Imperial Valley press., 1914-12-21
CENTRo MONDAY
Personal GLIMPSES
OF WAR INCIDENTS
(By Bernard Belancourt)

Rotterdam, Dec. 1.-THE war is
driving the fAustrians to eat mutton.
This does not sound like a great hard
ship, but the Austrians have an aver
sion to the meat of the sheep, though
il is a common beast in their coun
try.
A mutton propaganda has just be-
gun in Vienna. Expectation of sheep
is prohibited and the patriots have
figured out that if mutton is fash
ionable there will be a saving in chick
en-, beef, pork and other meats. A
committee has been formed to ar
range mutton feast, at which the
meat will be prepared so appetizingly
that all who attend will lose their
dislike. Literature is also being dis
tributed.
Another oddity of war times is a
campaign, against cats. The mayor
and corporation of Bransberg, a town
ship in East Prussia, have issued a Gu
rious appeal to their people
The district, it seems, is overpopu
lated with cats. The authorities think
they can thin out the surplus popu-
lation of cats and at the same time
Go patriotic act for the army in the
field. They call upon all loyal citi
zens to shoot the cats and send the
skins as speedily as possible to the
town hall, where the mayor is to SUI
rerintend the dressing of the skins
and their conversion into mittens and
coats.
The mayor adds a fantastic note to
his appeal by saying that as the cats
skins afford protection against rheu
matism they will prove of great com
fort and value to the soldiers.
A young Englishwoman who ar
rived at Metz on holiday on the eve
of the outbreak Of war has given an
interesting picture of life in this great
fortress city. Although not permitted
to leave until a short time ago. she
was allowed to serve with the German
Red Cross and go about freely in the
city to do her work.
Five different times she saw the
Kaiser at the garrison church. He is
much grayer than when the war began
and appears worn with care.
The sermons which the Kaiser
heard were always violently anti Brit
lsh," said the Englishwoman. "All the
German hatred concentrates on the
English and | can testify the British
declaration of war literally astounde)
the Germans"
OF the crown prince, whom she saw
driving through the town, she said:
personally he impressed me as q
very unpleasant man, but he is i'm
mensely popular
From her nursing experience she
learned that the German losses were
enormous.
"All night long, from in the even
ing to 6 the next morning, long trains
come into Metz loaded with wounded
she said. "The majority of the
wounds, too, are serious: slightly
wounded man is an exception.
The comment | often heard passed
On these terrible trainloads was:
If our losses We're so heavy, how
much more awful must be those Of
the French and British!'
"a large number of insane men ar
rived by train, too. The trains had
special cages for these poor madmen,
attached to the end of the cars that
conveyed the wounded.
There was an official reproof ad
mlnistercd by the German authorities
to women who showed kindness to
prisoners. | was one of those re-
proved. Particular bitterness pre-
vailed against the French on account
ct their alleged atrocities on the
held. | saw one French Red Cross
prisoner who was imploring the peo
pie on the station platform to give
him some bread, and no one was al
lowed to do it, because, they said, he
had given poisoned water to German
wounded lying on the battlefield.
The Germans had absolute conf
dence they would soon be in London.
You might just as we'll wait and
go home in one of our Zcppelins,' the
officers used to tell me when | com
planned of inability to leave. A dealer
made fortune with a postcard show
ing force of German soldiers dan
eng the tango in Buckingham pal
ace"
! Rcducnl