6 The Ypres Times. linseed, and five or six women were weeding on hands and knees. We thought of calling their attention to the fact that they were trespassing on our territory. A Frenchman at the Chateau told us in a very American accent that the nearest now possible way to Essex Farm," Essex Farm Road," once the windiest, was now all planted. Many of the willows, even splinters, were in leaf. We approached Canal Bank Road with bated curiosity. The road on the east side looked like a cart track and Bridge Nc. 4 was not. An old labourer felling timber amongst grassed-up heaps of unused and dud shells informed us, however, that we could cross at the old (military) railway track, which we, rather gingerly, did. The canal itself was the only throwback that we had yet seen. Three feet of fairly clear water circulated along the centre amongst all sorts of obstructions, and except that all the dugouts had been removeditself an incredible taskit looked about as dull a place as in 1917. Having crossed to the eastern bank we picked our several ways amongst rather moist clay and vegetation, to the road. Here, to our amazement, were to be seen wonderful farm steads and the cleanest of fields. Joffre Farm," our old dugout locality, was occupied by a large and up-to-date farmstead with extensive outbuildingsall in brickand dogs of various calibre bayed at our approach. Where were the old communication trenches Where indeed Occasionally we fancied we could trace them by some suggestion of sand amongst the light corn and finally we concluded we had found the site of our old dugout, which Pick 1 hotographed. It was getting late now and we hurried back across the canal and along Canal Bank Road to Salvation Corner." All the houses were rebuilt and we were rather astonished that the nearest estaminet was not called Salvation (a la Hotel Vindictive at Ostend). But all traces of the name have vanished. At last we entered Ypres, now all like a new town except for occasional gaps. Arriving at the Cloth Hall now threatening to become a somewhat formal cement pointed ruin, we proceeded to compare notes and impressions, and then back by taxi to Pop." and bed. Sunday we rose at 9.30 and as I was very anxious to see a dear old friend's grave at Dickebusch and we had arranged to run to Ypres by taxi, I persuaded Pick and the skipper to make a detour via Dickebusch. The district looked more naked and water logged, and here and there were deep holes in the pavé, the chauffeur explaining that the roads we were on were communales not routes nationales. The New Military Cemetery 89 of the Ypres League map was on the left, with the small Extension on the right, and here I found the object of my search with the original wooden cross with its tin embossed inscription. I placed a pansy on the cross and Pick photographed it. This cemetery was, of course, not completed, and doubtless in the very near future the head stones will be placed in position. We continued to the Cloth Hall in the taxi. We pulled up near the laundry and tried to locate a camp which I had promised to photograph for a friend, but we found to our astonishment that it was closely built up and behind the row of houses was a concrete pipe factory. Leaving the taxi in the Square we soon found ourselves on the old Pitts burg Road," now little more than a bridle path. There were no signs, except a bit of ditch revetment, of our ever having been there. A few nettles marked where the 15 in. howitzers barked in October, 1917, and a few dead trees showed the battery position just beyond, but the O.P. was either gone or built into some farm buildings, there being a large farm on the site. We carried on to Zouave Villa," where we almost held our breath. An estaminet stood at the cross roads sacred to us all, and burnt into our memory by livid scars, and we had a bottle of beer in it. I felt uncanny. Burnt Farm," which we saw yesterday, was a very large red-tiled farmsteadWe looked up Pillten Road. The old tree trunk O.P. had gone, and turning to the right we proceeded along Buffs Road." Not a soul was to be seen and we marvelled at the tranquillity which evidently was the pre-war state of this district. The concrete dressing station had all gone. A new farm

HISTORISCHE KRANTEN

The Ypres Times (1921-1936) | 1924 | | pagina 8