ts in the dark. Is it any
wonder that the German Government insists that neutral
correspondents be chaperoned by someone who can skilfully show them
what is proper for them to see, and let them hear that which is
proper for them to hear?

Everywhere in rooms lighted by oil lamps soldiers sat talking,
drinking and playing cards. They were under every roof, and were
also bivouacked on the flats along the river. In all three inns
there was not even floor space available. The little brick town
hall, too, was crowded with soldiers.

At the pontoon bridge we were sharply challenged by a sentry. The
orderly answered and we passed on to a crowded beer hall above
which I was fortunate to secure a room. By the flickering light of
a candle I was conducted to a dusty attic furnished with
ferruginous junk in one corner and a dilapidated bed in another.
No such luxuries as bed clothing, of course; only a red mattress
which had not been benefited in the least by Russian bayonet
thrusts and sabre slashes in the quest of concealed treasure. I
could not wash unless I would go down to the river, for with the
blowing up of the bridges the water mains had also been destroyed.
The excellent organisation of the Germans was in evidence, however,
for during my stay I witnessed their prompt and efficient measures
to restore sanitation, in order to avert disease.

I went downstairs and entered the large beer room, hazy with
tobacco smoke, and filled for the most part with non-commissioned
officers. They, like everybody else in the room, seemed to have
heard of my arrival. I joined a group at a long table, a jovial
crowd of men who chaffed good naturedly one of their number who
said he wished to be home with his wife and little ones. They
looked at me and laughed, then pointing at him said, "He is no
warrior!"

But it was their talk about the Russians which, interested me most.
There was no hate in their speech, only indifference and contempt
for their Eastern enemy. Hindenburg was their hero, and they drank
toast after toast to his health. The Russian menace was over, they
felt; Britain and France would be easily smashed. They loved their
Army, their Emperor, and Hindenburg, and believed implicitly in all
three.

They sang a song of East Prussia and raised their foaming glasses
at the last two lines:

"Es trinkt der Mensch, es sauft das Pferd,
In Ostpreussen 1st das umgekehrt."

While they were singing a man in civil