Shepherdstown register. [volume] (Shepherdstown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1849-1955, 1914-09-24
For the Register.)
PARIS IN WARTIME.


That Tor The olrect statement. And you
can count on some little aStonSiiment
aud considerable incredulitY when you
answer that, even granting french eX-
cilabilIb as general RUE, PdrlS Was
not tremendously excited. Quite 10 Inc
contrary, ii Mas impreSSiVely and gflnliy
serious. There is nothing remarkable III
This; all thinking France has known since
1871 that the present war was ineVltaole,
ana all France, thinking and Otherwise,
has realized Tor the past ten years that II
was imminent, just around the corner, as
il were. Moreover, the French have
known, as have the Germans, that the
war. when II did come, was 10 be queS-
ton OF national life or death, and know
ing this, there has been no disposition
for excitement or display OF temperament.
If YOU have a neighbor who for ten years
has been menace to your life, and one
morning you lind him in your front yard
armed 10 the teeth and ready 10 burn
your house, you 60 out 10 meet him, but
nobody can reasonably expect you 10 go
out whiStling and singing. II IS d deS-
perate situation and you need all your
breath, which is what has happened lhlS
summer in Paris, and presumably IN all
France, though can't answer Tor that.
Certain il IS that there was little in Paris
that could come under our usual concep-
ton OF the FIenchman'S CONDUCT IN time
of extraordinary stress. Not that there
wasn't excitement, but there was none
of the hysteria which we Americans are
pleased 10 credit 10 the French. Nor was
there any rioting or disorders after Inc
nrSt day OF The hoStllltleS, as Will be eX-
planned later.
There is no need to speculate now on
the cause or causes oil the war. No one
knows, though everyone is INDUCING IN
speculation, more or less opposite, and
il may be that no one will ever know.
There are even those who affirm that
Kaiser Wilhelm himself doesn't know,
and ii this is the case, lesser mortalS, or
rather MORALS, Tor Wilhelm, as the self
confessed representative ot God, is one
or the immorialS, need not trouble them
selves. 1t is perhaps too much TO say,
as has been done, that had AlSace ana
Lorraine renamed French after the 1871
debacle, the present war would have been
impossible, because il hardly seems logl-
cal. Someone SAID that Germany is III
the position OF full-grown man VINO IS
still wearing the belt that served nm
when he got his first trousers. He must
find a bigger belt or die OF dpopleXy.
lust how war could have been avoided
Dy the belts being even smaller isn't
clear. But, for that matter, there IS very
little in all this that is clear, and one OF
the least obscure is that AlSace and Lor-
faine have been, II not the principal, al
least a contributing cause, tor IS years.
At any rate, there is no DOUBT whatever
OF one thing, there is war III progress,
no matter what caused Il.
War came on us in Paris so quickly
that we scarcely realized that II was I'M
mHent. There were some eleven Ger
mans in our pension, one OF them an Oh
fiCer on leave, and from day to day they
went to the German consulate Tor advice.
Things were not SO serious as to make
the consulate advise Germans 10 leave
Paris. and this continued until Friday,
Iuly 81, when the officer received tele-
gram He didn't say what was in II, but
in three hours he was on hi; way TO the
train, and with him seven OF the other
ten Germans, and the rest OF us knew
at once that something was brewing.
The next day notices were posted, or
dering all German and Austrian subjects
to be out by ten that night; all who were
found later would be sent 10 detention
camps in the west OF France. That same
night mobilization was decreed and the
war had begun.
Wilhelm made several miscalculationS
in beginning this war, but none so Sc
riouS as the one that the French were not
prepared and that their mobilization
would be carried on in haphaZard fash
ion. The French have reientlye men,
DRY and their pitiful, comic opera war in
1870 has impressed itself deeply. The
German mobilization had the advantage
OF five-day start, but il is not possible
that it operated any more smoothly than
the French, for that went forward like a
machine, so perfectly as TO amaze even
the French themselves. ltmight be men
toned that the totally unexpected resist
ance met by the Germans at Liege prac-
tiCally annulled the enormous advantage
that the Germans had and unqeStionably
saved Paris.
Mobilization went on quietly, and one
by one the classes went out, day at
time. In our pension, the son went on
the second day, the Son-in-law on the
fourth, the concierge on the seventh and
three boarderS at various times; each
time with no heroicS or hySteria, also
with no singing or cheering. Ii was too
serious a business. War, at least this
war, is no hurrah business, and there
was little music in Paris this summer. A
man just took his gun, very seriously,
and walked out. He might come back,
then again he mightn't. In any event,
neither he nor those he left behind felt
that noise was appropriate. All were
willing that he should 60, but nobody
was happy.
There was rioting the first day; just
one day, crowd OF hoodlumS went on
the war-path and succeeded in destroy
ing several German owned stores in va
riouS parts OF the city before the police
got to them. This riotStopped as abruptly
as it started, for next day three hundred
of the rioters were tried before the mill
tary court as SedltiouS subjects and given
Jail sentences, varying from II days TO II
months. After that, those whose spirits
ran high managed to put themselves un-
der admirable restraint. A military court
is no pleasant thing. In this connection,
too, if is not amiSS to say that reports OF
spies being shot in Paris can be accepted
with considerable mental reservation. |
have heard OF good many people who
were said to have seen spies executed,
but when you got TO them, il turned out
that it wasn't they who had seen it, but
someone else. and Sd on, and if we are
TO believe the positive statement from
headquarters that no spies have been eX-
ecuted in Paris, it would seem that il was
nothing but rumor. This was the con-
dition as late as August IS, though it
may have changed since. Personally !
doubt it; the French, so far, have shown
an amazing amount OF moderation, and |
believe they will continue to do so. 1t
is an object lesson 10 us Americans, 10
ANYBODY in TACT.
The regulations concerning the papers
contributed materially to the calm of Paris.
The censorship was rigid, and the papers