Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1914-09-17
THE HORRORS OF THE WAR.
As They Impressed American Tourists
I'm Europc.

Only one who has spent tho last month
on the continent of Europe can know
what It means to be sailing westward on
the Atlantic with the Stars and Stripes
floating at the masthead. Should we yield
to the strongest sentiment in our hearts
we would go straight from the custom
house at New York to Washington and lay
at the feet of President Wilson our deep
thankfulness for preserving our country
from war with Mexico. If Col. Henry
Watterson and his following could be
sentenced to a sojourn in Europe at the
present time they would quickly learn
that demand for war by the United
States is the most reasonable sentiment
In the power of man to utter.
All the long way from Lucerne to Liv-
erpool we were stirred with wrath and
Indignation against the authors of the
present terrible conflict that It made us
literally III. Thousands of broad acres
with the harvests ungathcred, orchards
of fruit unpicked. the hay spelling on the
ground and here and there groups Of
women and old men trying to turn It to
the sunshine; the cows roaming in the
fields with no one to milk them, and the
children and the sick suffering for milk;
Of men to their own. and all along the
route, at every bridge. water tank, rail-
road crossing and station, hundreds of idle
men, called from their tasks to await the
coming of the enemy and offer UP their
lives-such were the scenes in Switzer-
land and southern France before the ac-
tual war had reached their peaceful ter
ritory.
1t all seemed so pitlful. the fields that
had been planted and titled with such
care; the flowers around the cottages
blooming SO brightly, the little shops in
the villages now closed. all showing the
thrift and industry of the people. who ask
only to live in peace. to perform their
daily tasks, to marry ana rear their
children, and yet must suffer destruction
and death to crafty the ambition and
vengeance OF kings. emperors and min
listers of state,
AS we entered central France and near
ed Parts, the war became more OF an
actually. Again and again we were side
tracked to let long trainloads of soldiers
go by, all in cattle cars marked on the
sides, Eight horses, A. men, no seats
md the men getting air and light only
by standing with their heads at the aper-
lures as horses do.
Then came the trains Of refugees from
the line OF battle, the Old, the sick wo-
men and children, pale, dirty, all their
possessions tied up In handkerchiefs or
table cloths, huddled on the floor of freight
cars. their men folk killed, their houses
in ashes. fleeing they knew not where
At many stations a room had been hastily
ira nsformed into Red Cross hospital
where wounded soldiers We're carried from
the cars. All the havoc. ruin death. des
pair wrought in the space of three short
weeks! AS we faced them during those
| four dreadful DAYS while We were tryins
to reach English soil, and even s We
| listened to travellers stories far worse
| than our own. all seemed by compari
son too trivial for notice. and Yet the ex-
| periences of American tourists during th'
| last month have been by no means d
negligible part of the general chaos 50
suddenly preciptated, and all the com
ing years cannot eliminate their memory
Every day left the impress of a decade
on our faces. our nerves, our hearts
! Ida Hustled Harper in the Philadelph ia
| Public Ledger.