The Concordia sentinel. (Vidalia, Concordia Parish, La.) 1882-current, 1920-07-24
OLD BATTLE LINES
Evidences of War Thick in Vicinity
of IpreS.
Shell Holes Beginning to Grow Green
hut Battered Tanks Are every
where in Evidence on the
Scenes Of Slaughter

Leaving zeebrugge the nrs' uus
,ournev by motor takes the NS,to
so,othinc more than a hundred mics,
tel, ynres as the turning point anu
ovorv variety of war-stricken laiiu0
IA recovering countryside on the way
there and back. 1t was point n.y.
cd with wearisOme frequency III VI
rooI DAVIS of the place-when IL was
..fpnctioning." as one would have sai-
and among front-llne troops I'D 'iie
ssl,ent whether they would ever care
TO come back and see that loui pa
under peaceful aspect. Asi
there were those ut home VINO nllsi'
no taken. not without profit 10 'heli-
solves and the world in general over
the To-, ground under KENNEL Vi
whore Passchendaele looked down oh
the swamps. and there were ho' !"
few Of the armchair gentry "n"Se
instant nreseuce would have been "ei-
comad But. for himself. II was inc
common verdict of the man III '"o
uudbole that, once out OF II. "lpeiS
81 10 couId be the best of friends
at a distance, saws a writer III 'He
Manchester Guardian. -.
Riding into the place from VIZ. Viz
rises the battered tower OF the C'o'n
hall. I'm the nigh day ana ull"e,
hurning sun; coming, too unscalheu
and unfearful from what was unlni,-
takably the direction OF no MA"
land" one had to question such
verdict and finally, under the stimu'
lation of a hundred quickening memo
rIes. allow the appeal. For the III
terest of Ypres and of all the grouho
in front of it would not he ueh'eu
The Mace was like itself-in degree
hard 70 credit. And If only some
mimic had been there to reproduce
the shriIl crescendo of an approach
ing shell one would undoubtedly nav
taken cover. Going out by the wa.
of the Menin gate and turning up lhi'
the high road to POelcapelle, with mrs
HODGE and then st. Julien, with Pas
schendaeIe rolling up to the skyline
a background, is to pass into the hel
of an endless battle from which notr
ing has been cleared but the ueau
and though elsewhere something ma
already been done of that "cOncentrf
tion" of graves which is to give GU
dead an orderly and lasting memorla
they still lie here. for the most pal
In the scattered resting places
which the hurried hands Of their con
rades consigned them.
The shell holes begin to grow gree
but II is only beginning. and II II
trenches are almost unseen as or
goes down the road. were they eve
very clearly defined here? II Is Tor
time before a place is reached fro
which no battered tanks can he see
md now and again they stand thr'
or four deep on the very edge OF Il
road-ditched in their first attem
at the mud. To look hack on war
its worst. with almost all its evidence
hut present slaughter. one cou
scarcely better the viewpoint of tn
road. A few miles farther. and Il
murdered forest of Houthulst, wi
frs acres Of stricken trees and not
live one, gives a new edge to terrf
There Is something sound In q
notion that one can see the bait
fields in a day; the repetition won
give no new Tone but intrinsically q
same impression. As lesson Ypr
and It's province could not he 81
passed. Coming out at Dixmude.
hind what was an almost permane
boche line, the car returning to ~
brugge comes again into count
which is alive. For the hinterland
Belgium has returned quickly to
self. The army huts which serve
the broken areas as shelter for tho
who have returned to the shatter
villages, give place here to cOttae
already substantially repaired. a
the frugal cultivation of the soil &c
forward with an energy and resOur
fitness typical of no class in the wol
so much as the Belgian or Fren
peasantry.