Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1918-12-31

and cold over the low countries,
where the winter days are short ana
dark and where the cold ram tallS
almost necessarily We looked. upon
the sad countenance OF that scene
with the consciousness that II was
for the last time; we felt that We
should not see the spring come &c
shut us once more within the green
of those lefty trees OF the noole
park and the grass OF those lovely
slopes The guns thumped on IN
relentingly; often in the watches OF
the night l would listen to their reg
Clar throb-like the slow beating OF
the sad heart of a world that had
grown very old and cynical ana
mean, in an age without Illusions or
ideals.
There were no more smiles in the
once all-radiant city, and in the
midst Of the almost universal. de-
preston there in the Forest the Ger
mans were cutting our hrs for
| Christmas trees. and-grotesque
| touch by which the sardonic spirits
must mar even tragedy-a group OF
! them in the Bots playing at hide
| and-seek behind the noble beeches!
! The Shaving was going on every
| where. though 1t had not come to
| Brussels YET. The capital, some said,
| was being reserved until the last,
| while others thought that was to be
| spared entirely, though one verSed
| by experience in the inplacable re-
/ sistance of German intention knew
/ thu the visit was only postponed
| In fact. as an official whispered to
/ ne one day, il was fixed for date
! in January. The terror was perhaps
/ no less and the rage had not abated,
| but it had grown less acute and
| there was that pathetic quality of
| fatalistic acquiescence in it.
! Events that once had inspired in
| dignation passed now almost I'M
| noticed, as when there was q new
announcement about the war levy
| and tho provincial councils Of the
. provinces Of Antwerp, Brabant, Lux
I emburg. Liege and Namur refused to
/ comply with the German order to
| levy the new contribution and the
contribution was forced by a decree
of the governor general.
The slave drive at Brussels finall.
began on the goth of January. Fol
I several days before that date German
soldiers went quietly about the city
leaving at certain houses yellow
cards, ordering the men whose name.
they bore to appear on the morning
of the day noted at the Care du Midi
and in some instances at the Grand
Place. The cards bore an offer OF
work and threatened the recipient
with a fine il he. did not appear. HG
was TO come with boUes, blankets anC
/ extra clothing.
The men thus summoned We're II
. ! every case. or in nearly every case
/ unemployed. How the Germans hat
secured possession of the lists wa
/, a mystery: they had not been sur
rendered by any of those havin;
them in hand, and the Germans mus
have made up the lists themselves
] slowly, patiently. from the report
at the registration bureau.
There had been no public order
the notices We're served on each indi
: T4IT - =.
5 Simultaneous sensation that the post
ing of notice produced in village
but the news perColated gradual.
and created its silent horror. TIL
weather. in the monOtonous iron!
OF things. was biting cold-sucl
, never known. On the 18th of Jan
uary there was what we in Americ;
would call a blizzard, and on tina
day there was notice. not convok
ing the "chomeurs," but explaining
the proceeding, and. with that hypo
crisy which almost invariably in
tensifled the evil quality of any c
the German deeds. seeking to tust
fy it as benevolent in it's intention
and of benefit to the Belgian natiol
That night. the eve of the deports
tons. the fear that brooded over til
city was almost palpable to til
/ senses. Even women had received til
J fatal yellow cards. The goth cam
/ and almost before daylight-early
that cold. glacial dawn-the me
began to appear at the Care du Mid
! They came in groups of ten, of twel
! ty. of fifty: some in warm clothe
I with their bundles patheticall
, ! ready. others without even raincoat
shivering in the searching wind.
, There were women in masses. an
children come for the last gOod-b.
But ther could not approach the st;
: ticn. The arrangements were di;
[ bolically perfect: all the streets wei
barred and there was a. squadron {
: ChlanS, grim and brutal as Onl
I JThlans know how to be. to keen II
I nished with the yellow cards had ii
( sinister distinction of admission
the lines.
, The men were taken inside the st;
tion. Those who come to bid the
i | precautionary and grleVoUS fareWel
and to wait in the anguish of a pc
II sistent hope, and those who can
! merely to observe the.pitiCul TRACED
stood behind those rones, behind Il
, ! lances of the Uhlans. The hours SLOW
} ly passed; the vicious process wei
on within the brick walls of the st;
Now and then a man would DO
from the saunt structure, dancin
} for very joy. Some physical defec
, come latent disease. long DerhaI
rUDation. dreaded in itself as a pc
} lion of doom. n sentence of deaf
now proved to be a reprieve instea
Il means of liberation. so that J
victim could fling himself into Il
arms of some waiting woman al
Elingle his tears of joy with her tea
Of gIadness. and so away, as thous
;reading on air. some miracle ha
/ ing restored life and hope. But oth
women waited all day. until the
tears died in the dumb anguish
that cruel and monstrous separatio
, Food. 1870, Deported
That evenZZTI received a deleg
D to be TEsScnt. and thev distribut,
!, food an clothing TO the men WI
y were h9rded into the waiting catt
7 cars 6 Yd hurried away into that az
ful ana. as it proved for so MAJ
Of th4n, that homeless exile
Thft evening 7 received y deies
ton IRON the hurgo'naster OF Z
c1mnlko pes IN La Louvlere' ne
Charetoi. askinp that permission
p ! Obta he'd to send to the deported M
y in Gelman= boxes of food sncn
were tsent 10 the prisoners OF w
The German authorities had relus;