New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1918-05-19
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Instalrnent

hidden. You and I, my friend. h.,.
TESTED together in other days about tha.
famous German word uerboten. At ss;,t
Hilaire we learned to understand ho,.
little humor it really contains.
r"And, should these people ever real,.
their ambition, the whole world Mi,
learn it, too. 1t is, believe me, word
of infinite seriousness, and it's scope !.
quite without bounds. It is everywher.
like the air one breathes, and It po;.an,
that air.
"But I am not going to. wea~y von
with full recital of our woes. To 4.
that would take me month. I have :,
least shown you something of what Il I,
to live under German martial law.
"And now must be making my v,v
to my sisters good and hospitable HON,
for she keeps early hours, the dea,
woman. Her man is English, as von
know. A domesticated being. He has
not the cafe habit, and my sister and The
little ones fear for the old man if ha i
out late in this great London. And thew
must not be made anxious. Another
day will tell you of the deportatior
business, that foulest of all the foul
crimes that Germany has committed in
this war. You shall hear how they car.
ried off men, women and boys, yes, and
young girls, to replace the German labor
which was needed in their armies. and
which lacked to their munition wurks
You shall hear of the brutal scenes that
took place everywhere in Germany. the
heartrending separations, the crovdin
of human beings into open cattle trucks
women throwing themselves across the
railway line to stop the trains, men, who
refused to go, bayoneted in cold bleed.
You shall hear how they tried to starye
our people into submission, offering them
food and money to make shells to kill
their own brothers and sons and fathers
You shall hear Of the girls they carried
off for purposes which will not name.
But not now.
LET me only, before go, tell you how
it came about that | am to-day sitting
by your side in this cheerful restaurant
and drinking the wine of Champagne
alas! poor country lat your expense.
cit is soon told. was among the de-
ported. l, Aristide Gustave Segotin.
sixty-two years of age, was appointed to
perform labor behind the firing line. For
contumacy, yes. No matter what did;
it was connected with the deportations.
There are some things, monsieur, which
flesh and blood cannot endure, and be.
haved contumaciously. A year earlier
/ would have been shot out of hand for
my pains; but latterly they have been
little sparing of both their bullets and
their beasts Il mean us, the Belgian peo-
ple). And so I was condemned myself
to share in the deportations; and since I
was strong old fellow and highly con-
tumacious, where better could I be sent
than to the battle lines, to dig trenches
and carry sandbags and do anything else
wherein a reasonably active old man
could be serviceable?
Believe me, my friend, it was a pleas.
ant change. / was much more of slave
than at Saint Hilaire, but had no lon
ger before my eyes the spectacle of my
native streets either silent under the
menace of brightly-colored proclamations
or echoing to the screams of girls. And
here, behind Bapaume, it was always pos.
sible that a British she'll might find me
out and do my business. Yes, wei
coined my change Of scene