The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1918-10-19
ADJUSTMENTS FOR !
RELIEF Of THE MIND
All Sorts Of Diversions In Berlin to
Detract Attention from Horrors
Of War.
HAVE PERFECT CAMoUFLAGE.
Dense I4ne for Weekly Allowance Of
Five Cigars Per Man-Grcat Crowds
Attend Races to Keep Mind on
Front.
BY ALFRED q. ANDERSEN.

Copyright. 1918, by Star Company
On my firat morning walk down
Inter den Linden in Berlin nothing
astonished me 20 much as the hun
dreds OF young men in civilian clothes
who outwardly suggested physical
fitness Why wern't they at the
front?
The answer came when I collided
with husky young man founding the
corner at Observation-Disclosures and Inter
den Linden. He touched his hat and
made apology. But his hand was not
flesh and blood. It was wooden sub
stitute. After that l subjected all
these young civilians to closer scrutiny
and found that practically every one
was a camounaged cripple from the
battle to whom surgical skill had re-
stored an outward appearance of
physical soundness. Hands and legs
OF wood and rubber were In evidence
everywhere.
Except for a general scarcity Of
taxicabs and the presence OF emaciated
horses drawing wagons and cabs Ber-
lin presents comparatively few out
ward indications Of wartfmes wear
and tear. True. measured by peace
standards, the city looked bit un-
washed. Such automobiles as could
be found piled chiefly between big
downtown hotels and the railway
stations. Not q rubber tire did / see
on the entire lot. Every one had iron
tires with springs fixed between the
over the streets.
Crossing Inter den Linden OBJ
served a large crowd of men In front
OF a tall building on Friederichstrasse.
Five Cigars Per Week.
approached the. crowd expecting to
But did not, 1t was simply great
queue OF men gathered at a tobacco
store awaiting their turn to purchase
the government weekly allowance Of
five cigars. Cigars are so scarce that
devotees stand in line for several
hours to get just enough smokes to
last them until nightfall
During nay first day in Berlin / en-
countered at least dozen such
queues. but they weren't all lines of
desperate smokers. One was OF wo-
announcement that some cabbages
had been received. Others were
pIeasure-seekers lined up in front Of
theatre box Offices, patiently waiting
TO obtain tickets for next weeks per-
Torrance at exorhitant prices A
novel reading habit had been intro
duced by enterprfsing book peddlers
/ saw queues of more than two hun
bred people all with noses buried in
cheap paper-hound novels purchased
from book peddlers at thirty pfen-
nings fabout seven cents) each.
Turn Homes Into Hospitals.
On the west side Of Berlin I found
the long row OF military hospitals
Nd nf AyvnU
fully three-fourths OF the buildings
In arietocrAtic Kurfnrzten- Damn,
have been requisitioned for wounded
soldiers.
The Berliner himself unless he has
friends or relatives to visit. give such
hospitals wide berth. as his pre-
dominating thought at that time was
to keep his mind of the war as pos
sible..
~ For that reason the Bersiner goes
in heavily fog theatres and moving
pictures. Prices have advanced at all
playhouses. Some pay an high as SIS
for a good seat. yet l was told that
practically every theatre was doing a
capacity business
Attracted by q poster that nearly
took my breath away. I paid one mark
for a seat at Wfttlesbach's moving
picture on observation-disclosures. The
poster presented Mutt and Jeff prac-
ticing their antics in a submarine OF
indeterminate nationality. OF course,
i thought ii was some Teutonfc YER
sion OF Bud Fishers famous pets
Imagine my sprprise when / found it
was the real thing probably exported
to Germany from some neutral
country.
The house was packed and the
pranks OF ianky Mutt and tiny Jen
brought roars OF laughter.
II Ia probable that the audience did
not know the film was Of American
origin. as it bore no imprint and the
captions had been translated into
German. stili It IL possible that they
would not have cared. as found that
the bulk OF Aims, plays and operas
presented In Berlin were English or
American.
Many American Films.
Jimmy Valentine, famous Ameri-
record run at the II. +. Theatre on
Kurfuersten Damn. The yolks Buhne
was advertising King Lear and the
Leasing theatre Hamlet. Othelio was
was beink sung at the Royal opera.
and Martha, an English opera, held
the boards at the Charlotttensburg
opera house. A photoplay version Of
Oscar Wilds.s DoraIn Gray was pre-
scented at the Tauenxken Palast.
Berlin Is even turning to her
enemies not only for creative dramatic
and operative genius. but even for
the more mechanical requirements of
Deutsche theatre told me that but
for the stage help and mechanics
drawn from the ranks OF French and
British prisoners all the playhouses