Marble Hill press., 1920-07-22
OLD BATTLE LINES
Evidences Of War Thick In Vicinity
Of ypres.
she'll HOLES Beginning TO Grow Green
bu, Battered Tanks Are 1sefy-
where In Evidence on the
Scenes OF Slaughter.

Leaving Zeebrugge the nrst days
tourney by motor takes the visitor
something more than a hundred miles.
with Ypres NJ the turning point ana
every variety Of war'stricken lnnds
and recovering countryside ON the way
there aud back. II was q point moot
ed with wearisome frequency In the
real days OF the place-whcn II was
.functionlng." as one would have said
and among front'line troops IN the
salient. whether they would ever cars
10 come back aud see that foul place
under q peaceful aspect Agreed.
there were those at home who might
be taken, not without profit TO them
selves and the world IN general. over
the low ground under KENNEL, of
where Passchendacle looked down 90
the swamps. and there were not
few Of the armchair gentry whose
instant presence would have been wei
coined. But. for himself. u was the
common verdict OF the man In the
mudhole that. once out Of Il, wipeu
and he could be the best OF friends
nj a distance. says writer In the
Manchester Guardian.
Riding into the place from which
risez the battered tower Of the Cloth
hall. 10 the high day and under .
burning sun: coming. too. unscatheo
aud unfearful from What was uninis-
taEabIy the direction ~ mo Mans
Land" one had TO question such q
verdict. and hnally. under the stiinu-
lutlon OF n hundred quickenlng memo
risu. allow the appeal. For the In
teres, of Ypr.s and OF all the ground
ip front OF u would not be denied
The place was like itself-in degree
hard TO credit And II only some
mimic had been there 20 reproduce
the shrin cresccudo ~ an approach
ing shell one would undoubtedly have
taken cover. Going out by the way
Of the M-nln gate and turning up into
the high ruad 10 Poelcapelle. with hrst
Hoogr and then 81. julien. with Pas
schendaele rolling NJ 20 the skyline as
q background. Is 10 pass into the nela
OF nm endless battle from which moth
ing has been cleared but the dead I;
and though elsewhere something has
already been done OF that "cOncentrn-
ton OF graves which Is TO give our
dead sn orderly and lasting memorial
they stin lie here. for the most part
In the scattered resting places to
which the hurried hands Of their con-
rudes consigned them.
The shell hales begin 20 grow green
but n is only q beginning. and II the
trenches are almost unseen as one
goes down the road. were they ever
very clearly defined here7 II Is a long
time before n place IN reached from
which no battered tanks can be seen
and now and again they stand three
or four deep on the very edge of the
rpad--dltched In their first attempt
NJ the mud. To look back on war al
its worst with almost all its evidences
hut present slaughter. one could
sSarcely better the viewpoint OF this
road, A few miles farther. and IN"
murdered forest of Houthulst, with
Its acres of stricken trees and not q
live one gives new edge TO terror
There Is something sound In the
notion that one can see the battle
fields In day. the repetition would
give no new tone but intrinsIcally The
same impression. As lesson lpreS
and Its province could not be sur
passed. Coming out at Dixmude, he
hind what was an almost permanent
boche line, the car returning to Dee
brurge comes again into country
which II alive. For the hlnterland Of
Belgium has returned quickly 10 Il
self. The army huts which serve In
the broken areas as shelter for those
WHO have returned TO the shattered
villages, give place here TO cottages
already substantially repaired, and
the frugal cultivation OF the soil goes
forward with an energy and resource
fulness typical OF no class In the world
So much as the Belgian or French
peasantry.