The news scimitar. (Memphis, Tenn.) 1907-1926, 1919-01-02
ONCE NOISY FIELD
Of BIG>BATTLES
STRANGELY QUIET
Long Canton Trains Always
Moving Southwark With
Loads of SaIvage-FIOCkS
of Crows Replace Planes.

BEHIND THE LINES IN FRANCE,
Jan. .. correspondence of the Asso-
ciated Press,D-This land Of recent bat
ties is a queer land now. over the
shell-torn villages and blastsa %3ou5i
1he pitted fields and the ruin OF an
that once was is a strange quiet, Inc
winter sky is lacking in airplanes ana
great flQcks Of crows have taken thelf
place.
4 few villagers have crept back to
see what remains OF their homes ana
holdings, but they are few and PROB
ably the winter will have passed before
reclamation and reconstruction are pH-
dertaken on a large scale.
Along the roads repaired and re-
bridged for the allies advance INTO
German. territory, long canton trains
move slowly and always southwark,
They travel ~leisureIy now. for the need
Of hurry is gone. They bring back
the salvage Of battlefields. all the
things that go to make war, aban-
donCd or captured.
Truck load after truck load Of rifles
and shells, .of water bottles and haver-
sacks, cartridges machine guns, bayo-
nets and trench knives and pistols,
mess kits, overcoats, caps, an endless
catalogue Of paraphernalia. are brought
in. The battle Zon is> still full OF 1t
all, in heaps and racks waiting salV-
age,
Wrecked Planes SalVaged.
Now and then come trains of air
plane camions, burdened with disman-
tied flying machines of every type n
every nation, engine and fusilage ana
running gear on the truck and the
great wings on its specially designed
trailer, Some of them are unframed,
bu' many show bullet holes through
the frail fabric or the ruins of Il crash
A fair proportion of them bear the
Maltese cross that marks the boche.
There are trains Of captured enemy
artillery, particularly of motor batteries
driven and manned by FrenChmen, and
these are happy outfits. Often the guns
are decorated with ~everBreenS and al
ways the French soldiers laugh and
wave "A greeting. As they creep through
the village the pOpulace fiOcks out to
view the cannon that for four years
sent death and devastation to their
land. and the children 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 embarka-
ton for home. French or American,
their behavior Is the same. Always
they are laughing or singing, always
they greet every cheerily or bolster
ously~ and always the French officers
salute with a smile when they meet
an American car, while the men "a
and shout La guerre est finie," or a
similar greeting, Even the children cry,
"Finis. fms to the passing car. ,
Lights Spring to Life.
S~trangest of all are the lights at
night in the hamlets and villages or
shining friendly from the isolated
farmhouse, in regions further back. For
so long France seemed a deserted land
to the traveller by night. Hour after
hour the Associated Press correspond
ent has travelled at night without a
glimmer to be seen in the countryside,
and now from every hill and vale the
CHEEKY windows shine n the villages
are ablaze. The papers devote columns
to the illumination of Paris, but it is
here in the remote part of France,
where war has been, that lights at
night seem most wonderful, even IL
they are but candle or little lamp.
Where once camions or staff cars
loOmed lightless in the roads to the
imminent threat Of collision, and often
its accomplishment. the brilliant head
lights stab the night.
There is no village now but where
the travelling stranger can obtain. food,
not in variety, perhaps, but enough
and very Hospitality. The deprecatofy,
polite and necessary refusal to requests
for refreshments that usually were re-
ceived in little hamlets or single farms
has given way to a cheerful offering
Of what there is, for the farmers know
now that the specter of a winter of
short ~ratiOns has disappeared. The ra-
tloning of certain foodstuffs is still in
effect, Bread tickets are necessary in
public eating places, no matter how
unpretentious; butter and milk are sell
dom. to be had and cheese is scarce,
but of plain vegetables and certain
meats there is plenty, and the care
fully boarded stores of the light red
and white wines of the country are
forthcoming when asked for.
At this season there is game in the
small town markets, hares and rabbits,
vemson, r~ed-legged cartridges and the
large French quail and wild boar. 1t
Is high. but not soshigh as it always
is at home.