Newark evening star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1909-1916, 1914-10-17
GERMAWYiS FIGHTING MAN
IN THE ROLE OF COMPANION

then in the Brussels occupation
force paraded before the military
commandant and his splendidly
| mounted staff. They were to march
out of the city, so said the orders,
bound for that indefinite spot, "the
'front.'" their places in the garrison
to be taken by incoming troops from
Germany, some of whom had seen
service and were slated for a respite.
A sentinel who had guarded the
gates of the royal palace, and with
whom / had struck up an acquaint-
ance, waved me a farewell. Good
/ bye" he called; were going to Ant
werp. I'll see you there or in Lon
dom" AS they came past the review
Ing staff their legs shot out In the
famous goose-step march, until the
Palais de Justice echoed with the
rythmical roar of hobnail boots
Away went the solid regiments of
helmets. and the service uniforms of
men in heavy marching order disap-
towards the city's southern gale.
Individually, 1t was impossible to
believe that these men had committed
the atrocities at Termonde and
Roosbeek of Malines and Louvain. At
close range it was easy to see that
the prevalent allied conception of the
'barbarians' was the purest kind of
rot-the picture, created and fostered
besotted beast with natural brutality,
accumulated by alcoholic rage. The
writer saw between fifty and sixty
thousands of the brutal beasts" and
talked with, perhaps, hundreds of
them The most besotted with whom
he came in contact were an artillery
squad at the station at Tirlemont.
SO drunk, indeed, that they forced
something down his own thirsty
throat, and, when they heard he was
an American, tried to lift him to their
shoulders.
1t was that same night as well as
Hioot VI TIE udy DSlOTS anu AFTER
which we spent on forty-car troop
and ammunition train, crawling at
snairs pace, when we moved at all,
back into German territory. Most of
the open cars were empty barring
an occasional gun carriage going
home for repairs; in the closed
freight cars lay a few wounded, first
line men. half dozen male nurses,
and some privates on furlough.
Freezing Weather.
A five days equinoctial storm had
given way to the coolest day of the
autumn; the freight car, used as
box stall on the out-trip was damp
and chilly and towards evening the
temperature dropped to far below the
freezing point. The soldier next me,
who had been through the fight at
Maubouge, coughed necessarily. lie
told me he'd got a cold in the rain
filed trenches. The doctor said
iliOhEu AbN itiiON iiah
managed to get through the army
physical tests. For ages we lay
awake, braced against the cold, until
between and 4 o'clock in the morn
ing. when we stuck in a tunnel of
the Vosges Mountains. 1t was a
little later that the consumptive
stumbled over me.
There you are" he said. ~
thought you'd need It," Noticing,
when he lit his pipe at dawn, that
we had no army blankets this bar
barian jumped out of the car in the
Liege freight yards, ran a quarter
mile to the nearest army kitchen de-
pot, and stole for US two heaping
blankets full of straw.
With such men as individuals, neu-
trial observers here can have no quar-
rel To the Kaiser's privates, who
fight for a cause they do not under
stand. Is due the greatest respect; to
the officers, too, who understand and
are game In the face of tremendous
odds: and most of all, to the suffer-
Ing German people. But above them.
we reflect. stands the war machine
and the ambitions that direct 1t.