The Waterbury Democrat., 1937-11-23

stiffly pressed against the side. MT. Wheeler. Hill said that this was the colloquial, informal NaSi salute. It was Hello In NaEi sign language, he said, as contrasted with the more formal outstretched arm which meant "Hailw
 Black Gumdrops
 A stout woman with a large bag of black gumdrops settled herself in a chair. A man with e Hitler mustache bowed stiffly and moved the chair next to her e lit- tic away before he sat down. I felt that if I had not seen the uniforms and known the nature of the meeting, I might not have guessed that the audience was German. It resembled any crowd on Q subway platform. Fully half of those present were women, and Mir. Wheeler-Hill said they were members of the women's auxiliary of the Bund, the Frauenschaft. Some of their husbands, he said, were in uniform ct the back of the hall. He said these men in uniform were members of the Ordnungs Dienst, which meant order keepers. l glanced at the line which had stood there 50 rig idly for so long Q time and asked what It's members were in civil life.
 "Oh, clerks, bakers, butchers" MT. Wheeler said carelessly, and walked away.
 In the centre of the line stood the tallest trooper, those on either side of him progressively shorter until the two smallest were at either end. lie didn't look very military. He had c plain, scholar ly face and rilnless spcctacles er!pped his nose. He seemed em- barrassed when l asked him why he had joined the Bund and cons tinued to gaze straight ahead as # he wished I'd 60 away and lot him hold his military posture un- moleSted.
 Nostallgc Urge
 "Why, I don't know" he said. I-I-" he stammered, and his accent was so Teutonic that didn't know whether he was hav- ing trouble with his English or with expressing his thoughts. Tn Germany everything Is 50 nice, so--" He tried for words and then said, "Gcmutlich."
 Tn Germany everybody is so-" he sneaked Q glance at me and said, "When your wife Is sick and you 60 down the street everybody says, How Is the wife today7" He gave up, but 1t seemed clear that he had joined the Bund be- cause of inconsistencies. When asked him If he had been Q Na2i in Germany, he seemed even more embarrassed. Finally he said, T was c Communist there." He ex- plained that he quit before com- ing to this country in 1923 when they told him one night to go home and get e gun and meet the comrades ir e field at dawn.
 Not for me-" he said, and gave me q quick grin and then snapped his head back and froze his face Into becoming dignity.
 Pencil Sharpener .
 We both could feel the diSap- proval of the others in the line. walked away, and a uniformed officer came up and looked me all over. He asked no question. He simply examined me in q very cool way. might have felt un- easy had not e strapping young fellow, as blond as MT. Hitler could wish, and with his chest straining against his Sam Browne belt, come up to me and said, You are a stranger, yes?" He seemed crammed with an ele- phantine eagerness to serve. He saw a pencil in my coat pocket and took 1t out and said, You would like 1t sharpened, yes?" He was disappointed when said that I wouldn't. He was taking me around the hall. showing mo the coats of arms of German states and cities painted on the shades of electric lights that hung from the ceiling, when there was a whirring. mechanical noise and at the same time everyone stood up. There were about three hundred in the hall.
 Star -Spangled Banner
 The noise came from the phon- ograph. It was playing "The Star Spangled Banner" The troopers in the back stood at military salute, the crowd at attention. Only one person in the audience sang-a slim little woman who had not the slightest trace of an accent. She was very serious and exalted about 1t.
 I was disappointed during the first half of the meeting, the part in German. MT. Wheeler-Hill took the platform and said that the Bund employment service could offer a woman light housework for room and board. Then he in- troduced a little man whose brown face barely peeked above the rostrum. This was Herr Nich- olai--I think that was his name --the Bund's Eastern organizer. He talked on and on for more than an hour trying to prove that President Roosevelt was plotting to lead us into a war against Ger many. Almost everyone listened with great attention, even when he repeated himself.
 ;nd Mir. NicO.'i
 l, however. was scarcely lIsten-