Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1921-06-21
BY MIRIAM TEICHNER.

COBLENZ, June 1.-The small maid.
Kitty, who takes care of my room in
the Hotel Zum Traube on Rhine
| strasse. in CoblenZ, brought the re-
quested bottle of ink, and then stood,
reluctant to go. Obviously, she want
ed to ask for something. 1t took some
time for the question to be formu
lated-she assured me that she pre-
ferred to speak English-but when it
finally came it was this: Did the
American lady know how long it
would take for a letter to come to
Fort Leavenworth?
Kitty. it developed, had had an
American sweetheart and he had
been in trouble, and had been sent
back to prison in the United States.
and she had not had a letter for four
months. 1t was not, the American
lady was to understand, that Kittys
sweetheart had been to blame. He
had had bad companions and had done
whatever he was being punished for
Kitty was rather haZy as to what it
was-not knowing it was wrong. She
had had no other sweetheart since he
was gone, because she really cared
| for him. and she was very lonely.
/ Kitty says that she does not go out
! Sundays because she has no sweet
| heart and no nice clothes. She earns
| 125 marks a month as chamber
maid.
U. $. Soldier n Rich Man.
| Kitty is one of the uniucky girls
| 'frawlens," the soldiers cali them
| of CoblenZ. The lucky ones have
! sweethearts who stay, who take them
| to restaurants and buy them good
! them with pretty things to. wear.
For to the lucky girls of Coblenz the
| American private soldier. with his
| dollar (and more) a day-a dollar is
worth more than 60 marks-is a rich
man. He is in a position to spend
| money, and spend it he does. There
are girls in Coblenz who are plumper
| and better fed now than they We're
| for several years before the Amer
1 lean forces came from Trier and
| the heretofore impregnable fortifica-
| ton of Ehrenbreitstein, just across
| the Rhine.
a soldier. who was at one time in
| the censor's office. says that he read
| in the letter of one prominent Ger
! man citizen. just after the Americans
| came: II looked up to Ehrenbreit-
stein this afternoon and saw the
American flag there; 1 went home.
and all afternoon I was very sick"
| But in spite of the emotions of the
prominent citizen, if the American
| flag were to be lowered from Ehren
! breitstein tomorrow and the Ameri-
| can troops were to be withdrawn,
/ there would be more sorrowing than
| rejoicing in Coblenz. The patriots
would rejoice. but the girls and the
| restaurant men and the storekeepers
| would mourn and be exceeding sad.
Sammies TriE and Smart.
The American occupation has meant
romance to the girls of CoblenZ, and
! good food, plenty of it, and the COM
bination is sweet. The American SOL
der in Germany is. in fact, soldier
; to gladden. the eye of any girl of any
nationality. He is trig and of an un-
precedented smartness.
For one thing. he has discarded, al
! most universally, the fuzzy. ill-cut
government issue uniform with which
he departed from the states. German
! tailors, with German enterprise. put
. out what the soldiers call "snappy'
| serge uniform for 1000 marks, or a
| little over. The quartermaster's tailor
! shop, with German labor, cheap at the
American exchange rate, puts out a
slightly less snappv, but still remark
ably smart, apparel at SIS. So the SOL
| der who used to SLOUGH in be-
whiskered issue uniform of fuzzy, ILL
fitting material, now strides sprucely
with an air of eXcellently tailored
we'll being, and to the 'frawlen" he
! is the beau ideal of the conquering
hero.
In spite Of hard and Industrious
grumbling, however. the American
| soldier in Germany is not insensible
! to his advantages. He knows that
the Americans, with their usual i'm
peccable taste. have picked out one OF
| the most beautiful spots on the Rhine
for their occupation: he knows tnat
! he has more money to spend than the