The Kennewick courier-reporter. [volume] (Kennewick, Wash.) 1914-1938, 1919-02-13
LATE WAR AREA
AN EERIE PLACE
Strange Quiet Now Rests over
Land Torn by Shot
and Shell.
TRAVELLER AGAIN IS WELCOME
Plain Vegetables and Certain meats
Even Choice Wines, Again Are
PIentifuI-Friendly Lights
Seen at Night.

I 80
Behind the Lines in France.-ihis
land of recent battles is queer iaiiu
now. Over the shell-torn villages anu
blasted woods, the pitted fields ana
r,tin of all that once was is s.fanse
quiet. The winter sky is iackihs ~
,irn,anes and great fiocks OF crows
have taken their place.
A few villagers have crept nack 70
see what remains of their homes anu II,
holdings. but probably the winter VIII
have nassed before reclamation anu
raconstruction are undertaken on
large scale.
Along the roads repaired and re-
hridped for the allies advance into
German territory long cannon trains
move slowly and always southwark.
They travel leisurely now. for the need
Of hurry is gone. They bring back
tho salvage of Nbattlefields, all the
things that go to make war, abandoned
or captured.
Endless Trophies of War.
Truck load after truck load of rifles
and shells, of water bottles and haver-
sacks. cartridges, machine guns, Dayo-
nets and trench knives and PISTOLS
mess kits, overcoats, caps, an endless
catalogue of paraphernalia are brought
in. The battle zone is still full OF It
all. in heaps and racks, waiting sal
wage.
Now and then come trains of air
nlane camions burdened with disman-
tied flying machines of every type and
every nation, engine and fuselage and
running gear on the truck and the
great wings on it's specially designed
trailer. Some of them are unharmed,
but many show bullet holes through
the frail fabric or the ruins of crash.
A fair proportion of them bear the
Maltese cross that marks them boche.
There are trains of captured enemy
artillery, particularly Of motor bat
lteries, driven and manned by French
linen, and these are happy outfits.
Often the guns are decorated with
evergreens and always the French sol
diers laugh and wave a greeting. AS
they creep through the villages the
ipopulace focks out to view the can
non that for four years sent death and
devastation to their land. and the
Ichildren Chamber on the carriages and
out on the grim barrels.
But it is the troops on the way back
that are most /. interesting. returning
to rest areas or to their ports of EN-
|barkati6n for home. French or Amer
Iican, their behavior is the same. AL
ways they greet everyone cheerily OF
lboisterously and always the French
Officers salute with smile when they
meet an American car, while the mer
lwave and shout: la guerre est finis 7
Tor similar greeting. Even the chill
dren cry ''Finis! Finis!" to the pass
ing car.
Travellers Are Welcomed.
II Strangest of all are the lights a
night in the hamlets and villages, o.
: shining friendlily from the isolated
: farmhouse, in regions further back
For so long France seemed deserte,
land to the traveller by night. Hou
after hour the press correspondent
has travelled at night without a glim
inner to be seen in the countryside, an,
I, now from every hill and vale tn
CHEEKY windows shine and the village
are ablaze. The papers devote col
umns to the illumination of Paris, blu
it is here in the remote part of Franc
where war has been that lights a
night seem most wonderful, even j
. they are but candle or little lamp
, Where once camions or staff car
!. loomed lightless in the roads to tn
imminent threat)of collision, and ofte
q it's accomplishment, the brilliant head
!. lights stab the night.
. There in every village now the ira,
d cling stranger can obtain food, not i
e variety, perhaps. but enough an
h very Hospitality. The deprecatory p,
: lite and necessary refusal to request
h for refreshments that usually were r,
V ceived in little hamlets or single farm
o has given way to cheerful offering {
: what there is, for the farmers kno
i now that the specter of a winter {
u short rations has disappeared. II
q rationing of certain foodstuffs is sti
n in effect. Bread tickets are necessaI
n in public eating places, no matter no
d unpretentious; butter and milk are sc
dom to be had and cheese is scare
but of plain vegetables and certa
J: meats there is plenty, and the light re
i: and white wines of the country a
! forthcoming when demanded.
3: At this season there is game in ii
5: small town markets, hares and "a
!: bits. venison. red-legged cartridges al
!: the large French quail and wild boa
!: 1t is high, but not so high as it alwa
i is at home.