In the Claws of the German Eagle

ordes Out

r to the crowd of uplifters who conduct the drab and dreary battle with the slums. The futility of most of these schemes for badgering the poor makes one feel at times that these battles are

t was. Only very young and green ones do so. The seasoned correspondent is inclined to view the whole affair more dispassionately and with a larger perspective. But being of the verdant variety, I naturally figured

gium. This could be seen from the Dutch frontier at Maastricht. But passage thereto was interdicted by the military authorities. Ambassa

's behest, received me with a handsome show of deference. I was escorted from one gold-laced officer to another. Each one smiled kindly, listened attentively and regretted exceedingly that the granting of th

k the matter in my own hands. Finding a seat in a military train, I stuck steadfastly by it so long as our general direction was south. At Eind

on't get excited. If you are all right you don't need to get e

territory which runs down between Germany and Belgium. At one place this tongue of land is but a few miles wide. If the Germans could have marched their troops directly across this they might have been spared the two weeks' slaughter at the for

t Meuse bridge an officer s

d. All cigars and p

" we

ives and a stray spark might set

the bridge would be the signal for sendi

Barricades of barbed wire and paving stones ripped from street ran everywhere. Iron rails and ties bloc

eat plain filled with a dense mass of German soldiery. One could scarcely believe that there were men there so well did their gray-green coats blend with the landscape. One would think that they were indeed a part of it, could he not feel the atmosphere vibrant with the mass personality of the myriad warrior

is line. Here they were greeted with the challenge: "Lay down your arms. This i

with horror, and now with admiration. There was a terrible background to the spectacle-glowing red and luminous. It was made of the still blazing towns of Mouland and Vise, burned to the ground by order

re the red wrath rolling up into the sky. They came shambling in with a few possessions on which t

ers were coming down into their quiet little villages to fight out their quarrels. The women were crying out to Mary and all the saints. Indeed all the little crosses along the waysides or

sden, which boasted the name of a hotel. It had the worst bed

the homes of the friendly villagers. They were full of the weirdest tales of loot and

er to the sources and verifying the

only a fool would want to go

and was overheard by

urg p

e five years that I lived in New York. Had the best time in my life there. If you want to go sight-seeing in Bel

ks, duly impressed it with the German seal. Later on I

ities," said the consul, as he passed it out. "Use it at your own risk. If you g

ouldn't and was off

ombatants, and from which the natives drew the floating corpses to the shore. Now its gentle lapping on the stones mingled with the subdued murmur of our talk. In such surroundings my new friends regaled me with stories of pillage and murder which the refugees had been bringing in from across the border. All this produced

he soldiers standing like so many gray wolves silhouetted against the red flames. In that light it did seem that motives other than pure affection might hav

great Netherlands flag proclaimed neutral soil. The worried Dutch pickets honored the signature of Souten and with one step I was over the border into Belgium, now under German jurisdiction. The helmeted soldiers across the way were a distinct disa

t poss

ey shrugged t

t dang

least," they

hey charged me only not to return after sundown, giving point to their advice by relating how, on the previous night, they had shot down a peasant woman and her two children who, under the cloak of darkness, sought to s