Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1919-01-19
GERMAN CUSTOMS PUZZLE
AMERICANS ALONG BORDER
Husbands Force Drudgery on Wives and
/ Children Read Bloodthirsty Books, Yet
Families Are Peaceful and Happy.

the annual outing Of the Teutonta Lie
derkranz. Most OF the children seem
to be boys, too. Scarcely one OF them
but wears one of those round, gray caps
with the red band-already soldiers in
the making. ; 1t Is no exaggeration to
say that most Of them do not look as
children should They are not starving,
but they most certainly are not plump
and rosy checked. Only children under
four years old have had milk for two
years.
The first thing that struck the Amer
leans when they got to Treves, and
that was strengthened when they
reached Coblenz. was how those cities
contrasted with most of the French
cities they had seen. There was a good
deal of talk about bombing of the Ger
man Rhine cities. So far as one can
tell, Treves and Coblenz got off almost
scot free. One bomb did hit the museum
at Treves and disturb a few of the
relics, and another nicked the sidewalk
in front of the building where the
American department of civil affairs
has its office. A hand grenade would
have done almost as much harm. a
brick wall near one of the Coblenz rail-
road stations was rather badly
scratched up by another bomb. That
is all.
All these cities are brighter, cleaner.
newer than the French cities saving
perhaps Paris. though with sandbags on
the Place de la Concorde and a general
absence of fresh paint Paris looked
rather war worn, especially in the days
of last June just before the I'd pi-
vision stopped the Germans on the
Marine. when hundreds of thousands of
people fed from the city. In TreveS
and Coblenz there has been apparently
no shortage of paint and varnish. nor
of elbow grease, for houses ana stores
a mirror. In the hotels the maids live
life Of incessant scrubbing, varied
with intervals of sweeping and busting.
In fact, the whole thing looks like
toy shop. 1t comes, OF course. OF only
from the German love OF cleanliness
one actually sees them washing down
the streets with hose as they do in New
York-but from their love of bright col
ors. Some say that is characteristic
common to children and savages.
Germans Like Bright Colors.
Walk block down any of Coblenz's
business streets and you will see it. In
the windows glare red. blue, yellow,
green. purple, each in its frankest, most
urblushing tint, each probably cheek by
jowl with whatever other color it har-
monies with least. You see myriads
of brooches displaying the most mar
velously pink roses upon backgrounds
of purest sapphire blue or chrome yell
low. A favorite brooch is bouquet of
blue and red flowers tied with purple
ribbon upon a black background. There
is gorgeous beadwork and all manner
Of bric-abrac, made mostly by the i'm
perial potteries, whose designers must
have descended from the gentlemen's
outfitters who clothed Jacob. That
worthy old phrase, "a riot of COLOR
Genes very pat.
The toylike atmosphere shows also in
the pipes. Marvellous, indeed, are they,
especially the porcelain ones,
A stag Is the favorite. and costs more
than Hindenburg. who in turn is dearer
than the kaiser. The favorite pipe,
however, seems to be one of red cherry,
of the shape that we call Dutch-drop
stem. big bowl with metal lid. and pro-
tuberance below that affords a good
grip.
Beer Is Scarce.
With pipes are associated in the mind
stems, but stems are rare now in Ger
many. or at least in the Rhineland.
Stems with pewter tops are especially
rare, for all the tops had gone to make
ammunition.
Stems suggest beer. which is poor;
suggestion now in Germany. A Ger
man officer the marines gobbled up at
ST. Mihiel said German beer was only
water now It was. alas. too true:
looks like real beer. especially the dark
variety, and wears a collar worthy a
German officer. But it will not stand
the test of taste. 1t tastes like salty
boiled water. and that is all. Hops and
malt are very rare now. they say.
There is one extenuating circum-
stance about German beer. In most of
the places where one goes to drink it
Q nd plenty of Germans still drink 1T as
if in memory of other days or to keep
up appearances before the Americans
there is music. 1t is good music, too;
a piano, at least two violins and a flute
a favorite German instrument, and oc-
ca sionally a cornet.
In the country and among the viii
lagos one finds rather more evidence of
the war Roads are rather run down,
village streets not so neat, one may
believe, as they were before the war.
Cows and oxen draw the ploughs, but
that Is not unusual in rural Germany.
AS a matter of fact horses ara Scarce.
Pigs are noticeably scarce in :. land
where pork was and Is now favo,ite
dish.