Richmond times-dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1914-current, 1918-12-15
BELG|ANS SCORN I
SHR|EK|NG.SRRkK
Return to Wrecked Towns.stu,
Regain What Littlessatsa2ss
Is Left, sSs ssss;ss
PILGRIMS ARE oUESTlONEn
--- -------- ses-systsSss
Not One Building in Small
Town Escaped Destrue-s.ss-;ss;.i
tive Shot. .,E
BY nonEnT wELLEs n1rCHIEss,s:sSI

silence: then hrut-tTt.sISs 4
~ + Just back OF the :iinsnSf
Eabot two Sssteries Of N" Se xsiass
msc re I poundins7mnounans tie .sns
south in the direction of Ghent.s XeseSs
the little bridge. which the rctEeaSsag.s
Germans had not had time to; destroy,
and about 500 yards away from whs9s 3
the lieutenant and stood fattspS4
q sainst wall a. house Ieaped into Ihs
air, spread out fan-wise and scattered j
to dust. - - - eIis5s.i y
Even while we were watehnE:ythS
dust cloud sift away black fgursstsn.
srotesquely toward US. TheYysssTsfS.
traversng road which the Nsafss~
ant. my conductor had said Saas.top
the sudden deviation OF the III uss. sSS.
That road pointed his advice .nnastpeSn /;
cade drew. nearer We could distins GssS 5
Flemish farm wagon, piled high ,Rs!!iE
pitiful household goods: a pea SAINT, aud y
two white-headed little girls, stayfnE
down with round eyes from the Wy
a dog whose tail was clampeR 'o{oSN i.
fright. : u
The lieutenant stopped theA piiSrirlfE
and questioned the man. WhatGS{I1 6
answered in. rough Flemish mv Sb1s
Elizapeth. his wife. and : ii e. stMssn
youngsters had been moved bSsstSs
Germans ans front heir home In CSurtfI
two weeks before. Then the .Gssmsns
had retreated before the cohdassiSE
B BelElan army and.-once mofestSS
a limo of fire. They knew the enerY,s5S
a must have left their old shpnb
two cows. hired the wagon ndSsfaffsS
his brood on the weary road back. Is :
GSourtrai' perha2s thirty miles .aisssa
the destroyed bridges. - = S
For more than an hour the. pioFvSSS
,amhiiy' cows and dog alike. had naa:
Land between the Belgian ana Ger go
man outposts, with machine guns pi1SSS
ing from both sides, of them and .sheIS
was purely incidentat.withi therfE .tEkT
Iwsre going honst AID 5that
cite this example 70 point ~,
score OF similar ans a noes sthsESaSS
the week long baftiaS bsfo osa flG es
perhaps a bit more fhirhly- coiokNdi IN
attending circumstances lgof, 3ahelf SSR3
nnin h, gun ire than !. the Esssis44s
place before xmeric . Nresd srs,fSHee
almost ,ha.a Incredible helping sinstinsts
like the carrier pigeons I haySsASsNs,
IN m their travelling cotes, pbehiI9siIS FL
, bhelEian front lines: they .alIi
unIous" sneiinre 10 reach. stlt0s rs10k
which means home to therflAeVEHS
though the guns have. left it Rot E3SE
more than spot. ~ ~ n u Sss, ~
HOME LOVE IS STRONG I. ssrxFfSSa
AMONG FLEMISH. PEHSEE
1T, The Fleming. who lives clossytyt
SOIL and almost on terms OF KfifxAffHs
with his cows and chickens, priisS hS1tss !
land and his hearth above everE.ofhSa
G con hnna in life. NOT even sxeepss
CeSSiul muster Observation-Disclosures
Every stick and stock 81 .holsskeid.
goods e under his tiled or thatched-res9
peyond measure. He is,rootedSfos htas
nome to degree beyond thetrsaapsS
prehension Of the careless. fesfieSs
out and looking for the big chaHcasE ssS
yond the Western horizon. Aictsoaae
Oh household Gus effects are unkneEn*iH
conceive. then. how the overWhs1mS
ing wave OF war has torn thasepsa0E
ants heart strings First he
cepled that with a philosophy raoSIe&
the soil-chattingf and ,deceiyiNxS4 hSs
;ms IN master very successfailS ks
rolling OF the battle surf which hss
thought fighting once moro aroundsthNs
Eieming's ears has been a hitteE-tfsiTKs
tor ne has been forced to give sWpsRta
our or ten, to find his home asceRi5ns
unsishtly shell with blackeneds .keHYiH
rriss.crossinE the Sky as he looked sfoE
the frs, time through the doofaoe.,ssa
This is real tragedy For tn 81 thSIfs,s
sands who hove been wanderers.adnftES
driven plodders along the road-aTisH
carts. all these sleeves OF brick andSwHfs.
ties scattered along the line OF the Oar
n,Hn retreat are homes to be frrcon
str"cted at infinite main and lahor..WYs6
with winter already nudging: thss.Xf@
bow OF autumn. S,l,s~sslf Al
have seen these mournfu1 car1yx6X
or dog drawn and .cow-drawn sfyyS9
Gons-yes, of carts with women Knit rs
narness-,ctually passing adyaucifySs
mes OF Belgian cavalry hard rfiatff&
heels OF the r.trrating Germahasa H6
Eian outposts were occnovinR farf4tfsf1
house md firing upon German Mctt3&X.
entrenched behind a willow conss~SSE
wards away 7 have seen the rtrh9}HE
occupsnts OF that tempora r.' fort, e6SE#
ing an onen-air dinner behind .assdSS
Tending wall not fifty feet aHae2Sss
war should have no more USE for; fEAa
home. .9A es.f ssssss.
This is not bravery. becaussi ~
at all. is far outweished by tho nSsaE
ants irresistible home love. tits .GSE !,
G 5asnnSss fs,, inasTueh as the niHptH
self to understand that death snatcfi6Y
at him every time a black rsSasM
LEAPS from his nearby beetieId; SssyRsE
his building or his fathers btiidina
thought. -. 80 - =
NO BUILDING IS ,UNsCAnREn -. "a
IN THIS SMALLIf6y3k
One day recently the HeutenAstaaaf
! entered town which hadSabesl3
racked and raked by shell rots st
hours before. or the 20o-odd HQ3ids
ings constituting the yillage yY s
not one that was untouched :S-S0ftsttSt
were mere heaps OF brick and -bcsnffH
ccncealing grisly relics OF recent HaSd,Es
to-hand fighting. Aside from. m. Hx3Es
CLAN !nfantrymen who were occsTsTs&
Ing the town ard waiting Until 6s0SsfSE,
nearby canal. there were but two .eEs5fTs
ians In sight. One was thefMay0FMWS6l5
had returned to re sumo hts sohie3aIs6&~;
tics. the other q woma n, ~ IA ~ rSI-k3A1RtS al
Che MT CHI hn ..ns9tl1ct