The Winslow mail., 1914-10-24

creeper-with great white flowers. But
| all this is foolish talk. 1t is impossible
that Paris, which has survived SO many
misfortunes, should not presently re
vive."
Il do not think it will ever revive
Paris is finished. London, too, | am
told-Berlin, All the great capitals
were stricken"
"But-monsieur must permit me to
differ"
at is so.'
! ut is impossible Civilizations do not
end in this manner. Mankind will
insist"
"On PARISH
"On Paris"
Monsieur, you might as well hope
to go down the maelstrom and resume
business there
Il am content, monsieur, with my
own faith
The winter comes on. Would not
monsieur be wiser to seek a houseY'
Further from Paris? No, monsieur
But it is not possible, monsieur, what
you say, and you are under a tremen-
dous mistake. Indeed, you are in error
| asked merely for information.
when last | saw him." said Barnet.
'he was standing under the signpoSt
at the crest of the hill, gazing wistful-
ly, yet it seemed to me a little doubt
fully now, toward Paris, and altogether
needless of a driZzling rain that was
wetting him through and through"
This effect of chill dismay, of a
doom as yet imperfectly apprehended,
deepens as Barnet's record passes Oh
to tell of the approach of winter. 1t
was too much for the great mass of
! those unwilling and incompetent no
MAIDS to realize that an age had ended;
that the old help and guidance existed
! no longer; that times would not mend
again, however patiently they held out,
| They were still in many cases looking
| to Paris when the first snowtlakes of
| that pitileSs January came sWirling
| about them. The story grows grimmer.
| If it is less monstrOusly tragic after
| Barnet's return to England it is, if
| anything, harder. England. was a spec
tacle of fear embittered housnhoIders,
hiding food, crushing out robbery, driv
ing the starving wanderers from every
| faltering place upon the roads lest they
should die inconveniently and reproach-
! fully on the doOrsteps Of those who
| had failed to urge them onward.
| The remnants of the British troops
of in a
gent representations from the proyi-
| sional government at Orleans that they
| could be supported no longer They
| seem to have been fairly we'll be
| haved but highly parasitic force
throughout, though Barnet is clearly of
opinion that they did much to suppress
| sporadic brigandage and maintain so
ciaI order. He came home to a famine
stricken country, and his picture of the
England of that spring is one of miser-
able patience and desperate eXpedients
The country was suffering much more
! than France because of the cessation
of the oversee supplies on which it
had hitherto relied. His troops were
given bread, dried fish and boiled net
| ties at Dover and marched inland to
| Ashford and paid off. On the way
| thither they saw four men hanging
from the telegraph posts by the road
side, who had been hung for stealing
swedes. The labor refugees of Kent,
he discovered, We're feeding their
| crowds of casual wanderers on bread
! into which clay and saWdust had been
mixed. In Surrey there was a shortage
| Of even such fare as that. He himself
struck across country to Winchester,
| fearing to approach the bomb poisoned
district around London, and at Win
chester he had the luck to be taken on
as one of the wireless assistants at the
central station and given regular ra-
| tions. The station stood in a com
manding position on the chalk hill that
overlooks the town from the east
Thence he must have assisted in the
! transmission of the endless cipher
messages that preceded the gathering
at Brissago, and there it was that the
! Brissago proclamation of the end of
| the war and the establishment of a
world government came under his
! hands.
He was feeling i'll and apathetic that
day. and he did not realize what it was
| he was transcribing. He did it me-
chanically as a part of his tedious duty.
Afterward there came a rush of
messages arising out of the declara-
ton that strained him very much, and
in the evening, when he was relieved,
he ate his scanty supper and then
went out upon the little balcony before
| the station to smoke and rest his brains
after his sudden and as yet ineXplica
BILE press of duty. 1t was very beau
tiful still evening. He fell talking TO
fellow operator, and for the first time,
he declares, 81 began to understand
what it was all about. began to see
just what enormous issues had been
under my hands for the past four
hours. But became incredulOus aft
er my first stimulation. This is some
! sort of bunkum. | said very sagely