The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1916-01-01
FROM ireland 70 ROME IN WAR TINE

IUnlL hn llnlL
the ubiquitous appeals inviting you
to become soldier; in Paris it is a
different appeal, but an even more
obsessing one that meets your eye
wherever you turn it. You have al
ready noticed it befQges swallowing
your first sip otsa I'M pasted
on the wind 'ssi i Ell dkly fac
ing you: sssTaisexziIs 11I13i ez-vous,
Les oreiles ennemfsS outent."
yet it hardly touchssgyou kcept as
being eccentric and atsurd. but there
it is also in bold characters staring
at you from the opposite wall, and
when you enter tram it is the first
thing you see, or when you sit down
in restaurant it is the hors d'oeuvres
of your meal. Don't talk'-that is
easy enough for the stranger in Paris;
nobody has the slightest desire to
talk to you or to listen to you. "Me-
fiez-vous "-perhaps it is only your
imagination, but the people around
seem to distrust you, to be on their
guard against you, and soon you find
yourself distrusting anybody who
looks at you, for he may be detec
tive or fanatical patriot who "sees"
spies. So if any enemy ears are
really listening to you they have their
labor for their pains, and if every idle
word you speak is registered against
you above, those two days you have
spent in Paris in the year of good
byes" show virgin pages.
Though it is depressing, you can
almost smile on it all-when nobody
is looking. But that is before you
reflect or note the changes that have
taken place in your Parisians. They
were the most volatile of citizens;
they are now the most serious and de-
termined. Why? My neighbors at
the next table are two young soldiers;
one of them has his head swathed in
white bandages, the other has care.
fully arranged his crutch before sit,
ting down. A woman in heavy crepe
passes at the moment, then another
almost Immediately and another, and
at last you are struck by the great
numbers of Partisan women who are
in mourning, and by the stern, almost
grim look that most of the men Of
Paris wear. And at once you think
of that long line stretching across
France in which the defenders and
: the invaders are engaged night and
day in death struggle.
You are glad enough to leave Paris
even though you have to sit upright
' the whole night in crowded railway
carriage, and very glad to cross the
border into Italy. Italy, too, is at war
but somehow it is different-perhaps
because with all its hardships and
destruction of human life the war here
is not felt to be a question of life
or death for the nation. If that is
true of Genoa, where you break the
al, JouAASy oAu pooo IuO AloAC, ~ 10 AAOA
true of Rome, the goal of your wan
. derings. BY night Rome looks al
usual; the lights are burning brightly
the Via Naziona1e and the Corso are
! thronged with placid Romans takinf
: the evening air, there are no signs o.
mourning or suspicion, and people
talk and laugh much as they did thi:
time two years ago. True, in thu
daytime you will discern the traces
= of war through the city-in the man!
large buildings which have beer
: turned into hospitals for wounded sol
; diers from the front, in the numerous
4 shops In the Piazzi di Spagna an,
,. elsewhere that have been close,
y through mobilization" or for lack O
y customers, in the absence of pilgrim
= and tourists, in the empty hotels, IL
Be the shrunken cameratas of the eccle
Il siastical colleges, in the high price
II of food. Still, Rome is less disturbe,
by the war, and if it is not true tina
> the Roman "se ne fregna" of the i'm
mense conflict, as he does of mos
human things, it Is at least true tina
! he has not been fundamentally afflict
: ed by it.