Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1916-05-07

his perlous duty, II was to help extin.
guish the fires that famed up after
every shell. In all my life ! have never
seen a man at once SO crushed and 90
young, but his blue Lorraine eyes were
still clear. Yet he looked at you. he
looked out upon the world, with IN
disguised amazement. For a genera
ton his business had been to night
fires. He had protected his little town
from CONGREGATIONS that might some
times. perhaps once. possibly twice.
have risen to the dignity of three
alarm. For the rest he had dealt with
blazes.
Now. out of the skies and the dark
ness. and out of the daylight, too. fire
had descended upon his town. Under
an avalanche Of incendiary shells.
under landslide of Are. his city was
melting visibly into ashes. He had
lived fire and dreamed fire for half
century, but now the world had turned
to fire-his woodland he looked out
upon 1t in dazed wonder. He could no
longer fight this fire. restrain IL. con-
quer 1t: he could only go out under
the bursting shells and strive to mini
mize by some fraction the destruction:
but it was only child's play. this work
of his which had been a mans bust
ness. And there was no installing the
fact that this world was now too much
for him. He was a brave man: they
told me of things he had done: but his
little cosmos had gone to chaos ut
terly.
Crown Prince Did Not Come.
We entered our cars again and went
to another quarter of the city. Every
where were ashes and ruin. but every
where the sense OF a destruction that
was progressive. not complete: II stu
marched. 1t was as Arras had been.
they told me- before the last wall had
tumbled and the Artois capital had De
come nothing but memory; We
climbed the slope toward the catheorai
and stopped in little square sun un.
scathed, the Place d'Armes. the most
moment l realized what my friends
were telling me. 1t was in this square
that the crown prince was 70 recevo
the surrender of the town. Along the
his victorious army through the town
and out the Porte de France oeyoho,
In this square the kaiser was 70 staho
and review the army. to greet MS VIC
torious son. The scene as !. NJ ~ 20,
arranged was almost rehearseo LOT you
| in the gestures of the French omcers
| "Rut william has not come, tney
said; land he will not come nov;
This last was not spoken as ooss''
hut as faith, conviction.
Cathedral on a Rock.
dral II is seated on the very top PIN
nacle Of the rock of Nerdun. suggest
| ing the French cities of Provence. its
| two towers. severe and lacking orna-
mentation, are the landmarks OF the
countryside for miles around. When
| I came back to America ! reao ,ne
storv of an American correspondent
whom the Germans had brought down
| from Berlin to see the destruction OF
Verdun They had brought him TO inc
edge of the hills and then tnrown
some incendiary shells into the town.
the very shells that killed the men
| whose bodies | had seen.
| The black smoke and flames rushed
I'D around these towers and then tne
Germans brought the correspondent
over the hills and showed him the DE-
struction of Verdun. He described IL
vividly and concluded that the con-
dition of the town must be desperate
Teutonic Stage Management.
They are a wonderful people. these
Germans, in their stage management
| OF course this was precisely the thing
that they desired that he should FEEL
They had sent their shells at the right
moment, the whole performance had
gone off like clockwork. Those poor
blackened masses of humanity in the
house below were the cost tnat Wds
represented in the performance. And
since there is much still left to burn
in verdun, the Germans may repeat
this thing whenever they desire.
But somewhere three or four miles
from here, and between Nerdun and
the Germans. are many thousands OF
Frenchmen. with guns and cannon. and
hearts of even finer metal. They can
not even know that Verdun is being
shelled or is burning. and il it burns
Tn
them or their lines. This is the fallacy
of all the talk of the destruction OF
Verdun city and the deperate condi-
ton of its defenders. The army LETT
| Verdun for the hills when the war be-
gan; the people left when the present
drive began in February. Even the
dogs and cats, which were seen by
correspondents in earlier visits. have
| been rescued and sent away. Verdun
| is dead, it is almost as dead as are
Arras and Ypres. but neither of these
towns after year and a half of bonn
bardment has fallen.