Semi-weekly herald., 1914-09-21
SENATE DfADlOCkfD 0VfKsRINfRS
AND hARB0RS APPROPRIATION Bill
Famous Writer Now
Working as Farm Hand

oNPS. Acs-A'A ASC fA0OS-
erlinck, farm hand! Save the mark
but that is the present employment
of the wonderful Maeterlinck. He is
working in the fields, reaping and
stacking wheat, alongside peasant
woman and peasant boys and girls.
The picture of the great Belgian
poet, thinker and writer of some of
the greatest operas of modern times,
working in the fields was sent here by
the Rouen correspondent of the Lon
don Morning Post, who happened up
on him as he passed through the
outskirts of the place.
Maeterlinck is so years Of age, and
therefore not available as soldier.
"Since could not go to fight"
said the poet, simply, II felt ! must
do something, anything, what was
nearest. The harvest, you see, had to
be got in" He was almost apollo
getic about it.
GAS soon as Belgium was drawn
in by the madness Of the ego-maniac
kaiser wanted to go there and claim
my place in the civil guard. But it
took SO long to get passport. There
were SO many formalitias for for
eigner to go through. Only two days
ago did receive the paper / required
and then it was too late.
"The civil guard has been disband-
ed. How could men Of fifty, untrain-
ed to arms, fight against the German
army? The barbarians are in Brus-
sells. A sad day for my countryl l
must stay here.
"I have tried to write, but find
it impossible. I began series Of
articles on the war. Nothing has
come of the effort. feel so restless.
I am on the lookout for news from
the war all the time.
Zones imagination is paralyzed by
appalling reality. The though that
only a few hundred kilometers away
over there Che pointed northward,
eastward), there are millions Of men,
ranged against one another to kill
and MAIN and destroy blots out every
other thought.
1.-THE waste Of i'll" he cried. aAf-
ter men have fought SO valiantly
against disease and death, after we
have struggled SO successfully with
natural forces, to fall at the will Of
a de pot, insane with foolish pride.
into this welter Of carnage!
at was none of our seeking. We
were dragged into it by a sudden
treacherous attack. And see how
these so-called civilized Germans are
behaving!
"Under their thin veneer of mod
ern views they have been concealing
the hearts and habits of savages.
They were savages in 1870 when they
came to Rouen, you remember, and
committed barbarities without num-
ber.
"They are savages still. Their art,
their cience, their manners fall away
from them. They reveal themselves
as they really are.
"And the end? There can only
be one end. They must be flung
back. II not civilization finishes.
They disregard everything, by which
man has raised himself from the
brute-honor, treaties, rules Of war
fare, concern for human life.
"You do not doubt the end?" he
asked, looking earnestly forward. II
have seen your British soldiers. They
will, / know, fight well. They know
what they are fighting for. We know
in Belgium we are fighting for our
homes, or right to national existence.
The French know. Together, and with
Ru-s -sia to assist, we may win.
"If we did not" He finished his
phrase with an eloquent gesture. He
then started up. "Let me show you
round the Abbaye," he said. ut will
be distraction, a change from the
one subject that is always in our
thoughts"