ii8
THE YPEES TIMES
to south. Captain Taylor's order is historical, not geographical. He begins with
the Somme battle of 1916, and deals with each area, as it comes into the story.
Ypres comes under 1917, and we do not reach it till Chapter IX.
Everywhere the main features are the same. Nature takes the waste in hand
and transforms it into something green and beautiful, even if it cannot be restored
to its original state. Trees do not spring up again as easily as houses are built,
and a destroyed wood takes years to replace; in fact, a wood becomes something
different perhaps for ever. The Polygon Wood in 1914 consisted of pines growing
so close together that there was not room for much undergrowth and there was
bare sand underneath: the pines were destroyed in 1915, and now a totally different
growth has arisen, marsh plants and small alders. But more noticeable still is the
growth of crops. Here the industry of man has co-operated with nature to change
the face of the country. And man's industry is still more conspicuous in the
restored towns and villages. How the inhabitants found the sites of their houses
or even of their villages is a marvel, but there the villages are in the old places,
only better built than before. Does Souvenir Farm, Wulverghem, call up anything
in the reader's mind? An ordinary Flemish farm, built round three sides of a
square, with a wooden barn, not bullet-proof, towards the enemy. On a day in
March, 1915, the guard were lodged in the brick stables on the other side of the
square, and here and here only in the annals of war did a guard express a wish not
to be relieved. Now Souvenir Farm is brick all over, and this improvement is
typical of the whole country.
But two features of the landscape are new and the direct result of the warthe
war memorials and the cemetries. Every village at home has its memorial, and
every suitable point on the battlefields seems to have one, too. These memorials are
of many kinds. Captain Taylor gives photographs of some of them: two of the
best, if a selection is to be made, are situated at Monchy-le-Preux, the three soldiers
of the 37th Division and the caribou of Newfoundland.
And then the cemeteries. Think first of the numbers of graves that they
contain. There is Lijssenthoek, to the west of Ypres, with ten thousand graves,
and Tyne Cot on the east with twelve thousand more, and these are but two out of
many. Then regard them as things of beauty, lines of stones laid out with soldierly
precision, recording the rank, name and unit of the dead, or perhaps only stating
that here lies a soldier known to God," and always set among beautiful flowers
and grass, an example not only to the local inhabitants, but to churchwardens at
home. And, further, Captain Taylor insists that the cemeteries often give the best
history of the local fighting. The names of the units on the gravestones recall who
fought and how they fought in the neighbourhood. These cemeteries are the
creation and the peculiar care of the Imperial War Graves Commission, to which
Captain Taylor gives the highest praise. Those who work for it are all picked men,
and it is good to know that a very practical effort is being made for their benefit
in the school at Ypres. Here are educated a number of children, whose fathers are
all British and work for the Commission, but the mothers are often French or
Belgian. This makes the beginning of difficulties for the stout-hearted schoolmaster
and his wife, for many of their charges are not altogether English in language or
thought. Still the good work goes on and the school is full to overflowing. Next
door to the school is St. George's Church, which serves the needs of the English
colony in Ypres as well as many English visitors. The equipment of this memorial
church has all been given by individuals or regiments, and His Majesty the King
heads the list with a Bible. Church and school appear on the frontispiece, and the
whole book is admirably illustrated by the author's own photographs. These form
a worthy accompaniment to an interesting and valuable book.
W. H. B. S.
