Highland recorder. (Monterey, Highland County, Va.) 1877-1972, 1918-05-10
CHAPTER XVI.
Germany in Wartime

While the German people have al
ways been in thorough accord with the
kaiser's ambitious project which is so
significantly described by the popular
slogan: Deutschland uber ales!'
when the great war, which was to
achieve Germany's aims, commenced:
it came almost as much as surprise
TO the Germans as it was to the rest o.
the world. They knew it was ineVl-
table and they looked forward eagerly
to Der Tag" but when it arrived the
hustle and excitement, not to say
panic. which developed throughout
Germsny was so pronounced that II
some cases it approached the ludlcrouS'
Obviously the people were kept IL
ignorance of the plans of their wal
bar0ns in order that hostilities might
{ e as a complete surprise to them
cud rive color TO the government
contention that the war was forced
upon Germany.
So little thought did we give to the
complexities of the political situation
that on Friday, July 81, 1914, my wife
anG / started III on motor trip. we
n"d heard so many rumors Of war
r;thin the j.. evious ten years that we
saw no r,.$on why an amicable solu.
tion should not again be found as II
had always been before.
On our way out the Charlottenburger
Chaussee we passed the kaiser and the
kaiserin driving to Berlin from Pots
dam at about sixty miles an hour, and
there were other indications of &C.
tivity, but we attached little impor-
lance to them.
When we reached PotSdam, how
ever, and saw thousands of tons Of
coal heaped up between the railroad
tracks which were ordinarily kept
clear, we realized that preparations for
war were being made in earnest and
we STONED to consider whether ii
would not be better after all to return
home. Such was our ignorance of war
that we decided that, even though 1t
were not advisable to motor in Bel
GUM and France, where We We're
bound, we might safely plan tour in
the Black forest in Germany.
We had left Berlin late in the after
noon. In the evening, when we arrived
at Gotha, we found that the younger
walters in the restaurants and hotels
had already left and that the older re-
serves expected q general call the next
day.
The next morning we started for
Frankfort. As we passed through vii
lage after village, war preparations be-
- came more and more evident. Measures
were being taken everywhere to arouse
nthusiasm-young men gathered on
school steps were singing patriotic
songs, students were marching and
speeches were being made in the mar
ket places.
About five o'clock that afternoon we
arrived in Frankfort. The whole place
was in a fever of excitement over the
mobilization posters and their resent
ment against the French was being
aroused by "eXtras," which were
handed Out without charge, announc-
ing that the French had already
dropped bombs on the railroad at
Nurnberg and that French officers in
autos had over-ridden the borders.
The ridiculous statements about
French flyers dropping bombs on the
lai"oad at Nurnberg had not the
slightest foundation, Of course.
The older people who had lived
through the war of 1870 had interested
audiences for once while they related
rast experiences and gave advice as to
what preparations to make. A posi-
bility OF food shortage seemed to be
upperm0st in all minds, and the gro
cerieS were stormed with eager buy
ers. Salt suddenly jumped to rs cents
q Mound and other things in proper
ton.
ca Sunday, August 2, all the gaso-
line in the country was Communicated,
and we heard of many American tour
lists being put out Of their cars in the
cities and even on country roads, no
matter how inaccessible to trains they
might be. We accordingly decided to
stow our car away in an old wagon
shed attached to hotel and sought to
return to Berlin by train.
At the railway station there was
.,,oh = crowd tbot n yr1c
quite impossible to get anywhere near
the ticket Office, and anyway no prom
Use could be given as to trains to Ber-
lin.
Trunks and bags were piled high in
every available space and it was
months before that enormous pile Of
baggage was finally sorted out.
We decided to defer our effort to
reach Berlin until Monday, since there
seemed no hope of getting away that
day.
On Monday morning, the streets
were filled with excited crowds de-
stroying every sign with a French
word on it and looking for spies. The
napers had announced that the coun-
fry was full Of French spies, women
as well as men. saw the crowd stop
an automobile, take woman out and
literally tear her clothes to shreds be-
fore the police succeeded in rescuing
her from the mob and took her to the
police station. The general SUPPOSE
tion was that all the man spies were
masuuerading as women and the first
thing the mob did was to pull out hair
Minis To see whether the hair was real.