[Pg 102]
Ypres, as all the world knows, forms a sharp salient in the British line, and is, therefore, open to attack on three sides; and on these three sides it has been furiously attacked over and over again, so very often that the mere5 repetition would grow wearisome. And these attacks were day-long, week, and sometimes month-long battles, but Britain's army stood firm.
In these bad, dark days, outnumbered and out-gunned, they never wavered. Raked by flanking fire they met and broke the charges of dense6-packed foemen on their front; rank upon rank and elbow to elbow the Germans charged, their bayonets a sea of flashing steel, their thunderous shouts drowning the roar of guns, and rank on rank they reeled back from British steel and swinging rifle-butt, and German shouts died and were lost in British cheers.
So, day after day, week after week, month after month they endured still; swept by rifle and machine gun fire, blown up by mines, buried alive by mortar-bombs, their very trenches7 smitten9 flat by high explosives—yet they endured and held on. They died all day and every day, but their places were filled by men just as fiercely determined10. And ever as the countless11 German batteries fell silent, their troops in dense grey waves hurled12 themselves upon shattered British trench8 and dug-out, and found there wild men in tunics13 torn[Pg 103] and bloody14 and mud bespattered, who, shouting in fierce joy, leapt to meet them bayonet to bayonet. With clubbed rifle and darting15 steel they fought, these men of the Empire, heedless of wounds and death, smiting16 and cheering, thrusting and shouting, until those long, close-ranked columns broke, wavered and melted away. Then, panting, they cast themselves back into wrecked17 trench and blood-spattered shell-hole while the enemy's guns roared and thundered anew, and waited patiently but yearningly19 for another chance to "really fight." So they held this deadly salient.
Days came and went, whole regiments20 were wiped out, but they held on. The noble town behind them crumbled21 into ruin beneath the shrieking22 avalanche23 of shells, but they held on. German and British dead lay thick from British parapet to Boche wire, and over this awful litter fresh attacks were launched daily, but still they held on, and would have held and will hold, until the crack of doom24 if need be—because Britain and the Empire expect it of them.
But to-day the dark and evil time is passed. To-day for every German shell that crashes into the salient, four British shells burst along the enemy's position, and it was with their thunder in my ears that I traversed that historic, battle-torn road which leads into Ypres, that road over which so many young and stalwart feet have tramped that never more may come marching back. And[Pg 104] looking along this road, lined with scarred and broken trees, my friend N. took off his hat and I did the like.
"It's generally pretty lively here," said our Intelligence Officer, as I leaned forward to pass him the matches. "We're going to speed up a bit—road's a bit bumpy25, so hold on." Guns were roaring near and far, and in the air above was the long, sighing drone of shells as we raced forward, bumping and swaying over the uneven26 surface faster and faster, until, skidding27 round a rather awkward corner, we saw before us a low-lying, jagged outline of broken walls, shattered towers and a tangle28 of broken roof-beams—all that remains of the famous old town of Ypres. And over this devastation29 shells moaned distressfully, and all around unseen guns barked and roared. So, amidst this pandemonium30 our car lurched into shattered "Wipers," past the dismantled31 water-tower, uprooted32 from its foundations and leaning at a more acute angle than will ever the celebrated33 tower of Pisa, past ugly heaps of brick and rubble34—the ruins of once fair buildings, on and on until we pulled up suddenly before a huge something, shattered and formless, a long facade35 of broken arches and columns, great roof gone, mighty36 walls splintered, cracked and rent—all that "Kultur" has left of the ancient and once beautiful Cloth Hall.
"Roof's gone since I was here last," said the Intelligence Officer, "come this way. You'll see it better from over here." So we followed him and stood to look upon the indescribable ruin.
[Pg 105]
"There are no words to describe—that," said N. at last, gloomily.
"No," I answered. "Arras was bad enough, but this—!"
"Arras?" he repeated. "Arras is only a ruined town. Ypres is a rubbish dump. And its Cloth Hall is—a bad dream." And he turned away. Our Intelligence Officer led us over mounds37 of fallen masonry38 and débris of all sorts, and presently halted us amid a ruin of splintered columns, groined arch and massive walls, and pointed39 to a heap of rubbish he said was the altar.
"This is the church St. Jean," he explained, "begun, I think, in the eleventh or twelfth century and completed somewhere about 1320—"
"And," said N., "finally finished and completely done for by 'Kultur' in the twentieth century, otherwise I guess it would have lasted until the 220th century—look at the thickness of the walls."
"And after all these years of civilisation40," said I.
"Civilisation," he snorted, turning over a fragment of exquisitely41 carved moulding with the toe of his muddy boot, "civilisation has done a whole lot, don't forget—changed the system of plumbing42 and taught us how to make high explosives and poison gas."
Gloomily enough we wandered on together over rubbish-piles and mountains of fallen brickwork, through shattered walls, past unlovely stumps43 of mason-work that had been stately tower or belfry[Pg 106] once, beneath splintered arches that led but from one scene of ruin to another, and ever our gloom deepened, for it seemed that Ypres, the old Ypres, with all its monuments of medi?val splendour, its noble traditions of hard-won freedom, its beauty and glory, was passed away and gone for ever.
"I don't know how all this affects you," said N., his big chin jutted44 grimly, "but I hate it worse than a battlefield. Let's get on over to the Major's office."
We went by silent streets, empty except for a few soldierly figures in hard-worn khaki, desolate45 thoroughfares that led between piles and huge unsightly mounds of fallen masonry and shattered brickwork, fallen beams, broken rafters and twisted ironwork, across a desolate square shut in by the ruin of the great Cloth Hall and other once stately buildings, and so to a grim, battle-scarred edifice46, its roof half blown away, its walls cracked and agape with ugly holes, its doorway47 reinforced by many sandbags cunningly disposed, through which we passed into the dingy48 office of the Town-Major.
As we stood in that gloomy chamber49, dim-lighted by a solitary50 oil lamp, floor and walls shook and quivered to the concussion51 of a shell—not very near, it is true, but quite near enough.
The Major was a big man, with a dreamy eye, a gentle voice and a passion for arch?ology. In his company I climbed to the top of a high building, whence he pointed out, through a convenient shell hole, where the old walls had stood long ago,[Pg 107] where Vauban's star-shaped bastions and the general conformation of what had been present-day Ypres; but I saw only a dusty chaos52 of shattered arch and tower and walls, with huge, unsightly mounds of rubble and brick—a rubbish dump in very truth. Therefore I turned to the quiet voiced Major and asked him of his experiences, whereupon he talked to me most interestingly and very learnedly of Roman tile, of medi?val rubble-work, of herringbone and Flemish bond. He assured me also that (Deo Volente) he proposed to write a monograph53 on the various epochs of this wonderful old town's history as depicted54 by its various styles of mason-work and construction.
"I could show you a nearly perfect aqueduct if you have time," said he.
"I'm afraid we ought to be starting now," said the Intelligence Officer; "over eighty miles to do yet, you see, Major."
"Pretty well," he answered. "The medi?val wall was superimposed upon the Roman, you'll understand."
"And is it," said I as we walked on together, "is it always as noisy as this?"
"Oh, yes—especially when there's a 'Hate' on."
"Can you sleep?"
"Oh, yes, one gets used to anything, you know. Though, strangely enough, I was disturbed last night—two of my juniors had to camp over my head, their quarters were blown up rather yesterday afternoon, and believe me, the young beggars[Pg 108] talked and chattered56 so that I couldn't get a wink57 of sleep—had to send and order them to shut up."
"You seem to have been getting it pretty hot since I was here last," said the Intelligence Officer, waving a hand round the crumbling58 ruin about us.
"Fairly so," nodded the Major.
"One would wonder the enemy wastes any more shells on Ypres," said I, "there's nothing left to destroy, is there?"
"Well, there's us, you know!" said the Major, gently, "and then the Boche is rather a revengeful beggar anyhow—you see, he wasted quite a number of army corps59 trying to take Ypres. And he hasn't got it yet."
"Nor ever will," said I.
The Major smiled and held out his hand.
"It's a pity you hadn't time to see that aqueduct" he sighed. "However, I shall take some flashlight photos of it—if my luck holds. Good-bye." So saying, he raised a hand to his weather-beaten trench-cap and strode back into his dim-lit, dingy office.
The one-time glory of Ypres has vanished in ruin but thereby60 she has found a glory everlasting61. For over the wreck18 of noble edifice and fallen tower is another glory that shall never fade but rather grow with coming years—an imperishable glory. As pilgrims sought it once to tread its quaint62 streets and behold63 its old time beauty, so in days to come other pilgrims will come with reverent64 feet and[Pg 109] with eyes that shall see in these shattered ruins a monument to the deathless valour of that brave host that met death unflinching and unafraid for the sake of a great ideal and the welfare of unborn generations.
And thus in her ruin Ypres has found the Glory Everlasting.
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1
remains
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| n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹 | |
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bereavement
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| n.亲人丧亡，丧失亲人，丧亲之痛 | |
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invincible
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| adj.不可征服的，难以制服的 | |
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odds
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| n.让步，机率，可能性，比率；胜败优劣之别 | |
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mere
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| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
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6
dense
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| a.密集的，稠密的，浓密的；密度大的 | |
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7
trenches
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| 深沟，地沟( trench的名词复数 )； 战壕 | |
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8
trench
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| n./v.(挖)沟，(挖)战壕 | |
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smitten
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| 猛打，重击，打击( smite的过去分词 ) | |
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10
determined
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| adj.坚定的；有决心的 | |
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11
countless
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| adj.无数的，多得不计其数的 | |
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12
hurled
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| v.猛投，用力掷( hurl的过去式和过去分词 )；大声叫骂 | |
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13
tunics
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| n.（动植物的）膜皮( tunic的名词复数 )；束腰宽松外衣；一套制服的短上衣；（天主教主教等穿的）短祭袍 | |
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14
bloody
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| adj.非常的的；流血的；残忍的；adv.很；vt.血染 | |
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15
darting
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| v.投掷，投射( dart的现在分词 )；向前冲，飞奔 | |
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16
smiting
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| v.猛打，重击，打击( smite的现在分词 ) | |
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17
wrecked
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| adj.失事的，遇难的 | |
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18
wreck
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| n.失事，遇难；沉船；vt.(船等)失事，遇难 | |
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19
yearningly
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| 怀念地，思慕地，同情地； 渴 | |
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regiments
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| （军队的）团( regiment的名词复数 )； 大量的人或物 | |
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21
crumbled
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| （把…）弄碎， （使）碎成细屑( crumble的过去式和过去分词 )； 衰落； 坍塌； 损坏 | |
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22
shrieking
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| v.尖叫( shriek的现在分词 ) | |
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23
avalanche
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| n.雪崩，大量涌来 | |
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24
doom
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| n.厄运，劫数；v.注定，命定 | |
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25
bumpy
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| adj.颠簸不平的，崎岖的 | |
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26
uneven
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| adj.不平坦的，不规则的，不均匀的 | |
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27
skidding
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| n.曳出，集材v.（通常指车辆） 侧滑( skid的现在分词 )；打滑；滑行；（住在）贫民区 | |
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28
tangle
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| n.纠缠；缠结；混乱；v.(使)缠绕；变乱 | |
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29
devastation
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| n.毁坏；荒废；极度震惊或悲伤 | |
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30
pandemonium
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| n.喧嚣，大混乱 | |
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31
dismantled
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| 拆开( dismantle的过去式和过去分词 )； 拆卸； 废除； 取消 | |
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32
uprooted
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| v.把（某物）连根拔起( uproot的过去式和过去分词 )；根除；赶走；把…赶出家园 | |
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33
celebrated
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| adj.有名的，声誉卓著的 | |
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34
rubble
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| n.（一堆）碎石，瓦砾 | |
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35
facade
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| n.(建筑物的)正面，临街正面；外表 | |
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36
mighty
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| adj.强有力的；巨大的 | |
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37
mounds
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| 土堆，土丘( mound的名词复数 )； 一大堆 | |
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38
masonry
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| n.砖土建筑；砖石 | |
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39
pointed
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| adj.尖的，直截了当的 | |
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40
civilisation
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| n.文明，文化，开化，教化 | |
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41
exquisitely
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| adv.精致地；强烈地；剧烈地；异常地 | |
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42
plumbing
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| n.水管装置；水暖工的工作；管道工程v.用铅锤测量（plumb的现在分词）；探究 | |
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43
stumps
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| （被砍下的树的）树桩( stump的名词复数 )； 残肢； （板球三柱门的）柱； 残余部分 | |
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44
jutted
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| v.（使）突出( jut的过去式和过去分词 )；伸出；（从…）突出；高出 | |
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45
desolate
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| adj.荒凉的，荒芜的；孤独的，凄凉的；v.使荒芜，使孤寂 | |
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46
edifice
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| n.宏伟的建筑物(如宫殿，教室) | |
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47
doorway
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| n.门口，(喻)入门；门路，途径 | |
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48
dingy
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| adj.昏暗的，肮脏的 | |
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49
chamber
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| n.房间，寝室；会议厅；议院；会所 | |
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50
solitary
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| adj.孤独的，独立的，荒凉的；n.隐士 | |
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51
concussion
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| n.脑震荡；震动 | |
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52
chaos
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| n.混乱，无秩序 | |
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53
monograph
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| n.专题文章，专题著作 | |
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54
depicted
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| 描绘，描画( depict的过去式和过去分词 )； 描述 | |
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55
enquired
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| 打听( enquire的过去式和过去分词 )； 询问； 问问题； 查问 | |
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56
chattered
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| （人）喋喋不休( chatter的过去式 )； 唠叨； （牙齿）打战； （机器）震颤 | |
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57
wink
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| n.眨眼，使眼色，瞬间；v.眨眼，使眼色，闪烁 | |
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58
crumbling
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| adj.摇摇欲坠的 | |
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59
corps
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| n.(通信等兵种的)部队；(同类作的)一组 | |
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60
thereby
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| adv.因此，从而 | |
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61
everlasting
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| adj.永恒的，持久的，无止境的 | |
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62
quaint
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| adj.古雅的，离奇有趣的，奇怪的 | |
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63
behold
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| v.看，注视，看到 | |
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64
reverent
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| adj.恭敬的，虔诚的 | |
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