Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1916-07-23
Special Correspondence of The Star.

Special Correspondence of The Star.
PARIS, July 16 1915.
00 7HILE destruction was storm
MANI ing on Nerdun one of the
WV worlds greatest etchers was
completing the last plate of
Nerdun in its beauty.
Here is the story of the key of the
world in picture:
Andrew Afheck. the adventurous
Scotchman is. indeed. a grand artist.
His rich and velvety etchings of
French and Belgian cathedrals are
known all over America. He is a spe-
cialist of north France, Belgium and
the River Meuse, beloved by artists.
He permits me to publish his prelimi-
nary Verdun drawing, and has made
me certain hurried sketches of the
Meuse cliffs. on which all eyes are
fixed.
Because. here is the great new thing.
Europe is agog with the facts.
Not Verdun. but the sweet romantic
little river on which Verdun sits is be-
coming the key of the world"
where it flows in grace and beauty. the
River Mouse. beloved by tourists. is to
become terrible by hurricanes of fire
and metal. clouds Of poison gases and
the flowing blood of men Germany
has prepared it, in the tranquility OF
her rear. In word, Germany is all
ready 10 use the River Meuse as her
new western front in case of retreat
from France and Belgium.
And what a western front--a wall
OF cliffs.
IL is now known that Germany has
transformed the Meuse cliffs into an
unprecedented fortress 100 miles long
The low banks of the stream. for al
most an equal distance. are mined with
secret explosives. The river beloved
by artists will be an awful place.
,ione4s the calm of its earlier shore,
and We, on its breast. minds
Are confused H. the cries which We hear.
And ae say that repose has He'd
Forever the course Of the river Of Time.
That never Will thoss its breast
See ennobling sight
or drink Of the feeling Of quiet again.
II comes surprise to the pub
lie, but the armies have known it for
long time. Indeed. Germany has es-
tabiizhed two new lines in Belgium.
The nrs,. in view Of a retreat from
their User front. goes north from the
old front at Msubeuge TO Mons. strikes
the little River Dendre north of Mons
at LenZ. follows the Dendre by way of
Ath. LessineS. Grammont and Alost TO
the Scheldt. and thence along the
Scheldt to antwerp. II would make
them lose Client. Bruges, Ostend and
all the Belgian coast. with Roubaix,
Lille and all northwestern France,
and their port of Antwerp would not
serve them without violating Holland.
The other line. the grand. sensa tional
line, Is simply the course of the River
Meuse. all the way from Verdun up to
Maastricht and Aix-la -Chapelle.
This front OF the Meuse," about which
80 many are talking. was originally con-
structed by the Germans for use in case
the French should pierce their lines near
Ferdun, and retreat to IL purely and
simply means the German armies aban-
doning all France and Belgium except a
little strip Of both these countries east
OF the Meuse. containing the greatest iron
mines of all Europe, which Germany laid
hands on in the first months of the war.
after having long been tempted by them.
II is a story by itself. Germany's craving
for the iron Basin of Briey. which belongs
TO her French and Belgian neighbors
and the cliffs Of the Meuse. transformed