The Idaho Springs siftings-news., 1919-02-14

thing was neat and coy. But an thh
order was sttll surpassed By the n
rangement In q large room. which ap
parently had been inhabited By q
young woman. We were almod
ashamed to enter the sanctuary. To
our establishment we saw hanging ou
the wall opposite the door Q picture
burned In wood and under 1t q German
verse: Honor the women. they weave
Q braid Of heavenly roses in theii
earthly life" (Schiller). The owner
apparently was . young bride, for in
the wardrobe was . trousseau, tied
with neat blue ribbons. carefully put
away. All the wardrobe drawers lay
open. Nothing was touched here.
When We visited the same place the
pulse, We found everything in that
house destroyed. Barbarians had gone
through this home, and with bitter
ruthlessness had devastated every.
thing. with every evidence Of having
utterly cast OF the ethics and stand
ards Of civilized races.
Tho entire trousseau had been torn
from the drawers and thrown partly
on the floor. Pictures. photographs.
mirrors, everything was In pieces. The
three Of us who had entered the room
clenched our lists with impotent wrath.
We received orders to remain In
Suippes until further notice and the
next day witnessed the return of many
fugitives. They came In great throngs
from the direction Of Chalons-sur-
Marne They found instead Of the
peaceful homes they had left q wretch
ed and deserted ruin. A furniture
dealer returned to his store. as We
stood In front Of his house. He broke
down when he viewed the remains Of
his enterprise. Everything had been
taken away. We approached the man.
He was q Jew and spoke German.
When he calmed down q little he told
M that his store had contained mer-
chandise worth more than 5000 francs.
Had the soldiers only taken what
they needed for themselves" he said,
II would be satisfied, for did not e1.
pect anything else. But never would
have believed Of the Germans that
they would have destroyed erything." !"
Not even . cup and saucer were
left In this mans house. He had Q
wife and i've children. but had no idea
of what had become Of them. And
there were many moro like him.
The following sight remaining IN
Suippes, We were again obliged to camp
In the open because It swarmed with
frank-t1reurs." Such were our instruc.
r ~
frank-tireurs, but by this method the
enmity toward the people living in thu
towns along our line Of march was
maintained. The Germans practiced
the theory that the soldiers light bse
ter and arc more amenable to dis
cipline when filled with hatred Of thsll
enemies.
The next day ws were obliged b
march to Chalons-sur-Aarne. Thil
was one Of the hardest days No svez
had. From the very beginning, a. W
began our journey, the sun blased
down upon us. It u about IS kilomo'
ters from Suippes to Chalons-sur.
Marne. This distance would not have
been SO bad, despite the heat; we had
already made longer marches; but tho
beautiful road from Suippes to Chal'
ons goes with unending monotony with
out 30 much as a curve or q bend b
the right or left. Az far ~ we could
see 1t stretched before us like q long
white snake.
Many soldiers tainted or were gtrick'
en- with sunstroke. They were picked
up By the inflrmary columns which fol.
lowed. That the troops who had trav'
ersed this road before N had Jared
worse was evident from the many dead
Germans who lay along the road. The
commander feared that he could moi
get the machine In motion again II II
was halted. and permitted to stretch
its weary limbs on the ground for q
brief rest. And 20 1t crept along like
q snail. Only, instead Of having q
snail's shell on its bach, there was q
leaden burden.
The monotony Of the march waa
broken when we reached the enoe>
nous camp at Chalons. This u one
Of the largest Of the French army
camps. We saw Chalons from the Dis.
tance. Az we halted about IN hour
later outside the city In IN orchard
without q single exception every man
fell to the ground exhausted. The field
kitchens were soon brought up. but thu
men were too tired to eat. We did eat
later and then wanted TO 90 to town to
purchase some articles, particularly
tobacco. which we missed most. No
body was allowed to leave camp. We
were told that entering the city was
strictly forbidden. Cha1ons had paid
Q war contribution and therefore n0
one was permitted In the city.
We heard the dull sounds Of the
cannon In the distance and suspected
that our rest would be brief. The
rolling Of gunflre continued to grow
stronger. We did not know then thA1