Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1918-11-21

and orderly air Of the French 1tetit bour-
geoiS. On that side of the square the color
Ing was unmistakably French. Many of
the young girls wore the Alsatian head
dress, a huge black bow of satin ribbon at
the back OF the hair.
But the center of the park was obviously
Prussian. Soldiers in blue and scarlet
coats, officers In spiked helmets and tie
beautiful long coats of pearl gray. Par
dcularly I observed an officer of high
rank, perhaps a colonel, pacing to and
fro in the middle of the square talking
with companion officer and followed by
trim and handsome blond youngster, an
orderly who carried his superiors sword
and scabbard, probably because the colo
mel had found them burdensome in the
heat The colonel in his walking talked
vigorously and pursued zigzag course.
moving in each transit nearer to the side
or the square, where Twas sitting on
bench.
| watched him, quite fascinated by the
perfection Of his military bearing. Pres.
emily l became more interested, because
near me small boy about six years
old was playing in the gravel, squatting
over some innocent game with pebbles
could see that the colonel's line of march
would bring the child directly in his path
and wondered if a being so august would
interrupt his talk to step aside. I need
not have wondered. The officer and his
respectful listener drew near. Prussia be-
came aware of little Alsace, whose back
was unsuspectingly turned toward the on.
as one would fling aside an inconvenient
stick or stone, my colonel raised his riding
boot and kicked the urchn brutally out of
his way. 1t was not a kick of passion or
anger; it was a kick of cold contempt and
matter of course. He thought no more
about it, but went on walking The lis
tener and the orderly hardly noticed the
incident. And the child ran across the
square TO his parents. bawing with pain.
COMMENT is unnecessary. Infurated as
~ l was to witness such an act of cold
booded cruelty, it would have been useless
to interfere. l turned away in disgust
1t was one more of many evidences
1t is interesting to recall that year
later Q9l9 Saverne was the scene of the
famous "Zabern incident" The people of
she town had always treated the garrison
Of the "odous Ninety ninth" with uncon.
cealed sneers and had infuriated Prussian
pride by hootng in the streets during the
passage of goose-stepping squads of SOL
| diers. Lieutenant Won Forstper, a par
ticularly staggering specimen of the Ger
| man bully, had aroused the hatred of the
civilians by offering ten marks from his
| own pocket to any German soldier who
would bayonet any Alsatian rascal VINO
| 'insulted" the army Inasmuch as the Ger
| mans were the judges of what constituted
an insult, and one fayorite reason for
bullying civilians was that they had ain.
| tended to laugh" when an officer passed,
the upshot of this kind of bitterness was
certain. Won Forstner himself attacked
| with his saber a lame cobbler who had
| laughed at him. According to some ac-
| counts the cobber was killed, but / am
not certain about this. AT any rate, other
civilians taking the mans part, twenty
seven of them were seized and locked up
overnight in the cellar OF the barracks.
This incident became the occasion OF
heated debate In the Reichstag and the