PHALSBURG

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 57, 2 December 1918, Page 6

PHALSBURG

A TOWN WITH A PLACE IN HISTORY. The steady advance of the Allied armies in their march to the Rhine lias no doubt because of .the epidemic, failed to take that hold pti the public imagination it otherwise would have done. As day follows day names that are full of meaning for the Allied peoples—and for the Germans, too—are coming under our notice by reason of the advance of the Allied soldiers. Mons, Naniur, Antwerp, Brussels, the field of AA*aterloo, Lou-vain, in Belgium alone, were occupied in quick succession, while as regards France the magic name,of Metz, the grim fortress now the headquarters of General Retain, conveys u wealth of meaning. In yesterday's cabled news there was mentioned another name that is probably little known to many people, but lo" thousands it is a name the mention of which will give rise to memories of another time and of another kind. Of itself the news of the occupation by the French of the little town of Phalsburg in AlsaceLorraine, situated some twenty-five miles from Strasburg, and with a population of but some three thousand people, is a matter of small importance. True, Phals' burg has its place in history, for before the French Revolution the manor and seigniory of Phalsbuvg comprised five dependent villages—Vilschberg, Mittelbronn, Lutzelburg, Hultenhausen, and Hnzelburg; how Phalsburg and all the dependent villages played their part in 1 the, events- of that stirring time is now history ™ , , In the hands of France Phalsburg was of military- importance, for it commanded the passes of the Vosges, and in IGSO rl was strongly fortified by Vaulian. In 1814 and 1815 the works successfully resisted the Allies of that day, and in the Franco-Prussian war of 1870 the little town held out .against, the Germans for four months. But it is the thousands of readers or the classic tales of Erekmann-Chatrian who will in particular rejoice to learn that Phalsburg is once again-for all time, we trust—French. Kmile Erckmann was a schoolmaster at Phalsburg, in Lorraine, and Alexander Chatrian was one of his pupils, and the pair in collaboration were the authors of the famous series of historical tales depicting various phases of .the period from tho commencement of the Revolution onwards to some years after the tragedy of 1871. It was in Phalsburg that Joseph > Bertha, the hero of "The Conscript" and "The Hundred Days," was born; and it was there that those simple and loving hearts, Catherine, Amit'Gredel, and M. Goulden, waited Joseph's return from the horrors of Luton and Leipzig. From Phalsburg, too, "through the French gate," the soldiers at the advanced works presented arms; "we were on our way to AVaterloo." Another famous fictional son of Phalsburg is Michel Bastien, whom the authors follow nil through the wars of the Revolution and the war in A'ondee, and who, when his fighting days are over and he is making his way on foot to his beloved Lorraine, relates how moved ho was when he saw, once more "the old blue mountains which will bo there for centuries after we have passed away. . . . Yes, I was approaching our own countryside again!"