Delaware gazette. [volume] (Delaware, Ohio) 1855-1886, 1870-09-30
LETTER FROM BERHTy.
PRUSSIA.
BY A DELAWARE LADY.
War Scenes at the German Capital.
Correspondence Delaware Gazette.l

as we see the signs of war all about us
Waving flags, wounded soldiers an.
weeping women all forcibly recall tn
: time when We too were plunged in thu
doubt and distress of a great war, anc
hung breathless on the words of army
kilograms, and scraped lint, made band
ages and dressing gowns, and filled
boxes with delicacies, not knowing
whether they would reach the particular
brave men for whom they were intend
ed or fall into strange hands, or per.
haPs be gobbled up by the enemy.
For two weeks after the battles around
Metz, flags were streaming from nearly
every housetop in Berlin the black and
white stripes of Prussia. with or without
the eagle; the red white and black of
North Germany and the old German
''red, black and gold" Even the great
/ bronze Horse-tamers on the roof of the
/ Museum waved the national colorsintheir
! outstretched hands. As was coming up
toward them on an early Sunday morn
| ing's walk in the keen wind and bright
sunshine, they seemed, the broad stripes
riodng gaily over their defiant heads, as
If they too had caught the life and spirit
OF the moving masses below, and were
coming down to charge in person upon
OF course Americans here. as at home
sympathize with Prussia, and are filled
with fighting zeal in proportion to their
superior nearness to the heart of Prussia.
So, among all the huttering colors and
big and little pennons, the Stars and
Stripes hold a conspicuous part. We
cannot help exclaiming as we pass,
"How beautiful they look, and wonder
ing how it is that what is, after all. but
shred, can have such power over ones
affections. 1t seems particularly ridicu-
lous IN those who have done nothing
whatever for their country to give way
to heroic emotions, but so it is that, al
though we consider ourselves but a few
weeks parted from America, the sight of
these bright, brave colors, the ribboned
red and white, the silver stars on their
Joyous field of blue, SO affected us that
the youngest could have cried heartily
for JOY. But to the Prussians parading
their irregular stripes these, no doubt, are
as
Moonlight unto sunlight, and as water
unto Wine."
One here would hardly suppose the
Prussian losses to have been so great, |
the rejoicing seems so enthusiastic and
1t is as if everybody had !
made it his duty to carry a flag or a gun
in his hand. Ghe soldiers, as before in |
America, are here the heroes of the hour |
The preference is yielded them heartily |
and without envy, for if there is one thing
above another which Prussia seems to
desire in this world it is to whip France
SO thoroughly-nowth that she has provok-
ed the war-that she will be humbled |
forever. While the immense trains of
soldiers were being moved to the front,
we were kept continually rushing to the
for the cheering seemed to
keep the city in a tremble, and now that
the wounded veterans are dropping slow
ly to the rear, enough can hardly be
done for them. So, it seems, Prussia
does away with the memory of oppres-
sive military exactions by the tenderness
with which She cherishes her sacred de-
tenders.
A few days ago a famed soldier, with
his arm in a sling, climbed into our ON
1ibas. He seemed quite able to walk,
put a gentleman gave him his arm and
helped him to seat with a gallantry
hat would never be shown to lady. OF
course the attention of all the persons in
he crowded carriage was fixed upon
him, not so much in curiosity, apparent
y, as in kindness. He was piled with
questions, and when the interest of all
seemed partially satisfied his German
riend dived into the depths of his pock-
It, slowly unrolled a wallet and handed
him with an air of solemn benediction a
pack of cigars. Immediately the bas-
zet or parcel of every passenger was
ansacked for a paper to put them in. If
le had been the Prince of the Asturias,
With a casket of gold in his hand, more
attention could scarcely have been shown
lin.
This is a very good instance of the in
ense appreciation now extended to the
oldiers, yet, as the people who stay at
home to keep the industries revolving
ire so ready to spring to the service of
Prussia with powder and supplies, and
,eing so unitedly loyal are of equal ser =.
rice to the State, the grateful feeling IS
lutte reciprocal These two halves of {
he nation thus form a sort of mutual adj {
niration society in which one applauds
he other in proportion as that other de-
ests France. When one remembers
he previous state of feeling between the
wo countries, and the wanton manner
n which the war was brought about per-
laps it is not strange.
The daily. Tribune issues every week
IN illustrated extra of six pages, called
Berlin Wasps,' devoted to ridiculing !
he French, the Emperor and even ]
who IS popularity believed to
lave been one of the chief instigators of !
he war The shop windows are full Of
,aricatures Of the imperial family and
he French Generals, very characteristic
md very amusing. One cannot help
wondering with what sort of eyes the
numerous French residents here look
lpon them +; the Germans enjoy them in
ensely. They stand upon the pave
nents in crowds, six or eight feet deep,
aides and gentlemen, children and
staring at these pictures
With absorbing interest, and laughing,
lot loudly, but quietly to themselves
md it is quite surprising to see how the
yery poorest, the worn, burden-bowed
with their baskets on their
shoulders, and toiI-wearied men, sturdy
he maps with almost as industrious in !
crest as those who have nothing else to
10. -
In a street car a few days since gen
leman commenced reading aloud in a
tone an army dispatch, when
/ woman whom we took to be French
rom her angry and bitter Outcry rushed
% the opposite end of the car and put
1er hands to her ears. And though she
continued weeping passionately all the
while, nobody spoke or paid any atten-
o her, but, what is quite contrary to the
German way of taking a kindly interest
n everything and everybody, listened
On and laughed as though spell-bound
until the paper was finished.
The extras are made up of prose, poet
y pictures and anything or everything
70 tickle the popular fancy. The WaSp
IS always represented as viciously tri-
waving his dispatches in one
claw and blowing an immense horn with
The other, as if such thing as possible
defeat were unthought of. On the first
page of a number before me Napoleon
IS represented as flying headlong from
pursuit, while just in front Of him is a
gate behind which, on one side, is lean
and spectacled cavalryman with the
of Orleans in one hand and a
sword in the other, looking out like a