Photograph by Herbert Corey 

 MISS EMILY SIMMONDS, ONE OF THE MOST NOTED NURSES OF THE AMERICAN RED 

 CROSS, LUNCHING WITH THE TWO "CHEECHAS" WHO HAD BEEN 

 ASSIGNED TO HER FOR A PERSONAL GUARD AT BROD 



sidewise on the slopes or the soft dirt 

 ballasting oozes out from beneath the 

 ties. 



On the big road the great motor lor- 

 ries slip and strain and beat the surface 

 into huge ruts. When a car is stranded 

 it is pushed into the ditch by the side. 

 The men attached to it paddle about 

 barefooted, hopelessly, doing little things 

 they know will do no good. They must 

 wait for the road to come to its senses. 

 The pack-trains abandon the road com- 

 pletely and strike across the open coun- 

 try. 



OX-CARTS THE FINAL RELIANCE OF 

 TRANSPORT DEPARTMENT 



But the ox-carts groan and creak and 

 waggle on. The little oxen sway and 

 grunt under the goad. Progress is in- 

 finitely slow, but there is progress. In 

 the end they reach the place appointed. 



The Allied forces have built 2>ooo miles 

 of main and branch roads in Macedonia 

 during the occupancy and dry weather 

 conditions are slightly improved. But 

 the loose Macedonian soil and the sandy 

 Macedonian rock is not good road metal. 

 "When the Allies leave Macedonia and 

 the people come back to these poor vil- 



lages that are scattered through the hills, 

 the big road will go back to that state in 

 which Alexander put it, perhaps, or 

 Darius found it. Until it is bettered and 

 the roads that lead from it are made 

 sound for traffic, there can be no perma- 

 nent improvement in the internal condi- 

 tions of northern Macedonia. Where 

 Macedonia is not hilly it is a swamp. 

 During the winter Macedonian hills defy 

 nature and become swamps. 



If the road is an irritation as well as 

 a necessity, the malaria-bearing mosquito 

 is a really dangerous enemy. Last year 

 the Allied troops did not realize what the 

 Macedonian mosquito can do, apparently. 

 They were not prepared. In consequence 

 fully one-half of their strength was out 

 of action because of malaria. 



During one period more men were in- 

 valided home than arrived on ships. I 

 heard of battalions with 75 per cent of 

 their men on their backs, and of com- 

 panies in which only five men were fit for 

 duty. The well men watched the trench 

 while the invalids groaned in their dug- 

 outs, but the sick men responded to call 

 when an attack was made. Even in the 

 midst of winter one saw yellow-faced men 

 faltering- along the Monastir road toward 



40; 



