The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1915-12-26
FIRST TRENCH TRIP
IN FRANCE SHOWS
HUNDREDS OF MEN
LIVING LIKE MOLES
CONTINUED from Page one>

glass trampled under foot. of the dead
and wounded Germans lying in the
straw that had given the floor of the
cathedral the look of a barn. Now it
is as empty of decoration as the Penn
sylvania railroad station in New York
1t is a beautiful shell waiting for the
gay to come when the candles will be
relit, the incense tosss before the altar
the grey walls glow again with the
colors OF tapestries and paintings. The
windows only viii not bloom as before
The glass the Emperor's shells de-
stroyed, all the Kings horses and all
the Kings men cannot restore.
The professional guide, who Is al
ready so professional that he Is ex-
changing German cartridges for tips
supplied a morbid detail of impossible
lad taste. Among the German wounded
there was major Ct remember de-
scribing him a year ago as looking
like college professor) who, when
the fire came. was one of those the
priests could not save, and who was
burned alive. Marks in the grey sur
face of a pillar against which he re-
clfned, and grease spots on the stones
Of the floor are supposed to be evil
dences of his end, u torture brought
upon him by the shells of his own peo-
pie. Mr.. Kipling has written that there
are many who "hope and pray these
signs will be respected by our chill
nothing so savagely implacable as the
middle class civilian Englishman who
advocates "reprisals," and brass bands
to encourage other Englishmen to re-
cruft. Mr.. Kipling's hope shows an
imperfect conception of the purposes of
a cathedral. 1t is a house dedicated
to God, and on earth, to peace and
good will among men. 1t is not erected
to teach generations of little children
to gloat over the fact that an enemy,
even a German officer, was by acct
dent burnt alive.
Personally, I feel the sooner those
who introduced "frightfulness'' to
France, Belgium and neutral seas, are
hunted down and destroyed, the better.
But the stone mason should get to
work and remove those stains from
the Rheims cathedral. Instead, for our
children's children would not a tablet
to Edith Cavell be better, or to the
French priest, Able Thinot. who car
ried the wounded Germans from the
burning cathedral and who later
while carrying French wounded from
the field of battle, was himself hit
three times, and of his wounds died?
Y hinted to the lieutenant that the
cathedral would remain for sometime
but that the trenches would soon be
ploughed into turnip beds.
y LIVING UNDER GROUND
The officer commanding them lived in
what he described as the deck of a
battleship sunk under ground. 1t was
q happy smile. He had his coming
tower, in which, with telescope
through a slit in a steel plate, he could
sweep the countryside
He had a fire control station, eX-
ecutive offices, wararoom, cooks gal
lery, his own cabin equipped with tele-
phones, electric lights and running
water. There was a carpet on the
floor, a gay coverlet on a four poster
bed. photographs on his dressing ta-
BILE. and flowers. All of these We're
buried deep under ground. A puzzling
detail was a perfectly good brass lock
and key on his door. 1 asked if ii
were to keep out shells or burglars.
Ara he explained that the door with
the lock intact had been blown off It's
hinges in house of which no part
was now standing. He had borrowed
1t, as he had borrowed evsrything
else in the subterranean warship, from
the nearby ruins.
He was an extremely light hearted
and courteous host, but he frowned
suspiciously when he asked il l knew a
correspondent named Beverage.
hastily repudiated Beveridge. / knew
him not, | said, as correspondent
but as a politician who possibly had
high hopes of the German vote" HE
dined with u.s." said the colonel. land
then wrote against France" l sug-
gested it was at their own risk If they
welcomed those who already had been
with the Germans. and who had been
received by the German Emperor. and
that this is no war for neutrals.
Then began walk OF over a mile