tever they might be."

THE NEUTRALS.

By BEATRICE BARRY.

Ours is the "neutral nation"
In this war that the white men wage,
And we on the Reservation
Care naught how the white men rage.

Where are the forest spaces
That the red man was free to roam?
And what of the woodland places
Where the red man made his home?

Gone! There's a paleface house
Where the brave had his strong tepee,
And the white man's cattle browse
Where the wild herds used to be.

For our power sites he reaches
While both smoothly he speaks and well
Of the God whose love he teaches
And whose justice he would tell.

O Great White Spirit who rideth
On the wings of the Winter gale,
Though thy children's faith abideth,
Alas! they have lost the trail.

Fifteen Minutes on the Yser

[Special Cable to THE NEW YORK TIMES.]

IN BELGIUM, Dec. 12, (Dispatch to The London Daily News.)--Fighting of
an exceedingly desperate character has been taking place during the
latter portion of the week along the line which extends between the Yser
and the Lys. Success has attended the efforts of both Germans and French
in turn; but the losses of the enemy have been by far the greater, and
the French have in places gained a slight advantage. This is
particularly noteworthy when it is considered that the Germans on
Thursday especially attacked in overwhelming force time after time.
Their movement was concentrated on a zigzag line of trenches not far
from the village of Dichebusch, which, as it happened, was not
particularly strongly held by the French.

A terrific prelude to the attack was made by the German artillery, which
concentrated a furious shrapnel fire upon the French position. At this
point the trenches of the Germans were only seventy yards from the
French, and for fear of hitting their own men the German guns were aimed
fairly high, so that the Frenchmen in the rear trenches suffered most
heavily. Those in the front trench huddled against its sides while the
storm of shot and shell raged over them. There was nothing else for them
to do at the moment, and, as it proved, it was extremely fortunate for
the Allies that the German guns spared these men.

The French seventy-fives raked the German batteries in answer, and
things were going hot and strong when the German infantrymen suddenly
became active. From their trenches seventy yards