ery duels, varied by general
attacks, occurred daily all along the line. The main positions of both
armies were firmly held, though the French had gained some ground north
of Rheims and continually threatened the German center. The left of the
Allies' line had crept north to and beyond Arras, where there was severe
fighting for several days; and at the end of the thirty-fifth day of this
battle of the Rivers the lines of the opposing armies extended almost
continuously from beyond Arras on the northwest, south in a great curve
to the Aisne valley, thence east to Verdun, where the Crown Prince's
army kept hammering away at that fortress without success, and thence
southwest to Nancy and the Alsatian border.

By this time the armies of the center were in a species of deadlock. The
strain on both sides had long promised to get beyond human endurance and
the antagonists of the Aisne were likened by a French officer to two
exhausted pugilists, who would soon be unable to inflict further
punishment upon each other. But there was no sign of "throwing up the
sponge" on either side, though beyond the actual sphere of conflict it
was felt that "something must give way soon."

A BLAZING VALE OF DEATH

Writing on September 16, the fourth day of the battle, a special
correspondent behind the British lines by Senlis and Chantilly, said:

"I have passed through a smiling land to a land wearing the mask of
death; through harvest fields rich with great stacks snugly builded
against the winter to the fields of a braver harvest; by jocund villages
where there is no break in the ebb and flow of everyday life to villages
and towns that despoiling hands have shattered in ruins.

"And I have passed up this Via Dolorosa toward the very harvesting
itself--toward those great plains stretching away on the banks of the
River Aisne, where the second act of this drama of battles is at this
moment being played.

"Details of this fight, which, as I write, reaches its fourth day of
duration, are very scanty, but partly from personal observation and
partly from information which has reached me I know that the struggle so
far has been a terrible one, equal to, if not greater than, the struggle
on the banks of the Marne.

"The events of Monday (September 14) revealed a foe battling desperately
for his life; and this defense of General von Kluck's army demanded of
the Allies their utmost strength and determination.

"Picture this battlefield, whic