Lincoln County leader. [volume] (Toledo, Lincoln County, Or.) 1893-1987, 1914-12-11

Ak1oS1 ASk v Ian
~ HE Meuse is river singularly
symbolical Of, and welded to,
| the three groups of peoples
through whom the three great
phases of its life as a river
run. Its part in war also has corre-
sponded to all three, and since It first
entered recorded history, 1000 years
ago, till today, when 1t is 80 apparent
ly the obstacle surmounted by the
German invasion of France, 1t has
checked or aided so generations Of
soldiers. All its first course goes
through that essentially Gallic coun-
try Of Lorraine, of the Three Bishop
RIGS and Of the countrysides that
bound the Barrois. On its very up
per waters, where It is no more than
clear meadow stream, you will find
Domremy and the house where Joan
Of Arc was born.
In the midst Of that same stretch
where already the Meuse is a fiver-
stands the great Gallo fortress of
Verdun, the town upon whose fortunes
SO many invasions have depended.
Further upon its course see the
somber name Of Sedan; and in all this
long French rising and flowing of the
river there Is upon either side that
mass Of rich meadowland and vine
yard, low. rounded hill and strictly
ordered woods, which make up q
French landscape. It is this stretch,
too. that runs-all the earlier and
higher part Of it-along and behind
these "Cotes de Meuse" which are
: the stretched line of defense between
Toul and Verdun; which make wall
Of forts from Commercy at the gates
Of Toul to the verdun ring
; Merges Into Dutch.
Similarly, all the lower reaches,
from the Roman crossing at Maastricht
, to the vague marshes, fiat mud is
lands. dykes and confused shadows
whereby 1t mingles with the Scheldt
and with the Rhine and passes to
the sea, are quite Dutch, not only In
the language spoken upon either side
Of the river, but in the broadening
flats and sluggish waters and In the
very sky. For the skies of the Neither.
land plain are different from anything
else In the rest Of Europe. They
seem to be lit from beneath and their
clouds supply the accident and con
trast which the earthly horizon lacks
All this lower stream is full OF such
0 wars as the seventeenth century
fought to withstand Louis XIV. The
duke OF Marlborough owed his title
y to the clearing Of the Lower Meuse-
rolling up the French garrisons as fal
s as Liege in 1902.
4 Between these two peopled, wealth,
8 sections, the upper and the lower, the
9 broad seaward reaches and the in
8 land meadow streams, the Meuse b,
l. q curious accident experiences a fate
g not promised by It's origin and hardly
d remembered at its end. II rum
d through gorges more bold, and II
q parts more deserted, than those O
any western river. The trench which
'e II thus occupies is the more memor
II able to those who have followed II
y from the breadth, the depth and tn,
IL silence OF the stream that flow
N through II between the very steel
le walls Of wood and rock upon eithel
i side. These are 500, 600. 700 fee
IN above the stream, and in places 100
IN feet, but they give an impression o
II far greater height from the uniformit.
al OF their coloring and wooded cloak
Of from their sharpness OF fall, and iron
ID the way in which they run parallel
supporting each the effects Of tn
other upon either side OF the dead
fiat floor OF water between. This az
In cldent which the Meuse suffers, thi
to exceptional landscape coming afte
IN the easy pastures OF Lorraine, comm
In before the great sea.Hats OF the Netf
q erlands. makes the course OF tn
,h Meuse comparable to the life OF som
lg man whose youth and manhood wer
to merely prosperous. whose old age wa
at spacious and at ease, but who fell b
some fate in a few yards OF middl
ep life upon surprising adventures. An
is this gorge. though less mixed with IN
II history OF war than what lies aboy
th and below II. has fortress at It's gate
On and In It's midst corresponds to hi
ch tory OF war.
sh All these three sections. then. CO
he respond to something in the histor
W. OF war. The wars to protect II
ei. Netherlands against the ambition I
et the French concerned the Dutc
cd Meuse; to possess Maastricht, ul'
q mately to possess Liege, was the o
'm ject OF the defenders and Of the q
tsckers. The upper reaches throus