ing (as our photograph shows) to push the cannon and ease the worn-out
horses. Yet another instance of the work the Serbian women did is shown in
our page photograph. Owing to the lack of Red Cross men attendants, the
peasant women took on themselves to serve as stretcher-bearers, bringing
in the wounded, as these fell in fight, to the dressing-tents in the
villages and the churches, which were used as hospitals.--[_Photos. by
Topical._]

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44--THE ILLUSTRATED WAR NEWS, DEC. 30, 1914.--[Part 21]

[Illustration: WITH "SPIT" HELD BY RIFLES, A SPADE, AND A COUPLE OF
STICKS: COOKING THE CHRISTMAS GEESE AT THE FRONT.]

There was no Christmas truce at the front. The grim realities of the war
over-rode all considerations of sentiment, and the hope which was, for a
while, common to both sides had to be left unfulfilled. None the less, the
Season was not without its little luxuries, and, thanks to the excellent
work of the Army Service Corps and the thoughtfulness of sympathetic
friends at home, there was no dearth of substantial necessaries and
comforts, as well as tobacco and cigarettes galore. Our illustration shows
a group of soldiers cooking their Christmas geese in the open, and as
intent upon their task as though such conditions were quite orthodox
and even such minor alarums as "spasmodic artillery duels, and local
fusillades" were things unheard of.--[_Photo. by L.N.A._]

__________________________________________________________________________
THE ILLUSTRATED WAR NEWS, DEC. 30, 1914--[Part 21]--45

[Illustration: CHRISTMAS AT THE FRONT: BRITISH SOLDIERS BRINGING IN
MISTLETOE.]

It is pleasant to think that, with all the dangers and anxieties of the
war, our soldiers at the front paid tribute to the season of goodwill. It
is a reassuring picture, this of the two men in khaki, rifle on shoulder,
but swinging from the deadly barrels berried mistletoe, so rich in
suggestion of the happiness of Christmases when the scourge of war was not
upon the nations.--[_Photograph by L.N.A._]

[Illustration: TRYING A BRITISH DAINTY! A FRENCH SOLDIER EATING
CHRISTMAS PUDDING.]

The conditions under which tens of thousands of soldiers spent their
Christmas were memorably abnormal, but, none the less, the season was not
passed without such observance