Evening star., 1925-06-01
Little Fraulein and the Big World
BY IDA R. WYLIE.
by nernanon Magazine Co
BY IDA n. WYLIE.
Copyright by International Magazine Co.


was to be at pease-to live in the
country quietly with his wife-to keep
chickens-to be a bluff and kindly
fellow, loved by every one. But he
couldn't go. Not until he was salts
fed. 1t was the war. The Germans.
The swine
The swine" he said aloud.
His secretary leaned toward him
with little deprecating gesture of
understanding. That's what they
are" he said. swine
NJ. Leforges threw back his
head. He talked rather loudly and
| emphatically. as though he were ad-
dressing a public meeting:
There must be no sentimentalism, -
he said. 'Sentimentalists are more
| dangerous than scoundrels. They
knock a murderer down, and then
they help him up again so that he
can murder some one else. We are at
least a logical people. We knoP what
the Germans are-we have expert
enced them in our flesh. Any man who
has seen what I have seen -"
He gave an exclamation, bitter and
tronic. There was no need to convince
his secretary and yet he felt himself
driven by an odd necessity to convince
some one.
Look what they have done" he
| oelu' ne IuTe" OUT his QdIO. W ltn
swift, dramatic sentences he painted a
world in ruins. He had his races gift
for selfexpression, and one saw the
| red horror Of It all-the torture, the
bestiality, the gray misery Let them
die" he said. Let the children die.
They are bad people. They are like
rats. They breed like rats. If / find
baby rat in my house. I don't wait
for it to grow up. l stamp on it"
n n,I
strong and convinced. But there was
only one other person in the carriage
besides the secretary-the little girl
with the absurd crepe hat over one
ear and the black gloved hands, and
the dangling, black legs. She was
looking at him, too. 1t was oddly dis
concerting. Her eyes behind the round
glasses stared as though they were
looking beyond him TO something else
something terrifying. Well, that was
natural. He had forgotten her He had
said things unfit for a. child's ears. He
shrugged his shoulders in the loose
hitting overcoat, and cleared his throat
and felt for his cigar case Then a
whimsical kindness overcame him.
after all, even plain child was a
child. He bent toward her gallantIy.
as though she had been a grown
woman
Fous permettez, mademoiselle?"
She started violently. "Ich verstehe
nicht."
He sat back, frowning. German-a
German little girl.
All, you don't understand French?''
Mais-mais oui, monsieur"
She continued to stare at him. Was
the child an imbeCile. he wondered
angrily. For he was very angry-bit.
terly, absurdly angry. He made a
Souno that was meant for a laugh and
grlmaced at his companion with q
rudeness that he had been careful not
70 show to that deputation. Then he
III MS cigar and smoked in silence. He
went on with his thoughts. But they
mad lost their clarity 1t was as
though some one had rudeIv inter
rupted him. Besides. ne was tired. II
had oeen satisfying but hard day.
he composed himself TO Sleep
BUT ne couldn't sleep either. Each
time he opened his eyes there was the
little girl in her dim corner. like a
olack Image of an unutterable sorrow.
staring at him.
The train drew alongside the ouav
at midnight, and instantly the sieen.
ing carriages burst into a distracted
activity. The passengers leaned out of
the windows and supplicated the nor.
ters, ana the porters stormed along
the corridors, banging the luggage
against the sides and not caring in the
least. Trudchen had never seen a
confusion like that. A big man in a
blue green blouse seized her handge-
pack from her and yelled a number
which she didn't hear. She was quite
sure that her little bag was lost for.
ever. Nothing would ever find itself
again.
1t was raining. The long. slantfne
lines shone in the lamplight. The
platforms cleaned blackly. Men push.
ing great trolleys or staggering under
impossible loads lurched in and out of
the dripping darkness like lost souls,
Every one looked pale and tired and
irritable. The air was bitter and
sticky with strange scent. Trudchen
had never smelled the sea before. II
frightened her. 1t Law outside her
there in the night like a wild beast,
waiting.
People eddied fretfully. Nobody saw
the little girl in black-or if they did,
they did not think about her. OF
course, she belonged TO somebody.
They jostled her and carried her along
like piece of driftwood, to the pass
port barrier. Every one showed his
passport. 1t was just friendly for.
mality. But when Trudchen came, the
Official grew more official He read
list, and looked at her hard, as
though he were making up his mind
to remember her next time. The peo.
pie behind fidgeted. Every one saw
that she was different
"A baby rat" That was what the
big Frenchman had said. You nut
your foot on 1t, and the little bones
went cruncb-crunch. She began to
shake all over. 1t was very cold. And
she had always been so frightened of
rats. This great barnlike place might
be full of them. She was a baby rat
herself-black, scurrying. terrified
amid all these big people who hated
her. And at any moment one of them
might
She slipped out of the shed on to
the open quay. A wet wind swept
across its terrifying emptiness and
nearly blew her off her feet. She saw
the sinister gleam of water, and lights
| that swung with a wicked magic in
the black air. A ship loomed over
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| and pianos. Estimates eheerfully given. Con-
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NV. Phone Main 1882.
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