The Washington herald., 1918-02-10
By JOHN L. BALDERsToN.
Copyright, lsIs, BY the Mcclure Newpapes
Sypdifafel

BY JOHN Il. BALDEHsTOH.
Ccopyrisht, lsrs. by the Mcclure NewEaper
SyndioteJ
France, Jan. Is (by mai).-When
Shakespeare said that the army
swore terribly in Flanders he did
not need to say why the army
swore. He knew that his auditors
would know. The army swore at
the mud. All armies since Shakes
peare have sworn at the mud. and
the armies are swearing today.
These heartfelt curses are heard
at home. but nobody ever seems to
have thought Of giving the people
at home a serious description, with
out cursing. OF what French mud is
really like. Capt. Roger Pocock, OF
the British army. undertook the
Job of explaining to Americans
French and Flanders mud, q task
for which he Is qualified by long
experience Of many kinds OF Amer
lean mud. and by three years Of
It "over here"
Mud" said Capt. Pocock. may
be taken seriously by the novice
who flattens his soul and lies down
in It, or 1t may be taken cheerfully.
with q shovel
Two Kinds Of Mud.
ITO some OF US, who were pioneers
on the Red River OF the North. and
afterwards on the trails to the Klon-
dixie goldfields. It is rather good mud.
as mud goes. The old Red River mud.
say In Main street, Winnipeg, would
swallow q prairie schooner with team
OF oxen complete. The mudholes on
the Klondike trails used to drown
our horses by thousands. The Fland-
ers mud has appetite to absorb Brit
ish tank, but the French mud Is sat-
isfied with a pair Of gum boots. On
the whole war mud is a subject for
study rather than for grief.
"There are two species, the French
and the Flemish, which have to be
considered separately.
'"The French species Is chalk mud,
and as chalk does not flourish in
America It may need explaining there.
1t Is made Of tiny shells, of little
creatures who lived at the surface of
the sea, and when they died dropped
their shells on the sea-fioor. In the
course Of ages the shell mud on the
sea floor became a bed several hun
dreds Of feet thick. Forests Of sponges
grew on the ooze, and these sponge
forests have been hardened into beds
Of fiints. Afterwards, other rocks
were laid down on top, which pressed
the ooze into chalk.
Later still, the shrinking OF the
planet wrinkled up the crust of the
earth into a series of waves known
as the Alps of Europe, and some
Ill nf1fIrrfnO ~ 80 hat
ment have folded the chalk down.
They are rolling plateaux and ridges
Of chalk, usually four to six inches
thick on the average. This soil, when
pounded and kneaded by war traffic,
forms a clay impervious to water, and
Is, therefore, an exceedingly sti cky,
sithery kind Of mud, up to the boot
tops as a rule. And yet, II the nine
inch soil be removed, the whole of
the rain flows straight through the
actual chalk, forming no mud at all.
Indeed chalk is the very best sub
stance ever invented for flooring
stables. A very little ditching down
to the chalk surface makes a camp
perfectly clean. The fiints are the
best road metal in the world, ex-
cepting only basalt. AS building
u1dleTldl, HlnI ruDDles WHICH IL pldstcT
fiint-faced, lasts some centuries be-
fore It begins to look weather-worn.
The white tower Of the original
Tower OF London, an eleventh century
building. looks as new as New York
sky scraper.
Excepting only the automobile run
ways, such as that which now con-
meets Seattle with Los Angeles, I
rarely saw In the course Of seventeen
years Of travel a good traff1ce road
In North America Prairie trails used
to be excellent for horse travel, snow
roads capital, but American country
roads are an obstruction to traffic,
and Mexican royal roads stop transit
altogether. The French paved roads
down to the smallest by-ways would
Dc the best In the world II they were
not beaten by the British macadam.
That again will be an instruction and
a comfort to the American army. The
Army traffic routes are sheer perfec-
tion, and that is why the troops get
rauons every day on time.N
Task Of Fieminss.
Nobody knows what It cost the
F1emings to carry pave roads all
over Belgium. The soil seems to
pc fathomless. varied with pans Of