The St. Charles herald. [volume] (Hahnville, La.) 1873-1993, 1918-01-05

those who do take refuge, rNth III
End residential districts, Within '"'
tubes, are not English, In" POM
seems of Importance, because '''.''''
iug foul mir nj the bottom "' Wv !,
shaft for hours Is fair evidence W.
panic. or at least of undue alarm. ''"
S.fle people 90 home, ana stay '"''
Crowds of foreigners conEr'E'"
around the tube stations hours b''o'e
the raid warnings ar" gwen "''N
cIamor for admittanc", when - h''
granted them until the enemy - ~
nailed. In one very deep tune Silii'' az
Islington, where the population SUI
fered more than elsewhere in daylight
raids months ago, women ana ciillui'"
sat huddled all day long, and hail INC
might, until the practice was St"pi''u'
Nerves of English mistaken.
The Germans attack London TO Ter
rifv the population; they cannot 90
damage of military Importance from
the heights they are compelled L"
maintain. They have succeeded III up
setting Il portion of the alien popu-
Iation, mostly ignorant people, anu III
naralyZinc with fear those of their own
kindred who live in London. They sig
nally failed to break the nerves OF the
EngliShmcn and Englishwomen mere.
The evidence of the tubes upon that
point is conclusive.
At least half the women saw in the
no in
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. In all
cases threat to eject the disturber
into the street was sufficient to restore
quiet. One pathetic feature was the
presence of dogs and eats, lugged
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. I saw one pet monkey, in red
coat. sitting on the shoulder of
man. presumably an organ grinder, but
without his organ.
cubmen 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 alb
solute Indifference. Most Of them re-
Trained from talking about the attack.
When piece Of shell broke q glass
the man who was telling
q story of lion hunting in Africa went
on without pause. Here ana there
q 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
the best answer to their ut
tempts was to ignore them altogether;
not talk about them or pay any atten-
ton to them. When the subject was
the tone was always one of
contempt, or amusement, or quiet
irony. That attitude, throughout all
classes of English people, l believe IS
The Englishman is not
an emotional creature; he is the last
person sensible man would attempt
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 on
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. l am
not allowed to detail the damage. but
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 |
his year are something like one-fourth
he number of street accidents during |
the month Of September.
Defenses Are Wonderful.
The defenses of London have done |
better than the most sanguine expect |
I'd, beating back, night after night.
line out Of ten airplanes which have
never been visible to the gunners. How
his is done would make fascinating
story; but Germans, as we'll as Ameri-
ans, would be interested to learn.
Modern science has never achieved
lnything more wonderful than the sys-
EN- which throws shells in the path
# a machine, two or three miles high
which constantly changes its course
md its altitude, and is probably never
een from the ground during its whole
light over English soil.
London expects more air raids. car.
led out by bigger and better machines
n every occasion when the moon is
I'LL and the wind not too high. and
'erhaps. next spring, when the nights
re dark. London is ready for them.
'ut London and the country are deter
mined that the air raids, next spr1no
hall not be all on one side. And Lon
lon, IN her quiet way. wonders a little
whether the typical German will take
n terror that flies by night as the
lnglishman takes 1t. One observer
tier a look in the tubes. doesn't
hink %.