Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1918-10-13
French VINEYARDS
ESCAPE WAR DEATH
Epernay. Section Under Guilt
walton as Before Huns
Appeared.
TENDEDWHILE UNDER FIRE
ENDEDWHILE UNDER FIRE

ny PAUL AYRES ROCKWELL.
C1bleEram to The Sunday Star and
Chicago Daily News. Copyright, 1918.
WITH THE FRENCH ARMIES AT
THE FRONT, October 1.-THE grape
srcund Rheims has suffered much
from the ravages of war, although the
vineyards on the Epernay side of
Rheims mountain have been cult
waited virtually as in pre-war days.
Many vineyards on the slopes toward
Rheims. however. have been neglected.
although mort from the lack of labor
erS than from the fear of German
shells, which for more than four years
rained constantly upon that region.
Many women, girls and old men re-
manned in spite of the bombardment
on the villages of Rheims mountain.
tending their vines right under shell
fire, needless after time of the roar
of the battles. One can never say
en- and aged men of France. who kept
the agricultural life of the nation go
Ing while the boys and men aged from
twenty to fifty were defending the
soil Of La Patrie.
Grape Pickers Busy.
passed Monday through the Cham
payne vineyard district along Rheims
mountain and observed the bands of
grape pickers busy at work. Almost all
the workers were women and girls.
Along the road we passed numerous
wagons loaded with household goods,
and sometimes with children. They
were refugees returning to the Vesle
valley to see what remained of the old
homestead and bravely and patiently
to pick up again the broken thread OF
farm and village life.
Going around the mountain from
Epernay instead of taking the road
straight across Prough forest, we re-
assembled the slope. arriving at Very.
which is a battered ruin typical of
the war zone. Two kilometerS farther
on C.2 miles) we halted at VerneZay,
a quaint little town of the Champagne.
where I was, in October, four years
ago as soldier in the Foreign Legion.
The town was then almost intact, with
its houses inhabited and shops open,
and the vineyards surrounding the
town teeming with workers. Vernezay
Is different today. Shell and flame have
Quilted the town, and. although from
a distance one would say that it has
not been greatly harmed, walk
through the streets reveals the sad
truth that almost all the buildings of
Vernezay must be rebuilt from the
foundations upward.
The wine wareroomS in which my
section was billeted in 1914 was bat
tered by shells and swept by fire. but
the walls were still standing and the
roof remains. Horses were quartered
there on Monday. In wandering about
through the pathetic streets we final
~ met an aged couple-the acting
mayor. NJ. Schoerny, and his wife. This
courageous pair remained in VerneZay
ever since the outbreak of the war
in spite Of German shells and bullets,
being, with four other elderly persons.
the only ones of the towns 1900 in
habitants to remain. Their fellow
citizens removed to quieter and safer
places gradually as the war became
prolonged.
I'VE are happy today that the boches
finally have left u.s." said Nine.
Schoerny, in a voice tremulous with
gladness and emotion. MY husband
and determined from the onset to re-
main in Vernezay, confident that the
Germans could be kept away from the
town. Thrice we were forced to move
because the shells destroyed our home,
and I would hate to have to count
the hours we spent in cellars while
shells poured into our once peaceful
little town. Others moved away, but
we stayed on. Finally there were but
six civilians remaining in Vernezay.
We all ate together to avoid useless
risk expense and trouble