Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1909-05-27
.OBED|ENT SOLDIERS,
An Illustration of Military Disci.
pline In Germany.
A JOKE TAKEN IN EARNEST.


Amusing Incident In Which He Par
ticipated During Visit to the Bat
tlefieId of Worth.
The docility and blind obedience of
the German soldier havevlong been an
object of comment The Germans
themselves recognize that it sometimes
goes so far as to be absurd. An Eng
lishman, writing in the London Times,
describes an amusing incident which
occurred after he had spent day
tramping about the battlefield of
Worth. He was dressed. it should be
noted, in regular civilian clothes and
carried an umbrella:
Emerging from wood, | came upon
a plot of grass where about dozen
German soldiers were resting. The
spirit moved me to stop and speak
to these emphasizing my mean
ing by signs when my scant German
vocabulary failed me-
l asked, "Are you Prussians?" The
indignant answer, in chorus, was: sfNo!
SaxonsH'
"Oh," said /, wishing to conciliate,
II am Anglo-Saxon."
Much to my establishment, one of
them got up and shook me warmly by
the hand. Pointing to my dusty boots
and flannel shirt, unbuttoned at the
neck, then, in vile German, explained
to my friends of five minutes standing
that had made the grand tour of the
battlefield on foot and had been walk
ing since o'clock in the morning, it
then being in the afternoon.
Quite casually l remarked that al
though mot a military, but naval of
fcer," the study of battlefelds inter-
ested me.
At the mention of the word "oficer''
all the men sat up. buttoned their tu-
MICS and buckled on their swords or
bayonets-I forget which.
"Are you going to Niederbronn?" was
my next question.
YES" they replied; 1--WE are going to
walk to Niederbronn and there take
the train to Bitsch."
What evil genius prompted me to
make the next remark ! cannot tell,
but although uttered in joke its con-
sequences were perfectly astounding.
81. too, am going to Niederbronn
You are my regiment. l am your colo
nelv'
Up they sprang to their feet, fell in
two deep and kept quite silent as if on
parade. Fright turnlv and off we
marched, carrying my umbrella as II
it were a sword
Breasting a grassy slope, we marched
up to the top at swinging pace, still
observing perfect silence and in step
A short distance off was solitary sol
der of the same regiment lying al
full length on bench near the en-
trance to a wood-tunic unbuttoned
sword unbuckled, and so forth.
On catching sight of the approaching
squad up he jumped, buttoned his
tunic. buckled on his weapon, stood
rigidly at attention. and when the Greg
iment' came by tailed on" as if il
was the most natural thing in the
world to do.
Please note that NOT WORD passed
between the main body and the re
enforcement On entering the wood
the leading file began to sing a march
ing song, the others joining in chorus
By this time we were nearing Nieder
bronn and passed man and his wife
who were evidently much astonished
to see a disciplined body of mer
marching in strict military fashion I'M
der the command of a foreigner armed
with an umbrella not even silk one
A disconeerting thought arose
"What will happen if we chance across
German officer, and how, in my
broken German, can / ever hope to ex
plain this extraordinary assumption Of
command of the forces of the kaiser?
So without moments further dela-
/ said to the men, ST must go to m,
hotel, which is over there" and bade
them goodby.
These docile and amiable Saxons
with one accord, taking time by ths
leading file, saluted. and l, having re
turned their salute. got out of sight as
rapidly as possible On peeping round
the corner of a house there was ms
late regiment" still marching witt
the regularity Of clockwork
African Pyonnies,