The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1914-09-13

I,
cars. their men folks killed. their houses
in ashes, fleeing they knew not where.
| At many stations a room had been
hastily transformed into a Rel Cross
hospital where wounded soldiers we're
| carried from the cars. All this havoc,
ruin, death, despair wrought in the space
| Of three short weeks! As we faced them
| during those four dreadful GHys while
we were irving to reach English soil.
| end even as We listened to travellers
| stories far worse than our own. all
seemed by comparison too trivial for no
| tice and yet the eXperenC es OF American
tourists during the past month have
| been by no means a Eegligib'c part OF
/ the general chaos suddenly precipi-
| tated. and all the coming years cannot
eliminate Their memory. Every day left
| the impress OF decade on our faces
| our nerves. cur hearts.
do not know whether my letters from
Lucerne, sent unsealed via Paris, ever
reached the United States. The breaking
out of the war found me there with Miss
Janet Richards, OF Washington. the we'll
known lecturer, and several women
| friends all about starting into Ger
many. 1t was perhaps the safest and
most peaceful spot in Europe. more so
even than the border towns Of Switzer-
one must imagine how it would seem
at such a crisis to be absolutely Isolated
| from the rest OF the world for almost
four weeks Until the last week we
never saw a paper except the little Swiss
ones with practically no news; we
could not send or receive a cablegram.
we had no American mail until the last
days and this had left New York
month before. We could get no informa-
III IND
idea as to when We could leave. but
the constant assurance that all trunks
would have to be left behind. As we
had bought most Of our finery in order
to make > good appearance at the In
ternational Council in Rome this was
pretty disauieting.
A scare" rumor OF some sort gave
US heart failure about once an hour
There are enough interesting places in
Switzerland to keep one pleasantly oc-
cupied a whole summer. but nobody
dared to spend any money. as at FIRST
none could be had on any kind OF paper
and later only at a discount; we DID
not know when we could get away or
where we could go or what it would cost
disappointing News.
Early in the siege a meeting OF Amer
leans as called at the Kursaal and those
who had any optimism UP TO that time
parted with it there. The presiding
oficer had been sent TO Berne for official
information and he told US at the be-
ginning of his discouraEing remarks that
nothing he said must be attributed TO
the interview he had had with the Amer
| lean Minister. which was what we had
come to hear about! few days later
| the English called a meeting at the
KursaaI, which, TO their entirely pardon
he
attended Here a comprehensive printed
statement Of the present and future
situation was distributed, signed ofhcial-
| " by Hi" Britannia Majesty's Minister
at Berne," and then the Americans were
mad.
The meeting showed in every way the
superior organizing ability of the Eng
lish. the careful selection Of committee
chairmen. etc. and american pride was
humbled When, however, our head
quarters were opened it revived and he
would be very unappreciative who crit
! icised adversely the patient self-sacri-
fcing services given there through all
those trying weeks. Day after day,
| through heat and cold. men and women
sat from morning till night, filling out
passports, typewriting notices that we're
posted in all hotels and pensions, making
card catalogues OF peoples needs, help
ing the financially worried. answering a
thousand questions, comforting the un-I
happy I wish it were possible to give
the name OF every one of those volun-
teer. unsalaried. cheerful workers. And
every Unfavorable comparison vanished
when the English all marched to their
special train for home. leaving their
baggage behind. while the Americans de-
parted in triumph with their big trunks
booked through TO London.
Usually the guests in hotels at summer
resorts are OF a kaleidoscope nature
here today. gone tomorrow, no one re-.
naming long enough to make a definite
impression, but an enforced sojourn like
this one brought out many Characters
tics. 1t was wonderful to see how per-
sons who passed unnoticed at first grad.
ually. through acts of kindness and
courtesy. came to appear charming. and
others who seemed especially attractive
grew fairly repellant through continued
assertion and selfshness.
Some Odds and Ends.
When a man especially prominent in
these qualities developed a boil on hiS
neck We couldn't feel sorry II We tried.
One morning | met little blonde Ameri-
can of the cIingins-vine type that men
think they love but don't, who was Civ
ing a cablegram to the concierge Of the
hotel to be put into French, and she
read II alOUO. " OrTleQ. cable me-
BE sure to get the right word for
worried she instructed him and then
said to me: 1T is to my fance, an
English Hussar, but I'm afraid to send
it because II the government sees his
name they may hunt him up and make
him go to war. I've already cabled him |
that he cannot CO." But since he is
a soldier" 1 answered. don't you think
It is his duty to join his regiment ans
fight for his country No, 1 think his |
first duty is to me-" she replied, 'but
I expect he will go, for I've often heard |
him say that II he could kill a German
every morning before breakfast the day
would be perfectly happy"
We tried to be cheerful but not very
successfully, and at the end OF eacn
evening when the orchestra played THE |
Star Spangled Banner and everybody
stood up II vas almost through tears
that we saw it in imagination 1000 long, |
nn4Na.E Ia u