Welsh Journals

a half-hearted business-like sort of way, iust because what must be, must be. I was told in Berlin by an American girl living in a German family that by July 26th, the sons in the house had been notified where they must present themselves when the reservists were mobilized, and also the date on which they were to travel between August 3rd and 6th. By August I st the standing army seemed to have taken up its positions, they were only waiting for the reservists ammunition and baggage seemed to be all in order. This was certainly not so in Russia, for what I saw there was the mobilization of the standing army, and the fact should be borne in mind when considering the German white paper. Martial law was already proclaimed when I arrived at Eydtkuhnen. There Because for once the sword broke in her hand, The words she spoke seemed perished for a space All wrong was brazen, and in every land The tyrants walked abroad with naked face. The waters turned to blood, as rose the Star Of evil fate denying all release. The rulers smote the feeble crying War I The usurers robbed the naked crying Peace 1 And her own feet were caught in nets of gold, And her own soul profaned by sects that squirm, And little men climed her high seats and sold Her honour to the vulture and the worm. And she seemed broken and they thought her dead, The Over-men, so brave against the weak. Has your last word of sophistry been said, 0 cult of slaves ? Then it is hers to speak. Clear the slow mists from her half-darkened eyes, As slow mists parted over Valmy fell, And once again her hands in high surprise Takelhold upon the battlements of Hell. Cecil Chesterton. [From The New Witness by kind permission of Mr. Cecil Chesterton.] was relaxation on August 2nd and 3rd, and civilians were permitted to travel. At midnight on Monday all traffic was ordered to stop for a fortnight, the only refugees who managed to come through later seem to have done so on troop trains with the soldiers. There was a curious similarity in the way each country distrusted the currency of its neighbours --even gold being everywhere refused. It is also worth noting that in Finland we had only seen one five rouble piece during the past three months-all had been paper. Except for this fact, which is certainly an argument on the other side, however, Germany seemed in every way the more prepared and the less startled of the two. E.M.R. FRANCE