The Holt County sentinel., 1919-07-04

The city Is situated in a basin, or flat
region surrounded on all sides By
hills, a river running through the cen
ter Of the town. That there is any
thing left Of verdun is the biggest mar
Vel Of all, with the possible exception
that the people Of that city, still num-
bered among the living, are able 10
come back and smile. We also visited
the Citadel, a quite wonderful under
ground city. There are IL kilometers
Of tunnels under the ground, and at
places they are so feet deep. Also
there are quarters for the officers,
non-coms, men. ETC., quarters for 3d.
900. There are mess halls. chapels,
bakeries, store rooms, theatres, etc,
down there. The tunnels remind me
very much Of the Paris subways-not
quite so large, but tiled, electric light
ed, well ventilated, dry and a small
narrow guage railroad track through
them for carrying supplies. My al
ready great admiration for the French
people Is only increased after seeing
with "my own eyes" the sacrifices
that they made about verdun. You
can read about them urtil YOU arc
black in the face, but their true extent
can be realized only by seeing them.
note with pain and surprise and
not little sorrow that too many
Americans are prone to look rather
condesccndingly upon the French.
They say every other Frcnchman
wears a Croix dc Guerre, while very
few Americans wear or can wear q
II n..N E.aa,k
man deserves "a Croix de Guerrc-if
for nothing else thas the fact that he
is still alive. That is "a noteworthy
fcat-to have come out of this war
alive. And then, too. the French mode
Of thinking is "A thing that no Amcri-
can can or ever will be able to under.
stand. We cant understand them
any more than they can understand
these crazy Americans" ! am Ger.
tain Frcnchman thinks just ns much
Of a CroiN de Guerrc and that tho
'mblcm means Just a. much TO him Us
does the ID. S. G. to US.
The trouble with too many Amcri,
cans. aside from their habit Of form.
ing snap judgment, is that they have
seen only one or two little sectors OF
this country and they Judge Il all by
that section. u Is only BY getting OF
and getting broad view Of the stu
alton that one can come To- full re-
alization Of what France Is.
The world will never know how
much II owes to France or how mucl
France has suffered.
Here have been telling you al
along that my notes" were on IN,
way home 10 you. and they are not al
all. The postofficc here refused I,
honor the or,lcr permitting me to SEM
them homc--not refused exactly, buI
refused to assure me that they woult
reach their destination. That onl,
adds one more grievance 10 my nj
ready long list against the drafted
Post office syStem-or lack Of sys
tenn, "a you will.
A Hut 80 much for that here, us
mean to come back TO Il later. ",
then went into Germany. or course
Il was all old to me, but found mucl
enjoyment in seeing how the situation
impressed the fellows from France
and especially those from Genera
Headquarters. That was better tina
trip into foreign climcs. ] coul
glory "A little and swaggcr bit, u
| casually brushed u few Offending
Germans from my path, or when ",
hoped a street car and rode scot free
or when we did any number Of othc
things that We as Americans are nc
customcd TO doing in Germany. We
the country was more distastcfull,
beautiful TO me than ever. Here
everything 80 painfully orderly an,
painfully neat IN comparison to III,
chsos through which we had just com,
in France. II increased my alread,
lusty hate for the Germans, and
longcd for bombs with which 10 mus
up few of their places, and felt lik
throwing out some of the poo
starved" 90 creatures pottcrinl
about their neat, orderly yards. The
ought not to he allowed to have
, home. And rs for being starved
Most OF them have a regular series u
chins, huge bellies and wadde frof
side TO side as they walk.
/, There Is nothing new to tell 20
. about Coblenz. except in that plac
of "acutc food conditions" we had Tn
/, most abundant feed that every wa
| Ntt bti'lt ~ builNl W HuliluilHs
i took an hour and half to eat tn
stuff, without stop, and when "
finally were released with a pound Q
q two Of ice cream literally sprinkle
q with Strawberries, everybody was 70
! full for uttcrance. We could just loo
: hclplessly at each other.
a Cologne, on the Rhine, then back |
;, Coblenz, meant the end Of the trip f.
Q me, and we had very interesting tri
: on the Rhine. Another LIGHT lunC
/ on board the steamer and then thr,
: or four hours TO wander about Il
c prize German city. Germans seem
i think more Of Cologne than they {
i Of Berlin, (but ! still want to go
i Berlin. There the hatefully beaut
o full cathedral-through its glory "
n could see the wounded structure |
@ Rheims and hundreds of other woun,
" ed structures scattered throughol
:, France. And we marveled that Il
n Germans still had the guts-that's Il
Q only sufficient word | can think Of
,, to presume to worship a God. III