The Newark journal. (Newark, Ark.) 1901-1959, 1919-07-10

or stolen
Work of Fiends.
The members of our party shud-
defed as We sazed on the spectacle
of this ruined city. Could this. be the
work Of men or of fiends? Can such
wounds be healed? Can the Germans
who inflicted this destruction ever OBJ
tain forgiveness?
To those in America whose on!y IN
terest in war has been desire to get
over here before everything is all
! cleaned up" | can send the message
that they need not fret If they are
delayed year or two Their chill
dren's children will still look upon the
ruins OF invaded France.
With the sun of spring but a few
| days old, ii already begins TO smell
bad in western Belgium and north
eastern France. Bones CO men and
horses are all about unburied. Great
piles Of ammunition and lines OF
trenches lie just as II the troops had
| marched away yesterday. No prog
ress has been made In the restura-
ton OF homes, factories or stores.
Mile after mile We sped through
wrecked towns and villages I'm which
civilian residents are just being per-
mitted to return.
Vicious Dissertation.
We stopped at a once famous coun-
! try villa. The beautiful home had
been occupied by German officers.
When we went from room TO room and
found filthy pictures and obscene
, poems scrubbed and scrawled upon
the walls, when we found priceless
tapestries with spikes deliberately
driven through them, when we found
statuary deliberately knocked about
with rifle butts and everything NOV,
able carried away. we wondered what
sort of men had dwelt therein
lust rs it seemed our hearts could
stand no more, we came upon little
group of laughing. kissing country
folks-one of our party caught enough
of the conversation TO learn that man.
mn goa=had Just successfully increas-
ed the population with a baby goat--
and France could even smile with so
little assistance.
We returned with increased admi-
ration Of the French nation and a
greater appreciation OF the hardships
that had been endured 50 heroicaIly.
Martyrdom of France.
10 more pregnant emotion can grip
the human soul than those inspired BY
the scene we had beheld Here men
fought for empire and left their mark
on nature. These ruined villages, this
tortured earth. this awful desolation
stretching for miles in every dIree-
tion-unite in showing what men will
do when they put on the livery of imr
perial militarism.
4 We know now what France has
suffered and we know that all she has
lost is a loss to the whole world. Her
awful martyrdom, her heroic endur-
anee. her indomitable fortitude cry
aloud from these heaps of stone which
: were once peaceful homes or the cen
/ ters Of industrial prosperity, now
stilled for brief time only. In this
/ war the spirit of evil sat upon the
! throne and sent his slaves to chai-
! lenge civilization. In the providence
of God the end was certain. That end
we saw on the battlefield, for there
despotism died and the new justice
! for France and for the cause OF right
vas born.
We returned to Paris through Cha
/ teau Thierry with the conviction that
not tenth of the devastation. de-
struction and footing has ever been
/ told or ever can be.
I have since read the peace terms
with n new understanding and | do
not wonder mt their severity.