Part 5

"The _Sydney_ then put up a signal to surrender, but as all on deck except three had been killed this was not done. The _Sydney_ accordingly gave her two more broadsides as she lay on the beach.

"When the Germans succeeded in showing the white flag the _Sydney_ went off to sink the collier. After this she returned to the _Emden_ and sent parties to help the survivors. It is said the _Emden_ was a perfect shambles. She had nearly 200 killed.

"The Germans had torn up their flag and threw it into the sea."

THE SMILE IS GONE.

Entrained Austrian and German troops who came from the Yser, presumably on the way east, were a sight very comforting for the people of Brussels, on account of the depressed bearing of the men. Their uniforms were soiled and tattered, and they looked worried. The spectators remembered the former haughty and ardent look of the same men.

The troops wore flowers in their helmets, and had written on the car sides "To St. Petersburg," but they could not raise a single "Hoch!" among them.

The wounded continue to pour into Ghent. The town council is so pressed for money it has imposed taxes on beer, fuel, petroleum, and yeast.

WHIPPED FOR ROBBING GIRL.

When the Cossacks raided Ropezica, according to the Cracow _Nova Reforma_, they robbed the house in which a Polish girl was housekeeper. The girl hurried to the commander of the Cossacks, who lived at a hotel.

"I told him my trouble," she said, "whereupon he asked me: 'Are you a Pole or a Jew?' I replied that I was a Pole. 'Well, then, I shall go and see these fellows myself.'

"He took a nagaika (whip) and accompanied me to the house of my employer.

"Then he called to the Cossacks, who had in the meantime broken open a trunk and were just in the act of taking various things away, to come upstairs and showed every one what position he was to take, after which he whipped their faces and chests until they began to bleed. I screamed with horror. He repeated the procedure. Then he asked me:

"'Do you want these fellows shot?' to which I naturally answered 'No.'

"Thereupon he took the Cossacks to a room, where he whipped them once more.

"In the evening he sent for me, and asked me what articles had been ruined and what stolen, whereupon he commanded the Cossacks to return all articles they had stolen. In order to prevent another theft, he gave me a Cossack, who watched the house until the next morning. What would have been the fate of the house had I been a Jewess I dare not imagine."

THE CORPORAL'S TROPHY.

Here is a little incident of the daily life of General Pau, a hero of the Franco-Prussian war, in which he lost an arm:

A dozen French infantrymen, mud-begrimed, were resting in a drizzling rain on the wayside under the dripping trees. The Corporal sits and tries in vain to light his pipe, at intervals singing lustily.

Suddenly the Corporal stands erect; his pipe is hidden behind his back, and he makes a hasty salute. Through the fog and rain one of the three great leaders of the French army has appeared.

"Why do you not wear your cap?" asks General Pau.

"I have lost my cap, General."

"Where did you lose it?"

"When we were attacked in the woods this morning. A branch knocked it off, and I was too much in a hurry to go back and get it. It is gone."

"Take my cap."

The Corporal fears the end of things; he will be punished for losing his cap.

"Take it, I tell you, and wear it," says the General.

And the humble Corporal does as he is told and becomes resplendent, like the sun in the cap, emblazoned with the glorious, golden oak leaves. The General draws rein and canters away.

Since that day the Corporal marches along the country roads to the frontier, proudly wearing the cap of General Pau.

"The General himself told me to wear it," he says to those who protest. "I obey the General's orders, and the cap stays on my head."

The General knows his soldiers, and the world may understand why this tired, bedraggled and weary army goes on marching and fighting and dying for its commanders.

WANT MORE THAN "THREE CHEERS."

The Saxon Minister of the Interior has been obliged to direct the following warning to farmers of the south German kingdom, according to a Dresden dispatch in the _Frankfurter Zeitung_:

"The farmer has especial cause to thank the German army that he can still gather in his harvest and cultivate his fields, that his fields have not been laid waste, and that the walls of his farmhouse still remain standing and intact. For this reason, however, he ought all the more to show his gratitude by his acts and not grumble when sacrifices are demanded of him, as of all others.

"Thus, for instance, we hear of individual cases, such as at the time of the mustering of horses, when certain farmers demanded angrily why they were called upon to sacrifice anything, and gave expression to their anger because, in the interests of the common weal, they were asked to refrain from demanding exorbitant prices for their products. In this manner the patriotic sentiments of many farmers seem rather confusing.

"It is indeed not enough merely to belong to a military society and wear a festive black coat on the occasion of celebrating the birthday of the Kaiser and King, or to drink at comfortable ease in a cosy tavern an occasional glass of beer, pledging the health of our troops. The main thing is to give freely and gladly also of one's property and fortune."

"WILLIAM AS JOVIAL AS EVER."

"If the Emperor does not happen to be elsewhere, he is present at nearly every council without, however, showing the slightest desire of asserting his personal views," says Cabasino-Renda, an Italian newspaper correspondent in a letter in the _Giornale d'Italia_. "He takes part in the council as any other General does, without laying claim to any decisive voice even in questions in which he is specially competent.

"It is well known, for instance, that William II. is a distinguished tactician. At a recent meeting of the Great General Staff a purely tactical problem was discussed and was solved in opposition to the Kaiser's views. His Majesty simply remarked: 'I think differently, but, after all, tactics are a matter of opinion.'

"Very frequently he goes to see the first line troops, and in such days and nights he has to suffer a great deal of privation, for he takes nothing with him and moves about like a simple General. His retinue comprises only eleven aides-de-camp and functionaries, and his physician in ordinary, Dr. von Ilberg. Small, too, is the number of his riding and carriage horses, and of his autos, which are painted gray.

"The Kaiser and his villa are under the strictest police protection, yet William II. likes to go out unattended, as if he were in Potsdam. Repeatedly I saw him having fun with the children, and he looked as jovial as ever."

* * * * *

The Kaiser has published the following injunctions for economy in the use of food, especially bread: "Respect your daily bread; then you will always have it, however long the war lasts. Eat war bread known as Letter K, which is satisfying and as nourishing as other kinds. Cook potatoes in their skins. Give animals no bread or corn, but save them the scraps."

* * * * *

According to a person who has the confidence of the Belgian officials, a number of the art masterpieces of Antwerp were placed in waterproof containers and sunk in the Scheldt by the Belgians before the capture of the city by the Germans.

* * * * *

North of Rheims the Germans have built an underground town. Ten thousand men live there and have constructed long corridors, huge halls, bedrooms, fully equipped offices, with typewriters and telephones, and a concert hall where Wagnerian music is played daily for the officers.

* * * * *

At some points during the German retreat toward Strykow, the German dead were piled not less than a yard high. Polish peasants spent days burying the bodies. Most of the dead were frozen. Thousands of wounded Germans froze to death before help could reach them.

* * * * *

The State of Georgia has been stripped of mules for the British army in France. Every negro who has a long-eared mule, not too antiquated, has offered the beast for sale to the agents of the British Government. Some Southerners foresee danger in the heavy draft of mules from the South.

* * * * *

A French infantryman writing to a friend in this country says: "At night we crawl forward and dig ourselves in. During the day we hide behind the mounds of earth we have thrown up and we fight foot for foot any attempts they make to advance. They do not like our cold steel, and many times we must give it to them. I cannot write any longer; I must relieve a sentinel."

* * * * *

The Belgians adore their brave King, and he adores them. The democratic friendship between King and the common soldiers is amazing. It is quite customary for him to hand his cigarettes to them and take a light from them in return. He spends a portion of each day in the trenches with them.

* * * * *

A cigar presented by the German Emperor and by him to a gentleman living at Hambledon, England, was sold by auction in aid of the local Red Cross Hospital. The cigar brought $72.50, and is now the property of a firm of local butchers.

* * * * *

Wounded Russian officers in the Tiflis hospitals describe the extraordinary endurance of the Turks, who march barefooted through the snow and shoot standing and kneeling, but rarely from trenches. They only dread bayonet charges. The Turks are said to have lost very heavily.

* * * * *

Great Britain is provisioning Gibraltar on a large scale. The shipments from this port of late include 141,265 bushels of wheat, 2,240 bags of refined sugar, and 1,400 bags of wheat flour. As yet, no explanation has appeared why England should make such plans.

* * * * *

A court-martial in France sentenced Louise Zach, a German woman, to serve six months in prison and pay a heavy fine, on the charge of using an American passport, which was obtained by a fraudulent declaration. The woman was a governess in the employ of an American family. She got a passport at Geneva by representing herself as the wife of an American named Appel, and on the strength of this came to Paris.

* * * * *

Russia has awarded the St. George cross to three boys, aged seventeen, fourteen, and thirteen. The youngest is the son of an engineer in Warsaw, who has followed the army since the fighting at Lublin and carried cartridges under fire to the men in the trenches. He finally became a wonderful scout, and his reconnoitering resulted in the capture of ten heavy guns.

* * * * *

The ledger of the national debt of France listing the names of the bondholders as distinguished from bonds payable to bearer, was brought to Paris again to-day from Bordeaux. It required ten cars to transport the ledger. The Germans had planned to seize this vast book and use it to exact indemnity.

* * * * *

The International Sunday School Association plans to send a Bible to every soldier in the warring armies in Europe. An appeal will be sent to every Sunday school in the country, each scholar being asked to contribute five cents he has earned.

* * * * *

The Prince of Wales often goes incognito among the soldiers. He likes to get among the men, and the other day he was found talking to a wounded sergeant and half a dozen privates to whom the sergeant was explaining the methods of snipers. A messenger came up and said something to the Prince, who turned round and wished the men, "Good-by and good luck!" and then went off.

A minute later the soldiers who had been standing near by came up.

"Who was the grenadier chap?" asked the sergeant of one of the new arrivals.

"Why," replied the man, with a grin, "don't you know? It's only the Prince of Wales."

* * * * *

Three of the Foreign Legion with the French Army, all Americans, were doing sentry duty in front of the trenches when some cows came along. In the darkness one of the Americans crept forward to attack the cows, thinking they were Germans. Another section began firing and almost hit the Americans, who made their way back. They were greeted with laughs.

SAVED BY AEROPLANE.

A curious story of the Kaiser's youngest son, Prince Joachim, wafted away in an aeroplane when in danger of capture is told by a wounded Russian lieutenant.

The officer says at the battle on November 24 the Prince was in command of a German force which occupied a village after driving the Russians from it. The Czar's troops, however, received reinforcements and reoccupied the place after a tough fight.

When the Prince heard of the recapture, he jumped on a horse and galloped off after the retiring troops.

Three aeroplanes were circling above to discover and rescue the Prince. Two of the aviators who attempted to descend came into the Russian fire and were disabled.

By this time the Prince was with a number of German troops completely surrounded by Russians. His position seemed very critical. Just in the nick of time the third machine came down near him and the Prince, taking a seat thereon, was borne away to safety.

THE DEADLY AIR BOMB.

A correspondent of the Central News in northwestern France says:

"In attempting to destroy a railroad station, a Taube aeroplane dropped two bombs on Hazebrouck. The first did no harm, but, on returning, the aeroplane dropped a bomb on a curious crowd gathered about a hole made by the first missile, killing ten and wounding five civilians, including women and children."

A SUPER-BELGIAN.

A quick command from General Bertrand at Haecht turned a retreat of the Belgian forces into an attack in much the same manner as that in which General Sheridan rallied the Union forces at the battle of Winchester in the Civil War. The story is printed in the _Currier des Armes_, the official Belgian soldiers' paper.

General Bertrand, who succeeded General Leman in command of the division which withstood the Germans at Liége, suddenly found his troops in retreat.

"Friends," he shouted, "you've mistaken the road! The enemy is in the other direction!"

Electrified by their leader's words, the soldiers wheeled about and charged the German troops with renewed vigor.

On another occasion the general is declared to have stopped an attack of two Belgian companies upon each other by rushing between their lines and singing a popular ditty. Until they heard the general's voice, the soldiers did not realize that they were firing on their own countrymen.

The general is fifty-seven years old. He was a second lieutenant at twenty years, and became a major-general last March.

RARE HONOR FOR JEWS.

While previously soldiers of the Jewish faith have never attained any rank in the German army, now promotion is given wholesale.

In the Prussian army alone, twelve Jews have just been promoted to be officers; in the Bavarian army another twelve, and one each in the Saxon and Wurttemberg armies. Seven hundred and ten Jews have received the Iron Cross, which some have refused to wear because it is the emblem of the Christian faith.

HORACE STIRS FRENCHMEN.

A remarkable incident occurred, says the Paris _Journal des Débats_, at the opening matinée of the Comedie Française, when the old-fashioned Roman tragedy, "Horace," was presented.

Written in 1639, when France was fighting Germany, it contains numerous veiled allusions to the war and prophecies of successes afterward realized by Louis XIII. One such is the Sabine heroine's appeal to Rome to spare her country and seek conquests further afield: "Hurl your battalions against the East; plant your flags on the borders of the Rhine!"

The _Journal des Débats_ says:

"At these words a shiver of excitement passed over the whole dense audience, which rose, cheering frantically, and continued the applause for several minutes."

"THEY FACE A SOLID WALL!"

Paul Erco of the Paris _Journal_ says in a message from Furnes:

"It looks as if the Germans were out of ammunition. Yesterday we spotted several of their batteries along the Yser, and as soon as the French and Belgian guns opened fire they withdrew in a hurry, declining combat.

"I asked one of General Joffre's ablest lieutenants if he thought the enemy meant to give up the Yser and Yperlee lines. His reply was:

"'For obvious reasons I can't tell you what I think on that point; but I will say that even if the Germans resume the struggle on our left wing they cannot break through. From the Lys to the sea they have a solid wall in front of them, which cannot be broken down and before which they will shatter themselves to pieces if they try it.'"

* * * * *

The late King Charles of Rumania left an estate of $10,000,000, of which $750,000 is bequeathed to the army and navy. The will states that the money be set apart for the purchase of quick-firing guns for the Rumanian army.

* * * * *

A Frenchman suggests the value of protective armor against shrapnel. He says that metallic disks attached inside the cap, so as to afford almost complete protection of the neck, back, and shoulders when soldiers are firing prone, would no doubt save seven or eight per cent. of the men. He cites the cases of two infantrymen who thus utilized zinc mess tins which showed numerous scratches where shrapnel had ricochetted and thus prevented wounds despite the feeble defensive qualities of the material.

* * * * *

The British Government stopped the circulation of the _Irish World_ of New York in Ireland because of its attitude against recruiting in Ireland.

* * * * *

A Paris newspaper recently printed the following: "Now begins the twilight of the German gods. The Kaiser's expiation commences. It is not Napoleon vanquished by his own conquests; it is not the eagle bowing his crest, but a wretched vulture with the stomach ache. In his sleepless nights, he must see, like Belshazzar's writing on the wall, the words: 'The despicable little army of General French!'"

* * * * *

The tragedy of silence killed many of the women of Europe. Suicides occurred by thousands, especially in Austria. Women did not know whether their husbands and sons were alive or dead. They were given no news. Wherever they turned for light they were confronted by an impenetrable pall of silence. They were not permitted to dress in mourning, nor were the bodies of their dead brought home for burial. Insanity came to the relief of many. Thousands of others went to suicides' graves.

* * * * *

The German army aviators discovered a method of making clouds to hide them when shelled by the French. A French officer was watching some German aeroplanes under fire when they suddenly disappeared into a cloud of brown smoke. In a few moments they became perfectly invisible. The French gunners were unable to find them again.

* * * * *

A former Edinburgh newsboy in the British army was awarded the Victoria Cross for capturing a machine gun, an officer, and six men.

DEJECTED!

A dispatch from Flanders to the London _Daily Mail_, referring to the condition of the Germans on the Yser, said:

"Nine hundred and ninety-one prisoners bagged in the fighting in the neighborhood of Ypres on December 2 came to my notice to-day. If these are a sample of the men left behind, then the German army in western Flanders is in a sorry state. They walked dejectedly and cursed the guards for hurrying them into anything more than a mile an hour. Altogether, they were as sad a crew as ever surrendered.

"I saw some with boots without heels or soles and trousers which were rotten to the knees from the constant wetness of the dikeland. Many of the men had been indifferently fed for days, and many others had been for weeks fully dressed and had not been able to bathe in the filth-sodden trenches. One has to marvel at their endurance."

"GUIDED BY HEAVEN."

Copies of a proclamation which was to have been posted throughout Servia by the Austrians were received from Vienna. "By the will of God, Who guides the destinies of peoples and the strength of his Majesty the Emperor Francis Joseph," it reads, "your country had been subdued by force of the arms of the Austro-Hungarian army. You have submitted to a rule just and wise of the Gospodar, who sent us, not to avenge and punish, but to inaugurate a reign of truth and justice. Trust in his clemency, trust in the soldiers, who love justice and are conscious of their duty. They will be a strong guard for your country which will protect you devotedly."

DARING TOMMY.

Five motor lorries of the British army Ordnance Corps conveying ammunition were cut off by the Germans, and the men in charge to escape capture made off across country after blowing up the ammunition. One, however, refused to leave, and remained hidden in a wood at the side of the road. The Germans, finding the ammunition destroyed, went off, and as soon as the coast was clear the soldier who had remained hidden came out. Seeing the wheels of the lorries were intact, he managed to get one of the motors going, and, hitching the other four behind, he succeeded in bringing his convoy into camp.

"WE ARE WELL TREATED."

A Frenchman from Normandy writes as follows to his wife:

"I must tell you that I am a prisoner of war. Chance, the great master of all things, willed it that our battalion was to be annihilated and that a few survivors, all uninjured, among them I, fall into the hands of the Germans. We were brought to P---- under guard. Don't worry about my fate, sweetheart. The Germans are treating us with extraordinary kindness; they look upon us as unfortunate enemies. We get our dinner--bread, coffee, apples, etc.--and when we have no tobacco they give us cigarettes."

WOMEN AND CHILDREN FIRST!

The official investigations conducted at Vienna with reference to the claim that the Russians at Tomaszow placed civilians in front of their troops during the engagement there disclose the following:

"A battalion of the reserves under the direction of a cavalry regiment was engaged in a rearguard action while seeking to occupy certain positions near Tomaszow. During the encounter the Russians drove the inhabitants of Tomaszow along the highways in front of them and directly in the path of the German fire. Among these were women and children. Similar action was taken by the Russians at Kipanen and Sendrowen, in East Prussia. Since strong masses of Russian troops in this manner approached our positions as close as 400 or 500 yards, we had to open fire. It was unavoidable that many of the innocent civilians thus had to be sacrificed."

"PILE DEAD YARD HIGH."

An official Russian statement describes as ridiculous the German claims of having captured enormous numbers of prisoners, cannons, and machine guns. It says the armies have been fighting continuously, and it is impossible to estimate the losses.

"On the other hand, the German denial that they have lost a single gun is disproved by the fact that in the Brzeziny district alone (near Lodz) we took twenty-three guns and a large amount of spoils. As to German prisoners, 10,000 have passed one point alone of our front where prisoners are registered.

"Neither do the Germans mention the supply columns which they burned, nor the cannon and ammunition which they abandoned and which we are gradually finding.