Part 10 (2/2)

We were told that some of the examples were for sale, and if sold, the proceeds would help the artists, and a.s.sist in the great work being carried on to aid the hospitals of France. We, therefore, made a common cause, buying a number of paintings and one piece of sculpture, thus doing our bit to help the good work along, besides securing for our country some splendid examples of the art of France. The exhibit was obtained through the courtesy of Monsieur Jean Guiffrey, Minister of Fine Arts in France, and to whom we are profoundly grateful. In this connection I may add that the United States is largely indebted to France for influence upon American art. Nearly all of our great painters and sculptors received their initial education in France and the influence upon American art and artists by French masters is incalculable. This is one of the debts of the United States to France which can never be fully repaid.

The commission is in France, first, bearing America's good will, and second, to investigate and render such substantial aid to France as may be in our power, having in mind always the great friends.h.i.+p existing between the two republics, and which we hope our mission will strengthen. We venture to hope that our journey through France in war time will also result in the increased exchange of commodities between the two countries, a consummation devoutly to be wished.

I thank you, gentlemen, from the bottom of my heart and bid you G.o.d speed in the great work of saving France.

At this noted banquet there were several generals present, some of whom had been in the service but a short time previous, and one of them famous the world over. We were not permitted to mention the names of any of the generals we met while in the war zone.

XII.

WITHIN SOUND OF THE GUNS

On Wednesday, October 4th, we left for the front in military automobiles. We pa.s.sed through a farming district and through several small villages. Nearly all who were at work in the fields were women. It all seemed quite peaceful, considering that the battle fields were so near. We stopped at Monte Billiard, in the Champagne district, where we were addressed by the mayor and a response was made by Mr. Pfeiffer.

Cuvier, the great French scientist, was born here in the year 1769, and died in 1832. We were now, as I should have mentioned before, in that part of Alsace-Lorraine again in possession of the French. We visited at Monte Billiard, a Fifteenth century castle and a new hospital. Red Cross girls were very much in evidence, a number of them American and English.

We were quartered at the Hotel de la Balanie, built in 1790. We visited the factory of j.a.py Freres. This concern makes a specialty of steel helmets, canteens and porcelain ware for the use of the army.

We arrived at Beaucort at midnight, and after settling down to rest, were awakened by the booming of cannon, which was continuous during the night. We were aroused the following morning by the town crier, pa.s.sing along the street, wearing a peculiar uniform, beating a drum and calling out the news.

At Beaucort we were shown through a castle now occupied as a hospital.

It was originally a chateau, and at that time a citadel with moat and draw-bridge.

In company with Mr. Warren, I visited the village blacksmith, being reminded of my boyhood days. He had old-fas.h.i.+oned bellows and, with an a.s.sistant, was in a small way finis.h.i.+ng up some work for the army.

We arrived at Belfort at about noon, and first saw the ”Belfort Lion” by Bartholdi, the sculptor of the Statue of Liberty in New York Harbor. It is seventy-three feet long, forty-three feet high and is carved in a cliff below the citadel. This statue celebrates the stubborn resistance of the town of Belfort, which has never surrendered, although besieged on numerous occasions. Belfort has been exposed to German guns, less than ten miles away, for two years, and it is much shattered from bombardments. Many of the citizens are still engaged in their ordinary pursuits, but live in the cellars of their domiciles.

We were quartered at the Le Grande Hotel, and could hear the cannons roaring as we sat at luncheon. We were warned not to go out of the hotel without a companion. There was a cave underneath with both an inside and an outside entrance and we were told that in case the sh.e.l.ling was resumed we should get into this cave. There had been, however, no sh.e.l.ling for eight days. The town was sh.e.l.led immediately after the departure of the Canadian Industrial Commission, which had recently visited Belfort.

[Ill.u.s.tration: The Lion of Belfort.]

The shutters of the hotel were closed at six P. M. I was taken to my room by the chambermaid and handed a candle and a box of matches. With all the lights of the hotel out, the cannon could be heard booming during the entire night. Belfort is under martial law, or, as it is called in France, military control. Just before retiring for the night we were reminded that the city was frequently sh.e.l.led and that nearly all the inhabitants slept in the caves, a pleasant thought to go to bed with. However, strange to say, I had a most excellent night's rest.

No one was permitted outside the hotel unless he had with him a card to show the police of the town.

Belfort contains numerous monuments. One series of statues is of three generals who defended Belfort during the three sieges successfully resisted. Two of these sieges occurred during the time of Napoleon and one during the Franco-Prussian war, 1870-1871. We walked about in a body, escorted by a military officer and a number of soldiers. We visited a large part of the city and at nearly every corner there were signs showing the entrances to caves and stating the number of persons each cave would hold--all the way from twenty to seventy. Evidence was all around of bombs dropped from aeroplanes by the Germans and sh.e.l.ls fired by them from many miles away, there being hundreds of shattered windows and holes in the sidewalks.

We remained in Belfort two nights. The morning after our departure the city was bombarded and some fifteen or twenty people killed.

On Friday, October 6th, we left Belfort in the military autos, under sealed orders, and knew not where we were going. We pa.s.sed several squads of German prisoners, among them one very large company. We were frequently challenged by sentinels in pa.s.sing, for miles, along the front of Alsace-Lorraine.

Alsace-Lorraine has had forty-five years of German rule. The elder people are not Germanized, and it is quite evident that France will not be satisfied until the whole province has been restored.

We stopped for luncheon at Remiremont, in the Vosges mountains, and while here visited an old church dating back to the Eleventh century.

This church contained, among other things, a statue of the Virgin Mary carved in cedar, the gift to the church of Charlemagne. There is also at this place a Thirteenth century arcade, through which we pa.s.sed. We bought a few relics and then left Remiremont at 4:30 P. M. for a dash into Alsace and close up to the battle-front.

We arrived at Bussane at 5 P. M., after being held up several times. We next reached Thann, a village once in German hands and two miles from the German lines. This town had been bombarded by the Germans early in the war. The destruction was fearful to look at; buildings were damaged beyond repair, and one church nearly ruined. As we pa.s.sed along in a dense fog, one of the guides ran past each machine saving; ”Shentlemen, this is a beautiful sight, but you can't see it.”

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