The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1916-04-28
vERDUN BATTLE ENDS SQUABBLE.
 OF FRENCHMEN.
Bravery of Soldiers Now Topic of Conversation Instead
 of Plots. .N

Paris April 28.-The Battle of
 Verdun appears to have had a great
 moral effect in France. It has turn
 ed attention from irritating discus l sions over details of the conduct of 1 the war and has cut short an incipient
 and in the press, which had been fa- vored by relative stagnation at the 1 front. Also it seems. to have dirnin-
 ished the number of pessimists and
 hence increased French confidence in 1 the final outcome. ''They have shot their bo1t,'' is a fre- l quent commentary heard in places
 where two months ago there were nervous complaints as to the pr6- 1ongation Of hosti1ities. '"They can do no more than they have done, which is far from enough ever to shake the French army"
 Shortly before the Germans attack ed Verdun some radical and Socialist papers attacked the priests, the cler- ica1s and the "easy'' class, charging them with shirking arduous and dan .gerous missions. No priest or aristo- ! crat, they said, had ever been seen in a trench. They also accused them of aiding and abetting the Germans after having helped to bring on the war in the hope that a disaster to France would overthrow the Republi- can or Parliamentary regime. They accuse them of sending money to Ger many to subscribe to the German war loans. A wineshop keeper of the De- accusations was prosecuted ana sen tenced- to three years imprisonment and was fined 1000 francs.
 The campaign against the priests and clericals was even taken up by such a conspicuous writer as Monsieur Paul Adam, who made similar charges in the leading radical newspaper of the South of France, the Depeche de Toulouse, and drew upon himself a storm of protest. The Battle of Yer dun did far more to stop the cam paign than the conviction of the wine shop man of the Lot and the protests against the articles of Monsieur Paul Adam. It has, perhaps, accomplish ed even more than the letter of the Premier. Monsieur Briand, declaring
 that all such calumnies should be punished. To-day all parties, in renewed their declaration in /ravor Of war to the bitter end, are working in harmony.
 About two months ago it was pos sible to witness such incidents as that which took place in @ little cafe in the center of Paris. Two soldiers in
 stained uniforms, smacktng of the front, were taking their morning cof- fee in a retired corner-modestly and inconspicuousIy as is the, way with the
 
 were concealed from two civilians who were discussing the war. ''I've had my fill of it,'' said one of the civilians. ''It's time it was brought to a finish. If the generals in command can't do it they ought to be replaced.'
 One of the soldiers rose to his feet and confronted the pessimist. My good friend,'' he said, 1t'you must have had a hard time of it. When were you mustered out. Tell us what you've done in the war and what the wars done to you to give you such a tired feeling'' The civilian gulp- ed down the rest of the coffee and rushed out of the cafe without reply ing.
 To-day the cafe conversations are all about some exploit aroundsVerdun and what will happen to the Germans if they persist in their effort to take the ancient stronghold.
 There is also less discussion of the high cost of living than two months ago, although there has been no ap- preciab1e easing of prices. This, too, is Accounted for by the heroic resist ance of the army.