The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1917-09-02
NINE. SULzER SAYS
US. SOLDIERS ARE.
BASHFUL IN PARIS.
BY GERTRUDE STEVENSON.


Can you imagine an American sol
der shy, bashfuI, and i'll at ease?
Neither can !, but the wife Of the
new Swiss minister, Madame Hans
sulzer, lately arrived from Paris as
sures me that the fine American
troops she saw in the French capital
are all that and more.
That the American soldier at home
and the American soldier abroad are
two different boys is the conclusion
TO be drawn from Madame Suffers OBJ
servations in Paris and Washington.
On his home ground the American
boy asks odds of no one, but put him
down suddenly in a foreign capital
1000 miles from home, his eyes be-
wildered by strange sights and MS
ears tormented with a strange tongue
he cannot understand. and he reverts
to that earlier age when as small
boy he had to endure the minister's
call for tea
1.-THE most interesting thing in
Paris at the moment" Madam Sulzer
exclaimed, sis. the American soldier.
The English, the Russians-all were
quite out of it when those fine, fresh'
iong-limbed boys of yours came
ashore. Oh, how eager they looked;
as though they could fight the world.
And how the French opened their
arms to them 1t Is an open secret
that the French soldier already loves
the American soldier as he does no
other, not even the British Tommie'
with whom he has been brother IN
arms for so long"
But They Are Shy.
Mrs. suIzer, who is of the brilliant,
xivacious European type. paused,
smiled a bit mischievously, and
added:
"But It didn't need even a woman's
eve to see that those American boys
are very shy. and Il Tn not mistaken
very homesick in that city 5000 miles
away from the land they call home
They never go about alone. You al
ways see them in grouPs-two OF
three taxi-loads travelling together'
Mrs. Sulzer laughed
sThey evidently haven't forgotten
the American slogan, In union there
strength! You see the other soIuiers
wandering about singly, but never an
American. They're bashful- They
seem to fear making a faux pas
They seem to want their pals along to
holster up their social courage To
me there was something very pa
4hetic IN those fine boys who hao
come SO many miles from home to
drht for a sister republic. And as l
watched them thought Of the Amer
lean mothers and wives and sweet
hearts. Oh, think you've had won
derful courage 10 send your men!
don't see how the women have done
1Fh q ND
British women, il Is quite different.
For the English woman to send her
man to the front Is just sending him
across the channel. The French
woman knows that he's but a short
motor trip from home. Bat the miles
of ocean that intervene between an
American woman and her soldier boy
IN France-it is something to contem-
plate, is It not?
See Paris at Her Rest.
But the American soldiers are see
ing Paris at her best" Madame Sulzer
continued.
"To me Paris was never finer than
she is now. Today one can see and
know the real Partisan. The crowds
Of foreigners are absent and the real
Parisians, than whom there are none
more delightful, are coming into their
own.
"And don't think Paris Is dun. quiet,
yes, but there is plenty to do and
not nearly SO depressing as one might
think. The people do not talk OF their
troubles or complain They seem to
be going about with their heads up,
calmly certain OF a victorious out
come. It Is quite wonderful. Even
the Germans have come to admire 1t.
OF course the fashionable life has dis.
appeared, but after all is said and
done. that wasn't the incest thing
about Paris. A woman who appears
in a cafe IN evening gown now is
drowned upon and persons in evening