The commonwealth., 1915-05-06
MAR BECOMES HABIT
People Quickly Adapt Themselves
to flew Life.
reke It careIessIy Like Life on Vol
cano~--Boys All Expect to Fight
and Are Not Uneasy Over
Prospect.
Rv GABRIEL DElAGARDE.

Correspondent Chicago Daily News)
Amiens, France.-ln the last few
days l have made inquiries among
many persons to find out the state Of
mind of the civil population as regards
the war generally. l have talked with
tradespeople, manufacturers, retired
merchants, ordinary laborers, other
employees-as many as possible Of
each. 1t is easy to enter upon a con-
Versation; at the present time it is
not necessary to rack ones brains to
find subject, and the subject is in
exhaustible. People have grown wise.
The fantastical reports which at the
beginning CT the war we're invariably
believed fall now on skepticdl ears.
Moreover. things are now in order.
The other day, at a prominent hair
dresser's shop in town, a man an
nounced to those who would listen
that the Germans had just entered
Albert. An officer. who was being
shaved, interfered, had the man ar
rested. and for his imprudence he
passed eight days in prison
Who would imagine, while walking
through the streets of Amiens, that
the Germans were 80 kilometers
(about twenty miles) from here, not
more? The soldiers from the trenches
do not come here, or if they do the
officers and men are obliged to come
clean and in good style. Automobiles
only have the right to be dirty The
population, it appears, must not see
the war in an unfavorable light.
So the people are gradually growing
affairs, just as the inhabitants of a
town near smoking volcano go about
their business without giving it
thought. AS a friend of mine, a lit
erary man OF these parts, said to me:
War? It's a matter of habit; heart
soul, mind, all become daily hardened
to it. We have adapted ourselves to
our new life"
And the remark is just. It applies
to the people, especially to the men
who have remained here. All the
young men are alike; that IS, the great
majority. They realize that, If the
war lasts, their turn will come to go
to the front, and it causes them no
uneasiness.
There is the mental anguish which
affects all without distinction, with
terrible equality, from the minister to
whom We are indebted for the three
years service law and who has Just
lost his son. to the poor little woman
who chars to make living, whose
husband is a prisoner in Germany.
ic hi al,
which creates the fiercest hctrads
both IN the hearts Of the soldiers and
the civil population One day / re-
turned from Albert with a poor wom-
an. who has no one at the front, but
who has witnessed the ruin CT a town
by hombardment SI.o stretched out
her thin arms with the suDpleness of
q cat as she said:
Let the women have q hand De
liver to me four :boches' only, and I
will undertake to put out the eyes Of
those highwaymen.'
The refugees suffer and have suf-
fered materially, They are virtually
the only ones. One may say that, far
from increasing misery, the war has
diminished it. Such wave of official
ana private charity has swept over
the country! Nearly all Of the poorer
classes receive from the state either
an indemnity for their enforced idle
ness or relief because CT the war.
Am to pity the manager Of q large
factory WHO told ne he had lived on
an income of 100000 francs before the
war, and now doesn't spend 10 francs
a day? No, because he himself does
not complain and accepts it in the
proper spirit, even though, instead Of
having his automobile waiting for him
at the station, he is obliged to walk
with an alpine Sack on his back in
place of @ valise. He says that he
mas never felt better. Like others. he
soon adapted himself to this new
state of affairs.