Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1915-07-20
HAVOC WROUGHT BY VARS RUTHLESS
HAND N'SUNNY LAND OF FRANCE
scenes on Farther SIDE Of Channel Following Gtppse of
EngIands Sluggish Movemens Reveal Terrible Tou y
ErGcted by Conflict That Has Shaken Eurone
BY INEz MILHoLLAND BoIssEvAtN
Copyright, 1915, by the New York rrIh,,noN

9l modesty. out in the world. bowevar
ne sees with astonishment that bo is ieft
pehlhd, surpassed often nv the boy that
ne ,,., uespised-the quiet, unimaginative bov.
ne grind, for whom he had a feeling
Vi pride In his "bookiness. but also
ness. ~ 'iS ileApert-
We'll England is like that Her v,r-
tues are the physical virtues of athletic
poynood, hardihood, COURAGE. team work
virtues that have made her exceI nut
~, .ne world has grown beyond that stage
~ ~ lts development, and England does NOT
@h.'o" @ u. what does II mean? The vir-
Iues oI england are the virtues that have
made the world 20 round Is thora ' .e We
.uoIe use for them today? Ia IL poesible
that science and Imagination and or
eaniHatioh and efficiency have taken their
placeE Impossible. England refuses 70
DeieVe IT, And l am afraid she will have
10 Dlte the dust before she really does he
heVe 1t. Her obstinacy is the obstinaov
Oh the schoolboy grown. and. like the
semooiDoy. She chafes and busters and
calls names-and falls behind. But she
VIII pun herself together TO meet the
,lns Soluitlons or a newer world, Of that 1
have no doubt, only-she has 70 ioarn
humility and self-analysis.
ShNIHh OF GENTLE TYPE
Our notions about sentries made us
considerably nervous. Imagine. then. our
surprise at the first barrier. A charming
lttle soldier came forward with a gun
held umidly in front of him and a hes
liant, apologetic expression in his gentle
eyes. He appealed to me as a little
Shiid appeals to me or q kitten or a
lloundering, helpless baby horse.
wanted N arfaa auNI
MS head or bless him. All 1 could do
to express my appreciation OF his appeal
ing charm was to give him a cigarette
When formalities were done with. But
snail never forget that brown-eyed lit
tie sentry-ne was not boy, either but
a man Of perhaps 80.
He smiled and murmured something
and called his superior officer, who ex-
amined our papers with the dignity that
Is not othCious with courtesy, dispatch
and kindly interest, It was the same all
through that afternoon In sunny France
suppose we were challenged between 20
and 30 times, but always the process was
qpiet, quick and courteous. Bless France
and the peoplel
TOMMY AND HIS FRENCH ALLY.
We scurried along the fiat French road,
going as fast as 90 miles an hour at
times, for the road was deserted-that is,
1t was barren of it's ordinary human traf-
tic. War had stripped the countryside
In the beginning we passed a steady
stream of motorcars, containing officers
motor horses and trucks of one sort and
another, containing supplies and ammu-
milton, bound for the front, but later
these thinned out. The railroad line
from Boulogne TO Paris goes within six
miles, l believe, of the firing line, but
the road lies 20 or 30 miles behind We
passed through towns that were astir
with military hustle-one the town where
were stored the horses and supplies an
other which contained the hospital for
the Indian soldiers; another where a regi-
ment was waiting in reserve. Every
where were British Tommies, fraternizlng
cheerily with the French.
AS we got further away from the base
of operations the soldiers in the towns
became fewer and fewer. and when we
saw that the towns were desolate. The
houses Cthose unfriendly French houses
that look like barricades with their un-
compromising stone walls rising from the
street, were shuttered and still. The
women struggled through the lifeless
streets, dull eyed, weary, waiting. AS
the car passed young girls peeped from
behind the blinds, craving, I suppose
some manifestation of the life that was
no more.
SAD LOT OF THE WOMEN.
I could not help thinking that If we
had been an invading German army we
should have had very little difficulty in
those eager young women to
and perhaps to love. They
were in the heyday OF pulsating life, and
their own men were gone, never, per-
haps, to come again. know what
should have done, as a young girl, cheat
ed of throbbing life, left behind to a dreary
driven existence in a deserted town.
At Beauvais. where we stopped to pur-
chase tire from the army, we found the
liveliness of the garrison town. Every