Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1914-09-20
Miss Henriette Louise Dessez
Pays Tribute to Soldiers
and Citizens of France.
MOST EXCITED PEOPLE
IN EUROPE AMERICANS
Paws Visit to Paris Before Return
ing and Was There When Bombs
Are Dropped on City.

1.-THE most excited people l saw IN
Europe were some Americans" de-
clared Miss Henriette Louise Dessez
of the Office of the disbursing officer
of the Department of Commerce. speak
ing yesterday of her experiences In the
war zone, from which she returned
recently. Miss Dessez was in Europe
from the last Of June until the last
of August She witnessed the Swiss
and French notifications, travelled
through the heart of France when
the German army was within hail
Ing distance of Paris. and was In
the French capital the day the
bombs were dropped into the city from
the German dirigibles. In speaking of
her experiences. Miss Dessez spoke
entirely of what she saw and heard in
France and Switzerland. The war as
seen through a woman's eyes Is what
she tells.
You have always heard of the ex-
citable French nature" she said. why
I never saw people SO calm. What i'm
pressed all of us was the absolute
calmness Of the soldiers. They would
sit smoking and drinking in the cafes
and never make the slightest demon
stration. The soldiers did not stand
at the bulletins at ALL but seemed in
different. The most excited people in
Europe were some Americar~"
Miss DeSsez and party landed in Ma
pies. June 90. They Travelled through
Italy, and were in Geneva on the day the
Crown Prince Of Austria was a.sassinated.
II sat in the shade and watched the
street Sweepers buying extra paoers on
that day" sad Miss Dessez. There was
great excitement thrc1ehout TIE city
Later. when I was at Ringzenberg. which
is about three miles from Inter'ahen. I
received the first limitations of the war.
For several davs there had been slight
runs on the banks. and when war was
officially declared this tendency became
regular rum
Saw Swiss Mobilization.
Miss Dessez witnessed the mobilization
Of the Swiss troops to preserve the neu-
traiity of their country. and tells Of the
companies of Swiss yodlng in unison as
they passed THROUGH the town. At Ben
she saw a tremendous display of SOL
diery.
About this time the Queen of Holland
sent a special train for her people. and
It was on train that went out ara'el
TO IT that Mics Dessez and her party left
Geneva ror Paris.
AT Geneva the Cooks office had
closed. The railroad Office was closed
for the day. Everything was in charge
of troops. The stores were closed. for
all the men had gone to the border.
and the women were doing all the
work Cooks sold US tickets. saying,
Perhaps you can get to Paris
we went to our hotel for rest and
were called at / o'clock in the morning.
we were so afraid of missing the train"
continued Miss Dessez. Soldiers were
everywhere But we had our papers
and that was all that was necessary.
At $50 o'clock. the train began to pull
out of the station. going very slowly.
Belgrade at the frontier was the first
stop. The soldiers did not collect our
tick ets-'
Here Miss Dessez produced the iden-
teal ticket as evidence that the SOL
diers. acting as trainmen, never col
lected tickets.
switched off the main line. sometimes
for hours, it seemed, to allow troop
trains TO go through. We arrived at
Lyons at 100 o'clock in the afternoon
Sunday. The city was filled with troops
French dragons, zouaves. and the
famous mountain artillery by the train
load with their guns.
Miss Dessez spoke of the calmness of
the troops, and their apparent fndiner-
ence to the war bulletins. She said the
French soldiers are not understood as is
commonly thought.
All Quiet in Paris.
I'VE arrived in Paris Monday. August
81, and found everything quiet. The
women, girls and boys selling papers
were making the most noise. The news
papers seemed to try to be impartial in
present ng the news. The papers con-
sisted of only one sheet, because no one
wanted anything except war news.
Women read them eagerly-you would
see them come out their houses and
buy the papers. read them and go in
again without the slightest manifesto
ton of excitement
The dropping of the bombs on the
oil H,,a
bomb Vas aimed at one of the principal
railroad stations that was a route for
supplies to the frontier. 1t hit a house
nearby and demolished 1t. and we heard
a woman and two girls were killed
when We were In Switzerland we
thought no one could treat Americans
any better than the Swiss did, but in
Paris we-and all Americans-received