Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1918-07-12

ly blessed, ana opened TO MIN tHS
great iron gates in the court yard.
And when / came down-not at
half-past five, by any means
Adrien came TO me and with great
blazing eyes told me an astonish-
ing secret
The English had arrived. Ant
werp was full of them. Oh. there
could be no mistake; he knew the
uniforms, and they were everywhere,
thousands and thousands of them,
in short-the British army. All day
we lived in the pleaSureable excite
ment of the news, not daring TO
mention il, wondering if the GER
mans knew, and almost every min
ute expecting some great event 10
And then that afternoon at
o'clock came Gibson, with as many
adventures 10 relate as Adr7en, ana
great sacks of mail, and the news
that the mothers had sailed the day
before on the Baltic in the care of
Richard Harding Davis. Gibson was
accompanied by Harold Fowler, o.
the London embassy, come to take
out the English nurses. We could
tell him that they were already out
but what of Antwerp, and the
British army?
An, Antwerp. The army had gone,
the government had gone, the king
and queen had gone-out on the
road in the night to Ostend.
But the British army? Gone, too;
il had been only a little handful of
troops. come too late-and Antwerp
must fall.
We were up late that night hear
ing from Gibson and Fowler the
mass of mail from America, the
b first in many weeks, and the news
papers full of good news indeed
long stories to the effect that l had
sent protests to the kaiser for haV-
ing bombarded Antwerp from Zeppe-
Inns; that 1 had appointed Max sec
rotary of legation in order to save
his life; that had gone out to meet
the German general and ordered him
not to lay a hand on Brussels. Too
bad that the cinema man could not
have been there.
Gibson within ten minutes after
his arrival had taken to the Germans
the list of monument in Antwerp,
which in accordance with the agree
ment were to be protected in the
bonn bardment, and one o. the Ger
man officers with that peculiar SEN
timentality that seemed always to
lie side BY side with their ferocity,
was particularly interested to know
that the geological garden was
marked down as immune.
Les pauvres betes" C"The poor
beasts.")
do not think that list of build
ings to be protected was of much
necessary. The bombardment OF
the inner city had not lasted very
long and was then indeed nearly
over.
There was no sound of firing the
next day. and we had grown so used
to the sound that the stiffness left
us vaguely uneasy, as though some
normal thing were missing; we were
like the women to whom Villalobar
gave refuge in his legation during
the bombardment at Lisbon at the
time of the revolution; at every re-
port of cannon they screamed, until
he had them sent to the cellar, and
then, in a little while. they sent up
to complain that they could no long
er hear the guns. It was a strange,
silent, portentous day. In the after
noon Madame Davignon came to
inquire after the health of her hus-
band; he was well, was he not? And
safe, was he not? And ] did not
have the heart to tell her that as a
result of his responsibilities and
uerplexities and worries, he had
lust had a stroke of apoplexy.
The German headquarters was de-
serted; for once they were not work
ing there; there was an unwonted
air of somber quiet, as though life
and affairs were in suspense; no one
was to be seen until Conrad, the
good natured, serviceable, kindly
clerk. saw me and said:
"Anvers est tom5ee," and he add
Ell, automatically, Embarrassment"
(''Antwerp has fallen-officiallyD
I went back to the legation; de
Leval was there.
Antwerp has fallen" he said. He
said no more, too much depressed
to comment on the fact.
Later in the evening came Ma
dame w, lovely in her mourning.
"Anvers est tombee. Je suis tout
fat ruinee:" ("Antwerp has
fallen! / arr completely ruined!"D
she said She had large factories in
and near Antwerp, and German SOL
dierS. she had heard, were taking
away all they contained. though
later we were able to save some
thing for her.
And then came Villalobar with a
long face, and the same note. Ant
werp fallen! The news was not
only all over town, it was all over
the world. for he had a telegram
from Madrid.
Another caller arrived, NJ. j., a
Brussels lawyer.
is it true that Antwerp has fall
LEM" ne demanded.
Yes" l said.
And then a curious phenomenon
occurred; an eccentric reaction of
human nerves to a long dreaded
catastrophe, at last arrived. He
grew instantly livid with rage, his
eyes blazed, he advanced toward me
with clenched fists.
How dare you"' he said. How
dare you tell me that! 1t is not
true. II is not true!"
He was furious, indignant, as
though L had iHsulted him wanton-
Iy, as though I had impiously sui
lied some point of honor.
"It is impossible! 1t is impossi-
ble Those forts were built to be
impregnable, Nothing could over
throw them, Not the Germans, not
you!" Ard he sank onto my table,
beat It convulsively with his fists.
Down the long corridor there was
the sound OF voices and, strange in
that moment, the gay sound Of
women's laughter. Denys was there,
Denys of the Belgian foreign office.
What was the news? I heard him
ask. Fallen, said a voice, and the