This suggests another interesting field for speculation. Why is it
that all men, regardless of race, creed or color, have an inborn
craving to inscribe their names on walls and trees and rocks,
especially on walls other than those of their own home? Wherever you
go, all over the world, you will find the carved or written record
stating that, at such and such a date, John Doe, of Oskaloosa, Iowa,
honored the place with his presence. The buildings of Flanders and
France are storehouses of historical records. From them the historian
could almost reconstruct the campaigns of the war. Would it not not
be an interesting task to make a thorough search of all the old
buildings and dug-outs, just as the archeologists have been doing in
Egypt and all the ancient habitations of mankind? The prehistoric
caves of Spain or the cliff dwellings of the Colorado could not be
more interesting than a compilation of these records, including the
drawings and sketches, some of which are real works of art. Regimental
crests and badges are often shown with the utmost attention to detail
and, in one place which we afterward occupied, one of the walls bore
an elaborately carved tablet enumerating the campaigns and battles of
one of the oldest British line regiments, together with a list of the
honors, V. C's. and so on, won by members thereof. On one of the walls
at Captain's Post one of my boys, Charlie Wendt, carved a large maple
leaf upon which he inscribed the names of all our squad. He was killed
a few days later and others at various times and of that whole list, I
am the sole survivor. I would give a great deal to have that bit of
wall here in my own home.
Meantime, the _Allemand_ has gone away and we are free to continue our
journey to the front line.
In an orchard behind the house we entered a communication trench and
after a few final words of advice from the guide as to the necessity
of keeping our heads down wherever the walls were low, started on the
mile-long trip. We learned that the trench by which we were going in
was named Surrey Lane, in honor of the West Surreys who constructed
it. At various points we came upon intersecting trenches, most of
which were marked with the name of the point to which they led. One, I
remember, was "Wipers Road"; not that it ran all the way to Ypres but
led in the direction of that place.
Except for an occasional large shell, whispering overhead, consigned
from Kemmel to Warneton or vice versa, and the distant muttering of
the French guns away to the south, everything was quiet and peaceful,
and had it not been for the ruined buildings and torn-up roads it
would have been difficult to imagine that we were in the midst of a
battle-field.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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