The New York herald., 1922-10-22

one, Grevenmacher. This town lies on the
bridge from Germany. Here also we found
many persons whose happiest memories of
the war centered upon the time when the
American troops were billeted there 1t is
indeed gratifying experience for an
American to find that his comrades were
so highly esteemed in a foreign land.
A group of gentlemen from LuXem bourg
paid us the compliment of crossing the In
ternational Bridge with us. and telling the
German customs officer that we We're
friends AS a result of this we had no
trouble in entering Germany.
Following the winding Moselle River We
started on toward Treves. The country be-
came increasingly inviting as we pro-
gressed, the high hills being covered with
vineyards, and little villages nesting at
the foot of the slopes along the river. Old
castles crowned the tops of the higher
eminences. their towers and turrets in the
ruins of centuries.
1t was Sunday and crowds of holiday
seeking Germans were everywhere. The
bright colored clothes, the bustling confu-
sion, the innumerable children, the close
cropped heads of the men, the peculiar hats
of the women-it really was all Germany.
The villages of Germany unfolded them
selves before our eyes, solid and substan-
tial, prosperous, comfortable, clean and
quiet Comparing these with the hundreds
of miles of devastated France we had left
behind, where the French people are now
struggling heroically to rebuild and are
bravely trying to earn enough from their
shell torn fields to keep food on the table
we, in all fairness could not but wonder at
the justice of it ALL The beauty and pros
perity of Germany compared to the DESC
lation in France is appalling. AS we went
further and further into the country these
first impressions became fixed more firmly.
Perhaps if we had not spent the last two
months in the ruined areas of France the
contrast might not have seemed so over
whelming. AS it was we have been unable
to eliminate this thought from our minds.
Consequently the beauties of these Moselle
villages lose something when one regards
them from this point of view. (
Stories are often told of Americans far
from their native land and long out of
sight of the Stars and Stripes who give
vent to all manner of strange reactions
when they suddenly glimpse their flag on
a passing steamer. Be that as it may, do
not believe that at any time they could
have experienced a deeper or more peculiar
emotion than the one in which we were
gripped just before we arrived in Coblenz.
Far above the city on the ramparts of
Ehrenbreitstein, in country that until
very recently was an avoWed enemy he
will see the biggest and brightest flag in
all the world floating in the breeze. After
seeing France and the Argonne, after fol-
lowing along the terrible shell torn paths
of the American doughboy as he fought
and died for his principles after wonder
ing if his heroism would always be re-
garded in as high a light as it truly de-
served-this made it all seem better. To
see the flag floating over one of the most
powerful fortresses in Germany, across the
river Rhine, which every German defied
us to cross-well to the American dough-
boy this was some measure of compensa-
ton.
Any ex-service man will appreciate our