CHAPTER XX 

 A DEVASTATED ARCADIA 



THIRTEEN years ago it was my happiness to spend two 

 or three days at an angler's paradise, a veritable Arcadia 

 then, in one of the districts the earliest to be ploughed 

 red by the hoofs of a lawless and brutal invader in 

 the recent war. In the course of a short month 

 this fruitful land of peace and plenty, ready for the 

 ingathering of a bounteous harvest, was devastated by 

 the unspeakable savagery of a soldiery whose name 

 will henceforth be a byword amongst all civilised 

 peoples. It must surely be so, for the records of mur- 

 ders, robberies, and outrages unspeakable suffered with- 

 out warning, without provocation by a prosperous and 

 inoffensive people, will be a textbook of inhumanity 

 and wrong for generations to come. 



The passing of wounded Belgian soldiers in English 

 streets sadly reminded us of what had happened in 

 their unhappy country ; of cities, towns, and villages 

 looted and left in ashes ; and of the devil let loose in 

 Arcady. Only to think of it ! In the summer of 1914 

 you might, as it were to-night, dine in London, travel 

 luxuriously by the Harwich express, cross the North 

 Sea, survey promising scenes of industry and agricul- 

 ture from the railway carriage, glance at Brussels and 

 Namur on the way, see the Mayflies dancing over a 

 lovely trout stream, have driven over miles of sweet 



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