Evening star., 1914-10-18
yTIONS AND RUNGORS WRITES STERLING EEELLGG

that Russia will attack us II tho
French commence, but IL Russia COM
mences. 1t is sure that France will fol-
low, and such a war will not be a good
affair for Germany. Its issue will not
be at all certain; and German victory,
even, would be a grand misfortune, be-
cause we should lose SO much men and
money. Our indirect losses to COM
we could take practically nothing from
Russia, and not enough from France
to compensate the expenses"
Heine, poet. saw wars of extinction
Germans from whom he sprung, and
the French with whom he lived. His
poems, like the 'Lorelei," were written
in his native German. but he was care
full to have his caustic letters from
Paris appear in French. 1t was the
time of romantic poetry. when legends
of the Rhine were all the fashion in
France and the opera singer a la mode
deemed it good policy to take for her
stage name Rosina Stolz,
Heine told them not to be deceived.
Frenchmen. be on your guard. he
wrote. Il will tell you bitter truths;
we have against you. l have never
been able to learn, but We shall not
pardon you for it. SO long as you
exist"
supreme battle, which French legend
places at the Chene-Populeux, and
German legend in the plain of Semi
helm.
They are fighting back and forth in
both.
The Argonne, wild district of forests.
gorges and swamps, is near the Meuse.
Here, in 1892, Dumouriez stopped the
Prussians before beating them at
Valmy. Referring to the legend. he
called the Argonne "the Thermopylae
of France" One of its defiles is the
Chene-Populeux. BY it. the Prussians
had come to Dumouriez: by 1t, in the
dawn of history. had come the first
Germanic inyasions of Gaul, and by II.
Attilla fed before Aetius, back to the
Germanic forests. By the Chene- -Popu-
AIx, says old French legend. the
hereditary enemy is to suffer final de-
feat which is to assure the hegemony
of France. "Chene-Populeux" means
"Populous Oak" The figure is terrible
"a grand old oak tree, full of crows.
waiting, waiting.
Sennheim (Cernay) is the town of
Alsace,. ten miles from Mulhouse. of
which you read. Between. the valley
spreads to a great plain. 1t is the
ochensfeld. historic ground, soaked
Caesar routed the Sueves of Ariovistus.
saving the Gallo-Roman world tenn
porarily from German invasion. twice
again the Ochsenfeld decided Eu-
ropes fate In A ID. 533 1t was the de-
cisive battle over the partition of the
empire by Louis the Debonair. In 1887
the imperials were smashed by Duke
Bernard of Saxe-Weimar. commanding
tthe French army loaned him by RICHIE
liear Without the aid of France, Aus
tria would have beaten the reforma-
tion, and the victory of Bernard OF
Saxe-Weimar gave Alsace and Lorraine
to France as recompense.
X
So, the plain of Sennheim Tor. Ger
nay) has fatal significance to the Alsa-
tian mind Legend tells that in the
center of the plain, beneath great rock
called the Bibelstein, sleeps Frederick
Barbarossa, who bore the title Of Duke
of Alsace. He sleeps. awaiting the
hour of destiny"
What is that hour, that destiny? The
re-establishment of the empire OF
Charmalagne? The picture Is as enig-
matte as it is grandiose and terrible.
Religiously. from generation to gen.
GRAFTON, the people have transmitted
the prediction that the plain Of Cernay
COR Sennheim), soaked with such old
waves Of human blood. must be the
scene Of the most gigantic battle of the
world, to put an end to the wars OF
nations" and '1n which SO many men
will perish that there remains. after
the carnage, only women and children.
"a boy of fourteen will announce the
end of the battle, and raise, above
the mountain of the dead, the nag OF
the worlds peace!'
STERLING HEnIG. ~