TREINCHFB OF HUNS CUT THEM OFF FROM WORLD.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XLIV, Issue 14287, 2 May 1917, Page 3

TREINCHFB OF HUNS CUT THEM OFF FROM WORLD.

HOW FRENCH PEOPLE: EXISTED

BEHIND GERMAN LINEI

AGED CURE TELLS OF HARDSHIP

AND FAMINE.

Britisli Headquarters m France, March 27th.— This, is the story of the priest of Voyennes, Monsieur le" Cure Carori, who stood to-day m the shadow of the still hot walls of his church which had been set alight by the Germans the day they slipped away from this pain little village perched above the valley of the Somme. Flashes of passionate protest mingled with a spirit of proud resignation m his recital of the life at Vbyenness during the two and! a-half years of German conitrol — a civil imprisonment which ended Monday last when, through] field glasses from the left of his presbytery, the priest, who also was acting mayor, saw four khaki-clad horsemen on the road and knew that the Germans had gpne and British relief wa« at hand. ~A few "'minutes later, a French cavalry patrol appeared, and the Allies had formed a new link m the pursuit of the common foe. OUT OFF FROM WORLD. The cure told how the German trenches had isolated a section of the French people from their country as effectually as if they had bean suddenly transplanted to another • hemisphere. He told how m Voyennes women, children and old men lived and toiled for the invaders m utter ignorance of what wa? going on m .the world about them, just as other thousands still shut within the German lines are living, toiling and wondering to-day. ' The inhabitants of Voyennes submitted to enemy domination with heads erect. and patient calmness that the Germans could not understand. " "We will break your pride," Prussian officers declared, "and make you slaves. Ail France shall fall at our feet." Pale, drawn and old, as was the cure, nevertheless ho seemed imbued with sudden, defiant strength as he raised himself to his full height and continued : "I told them that never again would France yield to such a foe. They taunted us and said they would crush Europe m a few months. We replied that France would fight 50 years and more if necessary. Sometimes they laughed scornfully at this, but lately could not contain their fury that the war was lasting so long."

FOOD WAS BAD. "And did the people suffer much" he was asked.

"Ah, yes,' he replied. "Our food did j not last long. . Then we had to work for the Germans and take whai they j gave us. Sometimes it was so bad that even tho cats refused to eat. Then the Americans began to feed us, and that saved thousands of lives. Our psople are very grateful." Last Sunday, when early mass was over, the German commandant at Voyennes appeared at the church with soldiers bearing petrol cans. He bluntly told the priest that he was tired of the' war and, as one means of bringing the end nearer he wa« going to burn the church. The I priest thought it was a cruel jest until he was escorted to his houiJe and held nrisoner there. He was compelled to look on impotently while the inflammable liquid was sprayed about and the torch applied m a. dozen plates. Of all the ancient interior only the. wooden crucifix "gainst' the altar wall by some strange freak escaped the flames. ACTED UNDER ORDERS. . "But," added the old priest. "I lived to see the German spirit break from the unspeakable arrogance of* their onslaught and threat toward the parish until a few days ago. an officer met me m the street and said : 'Father, .we are lost. I have done much m this war that rests heavily on my conscience, but I have done it under orders. I dare not disobej'. 4 '.■■'■-. "I told him that he surely would be absolved, for he was not to be blamed. There were others of higher station who must make answer to their God." "We have had many commanders since then, and, one and all, they have ruled their men with a discipline of iron. Some of -the officers treated' their subordinates like dogs; they; said the men were their slaves, as the French would' be. "Some of the villagers asked thd men why they submitted 'to such treatment. They replied that they were helpless now as part of a military macliine, but when the war was over their time would come. For a, long time now the German soldiers have had no ooffee and their rations have' been growing less and less.I tell you with all solemnity that when the war is ended' .there-will "be a reckoning and Germany will know 'a blood-red revolution. "

Marvfellous cures have been effected m a Liverpool military hospital in '-the treatment of wounds by the saline process, m whioh a current of electricity is passed through a solution of salt and 1 " water, the resultant solution being applied to the affected parts for prolonged periods.

'The cable news m this Issue accredited to the London Times has appeared In that Journal, but only where expressly stated \s such news thp Editorial ■'itliiitto ot ita. rt--««.|