The Columbus courier. [volume] (Columbus, Luna County, N.M.) 1911-1920, 1915-04-30
WAR BECOMES HABIT
People Quickly Adapt Themselves
to New Life.
Take II ca~relessly Like Life On Vol.
eano-6oys All Expect to Fight
and Are Not Uneasy over
Prospect.
BY GABRIEL

Correspondent Chicago Daily NewB,l
Amiens, Francs.-In the last few
days l have made inquiries among
i.iany persons to fnd out the state Of
mind Of the civil population as regards
the war generally. have talked with
tradespeople, manufacturers, retired
merchants, ordinary laborers, other
em~ployees-as many as possible Of
each. It is easy to enter upon a con
versation; at the present time It is
not necessary TO rack ones brains to
find a subject, and the subject is IN.
%exhaustible. People have grown wise.
The fantastical reports which at the
beginning Of the wal we're Invariably
believed fall now IN skeptical 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 vas being
shaved, lnterfered, had the man ar
rested, and for his imprudence he
passed eight days in prison.
Who would imagine, while walking
through the stree.9 Of Amiens. that
the Germans we're 80 kilometers
(about twenty miles, from here, not
more? The soldiers from the trenches
do not come here, or II they do the
officers and men are obliged to come
clean and In good style. Automobiles
only have the tight to be dirty. The
population. 1t appears. must not see
! Al. ...- l.. -. v.Wan,.v.r.kI FtwhN
So the people are gradually growing
accustomed to this abnormal state OF
affairs, just as the inhabitants OF a
town near a smoking volcano go about
their business without giving It a
thought. As a friend Of mine, a III,
erary man of these parts. said to me;
War? It's a matter of habit; heart
soul, mind, all become daily hardened
to 1t. 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. II the
war lasts. their turn will come to &C
to the front, and It causes them nc
uneasiness.
There is the mental anguish which
affects all without distinction, with
terrible equality, from the minister &c
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 a living, whose
husband Is a prisoner in Germany.
This It Is which makes war odious
which creates the %iercest hatreds
both IL the hearts Of the soldiC~ - anc
the civil population. One day l re
turned from Albert with a poor WON
an. who has no nj at the front, but
who has witnessed the ruin Of a town
by a bombardment, She stretched out
her thin arms with the suppleness OF
a cat as she said:
LET the women have a hand, De
liver TO me four 'boches' only, and
will undertake to put out the eyes OF
those highwaymen."
The refugees suffer and nave SUI
fered materially. They are virtually
the only mes. One may say that, fan
from increasing misery. the war has
diminished II. Such a wave Of oficia
and private charity has swept over
the countryl Nearly all Of the poorer
classes receive from the state either
an indemnity for their enforced idle
ness or relief because OF the war.
Am to pity the manager Of a large
factory who told me he had lived OF
an income of 100000 francs before the
war. and now doesn't spend 10 france
a day. No. because he himself doei
: not complain and accepts II In tbs
I proper spirit. even though, instead o.
? having his automobile waiting for hin
= at the station. he is Obliged to walk
with an alpine sack on his back II
: place OF a valise He says that HI
! has never felt better. Like others, h
soon adapted himself 10 this new
I, state Of AFFAIRS.