The Denison review. [volume] (Denison, Iowa) 1867-current, 1918-04-17

There are dwellers in this strange
land, this part OF il that was utterly
destroyed. other than soldiers. They
are the people, or a few OF them, who
once dwelt there in homes. They
have come back. hunted out the spot
where once their homes stood and re-
occupied it.
Here is a woman who has found the
lot where stood her home. She has
clawed out the burned timbers and
fallen bricks from a corner of the eel
lar. Across the top of her eXcava-
ton, which is about six feet wide, she
has thrown some sticks and boards,
and here she lives alone, cooking q
potato or making barley Cruel over
fire between two bricks in the open in
front Of her dugout. Verify, there is
no place so humble as some homes.
Great numbers have wandered back.
Where the destroyed towns were on
streams or rivers, they have dug caves
in the banks and here they live. Some
dwell under heaps OF fallen timbers
that were, once homes or stores; some
in tents, others in shacks patched up
with old sacks and sandbags, and still
others in fragments of houses and
cellars.
How pathetic is this, how grotesque
and how it emphasizes the love of
man for the place where he was born,
the piace.- " hsfet sAa has lived, the
place he has caleb home! No sooner
had the Germans evacuated these
places than the stragglers began to
return. During the summer they clear
ed away small patches of ground,
scratched the surface with sharpened
sticks, broken bayonets Or scraps or
iron, and became tillers of the soil,
unmindful of the roar Of cannon in the
not far distance or the occasional
whizz of a shell overhead.
Into the lives Of these broken fam
lilies, these dwellers in the places that
God had forsaken, there has crept a
bit of satire that would be amusing
if one could forget the tragical. One
corner OF stone building still stands;
a rough board on which are carved
the words "The White House" is
nailed to the wall. Buckingham Pal
ace" is a chimney left standing. A
shack is designated wind
sor Castle"
To one village twenty people
fourteen old men and six women
have returned. They have cleared
away the debris from the steps to the
church, the church building being de-
stroyed, erected rough cross made
of boards and here they worship.
Near one demolished town there is
a camp of UniYed States soldiers.
They have organized a chamber OF
commerce and appointed publicity
committee. The committee has issued
the following booster circular,
printed copy of which | have before
me:
Windy City,
Somewhere in France,
Convenient to Hill l3.
The Home OF the Hair Trigger Bri.
gade Population, including rats.
rabbits and three dogs. 1000
Well Paved Streets.
Water-fancy, plain, river and rain.
Police Department and Sanitary Jail.
Convenient Cemetery and Commodi-
Gus Morgue.
Sewer Without System.
Transportation to the Front-None to
Paris.
Attractive Forest with Six Beautiful
Trees and one Bush covered with
Leaves of Absence, with and
Without Permission
Unparalleled Mud Baths
Magnificent View of the Wreck by
the Huns and the Water Tank.
Amusements--all Free-Rat Hunting
Contests, Dugout Races. Trench
Swimming. Aeroplane Raids.
Desirable Building Sites for Sale on
Allotment Plan. Lots 6N2x6
Furnished Free.
Choice Bungalows for Rent with All
Modern Conveniences Except
Water. Light, Heat, Floors
and Bathrooms.
Ventilation UneXcelled.
Hospital on Grounds.
If YOU wish to live where things are
pretty
Just make your home in the Windy
City.
Amt War He'll!
The secretary of the Y. NJ. {. A.
arranged a program to be given by
the soldiers and offered prize OF
five dollars for the best poem. These
lines, written by sergeant, brought
down the house" and won the prize:
BY the rifle on my back,
BY my old and well-worn pack,
By the bayonets we sharpened in the
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