The Irish standard., 1886-10-16

I Il
some twenty or thirty houses, for the
most part one-storied cotteges, roo.ed
with led tiles. The brick church, sur
rounded bv poorly kept graveyard, in
| which, probably, most of the dead were
buried, stands at the cross roads about
the centre of the village. Possibly the
church and houses are much as they
were at the time Of battle. Rows of
pollard willows are planted here and
there. The inhabitants appeared poor
the insides Of the houses were neat.
and twice the lines Of ST. Antoine the Dutch in
|. vain essaied
St. Antoine is a well-built, clean,
prosperous place of 5000 inhabitants,
tue chief town Of a small district. with
Il railway station. Its streets slope
somewhat steeply down from the bat
lleiield to the Escaut. could not per
ceiye any trace of earthWorks-proh-
ably they were only thrown up for the
occasion. In the centre Of the town.
near the chateau before mentioned, are
The ruins OF what is said to have been
the residence Of the lords of the dis
trict, built in the tx elfth century.
For tower ant! slope were filled with fort and
1iankng battery.
The forts consisted doub less Of the
old castle: and Of Il ruined windmill We
could perceive on the opposite side Of
The river. According to my informa-
.tion the French during the battle had
a battery OF six pieces stationed beside
this mill, whence they kept upa CALLING
fire upon the enemy over Fontenoy.
AS vainly through DC Barri's wood the British
soldiers burst.
De Barr's wood consists apparently
OF pine trees. 1t is three -fourths Of a
mile from Fontency. Probably it has
been much cut away within the past
140 years.
Steady they step adown the SLOPE steady they
climb the hill.
The ''slope' and the s!'hilP' are not
much more than the ordinary undula-
ions in a gently rolling country. There
is nothing precipitous OF marked about
them. But we know how much very
slight elevation OF depression counts
for IN warfare.
And or the open plain above they rose and kept
their course.
Across the piain aud far away passed on that
llteons wreck.
The plain Of the battlefield is now
bare and under cultivation hedges
or bitches of any kind. The roads pass
over it as q private road passes through
81 demesne with us. The different
properties must be we'll defined in some
way, but t.sere is NO appearance OF the
divisions. The country looked pasched
and desolate, especially to eyes ac-
customed to our dear land OF "green
valley and rushing river" Potatoes
and turnlps We're still i'll the ground:
here and there the eye was somewhat
relieved by patches OF vetch. For the
most part the ground was dry and
dusty, aud the people were busjly en-
gagged in preparing for winter crops,
with their wooden harrows and rude
plows drawn by COWS and horses.
From the plain we could see down into
st. Antoine, and across the river to the
spires and houses of the adjacent city.
1t was d pleasant drive back to Tour
nay i'll the cool Of the evening. After
tea we strolled out through the town.
The moon lit up the four spires Of the
noble cathedral and the graceful clock
tower II was pleasant to think that
before many days were over we would
see it shining ON Irish soil. After al
Tournay is not SO far fro Il home. l1eay-
ing there at $500 Yesterday morning,
we might have realized Dublin III little
over twenty borrs.
ALFRED WEBB.