Pierre weekly free press. (Pierre, S.D.) 1889-19??, 1917-08-09

as an example, my Sunday dinner there
| a good soup, a generous helping
from leg of mutton, potatoes, haricot
beans, white bread, cheese, jam and a
choice of wine or beer.
All the shops were open and doing .
brisk trade. You could buy almost any
thing you needed at a moderate price.
Indeed, 1t was common knowledge that
the German soldiers bought food to
send home to their families i spent.
lacked for good food, although the dis
tricts nearest the French frontier were
suffering from a scarcity of many COM
modities.
Back in Roubaix there was a dearth
of many necessaries, which, to me,
made the contract with the plenty OF
Belgium seem more acute. l bought
Egyptian cigarets of a British brand in
Brussels at trivial cost; in Roubaix l
have seen smokers carefully drying
rhubarb leaves, to be used as a tobacco
substitute. Confectionery was displayed
in quantities, and, in fact, the retail
shops showed an abundance of every
kind of eatable.
On my way to Brussels I saw what
struck me at first as a strange phe-,
nomenon. There were a cattle grazing
in the fields, a sight 1 had not seen in
northern France for many months.
Every head of cattle there had been
! SWSpI dWdy. I
Let me again insist that in telling Of
these things l am only speaking of my
own experience.
The everyday life of Brussels was 60
ing on when we reached there. Save
for very slight differenees-one of these
was the complete absence of motors
from the streets-to a casual observer
existence was carried on with every
suggestion of normality. Amusement
seekers We're lavishly catered for. The
atrical posters We're everywhere, and
cafes and movie theaters did a roaring
business.
For the first time since war began L
went to a play. 1t was at the Theater
Moliere, and the play was La Course
des FlambeauN," by Paul Hervieu,
acted by a Belgian company. Scarcely
an unoccupied seat remained in the
building, n again n again the whole
audience rocked with applause. Once
my attention was directed to a couple
of German soldiers in the stalls.
They" said a friend who had accom-
panied me, sit there every night to see
that nothing derogatory to Germany or
its armies is allowed to creep into the
play. Similar guards are stationed at
every theater."
"~Veronique' and 1.-The Merry Widow"
We're being played at other theaters.
All these entertainments began at
about $3.50 o'clock, for the theaters had
to be closed by 3. One afternoon i went
to a cinema Like he theater, it was
crowded, although it only gave the or
binary dramatic and comic films. No
war pictures were shown. One theater
has been entirely taken over by the
Germans, and operas and plays in Ger
man are given.
In northern France civilians are not
allowed to use the railways. / found
few restrictions Of that sort in Bel
| gillm. Anart from the difficnlfy ne
passing between the two zones nto
which Belgium is divided without spe-
cial passports, anyone is allowed to
travel freely on showing their identifi-
cation cards.
The Belgian posts. SO far - -, "
terror OF the country at any event 10
concerned, are still in being. t,e. .....
stamps must be used, heavily si1perim-
posed with the words Belgian post
and eight centimes (about four-fifth OF
a penny is charged for the transmits
sion Of a postcard. Fifteen centimes
(about three h%alfpence) is charged for
a letter. Belgian postmen both collect
and deliver.