The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1915-07-11
SOME NEW BOOKS.
A Vivid Picture ~ Things In the
war Zone.

is ERIC FISHER WOODS volume inc
Notebook Of an Attdcht, or Sercn
Months in the Wa Zone tThe Cen
tiry Company. Here is a young
sc,:Sent at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts
at Paris who when the war storm
suddenly broke over Europe became
attache at the American Embassy
under the regime of Mr.. Herrick. did
hard clerical lnbor first a. the enA-
bassy, taking are Of interned Ger
mans and Austrians. and was sent to
the front on foul different commits
sions, covering the territory from
Vitry-le-Francois to Dunkirk. He
was eve witness Of parts of the bat
.ies Of the Marine and the Aisne and
the struggle for Calais. and several
times carried dispatches between the
American embassies France, Eng
land. Switzerland. Holland, Germany,
Austria and Hungary. lie had oppor-
tunity to see British. Belgian and
German troops in action and French.
German, Swiss, Dutch. Austrian and
Hungarian troops in man1uvres. Be-
cause the author is so careful to be
dispassionate and accurate in his OBJ
servations his conclusions are the
more weighty. Two things the reader
may clearly derive from the book. the
terrible setback to all civilization OF
an ultimate German conquest and the
immediate danger OF our military un.
preparedness.
Few more vivid pictures have been
given Of Paris at the sudden declara-
ton Of war. The Chancellerie on
August 4. the date of Mr.. Woods
arrival, presented um astounding ap-
p~earance. Compact crowds of Ger-
mans, men and women. were pressed
about the entrance. while hui.dreds OF
Americans were seeking personal
interviews with their Ambassador
Each s. A. c. (S~ovcreign --nerican
C4f1sen) n vociferating and re-
monstrating upon some separate
grievance. They reiterated their
sovereignty. They wished informa-
ton! They needed money. They
wished to know what to do with their
letters Of credit. They wanted to
know what the Government was go
ing to do about transportation! They
wanted to know IL Paris was safe:
IL they could deposit their Jewels in
the embassy vaults: II passports were
necessary and why. and from the
young attaches account they were
more difficult to deal with than the
poor. panic stricken Germans. Many
OF these were unable to make use
OF the twenty-four hour grant Of
leave on account OF the disarrange-
ment OF the railway service and the
difficulty Of getting money. They
were caught like rats in a trap. The
Lycee Condorcet. a great barn Of a
place. was set aside TO house them.
Practically all the furniture was re-
moved and by 6 o'clock on the eve
ming Of August 5 the building was so
crowded that the later comers could
And no space even to sit down on the
floor. Later they were removed to
detention camps in Limoges, Gueret,
Cahors, Libourne. Perigueux. Saintes,
Leblanc. La Roche-sur-Yon. Chateau
roux, Saumur. Anglers and Flora
They were shipped in large t~rajnloads
day by day. ~ 4N
As to the young attaches w work.
II began before Q o'clock in the morn
ing and lasted until after midnight.
None of the stan, not even Mr.. Her
rick. left the embassy before that
hour. The work vas continually at
high pressure and the difficulty in get
ting any means of conveyance neces-
STATED going miles afoot after the days
labor. At the beginning of the war
there were probably thirty thousand
Germans inc Austrians in and around
Paris to be cared for. Interesting
anecdotes of the outbreak of French
temper against merchants who tried
TO run up the prices of food, of the
wrecking Of German shops. especially
all the establishments of the Dor
Lat Maggi' and the really good tenn
per and cordiality shown that Taube
which dropped a bomb upon Paris
each evening at 6 o'clock promptly In
the early days of September are
quietly but humorously related. When
finally on September 4 the Taube
failed to arrive one heard In the res
taurants that evening Frenchmen ex-
pressing the extraordinary hope that
nothing too terrible had happened to
brave Lieut.. Won Heidssen." Indeed
the author states such is the gener-
osity of the French temperament that
the brave lieutenant was quite uni
versally mourned when II was dis
ruverAd that a rifle bullet had pierced
his heart while flying over the Bots
de Nincennes and that he had planed
down a long, steep slant and landed
without serious damage to the ma
chine. though he sat store dead
strapped to his seat. TIL descrip-
tons OF Rheims Cathedral. after the
bombardment. Of the deserted, burned,
daCtrnvad villages NJ EranNn non x,iytl