Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1918-07-08
GERMANY'S LOSS IN STRIKING FORCE
IS CLEARLY SHOWN AT HAMEL

British army will he faced with fiery
ordeal. BY good fortune they have had
time to strengthen their defenses and
build up their bavonet strength. so that
the peril is less than II was two months
ago.
Meanwhile, the front as whole is
fairly quiet. except for fierce lombard
ments of villages close to the lines, like
Hinges and the mining hamlets in its
neighborhood. and the intermittent she'll
ing of battery positions and a harassing
fire on the back areas. Even that has
slackened off below normal in some parts
of the line
Quiet in Amiens and Arras
For some days now the enemy has
sent only few odd shells into Amiens
as though satisfied with the damage he
has done there, and in Arras it was very
quiet when | walked through its de-
serted streets Saturday and the old
plague spots around Lens for brief
period were no longer under fire
To me and to many of US there is
something that stirs one deeply al the
sight of AmienS. From the fields all
around that country north and south Of
the Somme, where the Australians are
fighting, the Cathedral is seen with its
high. thin spire, vague as a shadow in
/ the sky, but splendid in the imagination
Of any who have ever walked up its
great nave and seen the glory of its
sculpture.
Every few hundred yards of ground
gained by the Australians. English or
American troops above the valley of the
Somme makes for the greater safety
or that old city which many of our men
have come to know and admire in this
war, because of its beauty and the good
! life that was once there but it ia still
under the fire of German guns when
ever they like to turn them on it, and it
| is with a kind of abominable apprehen-
Sion that one wonders each day whether
! the Cathedral has been hit in a new
place and whether ii will go the way of
! Rheims and Arras and the Cloth Hall
at fpres and the st. Quentin Cathedral
and those noble places which have been
ruined beyond repair in this war.
1t is to the credit of the enemy that
so far he has restrained his gunners
from making target of Amens
Cathedral A few shells have pierced
1t but so far no irreparable damage has
been done. and yesterday. when
walked up its nave again, Ooking up to
| the celestory and the high arches which
lift ones soul little further from GARTH
! ] could find no worse thing than ! had
seen the last time was there. Some of
its precious windows had been removed
after others had been broken by shell
splinters. Some of the statues had been
taken down from their pedestals, and
sandbag barriers had been built between
the chapels. and the pictures had been
carried away to safety so that In this
vast loneliness of the Cathedral there
was tragic look of abandonment
Holds Spirit of France
But it still holds all the spirit OF
France, and a thousand memories of
Eng lish history are bound up with those
of France Beneath those very arches
Edward III strode one day, with his
crown on his head. his sword at his
side. his gilded spurs on his heels. be.
fore claiming the kingdom Of France
and began the One Hundred Years War
Henry leaned against one of the yer,
pillars when he whispered into the eal
. of Dame Katherin" who was his queen
Poor Amiens has been sadly stricken
but it is still a world away from such
ruin as that Of Arras, where | heard tn,
CoCing of pigeons through the noise Of
gunfire, where they mated above tn,
broken pillars of cathedral ruins, which
have no roof but the sky, and wher,
wild flowers grow amid the fallen ma
sonry of the Hotel de Vile and through
the crevices of the old Spanish houses
} these three years past.
) II is astonishing how nature take!
possession of the ruin that war makes
and hides its ugliness beneath a riot o
color. A year ago the long range o
} Vimy Ridge was all bare where 1t haS
: been torn up by shell fire, and not 1
blade of grass grew on its slopes. Nov
it is all aflame with scarlet poppies
mingled with clumps of cornfiowers
bluer than a poilu's coat, and flower
that were in Shakespeares England an,
| in the France Of the Troubadours, VIII,
: wove them into garlands of song. So l
| is along all the British trench system
e and the men go up to the fighting lin
: through waves Of color, and outside tn
! dugouts are wild gardens rich in scent.
: At SoucheZ, where the town has bee
E wiped clean off the map, there are rose
\ blooming where once there were cottag
: gardens. and 1t is only the new shell
I holes made by the German gunner
Q searching for batteries of men going u
: to the line which clear away the tangle
. growth and cut down the plants no,
3 blooming oseT all thq tatf!efiaids.
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