in work,
or even in participation in the war itself, a means to cool their
overheated feelings, are those who constitute the real danger for the
future work of the pacifists, as, after all, the brutalising effect of
war is not due so much to the use of physical force as to the hatred
which such physical force, bent on destruction, brings in its wake.

What I say here of the men does not, however, apply to the professional
officers. Amongst the Germans these are mostly of the aristocracy. Their
haughty, scarred faces were always repellent to me. Luckily I was not
told off to nurse them. They had a special room of their own.

Once only, at lunch time, when their usual nurse was away at her lunch,
one of them beckoned to me as I was passing their door. Thinking that he
wanted something, I went up to him, but he received me by putting out
his tongue and taking a "sight" at me, to the amusement of all his
friends. This young scamp was no other than Lieutenant von W----, the
son of General von W----. We all knew that he was a cad and Pupuce
himself seemed to find him rather a handful.

I met very few French officers during my stay at Lille, but my knowledge
of the professional military man in time of peace, leads me to believe
that the type I have described, is far from uncommon in France. He is
the embodiment of militarism anywhere, and neither in Germany nor
elsewhere will these men's brutal instincts be checked through war, or
even through defeat.

After leaving Lille, and during my subsequent journey through Northern
France and Belgium, I had the opportunity to note the dealings of the
Germans with the population of these invaded lands.

After the numerous accounts of monstrous atrocities which were
perpetrated over there, I hardly dare to mention here that personally I
did not meet with any of these. I do not mean to imply by this that
atrocities have not happened, but simply that it has been my good
fortune not to come across any.

At Lille itself, the Germans behaved decently when once in occupation.
Posters were put on the walls of the town inviting the population to
keep quiet. It is true that a few days later fresh bills appeared,
worded in very peremptory fashion, warning the inhabitants to keep away
from the bridges, railways, and so forth, under penalty of death for
disobedience. However, to my knowledge, no disturbances occurred. There,
as elsewhere, the Germans tried to reorganise ordinary life as quickly