe foot
of a bill and la tucked In between
Mount Nolr and Mount Kemmel. It
would be a cozy little place In peace
time, but It la an awful trap to get
caught In when there la a war on.
I sent tbe car op tbe bill as fast she
could go, and It waa a long climb. As
we went over tbe brow and started on
tbe down grade we ran right under tbe
nose of tbe German artillery observers.
This road was officially closed, and
those sep tries should have stopped oa.
Well, It scared me so that I went
down that bill so fast those officers
must have tboagbt they were In a para
chute. As we entered tbe village tbe
shells commenced to drop In on us, and
we ran for tbe nearest abetter, wblcb
happened to be a brewery.
There wasn't much left of tbe place
anyway, as It bad been In German
bands, and we bad shelled them out of
It, and when we bad taken It they bad
shelled us out of It. Anyway, we left
tbe car and crawled Into the cellar. It
was wet and filthy, but It looked Just
like bcaven to me that day.
We lay tbeje In all tbla filth' honr
after hour, while tbe shells literally
poured In all around us. Tbey cer
tainly wasted a tot of good ammunition
trying to get us, but tbe best of It waa
that they didn't succeed, One of tbe
officers remarked during a moment's
silence that tbe crown prince of Ger
many must bave made bla headquar
ters hi tbe place when It was In Ger
man bands. Another, officer replied
that be wished tbe crown prince was
there now.
We lay there till tbe fire let tip,
wblcb It did about 5 o'clock. I was
worrying about getting back, and I
was also wondering what bad become
of tbe car. If It waa gone we might
Just as well kiss ourselves good by, for
our chances of getting out on foot
would be slim, ,
When tbe lire bad abated we came
out and looked around. The -enemy
certainly bad made a mesa of tbe place,
for even tbe top story of tbe brewery
bad been shot away from over our
beada. I went to look tbe car over, and
yon can Just believe I was relieved to
find that, aside from having a few
boles through the body. It was all
right
Tbe officers decided to watt nntll It
was dark before chancing to run back.
I didn't know what waa going to bap
pen to us. I wasn't very familiar with
the road, and I was afraid they would
bave some kind of barricade op or
bave a few machine guns trained on us
or something equally unpleasant
I certainly was dreading that ride
back, but there was no other way out
and we were between tbe devil and
the deep sea. It was at a time like that
that I wished that I bad never seen
the British army. I turned the car
around, end aa soon as It was dark we
got In and started. . I opened ber op
mm a
YVfr -M
The British Tommy Wilt Gambia Wl
On or For Anything.
wide, and by the time we got to the
bottom of tbe bill we were doing about
fifty mllea an hour, and 1 couldn't see
very much, either, for of course I did
nut use any lights.
1 didn't know what waa waiting foi
os at the top of the hill, but I did
know that If there waa anything tbert
we were going right through It even
If we dldu't go any farther. Tbe rldtc
Olous part of It was that we went right
through end never saw a thing. Abso
lutely notblng happened, but I don'l
ever wsiit to feel again the way 1 felt
going op that bill.
Shortly after this I learned that tb
Brlttsn lummy is a great ga tablet and
will gamble with, on or for anything.
Trench pools used to be very popular.
Alwi't ten fellows got together, and
eacb put 10 franca In a pool Just be
fore they went Into action. Tbey left
this money with some one behind the
lines, for they would be In action any
where f i om six days to three weeks.
The Idea of tbe pool was this; Those
who lived to get back would take tbe
money and.split H evenly among them
selves. If only one lived be would
bave the whole lot Sometimes the
pools would be fairly big and some
'times the reverse, but whatever they
had went In.
, It waa the offty gamble I ever saw
where yon could! lose, if yon came
out safely yon were bound to set vour
l own money back at least
Tbe Tommies are strong for carrying
' peta with tbem too. Tbey keen cans
, rles, rata, mice, dogs, cats, f oats and
even pigs, 'and they wiH go "hungry
themselves rather than aee the object
ot their affections want for anything.
On the march If tbey get tired they
may throw tbelr equipment away, but
I never heard of one yet who would
give op hla mascot
During tbe winter there was a lot of
talk about tbe "mad major." Be was
an artillery officer who was Just about
the biggest daredevil I ever heard of.
tie kept an aeroplane himself, and if
be wanted to correct a range be would
go and drop smoke bombs over tbe
point be wanted to get lie waa abso
lutely fearless and would fly so low
that tbey would be potting at blm with
revolrera, but it didn't aeem to bother
blm.
I bave heard that he did more dam
age with bis battery than a whole bri
gade of ordinary artillery could under
ordinary circumstances. I don't know
what became of him In the end, but tbe
last ot bla stunts that 1 beard about
was this: There was a big seventeen
Inch howitzer doing us an awful lot of
damage. It was out of range of our
guns, and we were much put about as
to bow to get It out of action. '
Tbe "mad major" went out alone In
his aeroplane and took with him Just
one bomb, a hundred pounder. lie lo
cated tbe gun be wonted while flying
at an altitude of 8,000 feet He got
right over tbe position and stopped bis
engine. He did a nose dive to within
400 feet of tbe gun. Then ho dropped
bis bomb and blew tbe thing to atoms,
lie got back safely, but the planes of
bis machine were rhjdled with bullets.
Boon after thla we were on the move,
and, as It happened, we went from bad
to worse. Tbe first day we entered a
little place that was unoccupied by
troops, and we decided to spend the
night there. Tbe Germans must bave
beard of our arrival promptly, for be
fore we bad been tbere an hour shells
began to drop in on us.
The officer I was driving was with
me st the time tbe first one burst It
landed In the back yard of the house
we were In, and tbe force of tbe explo
sion sent us all In a heap on tbe floor.
The officer decided that we would get
out of tbe place and And some nice,
quiet spot to spend the night We left
at once and went about five miles down
tbe road until we came to a field am
bulance. We found that they bad some
spare stretchers, so we decided to stay
there. Tbe officer's servant carried
stretchers in for all of us, and after
having something to eat we went right
to sleep, aa we were tired out
I don't believe we had been asleep
more than an hour when a shell landed
In that Held ambulance! It tore tnrougl
tbe roof aud burst In tbe room next t
oa, killing and wounding eighteen men
wW) bad already been wounded once
I got up In a hurry, but found that the
officer was before me, and when I
reached tbe car he was making blmsel
comfortable In the tonneau. I took m;
waterproof sheet and blankets au
made myself a bed on the cobblestone
under tbe car. I slept like s log untl
It began to rain, and then 1 got op Ir.
disgust and sat op the rest of the night
In tbe driving seat
The next day we stopped in a little
village called Pradelles, tbe place
where tbe Germans bad stood a priest
up sgalnst tbe wall of bla own cburcb
and shot him because be wouldn't give
them tbe Information tbey wanted
Across from tbls church was a little
"estamlnet," where I went to buy a
bottle of wine to have wltb my dinner
You can Imagine my surprise when the
Frenchwoman In charge called roe an
"English pig" end said that she would
sell nothing to tbe English. I told hei
what I thought of her. and she told me
what she thought of me.
She said tbe English were thieves,
murderers and other nice things and
Informed me alstethat tbe only true
gentlemen In the world were tbe Pru
slans. She certainly had me aroused,
and I was going to arrest every one 1
could find lu tbe house until ber dnugh
ter came In.
, She saw at once bow things were and
led the old lady upstairs and then ex
plained that tbe Germans bad taken
ber two youngest sisters away and that
since that time ber mother bad been
Insane.
It was outside of Pradelles that we
ran Into tbe Germans and bad a long
distance scrap. We were not strong,
and we dldu't know bow strong they
were, ao we were not pressing tbem
very hard until some re-enforcements
came up. I think tbey were In the
same position, for they didn't try to get
to close quarters. So we kept at it all
afternoon until at night the Germans
letlrcd, and we camped a little farther
on and waited for our main body to
tome up. Our casualties numbered only
I bout twenty dead, and we burled tbem
In tbe churchyard before we left
I passed through Pradelles about two
months later, and I went into tbe
churchyard where those chaps were
burled. The people ef tbe village have
set Ktt'.s white crosses at the bead of
each grave. On eacb cross are the name
Dumber and regiment of the soldlei
lying below, and under that Is "ki'ort
de la Champ d'Bonneur." It was a
most thoughtful thing for those poor
peasants to do.
It was In a village called Outrasteene,
quite near Pradelles, that I first saw
tbe Prince of Wales. He was with Sir
John French, and tbey were review
ing a brigade that hadn't been In the
country very long. He is a nlee look
ing fellow, but very boyish in appear
ance. He it liked by tbe men and
quite often will go and sit among them
and talk to them.
Soon after tbla I received orders to
prepare for a two day Journey In the
car. I didn't know where I was to go
until tbe night before I was to start,
S 9 VKr"" "'
y - i
it
ft vr
The Prinoe ef Wales, With Sir John
French, Reviewing Brigade.
and then I was told that I waa to go
to Paris to get an officer who waa wait
ing for me there. Of course I waa de
lighted, for I hadn't been in any large
city for a long time.
Paris la more than 200 miles from
where we were then, and my orders
were to make it In one day. While It
was a long Journey, I felt that It would
be well worth It, so I set out wltb a
light heart At LlUcrs I bit the main
Paris road, and It waa glorious. Tbere
Is no speed limit for a dispatch car,
and yon bet I was flying my blue and
white flag that day. Straight down
through St Tenant St Pol, Doullens
and Amlena I flew, and about 6:30 I
came to tbe outskirts of Paris. I was
surprised on entering the capital to
And ao few British soldiers. I knew
that we bad several permanent bases
In tbe vicinity, and I expected to .And
the place swarming wltb Tommies.
TO DE COXTIM EI).
Don't Fail to Read Next
Week's Installment of thir
Remarkabic Story.
Was a
Misery
Mrs. F. M. Jones, ot
Palmer, Okla., writes:
"From the lime I en
tered into womanhood
... I looked with dread
from one month to the
next. I suffered with my
back and bearing-down
pain, until life to me was
a misery. I would think
I could not endure the
pain any longer, and 1
gradually got worse. . ,
Nothing seemed to help
mj until, one day, . . .
I decided to
TAKE
Hie Woman's Tonic
"1 took tour bottles,"
Mrs. Jones goes on to
say, "and was not only
greatly relieved, but can
truthfully say that I have
net a pain. . .
"It has now been two
years since I tookCardut,
and I am still In good
health. . . 1 would ad
vise any woman or girl
to use Cardui who Is a
sufferer from any female
trouble."
If you suffer pain caused
from womanly trouble, or
if you fed the need of a
good strengthening tonic
to build up your run-down
system, take the advice
of Mrs. Jones. TryCir
dui. It helped her. We
believe it will help you.
All Druggists
in
4' ' is ' A I ,
It- I
V
1 Life
i
tit
TUnidT)raohnl
2K
linOlheSlQfJcisandBoJ
tgV 1 neither Op)am,Morpnuic
Efe L Mineral. KottNahcoWJ
ice ca
i .Mnd.lUemcdyfcf
ationarKlDi
and revensn- -
t -: rp Sleep
33
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ii
Exact Copy of Wrapper,
,M.t r, IJDuu ii n nil ii ii irJ
FiT I WB w H W as at as as u
L vagi J
. a t Bb iii s . i
Virjginia-Carolina Railway Company
TIME TABLE NO M
Ir Effeat 12:01 A. M Monday, Sept, 11, 1111
For Government of Employee Only.
STATION!
Eastern Standard
. Time
3
11
il
3
1st
Class
TJoTT
A.M.
7:20
"i'-.'si
Lt. Abingdon (W.C.)
Lt. Yard
0.6
Lt. Watauga
s 7:451
Lt. Barron
Lt. Cedarvilie (W)
...
...
...
Pass.
13
12
14
Lt. Drowning Ford
Lt. Valla Mill
NV. 131
s 8:12
1
18
23
37
Lt. Damascus (W) (T)
Lt. Laureldale (O.C.)
Lt. Taylor's Valley (W)
Ar. Creek Junction
8:
8:39
S 8:541
:
81
I . vtvoni,lfi
Lt. Green Cove (W)
Meet
No. 141
s 1:621
34
48
i-T. wnne Top Gap (W.T.) . . . .Lt; 390
Lt. Nell .....Lt.I 200
10:27
44
46
48
60
53
66
Lt. TncVerdale (W)
Lt. Lansing
10:33
10:38
10:45
Lt. Bnrlln '
Lt. Warrenvllle
e
ur. smetnport
911:04
Ar. west Jefferson (WCT)
11:061
66
68
61
65
71
71
Lt. West Jefferson (WCY)....Ar.
e t
Hamilton, N. C
Lt. Ponation
Lv. Bowie (W)
Lt. Riverside
11:241
nil: 391
11:54
12:06
Ar. Elkland, N. C. (WCT)...Lt.
P.M
Sally Exotpt
unSay
First Class I
KONNAROCK
I No. 8)
Lt. Creek Junction ....Ar
Lt. Grassy Ridge (:) Ar.
Ar. Konnarock (WYO) Lv.
"VKscaTA
9000000000000
ft
o
0
0
o
o
o
o
Used 4Q Years
0
0
0
0
0
T!i9 Woman's Tonic 2
o
o
o
Sold Everywhere
OQOOQfSQQQQQOO
SttwhlTiveFTronUesr
No end of ruieery and actual
BiiffriDj? i canned by disorders
of thfi Btomnch nnd liver, and
iiihv be avoided by th use of
t hamberlaiirH tabletR. Give them
a trial. Thev otdv mat . nnnr.
No. 6
s 13 b:be
3:2s"i:i6
P.M. A.M.
For Infants and Children.
Mothers Know That
Genuine Castoria
Always
Bears
Use
For Over
Thirty Years
n
7,1
2, a
u
HI!
& 6 s
1
General
NoTT
Office
.Ar.
Ar
1138
400
460
Ar.
6:00
4:41
Ar
Ar,
Ar.
Ar.
126
140i
Ar.
Ar.
Ar.
Lt.
820
400
600
s 4:11
4:fl
3:65
3:41
376
M.J, . ibT,
Lt,
SIM
3:0t
:M
2:21
Meet
No. IS
Lt,
l
480
280
3:11
2:10
1:04
1:18
Lv.
lt.
196
sib
461
Lt.
....Lv
800
a 1:48
800
TTSl
1:14
Ar,
Ar
Ar
Ar
160
360
320
v .....
s 1:00
13:41
1310
80
12:38
P.M,
Dally except
Sunday
First Class
BRANCH
CV- 9Lf W.-WatW.
.. wya. yif J ci, W. T. KJT.
J DR. ALFRED XI. DUli
EYE SPECIALIST
TO SEE BETTER
SEE DULA
1 7 Ytar8i FjtneriaHiM
The beat Equipment Obtainable.
MARTIN BLOCK, LENOIR, N. U
" .Aa ,
LENSES GROUND & DUPLICATED
Repair Dep't. Box 127 Charlotte, N. C
CtiiODic CouBtipation.
It is by no mpaDs an easy mat
ter to cure this dieeasp, but it
cau be done in most iuBtancwby
takink Chamberlain's Tablets
and rompliiup; wjth the plain
printed dinctions that aacom
pany each pankBge.
RIA
For Infants and Childran
In Use For Over 30 Years
Alwaya bears
the
the
TMi uhtm oemmm. in to oitt
I
' No. 4 No. I
"" norTsr
875 9:26 1:41
I f A.M. P.M.
ter. . "
(nature ', ,