The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1871-02-04 00:00:00

IN SEARCH OF LODGINGS.

A correspondent of The Times, with the Duke of
Mecklenburg'a army, writes :
Mencon lea town of about 16,000 Inhabitants, and I did not,
therefore, anticipate the difficulty which I found in procur-
ing a lodging. There is something awkward until one Is
used to it In knocking at all the houses on one side of a
street, and then crossing over and knocking down the other,
In search of a " partici, tier " who will take one in as a guest.
The hotels are either full, or If by some chance a spare room
is to be found, meals are out of the question; whereas to in-
sinuate oneself into the bosom of a respectable family In the
chancier of a bennooni mind la to dog amen&

it secures them against the Invasion of soldiers, and oneself
good food and attendance. But in the first Instance it in-
volves an amount of impudence which nothing but the con-
sciousness of being aide to confer a favour in the end could
justify. To go Into a man's house and deliberately tell him
that you are going to take posseasion of his best parlour, the
sanctum that he only opens on high days and holy days, and
keeps for the moat part wrapped In chintz, is not a liberty
when you east Add that If he does not jump at your oiler, the
quarter-makas .2 a regiment, who are now only two doors off,
will arrive in a few momenta, anti inevitably billettwelve men
' In the said apartment, who will canto on the best carpet and
make straw beds all over it, and Investigate the contents of
drawers and cuphoards, whereas you will protect him against
the Inroads of these men, :obi will give very little trouble,
and are, Intact, aide to assure hint that the more lie sees of
you the more he will like you, which to a French person
does not seem in the leant a vain speech; in fact, when you
are thus able to feel that by taking his room you are putting
him under an obligation, modesty ceases to be an element
Involved. Nevertheless, on such occasions one cannot do
more than preserve intact the room occupied. boon come
the regmental quarter-makers, and, casting the rapid glance
of experience over the accommodations contained in the
house, they Inform the anxious couple who own It that they
meat absolutely provide bed and bedding for no many, even
If they have to turn out of their own beds, for the melt do
not often get the chance of sleeping in a large town ; for
some nights past many of then have been bivouacking In the
snow, and only those who have tried It can appreciate the
luxury of a bed under snob cireuntstances. but, lu spite of the
plaint. of Monsieur and Madame, and the assurancmthat it!.
Impossible, the house becomes speedily turned into atemporary
barrack, and the services of the benevolent neutral who
occupies the best parlour in solitary grandeur are con-
stantly hi requisition as interpreter, intercessor, and general
mediator. The German soldier is a creature of rugged
amiability unless he Is roused, a most placable animal when
stroked the right way, but he does not understand an attack
of nerves, and when he sees Ids hostess, after screaming at
hint for an hour, go off is a fit of hysterics because he insists
on another counterpane, he sometimes loses patience at a
• temperament which Is to him so incomprehenaible. Half an
hour later they will be the hest of friends ; he will be
carrylng water for her, and performing numerous acts
of good nature, and she will conic and rattle off to you
a string of phrases In his favour with as much volubility
as she abused him a few moments tensors. Three-fourths
of these domestic quarrels else from the imposehility
,of their understanding each other. As a general rule
, the French are extremely anxious to please, mut the
Germane are very easily satisfied; both the belligerents are
far more amiable and well-behaved than as should be under
the same circumstances Imagine le loglisb eoldiers without
an °Meer Wetting themselree in a French or German
gentleman's house, armadag their own bedrooms, demanding
the key of his collars, and making him and his household
satisfy all their wants; and I should like to know in what
Condition throe 20 Britons would be at the end of 24 hones.
Or imagin e 20 French or German soldiers billeting themselves
In an Zeglish gehtleman's home glider ecallsr conditions,
and with what kind of humour would my free- horn Briton
give up to them his own as well ae every other bed In the
house, and et up all night in an armchair, or t,,,Lle ab ut
and minister to the caprice, of his invade r, elide they were
toning the house which he is accustomed to consider his
castle into a barrack 2 "Cent la guerre" is a phrase con-
atantly on the lios of both invaders and Invaded at this
juncture, but we in England have about as much notion of
%4 hat It actually means, as practised In France, as If it were
an Institution coufined to the planet Mars.