And even a mile and a half off, at the other end of the
communication trench, when the automobiles emerged from their
shelter into the view of the captive balloon, the officers feared for the
automobiles, and we fled very swiftly.

We had been to the very front of the front, and it was the most
cheerful, confident, high-spirited place I had seen in France, or in
England either.



III Ruins


When you go into Rheims by the Epernay road, the life of the street
seems to be proceeding as usual, except that octroi formalities have
been abolished. Women, some young and beautiful, stare nonchalantly
as the car passes. Children are playing and shrieking in the
sunshine; the little cafes and shops keep open door; the baker is
busy; middle-aged persons go their ways in meditation upon existence.
It is true there are soldiers; but there are soldiers in every
important French town at all seasons of the year in peace-time.
In short, the spectacle is just that ordinarily presented to the
poorer exterior thoroughfares leading towards the centre of a city.

And yet, in two minutes, in less than two minutes, you may be in a
quarter where no life is left. This considerable quarter is not
seriously damaged--it is destroyed. Not many houses, but every
house in it will have to be rebuilt from the cellars. This quarter is
desolation. Large shops, large houses, small shops, and small