Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1916-07-24

LONDON, July 8.
r HAVE spent the last few days in a Bus
i sex hamlet where great peace seems
to reign and where war seems very far
away. Yet there are days when the dis
tant roar of guns and artillery drifts across
the English Channel from the battlehelds
of France and mngles with the crash OF
the waves on the Sussex shore, AT such
times the villagers stop their work to con-
gregate on the village green, waiting pa
tiently for the latest news to come.
For every available man from that little
village is fighting at the front. Death, too,
has taken It's heavy toll. Squares Of painted
cardboard, boarded with heavy black, look
sadly out from many cottage window. II
you draw closer, you will read the words
"Roll of Honor printed there, and then
name and a date below.
It's a charming little place, this English
village, Nesting In an emerald setting OK
prim green fields. The red-roofed houses
are scattered on either side of the broad
white road which leads down to the sea.
From their deep mulioned windows you can
see the English Channel lying very blue and
vivid in the sunshine.
Against the blue there are dotted patches
Of brown-the sails of fishing smacks which
have dared the terrors of these mine-strewn
waters. But more often there are ominous
patches of black-orulsers and mine sweep
ers and torpedoboat destroyers And there
are other things in that little English VII
lage which 1 must not speak of, TX l wish
to avoid the censor's big black pencil and
heavy displeasure.
On grassy rise and outlined against
soft blue English skies stands little
church. II has stood on that wind.swept
hillock for coo years. Around II cluster
the graves of generations, marked by stones
too age.weary to stand upright and smoth-
cred with green moss. II you scrape some
of the moss away you will read absurd In.
scriptions and poems For In days OF old
the shortcomings of the departed were set
forth as definitely as their virtues, Tor the
good OF all who pass by"
This little church has been for centuries
a sanctuary for broken and hunted men,
as the bullet holes on the oaken door tes-
tify. Thieves, murderers and traitors IL
they only gained the portals of this little
church. were safe against all enemies. BY
tho law of tho land, they were on sacred
ground, and must be unmolested. To break
sanctuary was terrible crime in the old
days.
The bells of the little church were peal
ing merrily, for n war wedding was about
TO take place. And among crowd of we'd
ding guests walked through the ancient
burying ground and entered the 600-year-
old church. Jeweled lights and dim, cool
shadows greeted us. The damp stone walls
were hero and there carved into queer
nHureB, anu sometimes a BElllllllb
An air of peace was in the little church. 1t
was pax dolorosa" but of infinite calm.
The wedding was a romantic one, as
indeed are all war weddings in these days.
Tho brido had been voluntary nurse In
hospital for wounded Tommies. and now
she was going to marry one of her patients.
Although he was ranked as only q COM
mon Tommy the bridegroom was some
thing OF a celebrity He was Cambridge
don, and a landed proprietor Of means He
had fallen In love with his pretty nurse.
and now that he was recalled to his regi-
ment he was going to marry her,
The first three pews were filled with con-
valescent soldiers, their pockets crammed
with rice and confetti. and their faces shin
ing with prolonged ablutions. Their bright
blue uniforms were carefully brushed. their
crimson ties immaculate, and their crutches
propped up in front OF them.
row OF small boy scouts. dignifed in
their uniforms, sat in. the pew behind.
One of them sneezed, and the others re-
garded him with reproachful eyes. Such
a lack Of self-control was unworthy OF
scout
Then came the brides relatives Her
father was tall. gray-haired old man
whom the war had hit very badly He
had lost one son ut Neuve Chapelle and
another out in Gallipoli The third was in
Mesopotamia, and that fact alone was suffl-
cient to account for his worn, anxious look
His wife kept brave face, though to her
life could never be the same again. She
Joined in the national anthem which pre-
cedes all wartime services with voice
that sounded almost exultant.
At the back OF the church. hidden by a
big stone pillar 80 that her new black
clothes might not cast q shadow on the
wedding. sat the glrl.widow She had not
intended coming to the church. for her loss
was very recent. Her sailor-husband had
gone down in the great North Sea battle,
working his guns to the last. He had been
a personal friend OF the bridegroom's and
the knowledge of that friendship and the
pressing invitation OF the bride had brought