New-York tribune., 1919-03-24

the scene of something that happened
long ago. Perhaps it is little like going
TO Nottingham to revive the memories Of
NOUN Hood. 1t seems all so unreal and OF
the past. When the first barbed wire en-
'ahglement is passed it still seems like a
'ning OF some other time, or as if it were
placed there for the uses of some play plot.
ne wire is rusty and tangled across the
lace OF nature, and 1t doesn't belong there
ana IL still seems SO when you pass trenches
'nat nave begun to sag in and the tops of
whleh have begun to fatten down. Chill
dren might have been playing there ia
/ some great game
bu' there the unreality ends, for Just
plt beyond cemetery comes into view
along the roadside: Over each poor gravs
there is disk upon which are the Stars
and Stripes of the United States: Here
are our dead-and the lump that comes snto
your throat tells sou that this thing is real
ana recent, part of the lives we are living:
You remember that back In the Paris var;
have just left men are deliberating an rvhs+
shall be the punishment for the crime that
filled these graves and how to prevent mn
other such horror:
Ancie are many sucn little graveyardS
around Belleau Wood and Chateau Thierry:
In each plot from eighty to hundred
graves. Reverently you go among the
graves, reading the names Of the fallen;
Perchance there may be the name Of some
one you have known-some friend who
laughed as he sailed away sn the other side
OF the ocean. Somehow yeu seen cease this
searching, for the feeling comes that these
were all friends. More than that, they
were all brothers of the truest kind. They
were all of the blood of the American fam
1ly' They are the dead that belong TO all
OF us, and there Is none to be singled eut.
Here on the barren hilsides around Beltssa
weed they are buried where they fell IN
defence OF our common heritage and oux
common hopes
In some Of the little plots there Are
stacked rifles. 18th their accompaniment Of
helmets and pieces Of she'll. By these tbiprs
they died.
And then you go on up the h;lt dawn
which they came. You go up with difficulty.
1t Is SO steep. You enter ruined hunting
lodge at the edge of the wood, gell.au
"eed once WAS great game preserve and
'here was great merriment in this lodge In
years gone by. 1t Is poor wreck now. but
the fireplace still stands, and In that crate
you may build a roaring Ire. The SCARED
walls of the lodge are covered with ths
names of soldiers and visitors. A score Of
sachusetts boys have left their pamea
on those walls, There are not se uspv
from any other state. Here you may read
where with brand from the frep1aes thet
MI but burned his fingers Samuel aompera
wrote among these boyish writings, "Ver
the Glory Of the World" BECAUSE. nd be
said, there The greatest military machine
the world has known was forced 10 etop and
turn bach by the free men of Aneriea,"
PROM 'Nls lodge you plunge into The wood
~ ~ oulef there now drendfuily gulet. But
"nht an inferno 10 must have beenl Sons
eiaht hcytle hhs mown the trees down, and
their tangled branches make 10 dlnlcult 10
proceed even slowly 1t would be impossl-
Die to go through much Of the wood without
the nid Of an axe. Nothing except lorna.
does md war can create such ruinatien.
light snow on the ground covers much
Just now. But, even SO. here and there sre
slgns Of what happened during those terri
pie days last summer. Unexploded shells,
hand grenades. bandoicrs, the clothes AZ
WA" "'S" scattered mere ana there. And
graves, even in the wood. But the graves
In the wood are German graves. These nre
IN little plots that would be unnoticed but
for implanted pieces of wood bearing ouch
legends as "Two Unknown Germans" six
Unknown Gcrmans." And there are n.anv
Identified as well.
IN the very heart Of the wood Is ths
wreck of German Ammunition wagon.
headed toward Germany. The Germans
were trying to get IL away but the fire frem
behind was toe much fer them.
How anything lived in that wood is
mystery: There deesn't seem to be spot
as big as human form that has not been
torn and shredded by bullets or shells, And
then, too, 1t was dfenehed with gas after
the Americans came in. But the faet that
back In Paris men are writing "the peace"
means that men did GO through alive-in
and cut on the side from whence the Ger
mans had fed, and then on and en- down
into the broad valley and up ever the hjlls
on the other side
feu leave Belleau Wood. Yeu feel mere
deeply than ever that the world must never
again let such treaehery and beastliness
arise: Men who win through such fire must
De remembered by keeping te the read OH
which they fell: You ceme cut through the
ruins OF Veaux, where houses have been
pounded into powder, you 20 threuxh
I ha teau lhierry and yeu see the bridge
'eads where American machine guns helped
write The epitaph OF crazy kaiser.