Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1917-08-18

oiu Hertruue, VINO mas just has'ereu the
art of balancing a bicycle. was riding up
and down the sidewalk regardless Of the
heat. A company Of khaki-clad soldiers
had just marched by the house on their
way to small camp few squares away.
The Lady was tanning herself and look
ing cool. She told me l also looked cool
In my white duck trousers. but had as.
sured her that looks were deceptive. Doc
tor McFabre, who reverses the rule Of lay
men in summer and spends his week.ends
working and the time between Monday
and Saturday loafing, came into view
mopping his forehead with his handker.
chief.
Did you see those soldiers?" he in
quired as he walked up to house, and
without waiting for an answer, he went
on: Il believe that II ever men were called
to do Gods work they are. The more
learn about Germany and the German at
titude toward life the more firmly con-
vinced / become that there will be no
peace in tSe world until the Germans are
deprived of all power to make trouble.
When Kiplng first called the Germans
Huns / thought that his patriotism had
obscured his judgment. l don't think so
now"
You are not the only man who has
changed his opinion" said I.
II am glad Of It," said the clergyman.
THE Germans have disgraced our COM
mon humanity"
DO you know what Christine Chol.
mondeley says about them?" asked.
Christine Cholmondeley? never
heard Of her.
"She is, or was. a young Englishwoman
who went to Berlin in May. 1914, to take
violin lessons from a distinguished Ger
man musician. She remained there until
she died on August s, in the meantime
becoming engaged to marry German
officer. Her letters to her mother have
Just been printed. She describes the tenn
per and the state of mind of the people
in Berlin in the months preceding the
war and the mad intoxication that fol-
lowed the outbreak OF hostiities. No
book that has come out of the war gives
a more vivid picture Of the Grass brutal
ity of Germany than this collection Of
letters of a music student"
"she sensed it, did she, before It was
manifested in Belgium"
"Yes. She found the Germans almost
insane with egoism. In the boarding
house the people at the table treated her
with tolerant scorn because she was an
Englishwoman. They gave her the i'm.
pression that everything Germany did
was right and that everything other ma
tions did was wrong even when they did
the same thing that Germany did. They
were seething with suppressed excitement
az though they were ready to jump at the
throat of any one who disputed them.
When she visited the house Of a countess
whose husband was In the ministry she
found the same point OF view and the
same excitement, expressed. 1t Is true, IN
a different way, but nevertheless unmis-
taxable. She found surface polish, but
underneath a brutality that shocked her.
Her music teacher was an exception at
the beeinnlnR. He was a broad.minded
man who perceived the folly Of his fellow
countrymen and ridculed their worship
of authority and looked with contempt on
their subserviency to the military class.
He expressed his opinion about the Kaiser
most freely, until the eve OF the war.
when his mouth was sllenced by decora-
ton and an appointment as privy coun-
cilor. Another exception was young
lieutenant, the man to whom she became
engaged. He wished to be musician,
but It was beneath the dignity Of a Junker
to be anything but an officer In the army.
He had been compelled to surrender his
hopes by the force of the social system In
which he was enmeshed. When England
entered the war, the countess In whose
house she was living after she became
engaged to the officer. refused to allow her
to stay there and was most savage in her
denunciation Of England and the English
The officer helped her to get out Of Berlin
on the way to Switzerland to escape the
outrages of which he knew she would be
the victim If she remained; but before she
got out of the country she was treated In
a beastly manner by petty officer, she
contracted pneumonia as result and
died. as her mother says In the preface to
her letters, a victim to the war as really
as though she had been in the trenches"
THAT sort of thing is about what I
have come to expect from the Germans"
said Doctor McFabre.
But we did not expect 1t three years
ago" said I. 1--WE were like Miss Chol-
mondeley. who went to Berlin filled with
admiration for German music and litera-
ture and ready to like the Germans. She
found them so different from any persons
with whom she had ever before come in
contact that she could not like them. save
in exceptional instances. Their civiliza-
ton was only a veneer. They had the IN
stincts of beastly savages. Her own
mother thought she was unfair to them,
but as the years have passed and as the
evidence has piled up she decided to let
the world have the benefit Of her daugh-
ter's experiences In the hope that some
good might be done"
"I'd like to read the book" said the
clergyman. i
You ought to read 1t for two reasons.
The first is in order to get some under
standing of the mind Of Germany on the
eve of the war; and the second is that you
tnta ~