Forest City press. (Forest City, Potter County, D.T. [S.D.]) 1883-19??, 1918-01-24

in the dust. For four centuries a
free city, defending herself virgin
like against all corners, for two
centuries more the happy capital
of the loveliest of French prov
inces, she has borne for 40 years
the chain OF the conqueror and
bowed her head beneath the lash.
But she is French still-French to
the very core OF her; and though
her hands are bound, her soul is
free!
The oldest part OF the town has
changed but little with the cen
turtles. There are the narrow
crooked streets. the tall half tim
bered houses with their many dor
mered roofs, and there is the grey
minister, which has looked down
on the city through all her for
tunes. To the north lie the newer
quarters of the town, spick and
span, and to the south are great
arsenals and barracks, guarded
by a mighty fortification.
For Strasbourg is now one of
the great strong holds of the Ger
man empire. Haunted by the fear
that France may one day come
pouring up from the south To re
gain her lost city, the engineers of
the kaiser have labored with their
every talent for her defense. Far
flung, a circle of IA forts girdles
her round, and within them ram
part follows rampant, eliminating
in the mighty citadel.
What hope can an army, how
ever great, have of capturing such
a place? In the mind of every
German engineer there is but one
adjective, and always one. asso-
ciated with it-impregnable'
And yet, in this mid-month of
October, there was in the air a
feeling of uneasiness, impalpable,
not to be defined or even spoken
of-but present, ever present.
From far distant posts of the en-
pire, troops had been hurried
southwark, until the usual garri-
son of $4,000 had been more than
doubled. Every rampant was
manned, every wall had it's sentry.
and through the streets patrols
moved constantly, their gaze
directed at the house tops. Their
orders were to see that no one
stretched a wire to any building;
to arrest any one found doing so,
and send him at once to Berlin.
under guard.
The restaurants, the hotels, the
cafes-every place where crowds
acknowledgements with strang-
ers, speaking French, it is true,
but with an accent which, to acute
ears, betrayed their origin and
made one wonder at their pro-Gal-
lie sentiments. The French and
German residents of the town
drew imperceptibly apart, grew a
little more formal, ceased the ex-
change of friendly visits. No one
knew what was about to happen,
but every one felt that a crisis of
some sort was at hand.
The commandant changed, in
those days, from a bluff, self CON
fident and brave soldier to a
shrunken craven, trembling at
shadows. If he had known where
the danger lay, or what it was, he
would have met it valiantly
enough; but he knew scarcely
more than did his humblest SOL
dier. He knew that the peril was
very great; he knew that at any
moment his magazines might blow
up beneath his feet; he knew that
what he had to guard against was
the stringing of wires, the estab-
lishment of a wireless plant. Ev-
cry stranger must be watched, his
registration investigated, his bag
gage at all times kept under sur
Vigilance. A stranger carrying a
bundle in the streets must always
be followed. Every resident re-
ceiving a roomer, a boarder, or
even a guest from another city
must make immediate return to
the police.
How many times had the com
mandanf road ,fhasa in~sfr,,of;nnn