ON THE BATTLE PLAINS

Evening Star, Issue 16033, 9 February 1916, Page 6

ON THE BATTLE PLAINS

THE LITTLE WOODEN CROSSES,

“ We make no apology for reprinting the following article from the ‘Matin,’” says the London ‘ Despatch. 3 “It is of particular ■beauty, and the appeal it makes is too deep and universal' to bo confined to French, readers 'alone”; “Weep Jar,L. mothers, for around tho solitnry crosses mark 4*lio graves of your hero sons all Frati.ce in aims keeps watch. Leave for a minute those trenches and earthworks. Lete your gaze wander a little from the fimvg' line. Look there in 'that orchard or r there in that copse, or, yet agaiv.y- -wa, that crest. See one, two, three, twenty little mounds. On every mound a wooden cross and on every cross a little khaki or red cap. The orchard is full of them; the copse is studded with them; the brovv_ of the hill is fringed with them. “Now cast your glance towards those two soldiers sauntering along with their pipes in their mouths, or watch that cook hurrying along with the soup. "Suddenly they come before tho little mounds, and they stop abruptly. At once tho smokers take their pipes from then' mouths and the cook lays tho pot upon the ground, and at _ once, silently, solemnly, reverantly ; each right hand goes up to each forehead m tho military salute. “It’s only for a moment; the tribute to the great dead is paid, and then they go on their way again. “Along the whole battle lino from tire wooded mountains of the Vosges down to the sand dunes of Belgium every single sector has been placed under a separate officer, whoso sole duty it is to- identify and collect matter concerning every ono of those little mounds. “Not a single piece of information is allowed to slip by uncatalogued; each cross ha.s its own humble chronicle all written down and indexed and catalogued. “Each tragedy ones chronicled 1 is thencopied in duplicate, ono always accessible in case additional information -should crop up and the other deposited at the nearest general headquarters. “ Nothing is omitted which could possibly afford a, clue to the dead hero's identity—name, surname, regiment, and rank, and then each grave given a number corresponding to the document. “Often the number is burnt on with a red-hot bayonet, for fear by any chance tho rain or the mud should obliterate the treasured mark. In -a word, every chance of error is reduced to a ininimum.’ “Suppose, then, after the war -a family English, or French, or Belgian, wishes to trace tho sacred soil where lie so many buried hopes. All they will have to do will be to address themselves to the civil authorities of tho town where all the plans will be gathered together, and they may obtain information as detailed and as complete as if they had themselves been present upon those terrible battlefields, and will bo guided to the lonely grave, -bo it lost amidst some forest or hidden amidst the quarries, or simply one of a forest of similar emblems upon some opon field. “It is holy ground, each little humble grave—ground which was not bought by gold or by work, but by man’s own blood that has mixed with tho dear earth that gave him rest there just where he fell. Is it not all marvellous? Whenever, too, some poor corpse da discovered’ during the course of the nocturnal patrol along the front of tile trenches, outside the lines,"there is no rest or respite till It is brought back to safety and to love—often at the cost of yet ano tlier new corpse in tli-e rescue- “ Gould any parent do more? The soil of France is the' French soldier’s -birthright and they feel as if the dead! could not sleep the great sleep if German feet moved above tho heads of their comrades, and so tho chaplet of miracles goes on, each corpse making anot-hdr hero.

“ Weep not, you mothers, you wives, you ccuignters, though the days seem lonp* and sad away from those spots of sacred' soil ■whither your sorrows would bid you rush and mourn.

JS/o; weep not, hut rather re\oice in. your glory, you mothers and wives, and wizen the day comes, as come it must, when you will clasp these crosses to your bosoms hoiore you take the sacred soil away—they will seem light crosses indeed, for m that day all your sufferings will have vanished heror© the strength of your joy—the joy of a victory that will give lasting peace to a whole world.