The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1919-01-27
THE GHOSTS OF YPRES.
by ROBERT WELLES RIrCHiE.
Universal Service Sta6 Corrcsp Ma; 4

by ROBERT WEI4l4ES RIrCHIE.
Universal Service Stan Corrcsp aIai 1T
Paris, Jan. 26.--IIere is tho Sc. 9
! OF the ghosts of Ypres. I give 1t 10
you just as 1t came to me, wi hout att
dtlon or amendment except in so far
as II still il incum bent upon me TO
disguise too precise identification OF
a certain military unit You will not
believe this story any more than you
credited the accounts of the angels at
Mons. which were published after the
retreat of the odd Contemptibles'
four years ago. ! say to myself: 'Of
course you do not credit this yarn
either But
/ First whisper about the ghosts OF
Ypres came TO me from a Belgian
officer. He said in his painfully pre-
| else English: IF we should be passing
/ here on the 23d Of the month We
I would see the ghosts" / Immediately
rose to the bait of story and tried to
learn from him what ghostly inhabi-
tants were about and why the sd OF
the month was the unique occasion Of
! their revelat ton. But Lieutenant NJ.
shrugged his shoulders and adopted
his usual defense of iapsing into
J French. Not a word more from him
about the ghosts of Ypres.
That was month ago. and not until
/ yesterday But right here 1t Is
necessary you should know a little
about the scene of the ghosti, vista
tions. through which our car was
lurching and writntng when the lieu
! tenant dropped that single cryptic
remark. 1t was on the road between
Ypres and cappelle~-straight
! through the heart of the most terrible
I n ha Il u
! The hour was A so, when in these lat
! itudes the winter sun is near netting:
the night was beginning to steal in
from the east with its dark sack of
/ magic filled with tricks TO cheat the
imagination and distort the vision Of
/ wavfarers.
! Fit Place for Ghosts.
Behind u.s. where the car had
stopped on one OF the waves OF land
rising toward Paaschendaol Ridge the
single splintered tower of the Cloth
/ HAN at Ipres-sole remnant of n cru
Gifted city-Stretched across The red
! disk OF the sun like a skeleton finger
Still beyond showed The purple hump
OF Mount KENNEL, marking the h gh-
water mark of The German red tide
last summer, To right and left before
us behind us, just CHASTITY wilderness
w ilderness.
Water-flled shell holes sown thick
as the rust spots on a bad orange;
each pool mirror glowing blood red
in the dying day, Crosses--aye
crosses springing from this tortured
ground in never ending crop; black
: they were against the sun, and some
still carried their steel helmets, like
mnnstrons memorial wreaths. Not a
| square yard OF all the stretch down the
| IF Ig ~ Fl aI
marked 10y half-disclosed corrugated
ROOFING whore dugout had been or
| Uttered by the broken trash of con-
crete pili-boxes and redoubts.
/ 4 Land of Sacrifices
Here in this silent shell ritldled
| land, heart break and death tremen-
dous heroism and sa crifices beyond be-
lief all had had their terrible DAYS
Now not human creature stirred 4
drcarE caravan of crows tapped its
way across the darkening sky; their
cries smashed the wall of silence like
hammer blows
{ IF we should be passing here on
the ed" said the lieutenant. we
would see the ghosts of Ypres"
Twice after that l caught fugitive
rumors of the Ypres ghosts. hut there
was none to tell the story until yeSter.
day the padre had me to lunch. and
under the sNaaeG candles OF the Res
! taurant la Becasse my quest was re-
"arde1. The padre is a chaplain in
an English regiment which has re-
cruited the best blood of the land since
Mariborough's time. He has seen this
regiment made over three times, for /.
! mas fought and bled four wears.
The Padres Story
! Here are the PADRES words. as
nearly as l can reproduce them:
! Thea ghosts of Ypres, ehe So
you've heard the story, roo; what
Man, ii is not so incredible--I mean
I to say the ghost business You
know when a chaps been lying down
at night with death sitting right along
side the bundle OF straw he has 10
Keep little out OF the puddle. and
when a chaps been getting up o.
J inorn inss with IA German III. f.. for
reVeille, why, his mind rather reyerts
10 the simple. and he accepts things
other people would laugh to scorn.
AS FOR me now a dominic of the
church Of England and all that
I higher criticism and what mott say.
don't ask me II / believe the yarn
about the Ypres ghosts. Here Won
are: half believe I do.
1t was mistake in orders-I mean
, 10 say that thing which happened to
those fine lads of the Cmpty-uunuh
Kings F'usilliers-call them that tf
you want to write this yarn, for it's
quite far and away from their proper
handle. You know how mistaken or
ders sometimes will play the very
devil. God knows the English have