The Hartford republican. (Hartford, Ky.) 18??-1926, 1918-10-25
WHAT HAVE SEEN IN FRANCE

JournalD
If the reader will kindly bear with
me will endeavor TO enumerate a
few of the interesting episodes have
witnessed on and off the battlehelds
of France and Flanders.
| have seen that part of France
from the Somme to Belgium ravaged
and blown to pieces by the despoiler
of liberty, democracy and all things
good-the bestial. murderous Hun.
have seen the roads of France a
mass of shell holes-roads that were
once the wonder of the world. ! have
seen gigantic bridges and viaducts
blown out of existence. except here
and there few solitary piers. !
have seen Indian and African labor
ers. and Chinese, too, helping to re-
pair the ravages of the Hun.
| have seen thousands OF German
prisoners who were once earning an
honest living by the sweat of their
brow and who afterward were kept
out of mischief by being placed in
Acage compounds. ] have seen thous-
ands of men in hospitals. many of
them writhing in all the agonies of
hell and not one of them complaining.
] have seen burial parties, and was
one of them on numerous occasions,
collecting the dear dead and rever-
emily laying them to rest. have seen
thousand silent graves, hundreds
of them inscribed "A British Soldier"
on hill and mound, on roadside and in
valley, where not long before they
who now rest there fought like nigh
~ heroes for the right.
have seen weeping French
mother sitting at the graveside of her
son. ealing down the curse of heaven
upon his murderer. | have seen a
cemetery of 5000 graves of British
boys who after gallant deeds. died in
a hospital. | have seen men carried,
and helped carry many of them, to
the advanced dressing stations and
the casualty clearing depOts, and,
thank God, was able to speak a
word of comfort and cheer to them.
] have seen that great strategic
stronghold, the Vimy Ridge, and ]
was proud to be numbered among the
gallant and heroic Canadians who
elected the Hun from his crest year
ago April 8 last.
have seen the great cathedrals of
Albert and Arras in ruins. the work
OF the barbarous and devilish Hun
have seen the places where cities,
towns and villages once stood, now no
more than masses of brick and NOR
tar and human remains. ! have seen
The desolated and devastated towns
and villages of France and Flanders,
every woman i'm black and not man
of military age anywhere. have seen
our gallant airmen battling with the
sIun thousands of feet up in the blue,
and heaven be praised, | have seen
the Hun hurting down to destruc-
ton, shot to pieces.
have seen the tanks in action
weird monsters of the field-on their
uncanny errands of demolishing pill
boxes" and machine gun nests, houses
and trenches.
/ have seen and conversed with
strappling lot they were. void of
swank and buster I'VE have come
over to help you finish a dirty job."
sn
make good. and make new glory for
"Old Glory" | replied. And, believe
me, they have succeeded and surpass-
ed our fondest expectations.
Well, so much for this time. have
endeavored to convey to you some
idea of Armageddon from the sold
ier's point of view. | have also en-
deavored to bring you closer to the
earth, saturated as il is with the
blood of our bravest and best. Today
nny heart and mind and soul are too
crowded with the picture of the great
tragedy for any accurate detail to be
possible. Would that each of you
could see as | have seen, could hear
as l have heard. One incident puts it
in nutshell. | was talking with a
young university undergraduate,
member of my battalion. He had left
his college because his country called
him. shall you go back after the
war;" | asked. He smiled and point
ing to the scene around us 1--WE were
in the trenches on Hill 10, Lens,)
said: go back? Isn't this sufficient
education for any man? knew moth
ing before the war" There you have
il. Neither did |. But in my long and
weary months in France have had
my education. | know all ! want to
know of life and death; and those two
words embrace all knowledge, and
only knowledge in education. And so
during those months | spent at the
front there is no joy, there is no sor-
row 1 can ever know that shall equal