"Blast Furnaces"

Maoriland Worker, Volume 12, Issue 301, 6 December 1922, Page 14

"Blast Furnaces"

"(Further Extracts) August 12, 1915. r< have written to Paron. I must talk -Trith some one who shares my thoughts „• . . I am stiflled here amongst these people (her husband's friends) ... As close neighbours, I am unable to escape. from them.: We aro all constantly in one - another's company. I am sick of the pumiced couYentionalship of their conversation, their heroics and. their ferocity. THEY NEVER THINK FOR THEMSELVES —THEY SIMPLY REPEAT.' THEY LEARN THEIR PAPER BY HEART, one might si&y, in the morning., anil spend the rest- of the day saying it over to ono another. ONE MAY WATCH THE PHRASES COMING FROM THKIR MOUTHS, AS FROM THE CHARACTERS IN A CARICATURE? AND THEY ARE SO SURE THAI* THEY HAVE THE TRUTH, AND NOTHING BUT THE TRUTH!. They never dream of the possibility of anyone haviiij? DIFFERENT YiFAYS —EXCEPT, OR COURSE, TRAITORS OR LUNATJCS! Thoir cerllludc is lieavy, crushing:, placid. Tliey trample on one's heart as they would tread "on one"s toen, without, any malicious intention, l>ut with their full weight. I am literally oppressed by them .... will it ever be realised WHAT CONTINUAL TORTURE ANY WOMAN ENDURED IN THIS WAR, WHO REMAINED PITIFUL AnX> | COMPASSIONATE; WHO RETAINED , HER ABSOLUTE HORROR OF j SLAUGHTER, WHO : ONLY HATED HATRED—and who found herself! alone, COMPLETELY ALONE, among! cruel and intolerant fanatics, hardened, to tfce--sufferings of others? :■.• 3: * :i: One day she hears 'her liusimntl and some of his friends developing j one of their favour'te theses—"we! wcro not reiaily." Follow th'-a entry j in the diary. j Grand discovery—'this proves tuat.j no ono in France is responsible for j Hie war .... it explains the flrat ■ checks .... it absolves the military I authorities .... and yet .... liave: the Chambers ever infused a s?ng»e j military vote? Far from' it- -Ixuvo not; Parliamentary Committees themselves j taken the initiative in suggestions-lor; reforms in military equipment? Have | there been spent on war preparations j since IS7O any fewer miiiiai'ils in: Germany—where the -army was j "ready, , " we are told? So IJu-t alterj all, the absurd legend ("'we were not} ready") amounts to a charge of in- 1 competence against our military i leaders! : I w/ris teSnpted to say all this to them. But "cvi bono? One does not; I argue with visionaries. Ami ii! ■ these j i people word still accessible to reason, would they be exhibiting their frenzy —would'they not blush at their 0~/n i words? Sept. 14, 1915. One of the papers J is publishing an officer's impressions., I came across this. Comment i/< neett-; less! ' j ''Our French bayonet—what, a sup- j erb instrument of vengence it is.j supple and gracious as our tmgutige,! 'sharp-set, and subtle as our minda! .... There is something feminine,-] about iC, nomething wheedling and se- i clucing .... • It goes clean and j straight, without a trace of blood., to.; the guilty heart. I recall one of my! men , ; as he buried his bayonet in the j stomach of the Germans. What a i pleasure he found in driving the steel through . the enemies' skins, spitting them, transpiercing and crumpling tbem up. and lea.ving them for carrion. It is -a joy to see them fall and lie writhing irt the torture of! the"'r death agony. It warms one's | heart!" • *4' ■ * * October 6, I9IS. An entry dealing with documents on the origin of the I w*ar .... reports from the diplomatic representative of Belgium, in Paris,] London and Berlin, sent to the Bel-j gian Foreign Office between 1904 and] 1914. IIer» are some o? them. Count d£» Lala'ng, Belgian Minister in London, denounces in the person of Lord Northcliffe, the "CONTROLLERS' OF CHEAP PAPERS. "WRITTEN FOR THE UNTHINKING, WHO TWIST AS THEY CHOOSE, THE MIND OF A WHOLE PEOPLE , \ , . ,and who are in great measure responsible for the enmity between Great Britain .and. Germany." Baron \Beyens, Belgian Mir»,ister in Bering makes repeated references to the intrigues of the Russian Minister Jsvolsky, "who wishes to pursue a personal vendetta against Austria." Baron Guillaume, Belgian Minister in" Paris, declares that "the nomination of Pelcasse, one of the origina* itors of the Anglo-French Entente, as 'Ambassador of St, Petersburg, liasbeen a Jx>mb3heli .... M. Poincare li,-as entrusted him vriWxa missioii to pa»nt in tho most glowing colours/ the benofita of: tho Franco-Ru»s-'iaa AUMoe;,.,,,^fl4: :^,;,TQ2;;lNDl^^,;;;^»|;;