ds of white ethereal
wind-flowers. A shrine, with a blue-robed Virgin looked down on us, and
the wood-hush was only broken by the songs of birds, twittering and
gurgling high above us in the branches. Suddenly far off the sound of
singing; and slowly a procession of children came into view, singing in
well-harmonized parts as they walked. They all genuflected before the
Virgin and wound off into the woods, their voices dying away in the
distance.

We often studied the old battlefields, so fiercely contested in 1870,
and F---- would point out to us just where the different regiments
advanced and fell. A long way off seemed the horrors of war, and we
never dreamed what much greater horrors were soon to descend on us.

We loved the Bavarians with their kind artistic souls in those days, and
yet they tell me they were among the worst in the early days in Belgium.

The military spirit was rampant in Metz, of course, and we got to know
that side of it well, as some of the officers had English wives, who
were very good to us. The delightful manners of the officers always
charmed us; we were told they are trained to social manners by their
superior officers. The cavalry regiments were the smartest ones, both in
Metz and Darmstadt, the Infantry being solidly aristocratic, but less
dashing. The _Pioniere_ (Engineers) were rather despised socially, while
the poor _Train_ or Commissariat, was utterly looked down upon and
hardly bowed to. The Bavarian infantry has its special social standing,
because the old nobility is largely represented in it. What they lack in
riches they make up in pride. All the other German infantry regiments
wear dark blue trousers, no matter what colour their tunics; the
Bavarians, however, have stuck to their light blue trousers, in spite of
all attempts to change them. The Prince Regent was famous for wearing
his much too long, and very wrinkled over badly fitting boots. The
smartest officers wore the _Ballon Muetze_ (balloon cap) introduced by
the Crown Prince and ineffectually forbidden by his father. It is called
"balloon" because it is much higher than the ones worn by less smart
officers. The height of the collar is the other important thing. In a
sterling officer of the old school, it is low and comfy; the smarter you
are the higher your collar. If they are fat, the two or three creases at
the back of the neck above the collar, always look to me
unmistakably--German.

The life they lead is in ge