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About Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922 | View Entire Issue (Sept. 30, 1917)
' THE OMAHA SUNDAY BEE; SEPTEMBER 30, 1917. 5 F NATURE'S MARYELS ON A BATTLEFIELD Shell-Torn Earth Hides Its Gaping Wounds Under Man tie of Flowers and Wild Vegetation. The valley of the Ancre, which was so hideous last year when the trickle of the stream ran from one half stagnant pool to another through a In own waste of shell-kneaded eai.'.i, w now all waving rushes dotted with meadowsweet and hemp, agrimony and purple loosestrife. In Aveluy Wood the riven tree-stumps stand fut against a background of acres of n J roscbay. And so it is all over the battlefields of a year ago.. It is an old legend that roses never blow so red as over a hero's grave. I think it must be true of poppies. Norfolk Poppyland itself can show no braver fields of scarlet than these year-old battlegrounds, and though it may be only fancy it seems that the sheets of color are richer and mgre unbroken where the fighting was fiercest. Nowhere does the ground flame quite so brilliantly as around the Butte de Warlencourt, on the dreadful expanse above the Bazentins towards High Wood, and on the face of the Thiepval slope, where the Ulstermen passed on July 1. In these places the grounl is all poppies for rods together. Else where the scarlet is half veiled in the mist of flowering grasses, and mixed with thern are a profusion of other blossoms, yellow ragwort, hawkweed, 'sow thistles, and ladies' bedstraw, mauve scabious and purple vetch and knapweed, tall campanulas, blue chicory, and vipers' bugloss and corn flower, and nearer to the ground pale field convolvulus and pimpernel, with, everywhere, white yarrow and camo mile. Wonderful Change. No yard of all this ground but last year was plowed up by shells ind beaten and ploughed again, so that much of the soil which now lies, on the surface must have been thriwn up from two or three feet below ind then it was churned and churned again. Yet the gras. and the flowers are as in any rich meadow it home and grow taller and more luxuriantly. There are no villag , no landmarks beyond the occasional patches of sparse tree-stun ,s which one: were woods, but only the wide waving ex panse, where there are no human be ings, as if k .-ere the heart of some new continent which man had just discovered. All larger things were destroyed and swept away Ly war, mid unly the little thinps like plant ;cd and insects' eggs were able to survive. Rarely outside of the tropics have I seen more butterflies than flutter over these wastes today, whites and tor totseshells and peacocks and skippers and little crlbite moths. The kingly swallowtails are here, too, but so far I have chanced this summer to see only one and that was not among the i 'Liberty," in Ak-Sar-Ben Parade flowers, but on the bare white sum mit of the Butte de Walencourt when the king was there. The royal butter fly sailed round and round the little party and, as if recognizing kinship, more than once madeas if to settle on the king while he stood looking at the graves of the gallant Durhams. There are places where crops flour ish, patches of an acre or more being covered with oats or barley or wheat, mixed with "weeds" certainjy, but hardly less close and even than if they had been truly sown. One patch of barley (one almost inclines to call it a "field") which" I saw was espe cially fine; but all three are growing strongly between Longueval and Ginchy, where it seems impossible that they could have been sown last year". More likely, they survive from three summers ago and, self seeded, they have held their own well against the wild things which riot around and among them. In one place I found a solitary potato plant, going strong, sprung presumably from some potato strayed from a German field kitchen. Next to poppies the most abundant flower, is camomile, and it alone seems to have been able to spring up and grow on the roads and beaten paths by which the enemy used to travel to and from the lines; so that, looking over the country, amid the deep green and waving colors, you can jften trace the course of an old path wheje it runs like a pure white ribbon amid the sea of green and waving colors. Trees Wiped Out. The woods remain desolate beyond imagination, even though in most of them grass and flowers have sprung un to cover the trround and shoots have risen from the old roots. Above ground level nardly a tree has put out any, new life, but the shattered trunks still stand bare and blackened. Nature finds a use, however, even for the shell scars on the wood, for sparrows have built iheir nests this year at the points where the trees have splintered so that untidy wispi of straw and stuff 6tick out from the jagged wounds. In J.euze wood, a pair of crows have nested. Perhaps they thought that later in the year the tree would put forth leaves as usual; but as it is the nest standy absurdly a landmark for long distances round, as exposed as if it were on the top of a flagstaff or bare ship's mast. Near Clery, amid the waste, a single post nm ttirr frpt hich. stood un. and on the top of it I saw a mother warb- ler feeding a young cuoo mree times her own size. Strangest Thing o! All. But the strangest thing of all is na ture's haste to hide the ravages of war seems to me the shell holes. As one .vades through the deep herbage the lesser shell holes merely make the walking very difficult and unever, for one's feet blunder amonfT the shell holes, , which are concealed by the growth, and trip over strands of barbed wire and unexploded shells and other things which are scattered everywhere out of sight. Many of the larger holes, however, still remain half filled with water. Around the edges of the water white butterflies, which are thirsty creatures, crowd to drink, and when you disturb them they rise in clouds until the air is full iini liVp .. snowstorm. In the water, itself, luxuri nt po i life has developed. Lime wnirugig dccucs Annr mav Hanres on the surface, and water boatmen swim about and water other thines lust as ; l n.r ;i1ar nnnH at linmf. I have SDO ken before of frogs in the new shell i,.. ,o dm V. riAoe. But he e on the dry slopes of the Albert ridge, tu w,rrh wronnH hnw has all this im ii'- '"6" ----- teen.ing life come into the shell holes of last summer? London Times Let ter. Land Bank Expects Twenty Millions in Loans by January 1 Loans asked for fromithe Federal Land bank of Omaha during Sep tember totaled $4,000,000 greater than in any previous month, according to Secretary Frank G. Odell of that in stitution. The business of the bank is increasing at the rate of $1,000,000 a week. It is expected that the loans of the bank, will reach the $20,UUO,UW n,rlr hv Taniiarv. Recently twenty loans were ap- proved m one day ana a roiai 01 ?o, 600 was paid out. "We ought to quadruple mar, or more, in payments of loans," Mr. Odell said, ''but we are having diffi culty in getting applicants to straighten up their abstracts and otherwise conform to regulations. The Eighth district, over which the Onaha bank has jurisdiction, com prising Nebraska, Iowa, boutn Da kota and Wyoming, has 433 farm loan associations, or- a little more than -ir,ii, nf all th associations in the 'twelve districts of the United States. There are about 4,000 associations m the country. Mow to Kill a Club. Don't coma; If you come, com lats. Kick if you r not ppolntd on a com mittor nfl If you,r appointed, nvr at tend a committer meeting. Uon't have anything to lay when called UI1fn yon do attend a meeting find fault with the proceedings and work done by other membera, Never brlnga a friend who you think might Join the club. Don't do anything more than you can possibly hlp to further the club's inter ests; refuse to use any talents you have, be lieving you are the power plant of the whole universe and that th whole Blub would be dark If you quit. Bloux uuy runco. The Insurance Examiners Say "The Companj to have' been for- The National Security Fire Insurance Company Sound, Solid and Conservative Is strictly a Nebraska institution. Its capital stock is owned by Nebraskans. Its funds are invested in Nebraska securities and its affairs are managed by of- ficers and directors well and favor ably known in Nebraska business and banking circles. This Company Writes a General Fire, Lightning and Tornado and Automobile Business And has ample -facilities for handling all desirable insurance busi ness submitted to them. If you.are a true Nebraskan you should see that at least a portion of your insurance is placed in The Na tional Security Fire Insurance Com pany. ' Company's calculation for this nv annpura tunate in a low loss liability. This Is account ed for by its conservative and sound perfoitn ance in re-insuring all of its riska-above a cer tain safe maximum amount during this, the Com pany's early period of experience and establish ment The loss claims are promptly settled on completion of pfoof and with apparent satis faction to insured. "The Company has a very complete aystem for the record and calculation of the unearned premiums. The item f pnrrprt. "All the records of the Company ate neatly and accurately kept The secretary is to be com mended for the many reform instituted in the Company'a bookkeeping methods. , "The Company haa enjoyed a Tery ubstan tial growth. Ita operative affaira are well and very economically managed. The aalariea al lowed the officers are barely remunerative. Ita continuance of clean and sound methods, since organization, will insure ita greater and success ful growth, inspire confidence with the insurance public and offer an adequate return to its stock holders on the money invested." J. MURPHY, Examiner. B. R. BAYS, Examiner. H. N. SPRAGUE, Examiner. OFFICERS WALTER A. GEORGE, President. E. E. HOWELL, Vice President. O. A. DANIELSON, Secretary. , F. J. ZEMAN, Treasurer. DIRECTORS Walter A. George C. C. Aldrich W. A. Greenwald F. J. Zeman E. E. Good W. H. Reynolds E. E. Howell F. A. Good Jacob Severin ASSETS Real Estate Mortgages -Municipal Bonds - - -Municipal Warrants - -Cash in Banks and Office Uncollected Premiums Interest Accrued - -Bills Receivable - - Furniture and Fixtures - $194,650.00 48,300.00 6,740.00 155,428.99 - 8,971.41 - 7,179.02 21,151.46 - 2,817.59 $445,238.99 F. J. Svoboda Nicholas Ress J. G. Hohl A. A. Ruwe 0. A. Dantelson HOME OFFICE 1406 FARNAM STREET. LIABILITIES Capital Stock - - - - $250,000.00 Reserve for Re-Insurance - 27,509.59 Surplus - - - 167,729.40 $445,238.99 Statement July 1, 1917 ' lie Merchants N aiioial, Bank f Omalna 1 Northeast Corner 13th and Farnam Sts. ESTABLISHED IN 1882. v UNITED STATES DEPOSITORY rABITAI ctock SI OOO 000 00 SURPLUS, $250,000.00 'SASSS'S&M DUE DEPOSITORS, $11,862,000.00 , Officers LUTHER DRAKE, . President FRANK T. HAMILTON, Vice President FRED P." HAMILTON, Vice President B. H. MEILE, 1 Cashier ;F. A. CUSCADEN, Ass't. Cashier S. S. KENT, ' Ass't. Cashier 4111 1 1-1 jJ4v?W?f$H mWJjMifri ill is'.,:, ..'"4.W'4i5?---l Tt-i ii3 Directors LUTHER DRAKE FRANK T. HAMILTON CHAS. L. SAUNDERS FRED P. HAMILTON S. E. ROGERS C. W. HAMILTON , G. N PEEK MERCHANTS' NATIONAL BANK thirt.v vears 01 successiui It is a strong, conservative institution. Its facilities for the Pr banking are of the best character. We can carry your funds on an open account subject to cnecK 01 j . , ' -j. ttt- Cmrinrre nonartmpnt nn( nay 3 Der annum. I mg interest, we ucive a uavmfto v.v -