The Bridgeport evening farmer. [volume] (Bridgeport, Conn.) 1866-1917, 1917-07-06

SiOooI WlilS1l lldo OIICC OCCll q 6ol-
den. Two old women still dwelt
there, very old, with white hair,
wrinkled cheeks and deep-set, bag
gard eyes. Because they were good
for nothing the Boches had left them
and who knows what has become Of
their sons and daughters, who can de-
scribe the anxiety of waiting, what
mental terror and physical agony they
have endured shivering at the back of
some cellar through two or three win
tiers, waiting for the RETURN of the
French!
1t was by the side of a we'll that I
first saw them, well which, without
doubt, had for generations, furnished
pure water for their families. Labor
iously, with ropes tied together, they
were drawing up bucket. They sniff
fed it with distrust. 1T smells; strong
STILL said one. Yes, yes" replied
the other. 1T stinks. Throw 1t out,
throw it uickly." These little trivial
| phrases, spoken, in a sad tone, were
more pathetic to hear than com
plants. 1t is known that when
| leaving they had taken great care to
poison the water. Careful instructions
| from their officers on this subject
| have been found in the pockets Of
1 prisoners and on dead soldiers. "A
certain soldier, equipped for this duty,
will have charge of destroying Of
wells; he will throw in a sufficient
quantity of poison, of creosote, or,
| lacking that, of purified material
| Now yonder, everywhere, hundreds
! of irregular, redding pyramids, cover
ing a vast extent Of ground, begin to
appear.
! AS we approach the heaving ruins
| of a city, hospitable and beautiful
| great French city which two months
ago was alive. The work of these in
! human civilizers was carried out in
/ an incompatible manner. IA desig-
mated soldier, equipped for this duty,
/ will carry incendiary material into
| certain houses *. or place the
explosives in certain cellars, or under
a designated church, etc. say these
| unexceptiona1 orders found in their
pockets, and the methodical execution
! of the crime has been throughout
| truly marvellous.
1 Entrance for the first time into this
city causes a poignant and unforgot-
/ table feeling of anguish, of horror and
of numbness. You long to weep and
! to curse. Such climax of furious
| destruction! Truly, nowhere in any
iGpOCl OIL IllStOTy IDS Lie WITH hAoWh
| anything approaching it, Even one
| of those unfortunate eastern cities,
which till now, held the record for
that kind of thing, cannot show any
horror to compare with it. Besides it
| was accomplished all at once, it was
/ done but yesterday. 1t is, so to speak
a. huge wounded thing whose flesh
still quivers.
Street after street, square after
square, the ruin is everywhere. Not
/ a house, big or small, that has not
been destroyed from top to bottom.
All their interiors are visible, their
furnishings already three-quarters
gone. 1t is as though their heads had
j been cut off and their bowels slashed
open. The tallest and more luxurious
those of 4 or 5 floors. look the strang-
est. Their jagged walls, which from
a distance look like irregular pyra-
mids, stand in places high in the all
almost like towers, still holding the
furnishings from utter destruction
even pictures and glassware.
High in the air you see armchairs
settees still in good condition, beds
which lean out, hanging by foot, an6
clothes of all kinds thrown out from
closets; gilded ensigns dancing the
sarabande of death in the midst o:
heaps of red brick from the crumblins
facades.#s Some of the frame worl
and slate roofs have not yet finished
: falling and the walls are bulgins
everywhere and breaking. To brin,
, about a continuous falling it is onl.
, necessary for the wind to blow light.
or for heavy wagon to pass.
Nevertheless, there is some life IL
these long streets, in the midst of thi
} scene Of destruction and in spite o
> shells which have not yet ceased fall
| ing. First, there are some detach
{ ments of our soldiers and there ar
/ besides, some old women-alway
1 these old women with the ruins, LET
, there by the Boc11es as things of n
t value, old beggars, old wives, pale
t wandering ones with faces of saint
4 or of martyrs. And our dear soldier
8 in blue who entered here few day
ago with such feelings of furious in
e dignation and such desire for ven
j geance, walk up and down quit
vi calmly now, already prepared to for
Q give. Some who are conducting
g group of German prisoners are talk
s ing to them almost like comrade.
: In France we are too sweet-temperet
s think it is in the poorer section
d of the city that the heart is saddles
e Here the little homes, so tidy an
d carefully made, no doubt with tn
h greatest economy, have been destroy
h ed in day by the insane orders {
+ the Monster of Berlin! :. -. . Oh
the streets, there are some, I do nc
n know why, which more than other
q stay in my mind. Thus. remembe
h seeing on the first floor Of a hous
r above broken pieces of glass, a frame
h picture Of First communion whic
3, still hung on nail and was visibl
o to passers-by through wide openin
g in the front. Also, in what RENAME
e of a chamber covered with blue pape
IS a little white lace dress hung on
8 beam, the sleeves dangling down; tn
9 pretty dress for the promenades o
d Sunday Of some sweet little girl of
r workingman.
And always, always, whichever wa
s you turn. the surroundings do ne
t change. The savage destruction ha
Q left nothing. On their return, thos
9 exiles who are not dead or enslavet
: they will not find anything of tn
h homes which they have cherished.
y is chaos which awaits them The
r will wish they had never come bacl
It had never seen it again. All is IRE
t parable; before even thinking of re
building it will be necessary to fms
9 tearing everything down.