t who
remembered the war of 1870 and had witnessed some engagements in the
last few days. Here is his account of what he saw:

"The bravery on both sides was amazing. The effects of artillery fire
are terrific. The shells burst, and where you formerly saw a body of
soldiers you see a heap of corpses or a number of figures writhing on
the ground, torn and mutilated by the fragments of the shell. Those who
are unhurt scatter for the moment, but quickly regain their composure
and take up their positions in the fighting line as if nothing had
happened. The effects of other weapons are as bad. It seems remarkable
that soldiers can see the destruction worked all around them, yet can
control their nerves sufficiently to continue fighting.

"I remember the battles of 1870, in five or six of which I fought
myself, but they bear no comparison with the battles of 1914. War
forty-four years ago was child's play compared with war at the present
time."

In several villages the schools and churches and many cottages are
filled with wounded Frenchmen and Germans, and everything is being done
to relieve their sufferings. In the stress of fighting many wounded
soldiers were left from three to ten or twelve hours lying in the fields
or on the roads. The ambulance equipment of modern armies appears
utterly inadequate, and most of the wounded were picked up by villagers.

A French aeroplane from Belfort reconnoitred the German positions behind
Muelhausen. As it passed over the German works at the Isteiner Klotz
there ensued a continuous firing of machine guns and rifles. The
aeroplane, which had swerved downward to give its two occupants a closer
and clearer view of the German position, immediately rose to a much
greater altitude and escaped injury. It cruised over the German position
for more than an hour, now rising, now falling, always pursued by the
bullets of the enemy.

This aerial reconnoissance [Transcriber: original 'reconnoisance'], part
of which was carried out at an altitude as low as 1,000 feet, was
undertaken at terrible risk, but in this case the aeroplane escaped all
injury and returned in the direction of Belfort, doubtless with all the
information it had set out to collect.

* * * * *

[Special Cable to THE NEW YORK TIMES.]

BERNE, Aug. 22, (Dispatch to The London Morning Post.)--Gebweiler, in
Alsace, twelve miles to the northwest of Muelhausen, was taken by the
French at the p