IN FRANCE.

Taranaki Daily News, 2 November 1916, Page 5

IN FRANCE.

A NEW ZEALANDER'S IMPRESSION A letter received in Sumner frora Cor< pornl E. H. Lcwin at the front state* that the historical interest of the coun«, try they have been in lias appealed very) much to him. Near by ia a river, uponj which Napoleon collected that mighty fleet of flat-bottomed boats which wer* to ferry his troops across the Channel for tho invasion of England. In thej same old village ia a wine shop in whicU Napoleon and his two most famouri generals lived, while the plans werrt laid for the conquest of England. Rounfl about here you can see the remains of some of the great Roman walls buillj by Caesar. Looking at all these places. which are such ancient and historic land} marks, makes one think of the insignifM cancc- of our lives. Not two yards frond where I am sitting is a portion of ifr wall with the large loopholes through. which the archers of old discharged theh| arrows. Everywhere one turns one sce<| the result of "man's inhumanity to(; man." 1 "But the French cannot do enough fog us. If you only hear them pronouncinfl New Zealand! The reverence they in* fuse into the words is remarkable. 1 do not think it will ever be poaslblaj for England and France to fight eachi. other again. You should see the relationeexisting between the soldiers of both 1 countries. I have seen the French; "simple soldat" and his British comrades teaching each other the '"different meanings of words. | I shall never forget the long railway! journey. It was more like the return; of conquerors than anything else. were cheered at every station, and old! men ami women working in the fleldt stopped their labors—the men with thei* hats off, the old women waving theif" hands. When we came to a station i% was a ease of watching yourself, or, be*. fnre you knew where you were, somt Frenchwoman was kissing you. Oh# chap in our car had his head out of thi window, looking up at the station, and) the next thing we saw was a yonnj Frenchwoman with both arms round hit neck. What struck me most on that jour* ney was the absence of young men. II was the same everywhere. Young girls, old men and women working in ah« fields, and nearly every woman drbssedl in black. France has suffered withoulj a doubt, but their hatred of Germanyj has in :io sense abated. "Last night we had to so down to thtf trainin-j at 8 p.m., and did not get baclfl from "night operations" till 1 a.m." Bjj Jove, those star shells and rockets ligh(t up the ground some. This war is an ar<i tillery all'air out and out. In thre() weeks at the battle of the Somme til* British artillery dropped 5,000,000 shelly of all sizes into the German trenches. "What do you. think of this' fof France's belief in England? For e!os(j on a hundred years a remarkable statu<) of Napoleon has stood on tin- foreshortj at Boulogne, facing towards Well, with true French chivalry thejj have turned that completely round. Ino stead of the maker of France facing Eng<i land, he has his face now turned towardi' Germany. In the words of one o\; France's greatest men, "with England ad his buck, France with her help will: march to victory." This statue wai; turned round just after war was dey clared.