The Redwood gazette. [volume] (Redwood Falls, Minn.) 1873-1940, 1918-03-20
NEW CALVARIES.
(From The Glory of the Trenches by
Coningsby Dawson)

Coningsby Dawson)
A crossroad at the bottom of hill, on
n the way to gun-position we once had,
stood Calvary-one of those wayslde
affairs, so frequently met in France, with pol
larded trees surrounding it and an image OF
Christ in His agony. Pious peasants on their
journey to market or as they worked in the
fields, had been accustomed to raise their eyes
to it and cross themselves. 1t had comforted them
with the knowledge of protection. The road lead
ing back from it and up the hill was cleaning
whte-a direct enfilade for the Hun, and always
under observation. He kept guns trained on it;
at odd intervals any hour during the day or
night, he would sweep it with shell-fre The
woods in the vicinity were blasted and blackened
It was the season for leaves and flowers, but
there was no greenness Whatever of vegeta-
ton had not been uprooted and buried, had been
poisoned by gas. The atmosphere vile with
the odor of decaying flesh. In the early morn
ing, if you passed by the Calvary, there was
always some fresh tragedy The newly dead
lay sprawled out against it's steps, as though
they had dragged themselves there in their last
moments. If you looked along the road all the
glazed eyes seemed to stare toward it. "Lord,
remember when Thou contest into Thy King
dom,' they seemed to say. The wooden Christ
gazed down on them from His cross with a suf-
fering which two thousand years ago he had
shared. The terrible pity of His silence seemed
to be telling them that they had become one with
Him in their final sacrifice. They hadn't lived
His life-far from it; unknowingly they had died
His death. That's part of the glory OF the
trenches, that man who has not been good can
cruelty himself and hang beside Christ in the
end. One wonders in what pleasant places those
weary souls find rest.
There was second Calvary-a heap of ruins.
Nothing of the altar or trees, by which it had
been surrounded, was left. The first time l
passed it, l saw foot protruding. The man
might be wounded; climbed up to examine and
pulled aside the debris. Beneath it found, like
that of one three weeks Dead the naked body
Of the Christ The exploding shell had wrenched
it from it's cross. Aslant the face, with gratu-
tous blasphemy the crown of thorns was tilted.
Those two Calvaries picture for me the part
that Christ is playing in the present war. He
survives in the noble self-effacement of the men.
He is re-crucified in the deflements that are
wrought upon their bodies
God as we see Him! And do we see Him? I
think so, but not always consciously. He moves
among US in the forms of our brother men. We
see him most evidently when danger is threat
ening worst and courage is at it's highest We
don't often recognize Him out loud. Our chaps
don't assert that they're His fellow-campaigners
They're too Undetermined and inarticulate for
that. They're where they are because they want
to do their 'bit'-their duty. A carefully dis
guised instinct of honor brought them there.
"Doing their Bit in Bible language means lay
ing down their lives for their friends. After ALL
they're not so far from Nazareth.