Imperial Valley press., 1914-10-13

cellars to be cleared and mattresses
placed therein.
1t must not be thought that there
is noThing unusual in the air. Some
how it is difficult to be quite as gay
as usual. 1t is almost certain that
the man or woman you are sitting
rext to can tell you story of per-
s'onal tragedy. One morning / ad-
dressed four people in the Cafe Met
ropole. Three Of them were direct
and dire sufferers. One, nobleman,
told me without word of complaint,
how his chateau near Liege had been
razed by the Belgians to clear the way
for the fire of the heavy guns; how
all the horses in his racing stud had
been requisitioned; how, through his
ruined tenants inability to pay any
rent for two or three years, his in
come was gone. He asked me anx-
iously whether, if he put the wreck
OF his fortunes, namely, the family
PioSS3 LII q DiS IiiSSI, nc WOuIu DS dl
lowed to take it into England.
A second man described how his
dearest friend, youth of 20, had been
tied 10 a tree by German officers, and
told he would be shot. First, how
ever, they wanted dinner, and dined
around the tree, taunting their vic
tim with offers of champagne till they
had finished their repast. Then they
shot him.
The women of Antwerp became
more wonderful every day. While
their men live they comfort and cheer
them; when they are dead they put
the Red Cross band on their mourn
ing and stifle their grief to minister
to the dear ones of others
There is a woman living in my ho-
tel whose husband was a captain of
infantry. While he was away on duty
she would sit sewing in the salon with
sorrowing face as she wondered
what was happening to her husband
out in the firing line. When she
heard his step the gloom went and
the smile and the joke-it was easy
to know with what effort-replaced
it. The soldier gone, the weary fore
toding descended again. After Sat
''rday's fight at Termonde she came
down in deepest black. This morning
saw a Red Cross on her seleve
This is no exception; that captains
wife has thousand peers in Ant
werp.
Of course, in spite of unconcern
with regard to bombs and shells, the
cnly topic of conversation is:
"How long will the Germans taks
to get in?"
Whatever General Dufour, the mil
itary governor, and the general staff
thinks, they keep it to themselves
but they, naturally, spend a good dea1
of time planning precautions. We hea,
occasionally the sound of distant ex
ploslols; the sappers are blowing up
the villas round the environs to clea,
the path for the guns of the forts.
Men labor ceaselessly at the un-
completed forts. Unfortunately these
latter will not be able to do all that
their designs meant them to. They
were to have been armed with the
great guns of Krupp, but that willy
gentleman, just as in the case of Ma
mur, delayed delivery again and
again, till it was too late, which, of
course, is another indication of Ger
man intentions with regard to Bel
GUM in the event of war. So some
OF the Antwerp forts, more especial
ly on the south and west, are still
incomplete, and the enemy knows
this.
Hence the fight at Termonde, which
by the way, did not end by any means
to his satisfaction. 1t is possible now
to realize what took place on Satur-
Gay and yesterday in this combat. All
the Belgian soldiers who were at Ter
monde say they were surprised. bv
how many Germans it is not definite
ly known, but probably the number
was about 10000. There were about
1000 Belgians, and they had to re-
tire after stiff fight. Then, having
been reinforced, they returned to the
fray and the Germans, themselves sur
prised, had to retire whence thew had
come. What they did achieve, how
ever, was to cut off Antwerp from
Ostend.
Meanwhile, other German troops
were coming up from between Ter
monde and Malines, and ran into
some forts of which they had mis-
judged the position. With great loss
they fell back and then the defend
ersf played another winning card
They flooded the country by opening
the dykes, and the retreating Teu-
tops were caught. Their artillery was