Evening star., 1919-08-17

CAN tell you Wnat they say VIII
happen to the first German busi-
ness house that sets up again. as
German. in the center of Paris.
A woman in black will be seen
strolling back and forth in front OF
the esta blishment. She will say moth
ing. but no French citizen can enter
those German doors without seeing
her. Her presence will be mute re-
proach-and her looks more SO.
Can the French government stop
such picketing?
The woman in black. at need. they
say. will stay only ten minutes. ex-
planning to the policeman: Il am
waiting for a friend" or Il am look
ing at the goods in the window" An
other woman in black will arrive. by
chance, on time to replace her. Ana
so on. powerful society of French
women. they say. has perfected this
plan with single minded bitterness
so that it will require scarcely half an
hour per week or month of the time OF
each.
Never a cry or Indictment to vio-
lence.
But the woman in black will be
there!
At the Grand Cafe / asked Adolphe:
How will you treat the first German
tourists?" Wont treat them" an
swered Adolphe. Georges, Cadet and
Henri nodded grimly. Meant! With
out movement" was their elucidation,
French equivalent for nothing doing"
No words, no gesture. but no service.
''The patronne GLOSSY can wait on
Germans IL she wants to-" Each OF
these men put in four years at the
front.
"WiIl you rent to Germans" I asked
the real estate man of q French in
surance company. mo" he hissed.
my child was killed by Gothas"
How long will this sort Of thing
last?
When I came to Paris. in 1891. I
had first travelled in Germany and
made some German acquaintances.
Later. when one came to Paris. 1 went
about with him. At the palatial Pous-
set Brasserie (Belgian Taverne. they
called it, Bavarian beer having come
in strongly with the exposition Of
1880, we were talking in German
why not. over German beer. sold and
drunk by French folks? Nevertheless,
at that late date Gin 1922 waiter
interrupted us politely: will the
messieurs have the bounty to cease
speaking German? 1t contraries our
public"
1t was twenty years after the
Franco Prussian war of 1870 that
such a thing could happen. Twenty
years later still, in the spring of
1914 (when nobody in France dreamed
of new war). 1 was so struck by
the changed situation in my own
time that l undertook an investiga-
tion of German prosperity in Paris.
1t began at Spiess' Vienna restau-
rant. the highest class German public
place in the French capital. much
freQuented by Parisians by curiosity
OF German wines and cookery-and
the first establishment wrecked on
mobilization night in August, 1914.
At Spiess'. then. at lunch, one of
those happy days just before the war,
We were vaguely watching two beau
itful German tourist girls amid their
parties. which contained three young
German men agog to show off. The
German language was all over the
place; and, flushed with .rgundy.
the three German boys began fling
ing words like "welsches" and
''schwindel" at a modest Frenchman
eating duck and stewed fruit as a
. foreign treat--with difficulty.
"Now. we'll see an incident" said
an American friend, a newcomer
But not French eye was lifted, not
French voice answered-such was
the French dread to start an Incl
dent" in those days Of Saverne and
yet we know-the world knows,
now-their courage. .-..
X
Such was German prestige in 1914,
and such it's response to the drum
beating OF the Tag and other hot
headed" Berlin organs, urging Ger
man tourists in Paris to speak the
maternal language. highly. without