New-York tribune., 1918-01-27
The Ncac Yorlc Tribune


Foreign Press Buycou
! Daughters of Hecuba is the name under
which Clara Niebie undertakes in the form
OF d romance to show the life OF women in
Germany during the war 1t is not pleas
ant life, according to The review of the book
IN lie Temps" of Paris, and one wonders
no" the German censor came to allow the
oook to appear, for it confirms in so many
particulars the crepe drapcd portraits
painted by ncutrals.
I'VE see the crowd going to read the com
munique," says "Le Temps "Bv the end
Of the summer Of 1915 the heart is already
gone out of the people. They read the COM
muniquc' in silence. Three weeks before
they had rung the bells o! victory for War
saw and after that for Novogcorgeievsk. But
dlsenchantnent gains on them They no
longer bring out the flags TO decorate their
houses with each new victory. No longer do
the streets resound with their frantic cheers.
"lhe soldiers who return from the West
ern front tell stories that make one shiyer
What matters the bells for the conquest of
Montenegro! Later. when the battle for Yer
dun is ON, Germany writhes i agony No
letters. NO soldiers on leave. The women
who know their husbands are before Ncrdun
ice Ike fowl from the shadow OF the hawk
Nerdun. Verdun. The children prav r3,.
their fathers who go to the attack Of Douau-
mont and NauX What mute dramas are
played in Berlin before the lists OF casual.
ties that lengthens cruelty, Can any man
come living from that hell Of Nerdun y
And alter that one sees hunger seize the
population, one sees the long files of women
VINO walt for hours for Il meagre distrjbu-
ton o. herrngs. They are pale and tor
tuleu ny munger They murmur among
themselves against the war, and the general
VINO is IN charge OF the distribution under
stands for the first time 'the power of the
people.
Our Kaiser Makes Peace"
IN the third winter the report spreads in
berlin that the Kaiser has made an offer Of
peace, and the people believe that their long
martyrdom is at an end. The book ends
with the words, Our Kaiser makes peace,
lhe plot OF the story is less unpleasant
than the descriptions Of the life of the peo-
pie. The author sees thousands on thou
sands Of women gathered around the tomb
Oh thelr hopes. They form numberless
chorus of broken hearted mothers. cxhaline
their plants and their mourning. They tear
out their hair and strike their breasts and
''eii i""ae"td'loES rise to heaven as heart
rending as in the times of Hecuba." "Ie
Temps" quotes from the book 1t is from
'his passage that the book takes its name.
Beside these women" lie TEMPS" con-
'lnues' we see others, wives, fiancees. that
ucstiny spares not. In little town near
Berlin Clara Viebig has put the principal
personages of her romance. There is the
flch 1amlly of Bertholdi, of whom the two
sons are at the front. The youngest boy has
gone from school to the trenches, while the
lather Is reserve officer on the Russian
iroht. Inc mother lives alone in tie villa
where she had been so happy.
Her nelghbor is the widow Kruger, a sour
tempered old peasant, who thinks she he's
recognized IN a reproduction in AN illustrated
paper or photograph taken in a nrison
e"''p IN Corsica the portrait of her son. GUS