The Ocala evening star. [volume] (Ocala, Fla.) 1895-1943, 1914-09-30

tun.ty Of gauging the opinion ana
temper Of the German civic popuIa-
ton and the German press.
IN my mind, there is now no
shadow OF doubt that in fighting
Germany We are up against the stiff
est proposition that has ever con
! fronted US. Without that great dan
/ ger cloud in the North-the Russian
masses-there could be no Two opin-
i lens as 10 the final outcome on land.
Let US without passion or prejudice
look for moment at the facts
through plain glass. The Germans
are military nation; they have mill
tarism IN their blood, and they are
tproud OF it. As a German soldier said
10 me last Friday in Louvaln: We
are all soldiers
They are soldiers to a man. And
one should say-to a woman. j was
much impressed upon my arrival in
IlAix-la-ChapelIe on Saturday morning
/ to see the demeanor OF the German
ladies who met our troop train with
provisions for the German soldiers
AM he wounded Directly the train
stopped these lad.es-fne, calm,
courageous women-came up and
gave to every soldier a packet Of
sandwiches and a cup of hot coffee.
] There was no disorder, no uAdici-
! pinned rush OF kindness, German pa
tr.otism is trained, organized. swift
to the practical result. Within three
minutes every soldier was having his
breakfast.
IAN hour or two before the occu-
patton OF Brussels, / was told that
the Germans were coming to the city
because they were starving. But for
three hours that same afternoon I
stood outside the Care du Nord and
watched the German army pass, on
through. They were not starving.
! Never have seen more ominously
sight. Every man in that enormous
mass seemed healthy, fit and we'll fed
The German officers understand their
men perfectly. The men are given
plenty to eat and they are given it
with strict regularity. On the sta
ton platform at Louvain | had lunch
with a party of German soldiers.
Each man was given a can of thick,
meaty soup. To me who had eaten
+ nothing but little chocolate bread
and some sour pears for thirty-six
hours, this soup was as good as the
| mamma from Heaven. To one of my
H hosts | said that i was lucky to come
I'll across them on a meat day, for /
& understood shat meat was served out
/ only every third day. But was
4 Quickly informed that German sold
iers had meat every day.
/ To go into the station at Lou
/ vain at lunch time this was Friday
! last was like transition from Hell
| to Heaven. Outside I and my friend
had traVersed streets in which the
DEVILS work was being wrought
Burning. footing, shooting were go
ing on everywhere. The Germans
We're cheerful1y destroying the whole
4
the Hotel de Vile Their calm de-
liberation made a contrast with their
work Of destruction that was almost
theatrical in the impression it left on
the mind. The officers seemed to
make a picture more like military
encourage at a fashionable race meet
ing. They were wel1-groomed, shay
en-, manicured and completely calm
as they drove about the burning
Estreets in their cars. These people
are not Huns or 'Barbarians out
wardly at any rate. To us they were
altogether charming. To converse
with them was an elegant intellectu-
al pleasure.
but around lay the dead and the
dying, the burned, the burning. In
a side. street on the outskirts of the
town 7 saw a few women and children
walking over the dead and charred
bodies Of the men-they were carry
ing a tin can and looking for water
German soldiers emphatcal1y inn
pressed upon me the fact that the
women and children had been saved.
saw the firing of Cortenberg-a
saw first the women and children
herded up and set aside / do not
believe that the men would have
been massacred had not the soldiers
at least believed that they offered
armed resistance. There can, of
course, be no doubt thatNLouvafn Of
fered considerable resistance. The
civic population led by the mayor and
Belgian officers, worked machine guns
upon the German trains as they APP
preached the station. And the
church Of st. Pierre. which overlooks