The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1917-06-14
FRANCE WHIRLPOOL
OF WARS ACTIVITY
Fighting Shown to Be But a Par
Of the Work.

All Gaul, as every schoolooy KNOWS
is divided into three parts.
And what held good when the
Gallo wars were written seems i'm
pressively the same II you are able to
take a motor ride more or less in a
straight line from Paris to the North
Sea.
French, British, Belgians-that Is
All Gaul: All Gaul upon which the
eyes Of the world are fixed, All Gaul
to which we look some day for peace
from the present horror: All Gaul
upon which western Europe, western
civilization, has set a red seal only to
be violated by impious hands.
Activity 1t Height.
All Gaul is a whirlpool of activity.
The trenches are but the apex Of a
monumental structure. For each man
in the trenches there,is a host just be-
hind. And the host is made up OF
many men, of guns-great, waddling
guns with their caterpillar wheels
OF hundreds and Thousands Of motor
lorries, OF horses and O-les, OF poilus
and Tommies, blue anG Nhaki.
Behind the French part Of All Gaul
you have the striking contrast Of closely
packed villages and farms and great
wide spaces and great wide skies and
long roads, which make you understand
why there is no speed limit in France
says the Manchester Guardian.
villages Full of Blue.
The villages are full Of blue There
is blue in the streets. blue in the door
way. blue marches out Of the village
followed by sad-browed women, accom-
panied by poilus-to-be. proud to antici'
pate their service as soon as they car
walk.
! Blue is biIleted on the farms IL issuei
| from the high gateways reminiscent Of
feudal times. and enclosing today moth
| ing more inspiring than the everlasting
manure heap. Long columns Of irregu
larry marching blue file along the roads
1t is good-natured blue. II smiles IL yoI
are held I'D, but il tries to make a way
for you. II sings-sometimes especially
IL II is coming from the trenches.
Over the great ridge well to the
/ north of Paris, where Bnowstormi
arise easily, IL is a common exper'
fence to see coming through thu
i storm a party OF blue-clad cavaliers
A dozen men at most, their Ions
cloaks making a line with theil
horses slender legs-it is diffcul
not TO expect a Napoleon with them
his head sunk upon his breast.
Most Human Combination.
4 Against the skyline they hav,
something statuesque, something ira
ditional, unchanging. A man and hi
horse-one of the most human, mos
combinations
The villages behind the lines hav'
forgotten the days before the war
have forgotten the time when ther'
was no billeting. when life was tn
same from day to day. Now IL 4
always different Men come and mel
go. The village street is Away
fuller than ever before, even on I
market day. The children love II
There is life and movement Their,
are sPTies-and there are sous a.
well, be il not forgotten. Their cid
ers have sombre: stole faces. VIVA
can't be cured must be endured, bu
what endurance is needed! And, evel
so. the times will never be the sam
again. Chateau and hovel-it viii
never be the same again.
villages Slip Past Like Beads.
North and further north. Village
slip past like beads on a string. Tn
blue begins to mix with khaki. I
you took the read to the right n
stead of going straight ahead yor
would come to the Ancre and tn
Somme, to Hebuterne and Serre. I
! Albert with it's pendant virgin. TIL
roads are full OF troops, khaki-cla
troops with bright red faces. Notice
are written up in English. You pas
the British flying ground: you Sc
British aeroplanes swooping acros
the road. You see British Tommie
drilling for all the world as thong
they were on their own Salisbur
Plain.
Here there is a column OF men on
of the trenches for a week or 81
Here is another going back after
fortnight's sojourn in a different vi
Iage every night. Outside a barn, o
an improvised line, khaki shirts ar
. huttering: a bright red face is bein
shaved with the aid OF a briken piec
of mirror propped on a gun wheel.
train Of huge green-gray motor 10
ries passes.
There is a good deal of cheerfu
swearing and singing as II tries I
; pass a column which. less polishe
perhaps than the poilus, doesD
/ worry