Americus times-recorder. [volume] (Americus, Ga.) 1891-current, 1917-05-14
vERDUN PRESENTS A
PICTURE Of DESOLAT|ON
AFTEH LONG BATTLE

VERDUN, France, May 1.-THE Wis
itor to Verdun must approach it stealth
lily, clad in steel helmet and carrying
carefully his gasmask in its waterproof
bag. Thus fortified and with his eye
watchfuI for any commencement of ac-
tivity by the distant German batteries,
he may walk and climb the ruins or
ollow the cluttered bank of the
lovelyMeuse, broad, green calm, and
Indifferent to solitude such as it has
not known for a thousand years.
| The rain drips through the shell-torn
roof of the cathedral, pulping the choir.
scores and the. missals tossed with the
fallen masonry about the floors, max
iag mud of the affairs dust, rotting the
canvas of the fallen pictures, rendering
all things squalid.
Close by is the theatre, with its
brocaded galleries brimming over with
wreckage, Haunting rags, and revealing
through the uncurtained stage all the
shabby mysteries of its mechanism all
in wild confusion.
Visitors are rare in Verdun, but
the town holds out to- them emphat-
ically the freedom of the city, every
door and window open and no human
eye to watch. Along the river bank
are the little restaurants and cafes, the
floors strewn with cups and saucers
glasses ranged on the counters. the
open ledgers on the cashiers desks
inviting the inspection of the curious
1t has been many months since the
customers sat around these upturnet
tables or out on the terrace, and watch
cd the green Meuse slide below tho
ridges on sunny afternoons.
The little humble shops along the
side streets are more pathetic than the
big clubrooms or the pitted warehous.
es with their shattered windows. The
shops are wide open, with their scale:
still on counter, their knives and sugar
scoops all ready for business. The
tailor shops displayed pictures of thu
modes for summer 1914, hopelessly on
of date.
Verdun is only little town, jus
struggling out of village-hood int
dignity as an incorporated city. Tel
or twelve thousand was its peace
, time population. 1t looks no differen
! than q peaceful American city, for tn
] citadel is the least conspicuous c
( VerdLn's features and the town de
t ceitfully seems indefensiye, open t
assault and outrage like esaside wat
ering place.
From one of the buildings on III
hill. above The narrow winding street
: of the upper town one may look dow
on the worst shelled central parts, al
e pounded into shapelessness, the fines
: street obliterated, workshop, ware
house and tenement all reduced L
crumbled brick and mortar of yellow
: ish hue Outside this devastated area
the rest Of Verdun stands with spec
ious lock of being hale and habitatable
only with the jagged outlines of
broken gable showing here and there.
Tramcars used to run down tn,
Avenue de la Care from the railway
station; cabs Piled for hire; foil
lounged IN the afternoon on the Prom
enade de la Digue No life is in any o.
these places now save the rat thai
soueaks and burrows in the ruins
Yhen another shell comes with it:
commotion, for Verdun is still thu
object of the Germans daily hate.
There is nobody above the surface o
the ground in Verdun, but the subter
Ianean fortresses beneath the Citadel
deep down under the mountain rock
are still animate with men, soldier
who are keeping up the defensive tina
months of German activity failed tt
break