The L'Anse sentinel. (L'Anse, L.S., Mich.) 18??-current, 1919-07-11

place OF the horses they have killed
or stolen.
Work Of Fiends.
The members of our party shud.
ficred as we gazed 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 only In.
telest in war has been desire to get
over here before everything is all
cleaned up" can send the message
that they need not fret IL they are
delayed year or two. Their chill
dren's children will still look upon the
ruins Of Invaded France.
With the sun OF srsing but few
days old, II already begins to smell
bad In western Belgium and north.
eastern France. Bones Of men and
horses are all about unburied. Great
pies Of ammunition and lines Of
trenches lie just as If the troops had
marched away yesterday. No prog.
ress has been made In the restora.
ton Of homes, factories or stores.
ollie after mile we sped through
wrecked towns and villages In which
civilian residents are just being per-
mitted to return.
Vicious Dissertation.
We stopped at 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.
Just as 1t 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.
ma goat had just successfully increas-
ed the population with baby goat
and France could even smile with so
little assistance.
We returned with increased adml-
ration Of the French nation and a
greater appreciation of the har,lshIps
that had been endured so heroically.
Martyrdom Of France.
No more pregnant emotion can grip
the human soul than those Inspired by
the scene we had bcheld. 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 direc-
tion-unite In showing what men will
do when they put on the livery of Inn
perial militnrism.
We know now what France has
suffered. and we know that oil she has
lost Is n loss to the whole world. Her
awful martyrdom, her heroic endur-
ance, her indomItable fortitude cry
aloud from these heaps Of stone which
were once peaceful homes or the CEN
tiers of Industrial prosperity. now
stiIled for n brief time only. In this
war the spirit of evil sat upon the
throne and sent his slaves to chal-
lcnge civilization. In the providence
OF God the end was certain. That end
we saw on the battlefield for there
dcspotlsm died nnd the new justice
for France and for the cause Of right
was horn.
we returned to Paris through Cha
trau ThIcrry with the conviction that
not tenth Of the devastation. de-
strucfon and footing has ever been
told or ever can be.
l have since read the peace terms
with n new understanding and do
not wonder Mt their severity.