Catoctin clarion., 1918-07-04

been engaged In northeastern
France often Is referred to
in the dispatches as the Battle of Pic
ardy," although as political subdi-
vision the province of Picardy no long
er exists. Since the division into de-
partments was made, Picardy was cut
up into the departments of the Somlme,
Pas-de- Calais, Aisne and Disc. In the
ancient days when 1t existed as one of
the great historic provinces of France,
its boundaries extended from Iainaut
and Artois on the north and from
Champagne on the east to the province
Of Normandy and the English channel
on the west, with Il maritime frontier
running from the mouth of the Aa to
the cliffs of Caux, and it included with
In It's boundaries the whole of the basin
of the Somme river and great part
Of that of the Disc.
Under the Romans 1t was Inhabited
by the Morini, the Ambiani, the Ner0-
mandui, the Bellovaci and the Sues
stones, whose names are still preserved
in the modern cities Of Amiens, Yer
mandois, Beauvais and scissors. 1t
was a battle-ground in Caesars day ana
the Romans built military roads
through the province and erected de-
fensive citadels along the banks OF the
Somme.
It was in Picardy, too, that the first
nucleatlon of France as a nation took
place, under the Mcrovingian kings In
the fifth century. "rhe history of an
cient France" says Michelet, "had its
sources in Picardy." Here Clovis made
his first capital at Soissons and Charlie
magne founded his at Noyon. Famous
battles were fought within its borders
long before the first Prussian set foot
upon It's soil. Crecy, where Edward
the Black Prince won his spurs, and
Agincourt, where Henry V of England,
with his bowmen, wrought such havoc
with the French army-the bowmen
whose spirits were said to have rem
dered miraculous assistance to the al
lies ut the Battle of the Marine.
Land of Beautiful Landscapes.
A land of beautiful landscapes Is the
land of Picardy-or was before the de-
wasting Hun plowed up its fair fields,
tore up it's roads and laid low its for
ests and its famous avenues OF aspens
and poplars-as picturesque Picardy'
1t was known to poets and artists and
writer's and travellers. David Murray.
the famous Scottish landscape painter,
gave it's pastoral beauties to the world
in almost three score of his canvases.
Many of Corot's finest landscapes are
laid in the valley of the Disc or Somme.
Ruskin and Robert Louis Stevenson
have glOrified it in art and literature.
But today 1t is scene of ruin, ravage
and desOlation. Many of Its age-old
towns have been made level with the
plain, some of its historic cathedrals
and chateaux are heaps Of ruins and
great craters of shell holes mark the
face of the land. AS Lord Byron said
of Greece, "'Tis Picardy, but living
Picardy no more"
And now again the guns of the Huns
have been laundering in the heart of
Picardy and at the gates of it's ancient
capital, Amiens, the beautiful, the
"Venice of Picardy," home of rare art
treasures and city of the cathedral
which has been named by the Picards
themselves the "Cathedral of the Beau
tiful God" and by art lovers the "Par-
thenOn of Gothic architecture.
The cathedral of Amiens Is one OF
the largest churches in the world, be-
ing surpassed in the magnitude of its
construction only by st. Peters at
Rome, st. Sophia's at Constantinople
and the cathedral of Cologne. Into It's
sculptured stones and statues have
been wrought by its builders almost
complete biblical history, both of the
Old and New Testaments. Ruskin calls
the cathedral "the Bible of Amiens,"
and in his lecture under that title no
has given an Interpretation of its thou
sands of sculptured figures and OF It's
sermons in stones"
The cathedral was built chiefly be
-