STREET OF THE PRETTY HEART.
It might have been a street once, that sh.e.l.l-pocked thoroughfare, its cobbles piled awry, its curbing bitten out as though by the teeth of a stone-crunching giant. Scarcely one of the houses that lined it but had gaping sh.e.l.l-holes in walls, piles of clattered-down bricks before it, heaps of dust--all mute tokens of the devastation wrought by the enemy airmen during the raid of the night before. But, in the middle of that pathetic and ruined apology for a street the children were playing away, as merrily as if nothing at all had happened, shouting to one another in glee. And the name of that street--as the battered and half obliterated sign on the corner of the caved-in house at the end testified--was "Rue du Joli Coeur"--"Street of the Pretty Heart!"
The "Street of the Pretty Heart!" It is symbolic of the way France has borne her struggle, her devastation--with the heart-free, care-free spirit of childhood. One may crush, but not conquer, a race whose children can find happiness amid such surroundings, can abandon themselves to play under the very shadow of disaster. The "Street of the Pretty Heart"--in that t.i.tle is the secret of triumph of the spirit over the powers of darkness, the secret of the triumph of the spirit of France over the malignant and evil genius of her arch enemy.
SINGING ON THE HIKE.
We do not sing "by order" in this man"s army, but that is no reason why we should not sing--just because we are not ordered to do so. Singing can clip more kilos off a hike, take more lead out of a pack, drive more dampness out of the clothing than anything else. Also, it is good for the lungs. What is good for the lungs is good for the heart. And lungs and hearts in good condition are the best possible aids to the "guts"
that will win this war.
We do not need to sing "highbrow stuff." We cannot imagine American troops going into battle as our Italian allies are said to, singing the national anthem, for the simple reason that we are not built that way, that"s all. But we can sing something--even "All We Do Is Wait for Pay Day," or the famous ditty about the acrobatic gra.s.shopper--and, if we do, we are more than apt to find ourselves feeling a lot better for it.
Morever, it will help the fellow back in the line who, because of his cold, a badly slung pack, a tight pair of shoes, or, perhaps, bad news from home, is finding the going just a bit hard. It is the job of all of us who feel fit to do all we can, to boost along the fellow who may not feel quite so fit. It"s team play that counts.
So start her off! Pitch it low enough so everybody can reach it, and keep it going. It is an unbeatable tonic for an unbeatable army.
SPIES AND a.s.sES.
Beware of the man who, no matter what his uniform, no matter what his nationality, comes to you with tales of Germany"s invincibility, prophecies that "the war will end in a draw," and so forth. If he is saying such things on his own account, he is a German propagandist, a spy, a paid liar, and should be reported and punished as such. If he is repeating them second hand, he is nothing but an a.s.s, a dupe of some real propagandist, and he should be reported and punished just the same.
Germany thinks we are a credulous lot of people. Old Bismarck himself once cynically remarked that there was a special Providence that watched out for plumb fools and Americans. More recently, Von Papen, whom our Government asked to have withdrawn from his post as German military attache at Washington, referred to us affectionately as "those idiotic Yankees." Consequently, Germany now hopes to weaken our resolution by sending among us these tale-bearers, these prophets of disaster, on the chance that some of us will be fools enough to bite.
The only sure and safe way to fool Germany in return is to report any man mouthing such pro-German sentiments, and report him at once. Your company commander will then see to it that further enemy activity by that man will be effectively stopped.
"GAS-ALERT!"
Great Britain is said to be making progress in the gentle art of extracting explosives from chestnuts. Chauncey Depew was master of that art long, long, ago.
"Keep the Home Fires Burning" is very pretty, and all that, but "keep the billet fires aglow" is a lot more practical.
Broadway, the papers tell us, is now dark after eleven o"clock at night, and thinks it a hardship. Shucks! We could mention some French cities that, until recently, were dark after four o"clock in the afternoon.
It may be set down as a plain, unvarnished, Teutonic lie that fuel has become so scarce in the States that minstrel shows will soon be abolished by Federal order because of a lack of burnt cork.
Just think! After the war is over it"ll be like going from boyhood into manhood. We"ll "graduate into long trousers" again.
Over in the States, Mondays have been declared legal holidays because of the shortage of coal. But over here, with coal and wood even scarcer, we drill on washday, whether or no.
What puzzles us is how Great Britain, on a diet of that warm beer, can continue to produce tanks that terrorize the Germans.
Mrs. Margaret Deland says she wishes every soldier in the army might see "Damaged Goods." Shucks, Mrs. Deland; we all saw damaged goods when we got our belated Christmas packages.
Mr. Charles M. Schwab has given up his private car for the duration of the war, and will, according to a despatch from the States, "do his travelling in the conventional day coach or Pullman." We, too, have given up our private cars, and now do our travelling in the conventional third-cla.s.s carriages or "Hommes 40, Chevaux 8."
Cheer up, lads! Pity the poor chaps back home who got married to escape the army! Between Hindenburg and a mother-in-law, pick Hindenburg for an enemy, every time.
What has become of the old-fashioned trooper who used to be able to roll the makin"s with one hand while holding in a bucking horse with the other? For that matter, what has become of the old-fashioned trooper?
"Austria Suggests Treating with N.S."--Headline.
No thanks; not now. From past performance, the chance is too good that the drinks would be doped.