The St. Mary banner. (Franklin, Parish of St. Mary, La.) 1889-1931, 1915-07-24

land are cultivating the fields almost
up to the points of contact Of the bat
Ting armies. So earnest was the
peasantry in it's endeayor to make
every acre of the soil yield its toll
against the day of possible need, that
it actually carried its filling and plant
ing work into the fields where the
shells still were falling.
The military authorities finally were
compelled to call halt on the Guilt
waiting ambitions of the French peas
ants They admired the spirit which
prompted the aged ones and the wom-
en- and the children to dare death IN
order to make full crop possible
but they did not think that a few ex
ira bushels of wheat or OF potatoes
would compensate France for further
losses among its peasantry. 1t was
necessary, therefore, to call a halt on
this fine but dangerous farming en-
deavor. The toilers did not mind the
hell of shell fire any more than the
soldiers did, but there are some sac
rifices which are needless. So it is
that the peasant toll Of today must
manifest itself only up to the inside
limit of danger from dropping proJec-
tiles. Thus it is that the plain on
which am standing has not yet been
turned by the plow.
Nature has been at work here ever
since 1t felt the first warming touch OF
springs sun. This battlefield today IS
covered with flowers, dandellons,
daisies, forget-me-nots and violets. Inc
deep pits dug by the earlier fallen
shells are now sunken gardens. Whlte
and gold, yellow and blue and Grim
son. enter into the color scheme or the
battlefield. I never knew before the
knifelike sharpness Of contrast war
and death are in the valley, and peace
and life are on the commanding hlii'
The guns are pounding while over my
head two skylarks are soaring anu
singing. The fast growing grass al
fords the birds shelter for their nests
and above them always Is the SKY
against whose foundations artillery Is
vainly used
Reminders Of the Battle.
All along the edges Of this plateau
the trenches are deeply cut. They are
used for shelter by the men or poth
armies during the sweeping fire on
this open plain. Today they are some
what back Of the rearmost trenches
of the present fighting line. 1t is cas-
lily learned how savage was the ngnt
in this place where today one PICKS
flowers and listens to the larks sing
ing in defiance of the noise OF the
cannon. Reminders Of the battle that
has moved on apace are everywhere
France is high-heartedly hopeful to-
day that the line of this fighting Will
continue to recede northward and
north and that the recession
will become quicker paced day by day
as the spring and the summer ad-
vance. AS it is the fragments OF vii
lagos within this triangle, and which
are still shaken by the gunfire. feel
seemingly that their future safety IS
as assured as If they were removed
a thousand leagues from the clashing
armies in the valleys of the Aire and
the Meuse. The few villagers who
have come back have full confidence
in the prowess of the French soldiers
who are bulwarking the land.
Near this field of the lighting there
are several desolated places which
have seen, but of which l have not
written, so like is their condition to
that of scores of other villages which
7 have visited and whose pathos ap-
pealed Pretz and Vassincourt are
gone. Louppy lie Chateau is pile of
ruins. At Revigny nothing is left but
the walls of the church and one saints
statue, from which destruction in
some way or another was warded off.
We see these places as we pass
from the battlefield to village still
standing, at least in part. and where
| we may rest, and where we might
forget war were it not for the distant
| rolling of the guns along the line
where men are killing men. We are
going back to Paris and from there
later l hope to go under the same
guidance to another part of France.
where, as along this line, the armies
! are at death grips.