Evening star., 1915-11-16
BY RICHARD HARDING DAVIS.
Cabiegram to The Star

Special Cabiegram to The Star.
PARIS, November 16.-In England
1t is business as usual: in France !,
is war as usual" The English trades
man can assure his customers that with
such an "old established" firm as his
not even war can interfere; but France
with war actually on her soil, has gone
further and has accepted war as part
of her daily life She has not merely
swallowed, but digested it. 1t is like
the line in Pinero's play, where one
woman says she cannot go to the opera
because of her neuralgia. Her friend
replies: You can have neuralgia in
nv box just as we'll as anywhere else.
In that spirit France has accepted the
war The neuralgia may hurt, but she
does not take to her bed and groan, sne
smiles cheerfully and courageously and
goes about her duties-even sits IN her
box at the opera.
Interest Is Surprising.
As we approached the front-which now
is a French word-this was even more evil
dent than in Paris. where signs OF war are
all but invisible. Outside Of Am;ens we
met a regiment of Scots with the pipes
plavine and the cold rain splashing their
bare legs To watch them we leaned from
the car window. That we should be inter-
ested seemed to surprise them no one
else was interested. A year ago when
they passed it was Roses, roses. all the
way''-or at least cigarettes, chocolate e
and red wine. Now, in spite OF the skirt
ing bagpipes, no one turned his head 10
the French they had become part OF the
landscape. ~
A year ago the roads at every 200
Yards were barricaded 1t was con-
tinual hurdle race. Now, except at DIS
tances of four or five miles, the parri .
cades have disappeared. one slde OF
the road is reserved for troops, the
other for moving vehicles. Those We
hicles we meteor the most part two
wheeled hooded carts-no longer con-
tanned peasants with their belongings
Tying from dismaEtled villages. In
stead they carried garden truck, pigs
or calves. on the way to market. On
the drivers seat the peasant whistled
cheerily and cracked his whip The
long lines of London buses, that last
year advertised soap, mustard. milk
and music halls, and which now are d
decorous gray; the ambulances; the great
guns drawn by motor trucks with catch
pillar wheels. no longer surprise him.
English Ally Paying Guest.
The English ally has ceased to be a
stranger and is a paying guest in the
towns and villages of Artois. The shop
windows are dressed chiefly for Kim.
The names of the towns are Flemish,
the names of the streets are Flemish.
the names over the shops are Flemish
but the goods for sale are nlarmalade,
timed kippers, etc.
They are capable, adaptable and oblis-
ing Ir our men ask these Shopkeepers
for ANYTHING they haven't got they don't
saw: I'VE don't keep it,; they get him
to write down what he wants and they
send for it.
1t is the better way. The Frenchman
does not say, War is running me-; he
makes the war help to support him. and
at the same time gives comfort to his
ally.
A year ago in the villages the old men
stood in disconsolate groups, with their
hands in their pockets Now they are
briskly at work They are working in
the fields, in the vegetable gardens. help
ing the territorials mend the roads. On
every side of them were the evidences
of war--in the fields. abandoned trenches.
barbed- wire entanglements. shelters for
fodder and ammunition. hangers for re-
pairing aeropanes. vast slaughter houses,
parks of artillery, and on the roads end
less lines of lorr:es, hooded ambulan noes
and marching soldiers.
One Hand Fights, One Plows.
To us these were of vivid interest. but
to the French peasant they are in the