World War, 1914-1918 -- Personal narratives, American
Laboriously adjusting myself to the machine I plainly told the Maid, "I
wish you clearly to appreciate, Saintly Joan, that I am making this
journey for you. Of old, you were supremely helpful to the ruler of
_your_ country. I want you to do as much for the President of _mine_. I
am going to say Mass on your home altar for him, and I want you to help
me. If God spares me, and I return to America, I promise to proclaim
your glory and encourage all I can, young and old, in the practice of
your devotion."
Early dawn found us on our way. The steel helmet pulled low offers
splendid protection to one's eyes. Traversing the old battlefields of
St. Michel, we passed ruined Even and Essey and took the highroad
leading south. The shell-torn steeple of Flirey church still leaned over
the road; and the grewsome Limey Gondrecourt front, its deserted dugouts
resembling grinning skulls, elicited a sigh and a prayer for its dead
legions.
Through Noviant and Men-le-Tour we sped, and at noon were beyond Toul
and racing through the historic valley of the Moselle.
At Bullney, our speeding car was curiously observed by thousands of
German prisoners peering through the barbed wire enclosure of their
roadside camp.
Columbes-les-Belles, with its huge hangars, grimly stood in silhouette
against a crimson burst of sunset.
At Neufchateau we reached the river Meuse with whose glory the names of
heroic inconquerable Petain and Verdun shall be forever shared.
We were now in the picturesque "valley of colors," whose winding trails
were trodden by the soldiers of Julius Caesar when "Omnis Gallia divisa
est in partes tres" was written.
With pulse beat quickened by thought of our hallowed pilgrimage nearing
its end, we rushed like a specter down the road, through winding vistas
of giant cottonwood and poplar; rounding a hill we came in full view of
Domremy, and, with a final burst of speed, rushed splashing, and all
a-thrilled with emotion, into its single street.
Drawing up in front of the church, that of St. Remi, Apostle of the
Franks, we were at once surrounded and curiously observed by a group of
children. "Are these children now to see a soldier, still crippled with
lumbago, or one the intercession of Joan has made whole?" This was the
question I soliloquized, as I started to excavate myself from the
mud-littered car!
My chauffeur eyed me askance; and the look of pleasure with which he
noted my evident recovery, told me he was as proud as I. The Saintly
Maid had wrought her cure completely and with generous finality.
At once we entered the Church. Five hundred years before Jacques and
Isabelle d'Arc had crossed that very threshold, carrying the precious
babe Joan to be baptized. The glowing ray of the sanctuary light
welcomed us, and, perhaps, turned to jewels the tears of joy and
reverence coursing our cheeks.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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