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THE HI3fETl£OI-*TI!K CATHOLIC "LAYMEN'S ASSOCIATION OF GEORGIA
My Little Black Book
No. V—THE DEVIL'S VALLEY
By Charles C. Conaly.
Val du Diable, tlie Devil’s Valley,
is the name of the locality in which
these hoys, whose names are now
before me, were killed and were
buried. It well deserved its name,
both because of its natural aspect
and because of the terrific fighting
we had during our two- day stay in
that vicinity.
We were resting comfortably on a
fairly well protected hillside, feed
ing our souls on the rumors flying
around to the effect that our divi
sion was to be relieved at any mo
ment now, and sent back for a long
rest, when we received orders that
our regiment must effect liaison be
tween the left of our French forces
and the right of our American line.
Our dreams were shattered once
again, as our battalion was ordered
to fill up the hole. Of course we
should have known better than to
place any credence in the rumor. The
army was full of rumors. There
were three favourite ones always
eagerly listened to, and never veri
fied; the rumor that relief was com
ing; the one about Edison’s gas;
and the word that the kitchens had
at last caught up.
So. we rolled our packs once more
and started out in the terrible noon
day -.heat of early September, too
depressed even to “crab.” And
when soldiers stop “crabbing” they
are very near to rock-bottom.
Over the hill we go, down the
dusty, glaring road, into the ruins of
Fismes. Through its streets, clut
tered with wreckage, we pick our
steps, thinking of the hard fighting
our regiment had in this neighbor'
hood, and of the many men we had
left along the Vesle and in Fismettes
the little town across the river. But
now the line has gone forward a
few miles, and only an occasional
shell disturbs the ruins of this once
prosperous little city. Now we
swing to the right, following the
highway which leads to the Martyr-
City of Rheims. Here lies a run
ner where he fell as the sniper
picked him off; there in a little ra
vine lie more of our American boys
—and we cannot stop to even find
out who they might be. The road
has none of the shady trees which
line so many of the National roads
of France; the country is so open,
and we are so exposed, that all of
us are nervous, anxious' to hurry
along. We are expecting any mo
ment to be shelled, for high over
head a German plane is circling and
dipping in the heavens, always, it
seems, just being missed by the
bursting “Archies.” It may be that
the observer in the plane cannot
believe his eyes, for who ever heard
of such a movement of troops along
anopen road in the day-time?
“ATROCITIES.”
After a couple of miles we leave
the main road, swerving to the left
to cross the river over a rough
bridge. Here are many trees lev
eled by the Germans—X suppose the
newspapers would say another “atro
city.” But never having seen any
of these “atrocitips,” we never
thought of that explanation. “Guess
they must luive been in the way”
was the way we put it. No doubt,
there were “artocities,” but most of
them were committed in the news
papers.
The road starts zig-zagging up
ilk- rising ground, and we look with
a bit of envy ai ths-rogc.hine-gun-
ners, safely esconced in holes in tfie'
hill side. Yet we know that at
nightfall they will be running the
gauntlet of shell and gas, bringing
up ammunition to .their gunners on
the line. We halt now, and have a
smoke, for soon we shall be without
the protection of the hill. On our
feet again we start out and round
the corner of the hill. A cohple
of miles in front of us we see a
town; it is being shelled terrific
ally, as is a farm house about a
half mile behind .it. Thank the
Lord we don’t have to go through!
Here we leave the road and follow
a narrow-guage track into the
woods; through a defile we pass;
inviting-looking duggouts of Ger-
' man-make beckoning us. They’ lure
the medical staff—for the location
seems ideal for a first-aid station.
Yet that place was gassed so badly
1 later that every medical corps man
had to be sent back to the hos
pital.
The country grows a bit wilder,
and the going becomes harder as
gfc we leave the trakes and start
|@8p*ye leave the tracks air
\d, bciqm, realize it
§k J Jwvamp. Th£Ey||
man has been hit—his leg frac
tured.
Now we are climbing again, a
long, steep hill. Our halts are fre
quent, for up ahead the scouts arc
trying to locate the line, to effect
liaison with Americans and French.
Finally the hole is plugged—the
front line is just over the brow of
the hill. So off come our packs,
and soon we have “dug in.” Over
our heads the shells whistle to land
in the valley through which we have
come; our line of communication is
a dangerous one evidently. Away
back to the left a barracks, set a-fire
by a shell, casts a lurid light over
the surrounding country. I’m
shivering.
THE DAWN.
Soon morning comes, and with it
a shell which drives us further up
the hill to find a safer home; for
the enemy is firing from an angle
to the south. Just under the crest
of the hill we rest more comfort
ably and more securely. At five
minutes to one we receive orders
that we are to join in an attack
with the French at one o’clock!
Grabbing their rifles, and the part
of the pack carrier which contains
the rations the men swarm over the
top of the hill and attack as the
French line also moves forward.
The attack is across open fields
against machine-guns! It is soon
halted. Before I can reach the
top of the hill, the wounded arc
already streaming back. The doc
tors are a mile behind; there is
nothing to do but to lay the wounded
down behind the brow of the hill
and give them what first aid we
can. The hill is so steep that the
men must be laid vertically, and
allowed to slip until the rocks and
bushes hold them from slipping
farther. Our first-aid packets are
soon exhausted; stretchers—we have
none. But, by good fortune, I have
held onto my hatchet (my only-
weapon) and now it serves a good
purpose in cutting poles, on which
we place blankets and shelter-halves
which make fairly good stretchers.
Getting the wounded back is a try
ing task; the hil^ is so steep and
the valley is being shelled continu
ously; and the men are scarce, for
so many were hit in the charge,
(fully fifty per cent killed and
wounded) that the line cannot spare
a man; out there onr lads need
every man for they are under a
terrific fire of machine-guns, both
from the nests on the ground, and
from the aeroplanes, which are har
assing them, flying close to the
grounds. Many of the wounded die
before we can move them.
Towards nightfall, another bat
talion comes up to support us, and,
somehow or other, I beg and steal
enough men so that by midnight
the last wounded man has been
started down the hillside; and some
of those wounded men were hit
again as they were being carried
back to th dressing station. All
afternoon the planes had been hov
ering overhead, but I honestly be
lieve they saw that behind the crest
of the hill were practically none but
wounded, for, mercifully, they did
not fire on us. Now I am alone
with the dead. Gentle Jesus, have
Mercy on them!
THE GAS ATTACK.
In the little hole where the major
hSs "ciJaGTislIed - lieaxhltlSFtetS^tl’-re
is more trouble. The men on~tite,
line are crying for water and food.
The next two hours are busy ones
till the needs of the men have been
filled. But no sooner have I crawl
ed back into the cave than gas shells
begin to land in the gulch where
the cave is. Soon our masks arc
on, but iu spite of the mask I com
mence to choke, so out and up to
the very crest of the hill I go.
Here, thank God, the gas does not
reach, and here I spend the remain
der of the night, shivering and shall- * 1
ing as the shells whine over my
head. The entire valley, for miles,
is being gassed. How I long and
pray for daylight! Ah, now, after
ages, it seems bright enough to risk
lighting a cigarette. With the first
puff my nerve comes back.
As I live over again in my mind
the last round of the sun I wonder
what today will bring. It can’t
bring much worse than yesterday.
For one thing it brings the aero
planes, which, as yesterday, fly very-
low and pour bullets from the*
j/fc guns into our lines,
had some planes to
The. Major i»rin
good to be 1
,-nch regimen! Mi A
FAMINE IN CONNEMARA
; * ?• v
Dublin.—In some of the seaboard
disfridts* jrff, Connemara, wheS-e! the
residents are exclusively Catholics,
there is acute distress. These peo
ple are living in territory which is<
mainly rock. They rely for their'
sustenance on fishing, and when that
industry is bad they are reduced to
starvation. They are now in that
plight.
As soon as the matter was brought
under the notice of the Provisional
Government it sent two inspectors
to investigate, and report on, the
state of affairs. It is expected that,
through the intervention of the gov
ernment, work and a means of live-
ilhood will be provided for the un
fortunate people now faced with
famine.
CINCINNATI SITE QF
FRANCIS1AN SEMIN
CATHOLIC OUEBEC
Jews Also Pay Tribute to
Equality and Justice of
Catholic Majority in Cana
dian Province.
relieve us tonight at nine o’clock;
meanwhile there will be no attack;
just hold the line. With that my
thoughts turn to the dead, whom
we must bury if possible, before
we leave. All day long we work,
digging shallow graves in the rocky
hillside. My orderly is kept busy-
making crosses out of the boxes
in which the rations were brought!
up. His bayonet is both ax and
hammer. Our work is slow for we
arc pretty nearly exhausted, and we
are not free from shell-fire. We
must dig with one eye on the planes
overhead; and listening always for
the close shells. One by one the
boys are laid to rest after I have
taken from their clothes their per
sonal effects. The body is wrap
ped in a blanket or .shelter-half, one
identification disk is nailed to the
cross, we say an “Our Father” and
then the grave is filled in. And
in my Little Book I scribble the
name and number of the buried
soldier.
So through the day the work goes
on and night finds us still at it.
With darkness, other dead are car
ried in from the line; so that when
the relief is effected, I remain be
hind with a few of the boys and
we work all through the night. In
spite of our haste the work is slow
and tedious. To get the names of
those we bury I must lie close to
the ground under a blanket so that,
the match I light may not be seen.
But one remains to be buried; so
I send all but two of the boys back
after their companies, and w-e three
finish the work. When the last
man has been buried the other two
men start down the hill while I am
talking to a French priest, a stretch
er bearer in the regiment which
relieved us. He agrees to bury
our dead whom we could not reach.
I give him all my cigarettes and
then I start back—the last Ameri
can on the hill. Soon I have found
the rest of the burial party, hesitat
ing to cross the valley. But we
all start along, and we keep on go
ing, for every step is taking us
nearer to safety. Then at last one
of the boys cries out, as he sights
an M. P. “We’rC all right now.”
The M. P. is an old friend of mine.
“Come on back,” I tell him. “No
more Americans up this way except
the dead. God rest them.”
He comes back readily enough, and
by noon we have caught up with the
regiment. The rumor was correct,
the whole division has been relieved.
Quebec—Protesant and Jew paid
high tribute to the tolerance of the
Catholic majority in. the Province of
Qucsbec on the occasion of the intro
duction of a bill providing for the
granting of $190,000 towards the cost
of administering the nineteen Catji-
olic classical colleges in the prov
ince and $40,000 for the four Pro
testant colleges. Quebec, according
to a late cenus has a population of
2,100,000 of whom 1,924,000 are Cath
olics.
The Provincial Secretary Hon. A.
David, in advocating the passage of
the bill, expressed the pleasure felt
by the government in making the
grant to the Protesant colleges ad
ding that he believed that this was
a good answer to the charge made in
neighboring province that the funds
voted for education in Quebec were
not equally distributed.
W. ,S. Bullock, of Shefford, de
clared that the Protestant minority
appreciated very’ highly the gener
osity of the government in grant
ing them $40,000, and said they
would do their best to distribute
it among their colleges to advan
tage.
Equally enthusiastic in his praise
was Peter Bcrcovitch, who declar
ed that if the Jewish people had
the privilege of having one of their
own in the House to participate in
its deliberations and to help in a
small degree in framing the laws, it
was due almost entirely to the spir-
Cincinnati.—Bids for the ercijjl
of the new seminary of the Fra
can Fatherc in the northwes
part of Hamilton county, not ;
from here, will be sought about
15, it is announced. The build
will stand on a tract of 127 a
recently acquired by the Franci
Fathers.
Accommodations for 150 stir
asuile for the Archbishop of Calf
i natti, eight parlors and a large
el will be provided. The buil’t
will be in the Mission style of ar
tecture, three stories high, with
basement. The whole structure
be firt-proof. The principal sect
of the building will be 45 by
feet. The entire building will
275 feet by 135 feet.
it of tolerance, equality and jus
that had been inculcated by >1
classical colleges of Quebec ill
minds of the great men of the j
incc. He said he wanted to voi
the people of the province the!
that the 75,000 inhabitants bel
ing to his race were extremely gg
ful to the classical colleges beef
throughout the province tin* Jcv
cd in peace and harmony ar.j;
equal terms with all other*
and creeds.
The grant, said M. Sauve, $
of the Opposition, would belie f
classes of society and would
in the amelioration and exprl
of the population. From cFj
colleges, he said, come nvg
put their talents at the s
their country and dire's?
fairs of the state. In „
day, he said, life was
more and more difficult,
rices and laxity- of modernism,
more numerous and their tea.
had need of all the aid that
be given them to assure their :
cation should be pure and mg
and all that was necessary to
the evils that were so seriousl|
fecting society.
Morrison-Sullivan Dry Goods Compan|
Dry Goods and Notions
23 BROUGHTON STREET, W.
SAVANNAH, GA.
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For information apply to—
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JULIAN E. WINGO, Principal.
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