Evening star., 1914-10-10
Interesting Letter to His
Mother Tells of Subsist-
ence Conditions.
DECLARES THE ARMY
PAYS FOR ALL SUPPLIES
Soldiers Not Bitter Against French,
But Hatred for English Is
Intense, He Says.

Correspondence Of the Associated Prsss.
ROTTERDAM. September ls.-Ths
following letter OF a reserve ofncer to
his mother. published in the Cologne
Gazette September 1S. throws an IL
Eliminating light on subsistence condi-
tions in the German forces now in
France. 1t is Instructive also In q num-
Der of other respects.
1T is hot morning, the men are busy
digging trenches. and now the crash Of
artillery which kept up all morning.
is no lc sr heard. 1 am sitting under
a tree. aiding again and again your
dear letter and the remainder OF my
mail Indeed, dear mother. II II could
be done / would telegraph you every
day. But that is impossible: so now.
while l have the time, / will write you
as long a letter as possible. One never
knows what the future will bring.
This is very idyllic spot. am dis
turbed now and then in a most agree
able manner. Ripe plums fall from the
tree-most conscientiously / eat them
I have breakfasted well, and the COM
pany barber gave me a shave-which
was badly needed. In addition. 1 have
managed to get some washing done,
and now ! feel again like a gentleman
'As already told you, the commis-
sary ofhcer of our battalion and I went
to the same college. have been obliged
to pay for this happy coincidence with
many bite needed myself. But yes
terday he told me that he had man.
aged to get two honest-to-goodness.
real and otherwise bona fide hams. 1
lost no time accepting my share-it
was hne and will last until tonight To
the great surprise of the captain, man.
aged to get one-eighth pound of butter
from farm. Commissary bread, ham
and butter-what a Lucullian feast I
Rfrf s~
smoke. Kindly send me a few cigar
cites and some pipe tobacco.
Farmers Run Away.
The owner Of the farm where got
the tobacco is a woman. thirty-two
years old and rather wealthy. She left
the place, not because she feared the
Germans. but the French. as her man.
aser told me. I wish these people had
sense enough to remain on their farms.
We do them no injury and pay for
everything we take. while the property
OF those who run away is naturally
without owners. and thus not D. otecred.
There is no evidence here of volks-
krieg (war carried on by the popu-
,ation. as IN Belgium). The people are
along with us. Everything is upside
down nowadays. dear mother Master
alone is the soldier. right and wrong
power and responsibility has been
placed on his shoulders. I thank God
that our hands are clean and that our
officers conduct is beyond criticism.
had complaint to make against our
soldiers. and she said: No. the Ger
man soldiers are good ladsr
But with this the burning of VII
them are set afire by artillery shells,
and when they are burned down pur-
posely it is done because the inhabi-
tants have fired upon our soldiers. In
remained in place Some of our huse
sars entered them and were treacher-
ously shot down The example has
Pre- nrongne m good results. We regretted
people have been brought to their
senses. further measures Of that sort
have been prohibited.
In the village of - saw an old
destroyed. In front of him stood a
venerable gray. old mantle priest
who surveyed the remnant of his con-
village at the head of two battalIons,
and when the old priest saw me he
looked at me in a way that cut into
my very soul. Then with the sudden
motion Of fear he took OF his hat and
held 1T in his hand until the last man
had passed him. I think he feared that
refusal to greet US would be taken as
al OHeuSe. w nat went on IN Ine nina
of the old priest would be interesting
to know But this is war, and we did
not want the indeScribable misery
which it has brought on.
Hears Of Victory.
Last night at roll call we heard the
news of the German victory over the
English, French and Belgians. We
especially appreciated the news con-
cerning the English. Our hate for
those perfdious fellows is universal.
and much greater than our feeling
against the French. Everybody wants
a chance at them, and God have mercy
on them should they get before our
rifes-from us they need expect none.
AT z in the evening We heard
the news of the Russian defeat. I
hope that the good tidings will be con-
drmed. We are advancing everywhere.
1T is q beautiful evening. and I Will
have to do field duty tonight. The en-
tire village had prepared itself for
defense. but IN the last moment they
lost heart. just now they brought IN
French soldier, who has been IN hid
ing dve days in chicken house.
"At my side the captain is cutting up
a cucumber-oil and vinegar have been
secured after a long search"
Writes on Post.