The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1916-1920, 1917-04-06

No roandn, probably no man not en-
edged IN milttdry service, has seen 90
ssach Of the toar as Edith Wharton, the
american Urtter, author Of "Sanctudrp,"
"The House of MtrtA." "The Reer' and
"Fightino France" the last published IN
foHoicin0 article, headed "In the Land
u Death"
~ EDITH WHARTON.
Special Gable DsspatcA to THs Srs.
PARIS, April 81 am Just back from
. stay Of two days in the region lately
evacuated by the Germans between
Montdidier and La Fere, the country that
their own newspapers boast Of having
turned into q 'land Of DEATH" The
military authorities allowed me to visit
Gil the ruined towns and villages within
. district about fifty miles long and
twenty wide. In that small fragment Of
ravaged France I saw woe enough to
cover q Kingdom with mourning.
The havoc begins soon after turning
north from Compiegne. and to eyes IA
miliar with the bombarded ruins Of
Flanders and the fire swept towns OF
th. Argonne and Lorraine the sight pre-
sents no novelty. but our first halt among
the ruins Of an annihilated village
showed us that the cruelties Of the Ger
man retreat surpass those OF the Ger
man invasion as greatly as the subtle
torturcs of Nero surpassed the cruelties
or promitive warfare.
sheer JOY in Destruction.
In the first place, it Is evident that the
humble villages In the plain and the
isolated farmnouses In the open fields
Sssre destroyed for the mere Joy Of de-
stroying They could have been no
menace to retreating armies. Then there
y the manner OF their destruction. l
have seen Ypres, Gerbevillers, Sermaize.
Bsdonviller-all the towns from, the
North Sea to the Vosges whose extermi-
nation we shuddered over In the early
days Of the war. but these ruins. sense
les though they were. were less dread
ful than the rnerest wrecked farmhouse
In the country have just visited.
The horror OF these ruins Of the re-
treat are that many Of tho houses have
been blown up and not burnt. and that
among all the fallen beams, sp'intered
tiles and twisted pipes one searches IN
vain for any trace Of furniture or dones-
. chair or a bed. not torn scrap OF
Blanket or sheet or clothing. and the peo-
PIE will tell you why. 1t 10 beca0se for
q month beforehand the Germans were
busy systematically packing up and car
rying away every movable article which
these poor peasants possessed.
Ruin IL Systematic.
visited the towns Of AppiIly. Chauny.
villequier. Cuts, Roye, Lassigny and
many villages between. Only In one
house did we see the fragment Of bed
dangling through the Quilted floor. Every
where in the fields Is the same system
attic ruin. Near each murdered house
are ruined farming utensils. choked up
wells and orchards with PROSTATE fruit
trees. Trees there was no time to cut
down have had the bark stripped on or
. deep ring hacked into the trunks.
Again and again this scene Of vain
destruction passed before us, and In one
Of the doomed valleys where were black
ened farms. ruined orchards. flooded
fields, a darkened land OF death. We came
on a carefully tended German graveyard
above which was inscribed In consp!cu-
Gus lettering Il am the resurrection ana
tho life" The presence everywhere OF
these untouched German graveyards Is
significant OF the abyss In ideals that
exists between the two races. At Cha
teau Goyencourt the Germans broke open
and defiled a family vault. At Neele
gravestones were torn up from the cem-
etery to build platform for heavy
gun.
In ono village through which we passed
I saw that all the graves had been un-
covered and the broken slabs flung
In heap among NTH and refuse,
yet nowhere did l see a shrub uprooted
or q stone displaced in any Of the gar
denlike German cemeteries along our
road. The French reverence for the
dead extends even to the dead Of such an
enemy.
Male Inhabitsats DeDested.
expected to gather stories OF the re-
treat in every village. but there was no
: one to tell them. All tho Inhabitants
were driven out before their houses were
destroyed. An act Of mercy at last?
Well. ask the people who had been gath
cred into the surviving towns such az
Noyon and Ham. They are all women
and children. the sick. the infrm old
people. All others from 16 to so had
been taken away by tho Germans. no.
body knows where. and not only boys
and men have gone but young girls too.
Nine. Carrel. wife OF the great sur
seon and herself at the head Of the
famous hospital at Compiegre. was the
first woman to reach Noyon after the
retreat. Even now she can hardly con-
7rol herself when she describes what she
heard from the fuEitives who w pour
Ing In there At Guiscard she N an
Ola woman who had attempted to 6cue
her granddaughter. a girl Of IL. whom
German officer took of as hiG "or-
derly" The grandmother intervened
and the officer broke her arm with q
sabre cut.
Another woman was knocked down
ana her thigh was broken by q blow
IRON an officer, One mother. whose
sons arc all at the front and who had
40 news OF them since the war began.
!'aa Just seen her two daughters. l5 and
lo' carried en- by the Germans TO an
unknown destination.
EEen this is not woree than what we