f topical
interest was exhibited.

[Sidenote: Scenes in Antwerp like those in Brussels.]

All the scenes which I have described in Brussels were reproduced in
Antwerp. There was a slightly closer supervision over the comings and
goings of the inhabitants, but there was the same unreal atmosphere of
contentment and real appearance of plenty. Though a good number of
officers were in evidence, the military arm of Germany was not
sufficiently displayed to produce any intimidation. Perhaps the most
obvious mark, here and in the capital, that all was not normal was the
complete absence of private motor cars and cabs from the streets.

[Sidenote: Belgium still has cattle.]

In the country districts two things struck me as unfamiliar after my
long months in France. About Roubaix not a single head of cattle was to
be seen; in Belgium every farm had its cows. In Belgium the mounted
gendarmerie--the "green devils" whose infamous conduct in the Roubaix
district I have described--were unknown. Their place was filled by
military police, who, by comparison with the gendarmes, were gentleness
itself.

I do not profess to know the state of affairs in parts of Belgium which
I did not visit, but I do know that my narrative of the conditions of
life that came under my personal inspection has come as a great surprise
to many people who imagine the whole of Belgium is starving.

[Sidenote: Belgium better fed than occupied France.]

We in hungry Roubaix looked out on Belgium as the land of promise. The
Flemish workers who came into the town from time to time from Belgium
were well fed and prosperous looking, a great contrast to the French of
Roubaix and Lille. The Belgian children that I saw were healthy and of
good appearance, quite unlike the wasted little ones of France, with
hollow blue rings round their eyes.

[Sidenote: Germany desires a state in Belgium.]

The people of Roubaix, knowing these facts, are convinced that the
Germans are endeavoring to lay the foundations of a vassal State in
Belgium. Foiled in their attempts to capture Calais, the Germans believe
that Zeebrugge and Ostend are capable of development as harbors for
aggressive action against England. The French do not doubt that the
enemy will make a desperate struggle before giving up Antwerp.

The picture I have presented of Belgium as I saw it is, of course,
vastly different from the outraged Belgium of the first stage of the
war.

[Sidenote: The people not