Harper's New Monthly Magazine Volume 139 June to November 1919 . f the houseopposite. It was horrible, he growled. Weall had to go down into the cellar, andmy poor little grandson cried fromfright—that is no way to make war, against the innocent non-combatantsand women and children! I did not trouble to ask him if he hadexpressed the same sentiments amonghis fellow club-members in, say, May,1915, for his sophistry was too welltrained to be caught in so simple a trap. How quickly war shakes down! Until we grew so accustomed to itthat the impression faded away, it wasa constant surprise to note
Harper's New Monthly Magazine Volume 139 June to November 1919 . f the houseopposite. It was horrible, he growled. Weall had to go down into the cellar, andmy poor little grandson cried fromfright—that is no way to make war, against the innocent non-combatantsand women and children! I did not trouble to ask him if he hadexpressed the same sentiments amonghis fellow club-members in, say, May,1915, for his sophistry was too welltrained to be caught in so simple a trap. How quickly war shakes down! Until we grew so accustomed to itthat the impression faded away, it wasa constant surprise to note how all thebusiness of life went on unconcernedunder the occupation. Ordnung stillreigned. The postman still delivered hisletters punctually and placidly. Trans-portation of all kinds kept almost itspeace-time efficiency. Paper ends andcigarette butts might litter a corner hereand there, but that was merely evidencethat some careless doughboy was notcarrying them to a municipal waste-basket in the disciplined German fash-ion. For if the Boches themselves had. THE BRIDGE OF BOATS OPENING TO ALLOW STEAMERS TO PASS THROUGH GERMANY ON FOOT 317 thrown off restraint over in Germany—a thing hard to believe and stillharder to visualize—there was little evi-dence of a similar tendency along theRhine. Whatever the docility, the concilia-tory attitude of our forced hosts, how-ever, I have yet to hear that one of themhas expressed repentance for the horrorsthey loosed upon the world. If they aresorry, it is not in the sense we commonlygive to that word. The war they seemto have taken as the natural, the un-avoidable thing, just a part of life, as thegambler takes gambling, with no otherregret than that it is his bad luck to the gambler, they may be sorrythey made certain moves in the game;they may be sorry they entered the gameat all, as the gambler would be who knewin the end that his adversary had moremoney on his hip than he had given himcredit for in the beginning. But
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