The Washburn times. [volume] (Washburn, Wis.) 1896-1976, 1918-01-03

tube had babies in their arms, or small
children. They sat huddled up against
the walls, in dumb terror, for the most
part. Here and there, where alarm be-
came vocal, tactful and sympathetic
specials dealt with the patient. n all
cases a threat to eject the disturber
into the street was sufficient to restore
quiet. One pathetic feature was the
presence of dogs and cats, logged
along by boys and girls who did not
wish to leave their pets to face the
peril above; the presence of live stock
Is against the rules, but kind-hearted
Boobies could not but look the other
way. / saw one pet monkey, in red
coat sitting on the shoulder of a
man, presumably an organ grinder, but
without his organ.
CIubmen ignore Attacks.
The scene now shifts to an atmos-
phere ultra English, the interior of a
Piccadilly club, the next evening. The
raid was on. The attitude of the men
in the smoking room was one of abb
solute Indifference. Most Of them re-
Trained from talking about the attack.
When piece Of shell broke a glass
conservatory the man who was telling
story Of lion hunting in Africa went
on without a pause. Here and there
head was lifted. That was all. The
feeling seemed to be that since the
Germans were trying to disturb the
normal life Of London and scare her
citizens, the best answer to their at
tempts was to ignore them altogether;
not talk about them or pay any atten-
ton to them. When the subject was
mentioned, the tone was always one Of
contempt, or amusement, or quiet
irony. That attitude, throughout all
classes of English people, I believe is
maintained. The Englishman is not
an emotional creature; he is the last
person sensible man would attemp~
to f1uster or stampede, which is per-
haps why the Germans, whose estimate
of other peoples psychology is inva-
riably wrong, have tried by raids OH
London to throw him off his balance.
And English women 'plan up" to Eng
fish men-or vice versa.
The material results of these attacks
have been ridiculously small. I am
not allowed to detail the damage, but
1 have seen good deal of it, and
looked over charts which show the.
location of every bomb dropped in Lon
don. The results, considering the vio-
lent battles waged, can only be de-
scribed as absurd. More people are
injured by traffic every day in the
streets Of London than are killed or
wounded by German airplanes. The
actual air raid casualties in the city
this year are something like one-fourth
the number of street accidents during
the month of September.
Defenses Are Wonderful.
The defenses of London have done
better than the most sanguine expect
ed beating back, night after night,
nine out Of ten airplanes which have
never been visible to the gunners. How
this is done would make a fascinating
story; but Germans, as well as Ameri-
cans, would be interested to learn.
Modern science has never achieved
anything more wonderful than the sys-
tenn which throws shells in the path
of machine, two or three miles high,
which constantly changes its course
and it's altitude, and is probably never
seen from the ground during it's whole
flight over English soil.
London expects more air raids, car
ried out by bigger and better machines,
on every occasion when the moon is
full and the wind not too high, and
perhaps, next spring, when the nights
are dark. London Is ready for them.
But London and the country are deter
mined that the air raids, next spring,
shall not be all on one side. And Lon
don, in her quiet way, wonders little
whether the typical German will take
tn, terror that flies by night as the
Englishman takes it. One observer,
after a look in the tubes, doesn't
think SO.