Bemidji Daily Pioneer Newspaper, June 19, 1918, Page 4

SHARE DANGERS WITH SOLDIERS Y. M. C. A. Workers Are Almost “Constantly Under Fire in France. MANY HAIRBREADTH ESCAPES Moment's Délay Saves Red Triangle Man From Death by Shell—Ex- periences That Are Test for Real Man. ‘Washington—Bursting shells are everyday, everyhour - experiences in the lves of all soldiers and Y. M. C. A. workers anywhere within 25 miles of the Boche guns. Dr. George Louis Meylan, who has just returned from France where he was engaged in rec- reation work for the Y. M. O. A, threw some strong light on ‘the con- ditions under which all persons back of the trenches live—and die. He had been asked to tell some specific in- stances of “Y” workers under fire in first-line trenches. “Those over here who have not been in the war zone must forget their old- time ideas of warfare and its dan- gers,” sald Doctor Meylan. “Forget this old idea of open fighting, with troops battling across a plain the size of a large athletic fleld. Modern ar- tillery shoots for miles and is always shooting. Every perspn within 20 miles of the trenches is wunder fire practically all of the time, yet the re- ports do not call this a battle. The reports announce ‘The artillery was active,’ and that means shells any- where five to twenty-five miles back of the trenches. Dodge Shells Constantly. “Barly in April - the Germans made night ralds and their airplanes were active in bombing. Two of my -or- ganizers were visiting camps eight or ten miles back of the front-line trenches. The Germans kept up the bombardment for three days during which time those ‘Y’ men were dodg- ing shells constantly. “On the second day they were in a Foyer de Soldat—one of the soldiers’ recreation huts provided by the French with ‘Y’ men in charge—when, within five minutes two shells struck, one a few yards away, the other hitting the hut. The ‘Y’ men were thrown down by the concussion. It seemed a miracle they were not hit, for soldlers were killed and. wounded all around them. L0 T strange that although, we have only about one woman worker to every hundred men workers, not a single ‘Y’ man had been killed up to the time I left France, whereas Hun shells had killed two of our women workers, Miss Crandell and Miss Winona Mar- tin, “In a certain woods the shells were dropping so thickly that the French commander ordered our men to aban- don their huts. As the order was not received until evening, a ‘Y’ man of my acquaintance decided not to leave until next morning as he wished to take his stuff. Next morning he was approaching the hut when a French officer stopped him to exchange fare- wells. This took little more than a minute, and the Red Triangle worker started on his way when a shell ex- ploded on the path near the hut'at the point where he would have been had he not been detained. Close Calls Every Day. “Some ‘Y’ workers are haying hair- breadth escapes every day, not every man every day, bat each in his time with a regularity to Justify saying some men every day. Eight of our men with the Canadians have been killed, and we cannot expect to escape unscathed. They work from six o’clock in the morning until eleven o'clock at night, seven days a week, with a week off every three months— and many never take thelr week off. On one occasion of which I know the workers were up at three o’elock in the morning with hot coffee to warm the French soldlers coming in after a three-mile wade through. mud and rain. ThosexPollus appreciated that. “Many of our workers slept on the- ground In zero weather this winter, with nothing but a blanket between them and the frozen earth, and with no shelter but a hut made often of green lumber which warped, letting in fcy blasts. A test for a real man. “I went forward toward the trenches to meet the American sol- diers coming back after their baptism of fire at Chemin des Dames and they were all eagerness for more. The Germans had sent picked troops against them, their strongest men in brand new equipment, to impress the 'Americans that Germany hed an abundance of everything, material and robust men. Quite a contrast to the ill-equipped emaciated men the French had taken prisoners. The Americans gave such good account of themselves in this fight that the French could not praise them enough.” Old Landmark Falls. Memphis, Tenn—One of the best known landmarks on the Mississippi river is gone. A tall sycamore tree _that stood on the Arkansas shore near Memphis, and which for more than 50 years served as a mark for river pi- lots, has been undermined by the ac- tlon of the water and fallen into the river. Mark Twaln was one of the famed pilots who held the jackstaff of hia beat on the tree. S X ¥ X XXX AN EERN Marcel Gets His Barn Mended Red Cross Hs;l_ps— This 15 Year 0Old French Boy—and His Family. Marcel is 8 man, He is just fifteen years old, but yet he is a man. ‘I say he is a man because in the last four years’ time has burned into his child heart marks that should wait for stern- | er maturity. He is a map because he has the responsibility of a woman. He has no father. The Germans saw to that. Marcel has had to stand by and see his small brothers and baby sister ask in vain for food while he fought off the pressing call from his growing boy’s stomach. - He has had to see tears from his mother’s eyes.drop on the plowed ground as she worked the soil his father would have tilled had he not gone away out of the peaceful- ness of the Marne valley into the iron hail of the Aisne and on into the here- after. Fw The boy, who was now a man, work- ed hard, yes, too hard. With his hair- less hands and his boy’s strength he fought almost alone the unequal fight against want with what little help his frail mother could give. Mother Can Keep Children. One of the 70 or 80 local socleties in France, handicapped by lack of funds because deluged by calls for help, tried to releive the family by tak- ing away the children. But to the tor- ture twisted brain of the woman thig seemed like losing all she had. And then when everything seemed iost and despair came they heard the news: “No, It could not be true. They would help them with food and clothing? They would till the soil? Mend the barns and stay near by to see that things went well?” Yes, and the children could stay, said the Red Cross, as they had said to hundreds of others. That was two years ago. Today this family Is self supporting and has some | to spare for the more needy ones, who stlll are being helped. ~Little Jean is taller. He looks well fed—and he is well fed. The baby is so rolly poly that the dimples have come again. They are in good spirits—on their feet ence more. And Marcel. He has finishd® the course that the Red Cross gave him in an agricultural scHool. It is he who has been running the farm so well.* He did it all. At least they let him think 80, for heaven knows he has seen the bottom of the bitter cup.- And I know that the Red Cross will want me to say he did it, for that is the way tney work—quietly, earnestly; efRciently, without stint, without waste, without bonst. ’ Art in a Butcher Shop. When hotels have anniversaries or department stores end half centuries of service flowers are always present in abundance und a butcher uptown had observed this. Yesterday, when he noted by his calendar that the next day would end ten years of faithful service, he decided that flowers were in. order. So, fearing that others would not remember the date he or- dered. They came and the butcher ar- ranged them as artistically as his art in dangling sauzages allowed him. But when customers began to come in later he noticed smiles. At first he took this for commendation and smiled back, but later he walked all the way around the wreaths and Inspected them more carefully. ‘And then it was that he decided flowers could never, never become his friends. For resting in a cluster which was supported by .the sausages was a banner reading, “Rest in Peace,” and the ribbon which upheld the standard of the roses and was propped against the lverwurst, “We will meet you over there.” Which brings to mind the immortal inscrip- tion by the reporter who_imervlewed the Champlon schweltzer cheese de- ‘vourer of the world—New York Times, QN - ST The Cynical Bachelor. “You have had insane impulges?” “Of course,” said the cynical bachelor. “Do you recall one?’ “Several. But each time, just as I was about to say, “Will you marry me? my sanity re- turned.”—Birmingham Age-Herald. And Probably Spoke Truth. Milly—“Men are more conceited |. than women.” Billy—“Nonsense!. Ev- ery man at some time in his life has told some woman he wasn’t worthy of her.”—Judge. The Standard of Wealth, Any man is rich who makes $100 a year more than his wife’s sister’s hus- band.—H. L. Mencken in the New York Mail. A Canon’s Daughter, Probably. From an English story: “Come and have some tea,” she cordially boomed as she passed.—Boston Transcript. s THE BEMIDJI DAILY.PIONEER. THEIR BRAVEHY REWARDED degorating an American officer and an American soldler for bravery in a re. cent bombardment. REMINDS SOLDIERS OF HOME 6mall Goddess of Liberty_ In Paris At- tracks Americans to Bridge Where She Stands. There is a Mttle old bridge in Parls, in an out-of-the-way part of the city, that is being trod by many Yankee feet these days. The Eiffel tower is about three- fourths of a inile away, and the dis- tance between the tower and the little bridge is about as unattractive as you could find in Paris. Nor does' the bridge—called ‘the pont de Grenelle— lead you across the Seine to any sight- seeing place. = But that bridge supports in its center a statue of the Goddess of Liberty, the General Gaucher of the French army | * same glorlous lady ‘who ho!ds aloft her | flame of righteousness in New York harbor. A great many Americans have learned on this bridge that the Goddess of Liberty was a gift from France to America. The description on the ped- estal records this fact, and there fol- 1ows in French an exerpt from the let- ter of “acceptance of . Vice President Morton. 2 The figur only about 15 feet tall, but the dis ity in size ‘as' compared with the original permitted one imag- inative Yank to close his eyes half shut today and declare that thé effect was of steaming into New York har- bor with the gigantic goddess looming up in the distance. And while he was ing up, enjoying this odd effect, several *large -gulps could be distin- guished as -they passed down his throat, - Best Graphite 'From Ceylen. The largest graphite mines in the world and those producing ‘the best grades of graphite are in Ceylon, and there are also important deposits in Mexico and Chosen. In the making of crucibles graphite is combined with clay, and the best clay for this purpose. was formerly obtained in Bavaria, in which country are also graphite mines, but producing grades distinctly infe- rior to those that are mined in Ceylon. 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