Putnam patriot., 1921-11-11

the left. at one of the high points, one sees the scarcely completed monument raised above the "Tranchee des Bay onets." that line of steel which marks the resting places of q whole company of French soldiers inundated by a landslide just al the moment Of at tack and then, stiIl a little further away, one finds the grave of The Third Unknown
 sz hundred thousand French sol dies fell in the defea-e of NeFdun- Of these six hundred thousand, four hundred thousand still remain. uni 8eHtafiei. unknown. "ineannu. !" Shaaly after the armistice when the H5fs of repafatiou commenced a care f1i a.for' Was made on the part ef ,ae French government to identify as nIa.s graves al Neraun as possible The sasL soon became hopeless. So
 ad shattered 48s the earth by incessaut shelling and constant fight ing. that where the bodies had been baHied at first had only too frequently been passed over and repassed over agalH until no trace of the graves re- maiaed IL was then that a decision was made ta divide the battle-ground intd certain surveyed sections known to have been occupied at one time and an t6er by various divisions of the French army. From each of these sections the bones Of the heroes were collected in a common casket and these caskets, destined to rest be- meath great monument that will crown the battlefield, now lie within a simple Red Cross barrack. or "Os- siatfe, not far from the scene of the bitterest fighting.
 On the day that We visited the "Os- siarfe" We had the good fortune to be ;he only visitors and consequently We had the privilege of an hours con sersation with Father Noel chaplain If the chapel and more commonly known as .I.e Cure de Verdun." Fa- thef Noel is. by his own confession. scarcely thirty five years old He looks all of fifty. His big frame is a hit stopped. his hair is whitened and the marks of five years of incessant labor among the dead and dying on the field of battle are deeply cut on face of exceptional beauty and spirit uality. For Father Noel came to Yer dun with the first forces and he did net leave until the Armistice had si fenced the incessant eannonade.
 Simply and quietly amid the rude wooden boxes that hold all that re mains of four hundred thousand French patriots. he tells you of the battle. the victories, the defeats. the courage. the suffering He tells you how when the battle ended t seemed that his life work was finished, until he determined that his labers should continue until he had. through every efFort possible. raised from all parts of the world the funds necessary for the erection of a suitable memorial Co the men whom he had seen SO gloriously dsa and more gloriously die.
 iol look about the little hut-in
 HEFa T i7 a ahthA h#H 0H" AsAt fat nF H4kHH
 America and donated by the Ameri-
 Red Cross for this purpose. Gov etet with Che flag of France and the fasz=of various regiments in two mar
 9v lines lie the caskets of the un-
 Nn heroes making an aisle that leads 10 rude altar a; the end of the sti aeture Gradually ali that you have seen of death and destruction in the week that has passed fades from view. you forget the blasted fields outside. the rude. pathetic scene with ln All that you see is the summer of 1914 and the youth of France and England and Belgium and America and Italy living happily and gaily as youth lives today, And then you fol- low the priest out into the desolate twilight realizing that war k youths betrayal. youths kiss of Judas.
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