Alma Russell Letters
Letters of British Columbia men on active service with Canadian and British Expeditionary Forces, 1914-1918. Learn more.
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5
As we return across country, the heat and stillness increase. Our mind goes back to the war, the scenes of desolation we have witnessed, the ruined homes, the devastated churches, the vast graveyard of Flanders and Northern France; instinctively we recall the old words of Bishop Heber’s hymn, as singularly apt for this land of desolation, “Where every prospect pleases, and only man is vile.”
The swallow sweep low on the wing as we approach the old grange. Nothing, but the monotonous hum of insects, and far, far away the faint thunder of artillery; it is milking time and also the time for the preparation of meals—but there is no sign of life in the old grange. At the back of the grange lies the ancient well. The roof of this is completely covered by the convolvulus major, its milk white blossoms swinging in the breeze, recalling the ancient name, “Windflower.” This is one of the most popular of all climbing plants in America, but it is never called by its Latin name. There it is known to the masses as “Morning Glory.” Growing against the wall we notice the common mallow, but a lighter pink than the British variety, and in some cases pure white. We can hardly repress a smile on recognising a specimen of that peculiar noxious weed, the Tansy—so familiar in English hedgerows—somehow we never expected to see it in France. Although classed as a “mauvaise herbe,” it is not without a certain strange beauty. It bears a slight resemblance to the thistle and indeed has been frequently mistaken for it. A glance at the thornless leaves and blossoms soon reveals the difference.
Birds are scarce here—the roar of the battlefield for months past has scared most of them away. The entire absence of hedgerows, so noticeable here, and sparsity of trees is not the reason; occasionally a hawk can be discerned at a great height, but the swallow is one of the few birds that seems heedless of artillery and the crash of battle. Along the old wall amongst a few stunted weeds the bright crimson of the snapdragon is attractive to the eye. We had often read about this plant obtaining a foothold on old walls, but like the wallflower, with a similar reputation for flourishing with no better food-soil than mortar and birdlime, it is rather the exception than the rule—accounts of walls along which snapdragon and wallflowers blossom freely, may be dismissed as traveller’s tales. The point they insist on is, that these plants flourish far better and grow to greater strength in these crumbling interstices; instead of which, it is just a chance of one seed out of perhaps 1,000 growing to maturity, and poor specimens they are as a rule.
There is a garden, or rather there was a garden here a year ago, but the Germans were in possession this time last year, and the household has fled long since. Perhaps the men folk have been killed or captured, and the others would away into the interior. It
BC Archives, MS-1901 Box 1 File 5 / RUSSELL, Alma M., 1873 - 1964. Victoria; librarian. / Letters and associated items from Private Jack A. Gunn, 1915 - 1916.