At the Gare de L’Est, the eastern railway station where troops by the thousand were leaving for the German frontier, wives, mothers, sisters and sweethearts met and wept in multitudes. But a French soldier turned the tragedy into comedy. On a large cardboard he imitated the signs announcing the destinations of trains in time of peace and hung it on the military special. It read: “Holiday excursion to Berlin.” Whereupon the women dried their tears and laughed. A woman, her face very white, came out of one of the municipal offices at which official information is given of the death or injury of French soldiers. Four sons had left her a few days before to join the colors. Another woman came up to her and said: “Have you good news of your sons? My Jean is safe.” “Yes,” the first mother replied, “they are all safe. They are safe in the arms of the Father. I am proud to give all to the cause.” WHY RUSSIA NEEDED AUTOS The Petrograd correspondent of the _Daily Mail_ telegraphed: “At the last interview which Prince Hohenlohe, the Austrian military attaché, had with the Russian military authorities before the war he expressed surprise that the Russians were requisitioning so many automobiles. “Your roads are so bad,” he said. “But yours are so good,” was the reply. WHEN THE CRUISER AMPHION WENT DOWN Here are some additional details of the sinking of the British cruiser _Amphion_ when she hit a mine laid by the Germans off Harwich: “It was 6.30 o’clock when the _Amphion_ struck the mine. A sheet of flame instantly engulfed the bridge. The captain was rendered insensible and he fell to the floor. As soon as the captain recovered consciousness he rang to the engineers to stop the engines, which were still going at revolutions for twenty knots. As all the forward part of the _Amphion_ was on fire it was found impossible to reach the bridge or flood the fore magazine. “The ship’s back appeared to be broken and she was already settling down by the bows. All efforts therefore were directed to placing the wounded in places of safety in case of an explosion and in getting the cruiser in tow by the stern. “By the time the destroyers had closed in it was clearly time to abandon the ship. The men fell in for this purpose with the same composure that had marked their behavior throughout. All was done without hurry or confusion and twenty minutes after the cruiser struck the mine the men, the officers, and lastly the captain had left the ship. “Three minutes after the captain had left another explosion occurred. This enveloped and blew up the entire fore part of the vessel. The effect of this showed that the _Amphion_ must have struck the second mine, which exploded the fore magazine. Débris falling from a great height struck the rescue boats and the destroyers and one of the _Amphion’s_ shells burst on the deck of one of the destroyers, killing two Englishmen and one German prisoner.” SHELLS BURST IN WHEAT FIELDS