Vanished Halls and Cathedrals of FranceEdwards, George Wharton
History
Vanished Halls and Cathedrals of France
Edwards, George Wharton
Cathedrals -- France; Cities and towns -- France; France -- Description and travel
"For at least ten minutes they bent over my poor papers, my little
souvenirs, and a piece of paper money which they examined minutely,
thinking to find state secrets, I suppose.
"Afterwards, when they returned my money, they kept five or six letters
which I had preserved and kept by me as dear relics, precious letters
from my mother and sisters... Their gross impoliteness made no outward
impression upon me, but the instant their attention was attracted from
me, and they turned their heads in another direction, I threw adroitly
in a corner of my valise, which remained open beside me, a small packet
which I carried in the waist of my dress. In this I had written a sort
of diary of my experiences since the beginning of the war, together with
accounts given me by wounded Frenchmen of their personal impressions
of the combats in which they had been wounded; a few sketches and such
matters, all innocent of any military value, but which, if found upon
me, would have but one quick result... I pushed the valise farther under
the table with a stealthy movement of my foot. The men then left the
room, shutting the door behind them. Almost instantly two horrible
'Schwestern' entered without knocking, and proceeded to undress me,
examining even the lining of my clothes for concealed papers--Of course
they found none. My companions suffered the same indignities at the
hands of these horrible creatures, who seemed to us more brutes than
women. When they had gone, and I was sure that no one observed, I again
concealed the packet of papers in the waist of my dress as before."
Of her further adventures I can give no more here. She was taken away
from Noyon shortly after the experience just related and sent to a
detention camp of Holzminden in Germany with her companion nurses. Her
experiences there were remarkable, and after serving with faithfulness
until the following April, she was sent to Rastadt, the fortress, from
which she obtained permission to leave, and return to Noyon by way of
Switzerland. She finishes by writing: "Now, after more than a year has
passed, I am once more in our dear little cottage, among those whom
I had thought and feared never to see again. Alas--the war continues.
Certainly I dreamed that war was very different from what I found it to
be, and if my health returns to me, as I hope, I shall resume my work.
I have seen the soldiers in the midst of battle at the front; I have
attended them in the ambulances with undreamed of wounds; I have
listened to and received their agonized confidences, and attended them
to the end. They are all heroes to me... I have known them in captivity,
famished for food, insulted, brutalized by their captors. Our brave
boys!
"Their courage, the grandeur of their souls, their indifference to pain
in the face of duty, imparts to me something of their courage which
inspires me.
"A country defended by such an army has no right to doubt final victory.
"(Signed) Leonie Godfroy."
Hotel de Ville: Noyon
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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