Evening star., 1914-12-27

!, | ilne.
For weeks these same regiments hat
been daily "decimated." "cut t.
pieces. and otherwise badly mauled b!
English war correspondents, but yol
could never have suspected it. Beard
ed dragons and uhlans were still able
to sit up and smoke big Hamburg
cigars as they. rode along. the horse:
looked fresh. the guns of the batterie:
were spick and span, the men seemed
to have morale" to spare: they locked
as II they were just going for the nrs'
Itime-and not coming from the scrim'
mage.
| Presents an Apple.
By way of depression and as illustrat'
ing the military discipline" on which
the Germans pride themselves so, the
following whimsical interlude took
place in front of the sacred portals of
the great German staff:
| A famous German professor of philos-
ophy, adorned in civil life with the high
title of privy councillor, sixty-five years
old. white-haired, white-bearded and
i with big yellow horn-rimned spec
tacles, anonymously wearing the field
gray uniform whose collar and shoulder
straps indicated that he was an unter-
| officer of the reserve regiment OF a
German university town well known to
Americans, was waiting patientl.- out
| side of the guarded gate in company
with a young feldwebel "a non-com-
missioned officer of higher rank). The
| old philosophy professor had enlisted
! with practically his whole class at the
outbreak of the war, but on account of
| his age was not sent to the front with
them at the time, but finally was al
| lowed to go with a transport of four
automobile loads of gifts and supplies
webel had to hang around outside while
| the lieutenant in charge went inside
to do the talking in the great general
staff building: Presently the the old old
pockets, produced an apple. clicked his
heels together in regulation fashion
and saluting his young superior Gin
tinitely inferior in the civil social
scale), said: Am 1 permitted to offer
you an apple, Herr Feldwebel?"
His ranking superior acknowledged the
gift with curt military punctilio, then
added respectfully, Il thank you, Herr
Privy Councillor
In the afternoon forced march t'f
two miles brought me to the handsome
villa occupied by the foreign military
| attaches. where Maj. Langhorne, tn
American expert, was again found in
good health and spirits. and particularly
happy because in a couple of days he
was again to see some real fighting.
The great general staff continues to
give our military attache every pos
sble opportunity to see things for him
self and give Uncle Sam the benefit Of
the military lessons to be learned from
the big scrap, no matter which way it
goes.
Lesson for General Staff.
Today I again dropped in on the great
general staff and found it not only ia
home, but very much interested on dis
covering that l had no pass to come OF
go or be there at that time. The war
time mind of Prussian mlitarism is
keen and right to the point. 1t saw not
the chance of gett ng publicity in
America, but the certainty that other
more dangerous spies could come
through the same way. BY all the rules
of the war game, Prussian militarisnl
would have been thoroughly justified IN
treating me as common spy in pos
session of vital military secrets, but it
on plucking out the heart of the jour-
nalistic mystery. All attempts at evasion
and humor were vain; here was the
ruthless reality of war. 1t was the
mailed Prussian eagle against the bluff
American bird of the same species. and
the unequal contest was soon ended
when Mai. Nikolai. chief of division
of the. great general staff, stood up
am d German officer. What German vio-
lated his duty? / ask you as a man IT
honor. how was it possible for you to
come here?'
German military machine was SO perfect
that 1t covered every cont ngency except
i the most obvious and guarded every road
| except the easiest way. All you have to
burg. hang around the platform until
the next military train pulls out COR
Belgium or France, hop aboard. and
keep on going. In case of doubt, utter
the mage phrase, I am an America;l,'
and fash the open sesame, the red seal
of the United States of America-to
which bearded 1andsturm guards pay
the tribute of regarding it as equally
authoritative as the purple Prussian
easle stamped on a military pass
Entered in Archives.
Followed two-hour dialogue in the
private office of the chief Of the
of which future historians will find in
the kaiser's secret archives the follow
| ing unique document, couched in Ber-
| lin "detectivese" and signed and sub
| scribed to by the correspondent:
| Secret Field Police, Great Headquar-
ters, December /, 1914,
There appears the American war
correspondent. and, at the particular
request of the authorities, explains:
| Saturday. November 30, I arrived at
Trier ON second-class ticket at about
lO:oV pm 1herc l bought a third
class ticket and boarded a train leav-
ing about 11:1o pm, and reached Lux
! emburg a I about 12:15 am. I did not
| go into the railroad station, but, trust
| ing to my papers. boarded d military
| train leaving at 1916 am. going over
Longwy to Longyion, where 1 arrived
at $3.50 am. Sunday There an otficial l,
| whose name | do not know, took me to
Il troop train and made place for me
| in the brake box. 1 left the train at X
and went on foo to H. (the great
| headduarters), where l reported my
| self to the chief of police.
| Il recommend that sharper control
| be exercised on the station platform
at Luxembourg, as it is a simple matter
to board the only control, which is at
the ticket gate, by simply not going
! out and, therefore, not having to come
! in"
| The lot of the professional spy will
be harder in the future. Meanwhile,
| expect to shake the dust of the Ger
man great headquarters from my
!repertorial feet early tomorrow morn
| ing, for pedestrianism is not a safe
pastime in the war zone.