BEAUTY IRREPARABLY GONE
The artistic beauty of the cathedral of Rheims can never be restored, in the opinion of Whitney Warren, the New York architect, who made a thorough inspection of the structure.
Mr. Warren, who is a corresponding member of the Institut de France, was given the privilege of visiting the cathedral. His investigation had no official character, but the result of his observations was communicated to Myron T. Herrick, American Ambassador to Belgium.
“That anything remains of the edifice,” said Mr. Warren, “is due to the strong construction of the walls and vaults which are of a robustness that can resist even modern implements of war.”
The building was not battered by the heavier guns, as had been feared, but it suffered most from shrapnel fire. The famous rose windows, the sculpture and other details of the façade that were ruined are, however, just the examples of art that can not be replaced.
Statues, gargoyles, and other ornaments on the exterior of the cathedral have been tumbled to the pavement and shattered, though at first glance the outer walls of the cathedral do not show the ruin that has taken place. These blackened walls yet stand as a monument to the glory of France, but still more as a grim reminder of the barbarity of German warfare.
CHAPTER XVII
THE CANADIANS’ GLORIOUS FEAT AT LANGEMARCK
[THE CRUCIAL TEST OF CANADA’S MEN] — [WONDERFUL STORY OF HEROISM AS TOLD BY SIR MAX AITKEN] — [A REMARKABLE PERFORMANCE] — [QUIET PRECEDING STORM] — [SECOND BATTLE OF YPRES] — [LINE NEVER WAVERED] — [OFFICER FELL AT HEAD OF TROOPS] — [FORTUNES OF THIRD BRIGADE] — [IN DIRE PERIL] — [OVERWHELMING NUMBERS] — [PUT TO TEST] — [CAPTURE OF ST. JULIEN] — [A HERO LEADING HEROES].
The fight of the Canadians at Langemarck and St. Julien in April, 1915, makes such a battle story as has sufficed, in other nations, to inspire song and tradition for centuries. In the words of Sir John French, the Canadians, by holding their ground when it did not seem humanly possible to hold it, “saved the situation,” kept the enemy out of Ypres, kept closed the road to Calais, and made a failure of German plans that otherwise were about to be successful.
The Canadian soldiers have indeed shown that they are second to none. They were put to as supreme a test as it would be possible for any army to meet with, for they fought overwhelming numbers under conditions that seemed to ensure annihilation. They fought on, and failed neither in courage, discipline, nor tenacity, although thousands of them fell.
The story of their unflinching heroism was told by Sir Max Aitken, the record officer serving with the Canadian division in France:
“The recent fighting in Flanders, in which the Canadians played so glorious a part, cannot of course be described with precision of military detail until time has made possible the co-ordination of relevant facts, and the piecing together in a narrative both lucid and exact of much which, so near the event, is confused and blurred. But it is considered right that the mourning in Canada for husbands, sons or brothers who have given their lives for the Empire should have with as little reserve as military considerations allow the rare and precious consolation which, in the agony of bereavement, the record of the valor of their dead must bring, and indeed the mourning in Canada will be very widely spread, for the battle which raged for so many days in the neighborhood of Ypres was bloody, even as men appraise battles in this callous and life-engulfing war. But as long as brave deeds retain the power to fire the blood of Anglo-Saxons, the stand made by the Canadians in those desperate days will be told by fathers to their sons.