New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1916-08-20
THE LOST VILLAGES.
By ARTHUR GLEASON.

The cupboard in her new home stood n,I
ing, because it had no doors.
81 have asked the carpenter in Reyiyn, u
come and make those DOORS" she expls,,
'but he is always too busy with cos,l
twenty-five and thirty coftins a day"
These are for the dead Of yerdun.
When the Germans left Somn.Ts
French officers found in one Of tn. ceIl1
six bodies: those of Monsieur and " |
Alcide Adnot. woman, thirty-fve years (,
and her four children, eleven years, FIVE, e.
and a year and half old. The mar IA
been shot, the young mother with the rg- |
forearm cut off and the body violated, Il
little girl violated, one Of the children vi
his mead cut off. All were lying in -.
of blood, with the splatter reaching d.
lance of ninety centimetres. The Gerna
had burned the house. thinking that the ss
would destroy the evidence Of their SEVERITY
but the flames had not penetrated to ,As
cellar.
Sommeilles is in one OF the loveiest SCI
tons of Europe, where the fields lie ieris
under temperate sun and the little rlyers
glide under green willow trees Villages q
peasants have clustered here through es''
turtles One or two of the hundreds OF ogl:
ers that lifted Rheims and Charities VIC.
wander from the larger work to the yiliy
church and give their skill to the pora-
adding a choiceness of stone carving a..
some bit o: grotesquerie. Scattered thross
the valleys of the Marine and Meu" al
Moselle, you come on these snatches Of Il
great accent, all the lovelier for their aEs
setting and unfulflled renown.
A family group in Vassncourt wtlccr'
us in the room they had built out OF tile a.
beams in what was once the shed. The IA
was blue-eyed and fair of hair, the woHi
with burning brown eye, the daughter VI
loosely hanging hair and touch Of wildnsH
The family had gone to the hill at the sou
and watched their village and their hsr
burn. They had returned to find the pi9
ripped open. The destruction o. livest0a
was something more TO them than lost pTog
erty, than dead meat There is an intimaa
sense Of kinship between a peasant and %
livestock-the horse that carries him 10 MAI
Set, his cows and pigs, the ducks mat oa'h'
in the pool OF his barnyard and the hens Va
battle in the roadside dust No other pE'F
erty is so personal.
They had lost their two sons in the va
When the Germans had been driven out on
twelve dead bodies had been found after 70
days OF fierce fighting, so they believed v
Germans must burn their dead 10 e0neN
their losses. The woman in speaking o. y
French soldiers called them ices Mes'sah
these gentlemen"
In this village is bran-new wooden ','@
'Cafe des Amis," with the motto "A ."
Nuisance" ITO the Rebirth."
In Sermaize, nearly 500 men marched "''
TO fight. When the Germans fell on the W.
2 ,2OO were living there. OF these i,7OO n,'
returned. There are $50 wooden SHEDS ",
them and a score Of new brick dwellings, 'a'
twenty-four brick houses are now beng 0'",
Six hundred are living in the big hotel Sa'',
was used in connection with the Miner
springs, for which the place was famous, =
full name is Sermaize- les-Bains. Eight h''
bred of the $40 houses were sheiiea .
burned third by bombardment wv
thirds by house TO house burning.
We talked with the acting Mayor o. y ..
maize, Paul Francois Grosbois-Constan@
IS a merchant, fifty-four years old i''
mans burned his six houses, which ''F'
,ented his lifetime of savings.
"The Germans used pastilles in burning ~
houses he said, little round loIense" /,
size Of p twenty-five centime piece 9'"''
Tho same size as an American quarter '"
lollar). These hop about and squirt O', I'd,
They took fifty Of our inhabitants sH' -,
them under guard, some for one day.
for three days. Five or six OF our P'',
were made TO dress in a soldiers e0''
"a soue. and were then forced TO mount ss',
AZ the bridges. The pillage was w''e'r u,..
The wife and the daughter OF Angus" 80.
lard were so frightened By the Germ'As &c
they jumped into the river, the RIVER ND
Brocard tried TO save them, but was ne'S a..
BY the Germans. Later, when he TOOK " s.us
lead bodies from the river, he found
,ole in the head Of each Il,
As we drove away from Serma'ie ...st
the village square that fountain Wa az
playing, lifting thin Jet Of wafer
inches above the basin.