Iowa state bystander. [volume] (Des Moines, Iowa) 1894-1916, 1915-04-30
WAR BECOMES HABIT.
People Quickly Adapt Themselves
to New Life.
Take II CareIessly Like Life on VOL
cano-Boys All Expect to Fight
and Are Not Uneasy Over
Prospect.
BY GABRIEL DELAGARDE.

Correspondent Chicago Daily NeWs)
Amiens, France.-In 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 a 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 skeptical ears.
Moreover, things are now in order
The other day, at prominent hair
dresser's shop in town, 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
accustomed to this abnormal state Of
affairs, just as the inhabitants Of a
town near smoking volcano go about
their business without giving%it a
thought. As a friend of mine,ta lit
erary man Of these parts, said 10 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." NJ
And the remark is just. 1t 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 a living, whose
husband is prisoner in Germany.
This 1t is which makes war odious
which creates the fiercest hatreds
both IL the hearts of the soldiers and
the civil population. One day l re-
turned from Albert with a poor WON
an, who has no one at the front, but
who has witnessed the ruin of town
by bombardment. She stretched out
her thin arms with the suppleness OF
a cat as she said:
ASS SAO "OAAO1 nave d udllu. lie
liver to me four 'boches' only, and
will undertake to put out the eyes oil
those highwaymen."
The refugees suffer and have suf
fered materially. They are virtually
the only ones. One may say that, ia,
from increasing misery, the war has
diminished it. Such a wave of officia
and private charity has swept over
the country! Nearly all of the poorer
classes receive from the state eithe,
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 on
an income of 100000 francs before the
war, and now doesn't spend 10 francs
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 al alpine sack on his back In
place Of valise He says that he
has never felt better. Like others, he
soon adapted himself to this new
state Of affairs,