poken.

The fact that a person speaks French has become a special offense,
that of "provocation." And this offense appears to be a frequent one.

On the twenty-second of February, 1916, the sous-prefect of Boulay
gave the following warning to the mayors of his arrondissement:

The use in public of French will be considered a
"provocation" when used by persons who know enough German
to make themselves understood or who can have recourse to
persons who understand German as intermediaries.

The War Council Extraordinary at Metz, in consequence handed down a
decision condemning two women to fourteen days in prison because, in a
manner that gave "provocation," they spoke French in a trolley car in
spite of the warnings of the conductress.

In addition, the War Council Extraordinary at Strassburg fined a
salesman who "not only let a French label remain on his packages, but
had put a French label on a package addressed to a customer who
understood German."

A little girl from Bourg-Bruche who, although she spoke German, used
the French language in spite of repeated warnings, had a sentence of
detention inflicted on her by the same tribunal.

The Mulhouse _Tageblatt_ for the twenty-third of September, 1917,
announced that women who had conversed to one another in French in
public had been condemned to from two to three weeks imprisonment by
the War Council at Thionville.

Another person who had made a usage of the French language that gave
grounds for "provocation," was condemned to pay a fine of fifty marks
or serve ten days in prison.

The _Oberelsaessische Landeszeitung_ for the twelfth and twenty-sixth
of October published the following sentences: "Fines of twenty and ten
marks to the venders A. Nemarg and M. Cahen for having spoken to a
convoy of French officers in the station at Thionville."

Twenty and thirty marks fine to Amelie Bany and Catherine Jacques of
Knutange "for having spoken French although they understood German."

The Mayor of Broque, a commune where French is spoken, was sentenced
to three months' imprisonment for having spoken French to his
councilors.

In Alsace this campaign against the French language is carried even
into the girls' boarding schools, which have always been the principal
centers for the study of French.

An order from the Statthalter, dated March tenth, 1915, forbade French
conversations in the schools.

A German pastor of the Lutheran Church named