Evening star., 1921-10-30

| ~ tAe morning TO InOIor 10
| Wv Rheims. There were six Of
! US in the party. A large
Iouple, Americans. DR.. and Mrs. A.
(Mrs. A confided to me later that her
husband was the finest aurist and
throat specialist in the U. 8. Az. and
q small couple. Scotch, DR.. and Mrs.
b, and my daughter and myself.
incidentally. DR.. BIS wife admitted
that her husband was the most ia
nous throat specialist in the United
Kingdom and doctor extraordinary to
the queen. Both doctors discovered
that they had gone to Edinburgh Uni
versity and had much to discuss
from their different points Of view.
| I should have said we started to
leave Paris at o'clock. Leaving
Paris is a long and almost endless
occupation, at one time we almost
decided to take it with US; 1t seemed
so hard to get rid Of it. But all
things come to an end eventually.
even Paris so we finally reached the
Care de LEAST and passed through
the Barriers on to the famous black
road which was built by Napoleon.
1t Is still all there. and I will say 1t
was not intended for automobiles.
The French roads have one great
| advantage. they are well shaded.
Trees planted at regular intervals
make the roads a succession of shady
avenues which we missed greatly in
the war area. where only blackened
stumps remain. In such places the
heat was terrible. the dust at all
| times dreadful and the glare of the
sun almost unbearable, as the chat
feur resisted our most urgent re-
quests to put up the top of the ma
chine. giving the incontestible reason
, that they never raised the top except
| for rain. SO we muffied ourselves in
walls or pulled down caps as the case
might be and resigned ourselves to
suffering a la Franchise.
shortly after leaving Paris behind
was called Claye-Souilly. famous for
the fact that there Joffre signed the
arder for the first battle of the
Marine, and there We took in gas and
bought cards.
Then onward again between fields
of waving grain. acre after acre OF
golden wheat. followed by emerald
clover fields or fields Of silver rye and
oats, and everywhere the poppies
made splashes Of scarlet in the grain
and along the roadside. This region
had indeed advanced at one time as
far as Meaux. but had been quickly
driven back. and only ruined
house here and there or a black
ened tree stump was left to tell the
tale tale; All was .na serene ere nsass snd 6eau and
plenty. Soon we came in sight
Of the river Marne. and our road led
| along the valley Of the Marne until
we approached Chateau Thierry:
where he had luncheon. We passed
Belleau Wood. which we could not
explosives. OF course, Chateau
Thierry was of great interest tc us,
because that was where our boys
first met the foe, and we visited what
! is left of the old chateau and tried
to visualize the past.
1--WE stopped and made a pilgrimage
w on foot to the side of the hill
where Quentin Roosevelt's simple
grave lies, amid flowers and gentle
breezes. looking out over the valley.
A bronze tablet marks the spot where
his plane came down. and the grave
is just a few feet further along to
bring it to the brow of the hill.
From there graveyards began to
appear by the roadside, those pathetic
! rows of white crosses; with the black
| crosses which mark the German
! graves. at one side. First French,
then Americans and later Italians
| The Italian cemeteries are the most
ornate and are beautifully cared for.
| They have high white gateways with
| the Italian coat-of-arms over them
| and urns of flowers on each side.
They made our own look rather for
4 l. .,vtc SoI No
| when so many of them are being
| dug up to remove bodies to bring
home.
| o'clock and drove directly to the
cathedral, as 1t is closed to the pub
| damage done does not seem SO dread
!! full. but on closer inspection one sees
that hardly a figure of the many
! saints around the beautiful doorway
has escaped mutiliation, one of the
graceful towers is being supported
| colored glass of the famous rose
window. and. indeed of every window
in the church, is gone and all the
interior is a place of desolation.
] Our hotel was one of the seventeen
houses which escaped destruction.
!, although 1t too showed bullet holes
| in the shutters and on the plaster
| of the walls. After our dinner we w ent
out to walk around the city. Seen
| in the gray light of early twilight, it
| was weird and ghostly; skeleton
| walls on all sides rose dark against
! the evening sky, street after street
| with nothing left except the crum-
| bling walls of what was once beau
| tiful city of nearly 125,000 inhabit-
| ants On one side the gaping walls
showed the interior of what was once
| the opera house. over another door
1 or w G.
| taurant Cafe de Ia Place Royale"; /;
another said that here one could pur-
chase anything. Only these doorways
are standing and where the houses
had been are only heaps of stones
! and plaster. 1t seems impossible to
| realize that people are still living
| there; that in cellars and holes in the
ground the inhabitants of this mur-
dered city are still existing. waiting
for such time as Germany shall pay
her debts and they will have money to
| rebuild their homes. OF course. such
a situation in America would be i'm
possible. None of us would live in
such discomfort and wait for some
one else to remedy it as long as we
could lift a hand, but the French are
different and they seem to have re-
signed themselves to their condition.
| OF course they have performed Won
ders to transform that war.devas-
ltated land into fields so fertile that
every one tells you such crops have
never been seen before: lie bon Dleu'
again has helped them here and re-
warded their labors-for it must have
taken heart-breaking labor-by send
| ing such plenty for the coming year
These fields were, Of course, barren
of all except the harvest of war.
Shell holes had to be filled In. corre-
spending hills had to be leveled. many
explosives, still dangerous. had to be
removed and barbed wire entangie,
ments carted away before they could
even begin to till the soil.
/ After the long years of war this
i -.--SS i. 10 "a haan their final effort.