The Daytona daily news. [volume] (Daytona, Fla.) 1903-1926, 1915-05-05
Mr. BECOMES W|B|T
Take e carslsosly Like LIE on Vol
!eano-eoys All Expect % Fight
and Are Not Uneasy Over
Proopeet.
~ cAnRlEL pELAcARpE.

BY GABRIEL DELAcARDE.
Correspondent Chicago Daily. News)
Amiens, Erance.-ln the last few
days / have made inquiries among
many persons to ind out the state OF
mind of the civil population Is regards
the war generally. l have talked with
tradespeople, manufacturers, retired
merchants, ordinary laborers, other
employees-as many as possible of
each. It is easy to enter upon 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 Of the war were Invariably
believed fall now on skeptic&l ears.
Moreover. things are now In order.
The other day, at prominent hair
dresser's shop in town, q man an
nounced to those who would listen
that the Germans had just entered
Albert. An oficer, 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
accustomed to this abnormal state Of
affairs, just as the inhabitants Of g
town near a smoking volcano go abou
their business without giving it :
thought. AS friend of mine, lit
erary man of these parts. said to me
War? It's matter of habit; heart
soul, mind. all become daily hardened
to it, We have adapted ourselves t
our new life"
And the remark is just. 1t apple
to the people, especially to the mel
| MDO nave ACAC- AL III
young men are alike: that is, the grea
majority. They realize that, if tn
war lasts, their turn will come to &
to the front, and it causes them n
uneasiness.
There is the mental anguish whic
affects all without distinction. wit
terrible equality, from the minister [
whom we are indebted for the thre
years service law and who has ju:
lost his son, to the poor little woma
who chars to make a living, who's
husband is prisoner in Germany.
This it is which makes war odiou
which creates the fiercest hatred
both in the hearts of the soldiers an
the civil population. One day l +
turned from Albert with poor wor
an, who has no one at the front, b.
who has witnessed the ruin of tow
: by bombardment. She stretched o.
her thin arms with the suppleness
a cat as she said:
Let the women have hand. {
liver to me four 'boches' only, and
will undertake to put out the eyes
those highwaymen."
The refugees suffer and have 81
Tered materially. They are virtual
i the only ones. One may say that,
/ from increasing misery, the war
| diminished 1t. Such wave of offic
/ and private charity has swept oy
l the country! Nearly all of the poor
| classes receive from the state eth
l an indemnity for their enforced i'd
ness or relief because of the war.
i Am to pity the manager of a lar
factory who told me he had lived
| an income of 100000 francs before I
/ war, and now doesn't spend 10 frar
/ a day? No, because he himself dc
/ not complain and accepts it in I
l proper spirit, even though, instead
/ having his automobile waiting for b
at the station, he is obliged to wa
/ with an alpine sack on his back
place of valise. He says that
has never felt better. Like others,
soon adapted himself to this u
II