INTO GERMANY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LVI, Issue 17145, 26 April 1919, Page 1 (Supplement)

INTO GERMANY.

OUR PEACEFUL t€NETRATIdN

VT AS AUCKLAND SOLDIER--14 All 'A' class men will parade at 7 tomorrow morning, full roarching order, to go up the line." So shouted the orderly sergeant one evening as we were lined up 'or tea, down at the base camp. Seven o'clock nest morning found un .all lined up, with full packs, ready to move oft' after inspection. Soon we were settled down in :attle trucks (German ones, by the way) and were speeding east. All day long we journeyed on through country which offered little variety in the matter of seensry, for it was now the depth of winter. We passed the same bare fields with patches of corn just showing here and ihere, the same desolate-looking woods of leafless oaks, elms, beeches and ash trees, iha same cheerless-looking Tillages with ;heir humble cottars, from the doorstops Mid windows of wliioh the children wuved their friendly welcome. Just before dark we entered the devastated war area and by daylight we had arrived at the small Belgian town of La Liouviere. We were all delighted with our Jrst sight of Belgian soil. Everything here iieemed peaceful and prosperous, riiere was no wild turmoil of trenches ind shell holes. The houses, too, seemed slean and more substantial than those to which we had been accustomed in Prance. We found, as the day wore on, that this impression of thrift and prosperity deepened upon üb. As for the peoplo themselves there was no mistaking their friendly feollng and deep gratitude towards the British. Old men and women, demoiselles uid children, all alike smiled and waved md smiled again. It was noticeable that the Belgians used heir waterways very extensively. Heavily aden barges were continually passing up ind down the canals. This means of car•iage is doubtless very cheap, but one does lot envy those to whom fall the task of ugging (A the long tow-lines. In many, ases we noticed that it was the woman irho thus did the tewing, while her lord, ripe in mouth, eat in the stem and steered. But perhaps women cannot be trusted to iteer. A First Peep of Germany. When it grew light enough next mornrvg wo found that wo were travelling hrough German territory at last. All norning we traversed a country almost as lot as a table, a smiling land, even in win,er, and untouched by the horrors of waris good as anything I had seen in Now Jealand. The country was almost entirely ;' ipen, there being scarcely a fenco or a lodge to be seen anywhere. In ths fields ilong the line boys were at work with heir bullock-teams turning up tho rich oamy soil. Now we would pass fields of labbages, now fields of kale and other vegwables, then fields of wheat, the young ilants just peeping above the brown soil, .hen great Dutch barns full of hay, and ,hen clusters of haystacks all after the one | >attcrn, oblong, solid, heavy, in keeping ] ri<h the German character. i Away in the background we could eee )luo forest-clad uplands with small towns jestling among the woods and pushing ,heir church steoples sharply upward, further away still in tho murky distance too a cluster of tall chimney stacks markng one of Fritz's many hives of human ndustry. The whole country seemed rich md thickly populated. AttitudD of tho Germans. But what surprised me most of all was hat the people actually scemod glad to , welcome us. At village after village the vomen and girls would come out on their I loorsteps and wave to us as long as we •einained in eight. One had expected to ind, if not dislike, at least indifference, ind yet here was a display of downright friendliness. Was it genuine or was it 'crafty love"? So we passed on through Duron and through Euskirchen till about 2 p.m. we irrived at Bonn, the birthplace of Beethoven. We stayed at this town a couple at hours, and again I was struck by the friendly attitude of most of the people. The children crowded around asking for a bit of chocolate or biscuit. Young frauleins, all smiles, had already made friends with the Tommies and Jocks. Occasionally, however, orte would see a haughty young lady turn her face the othor way. Then an old veteran with upturned, grissled moustache would appear, would halt, and gaze Intently upon the scene for some minutes and then pass sorrowfully on. Who could read his thoughts! Who could realise the crushing humiliation he was Buffering? To see the very children run to the enemy and straiflhtway make friends with them, those children who had been dutifully and faithfully taught the hymn of hate! - , L , Physically there did not appear to be much! the matter with the men, most of whom seemed to be In good health. But the women had not stood the strain so well. While in many cases they were stout enough yet there was a pallor, a pastiness, in their complexions Hint spoke of ill-nourishment and familiarity with food substitutes. It was, however, in the little children of from two to five years that I discovered the most convincing evidence of food shortage. Almost all these, especially of the poorer class, were puny, thinlegged and white-faced. It seemed to me that they had never known th luxury of fresh milk. .... We now went back along the line for some distance, eventually branching off towards Cologne, at which town we orrived after night had fallen. After a Bhort stay on the platform of the great railway station we got on board one of the suburban trains, passed over the Rhine and arrived at our destination, the town of j Opladen. We then marched to the iwhool where we were to spend the night. | A Lesson for New Zealand. In the morning I had a look round this school and came to the conclusion that in the matter of school architecture the Germans had got far ahead of ns. Tho classrooms were clean, well lighted, heated, and ventilated, simply decorated, and altogether pleasant places in which to live. Bat what particularly struck mo was the fact that all these rooms were small, capable of accommodating only from 20 to 30 pupils. There was no chance here of crowding 100 or more little martyrs mto one stifling long den, as I had seen done in New Zealand. I wondered how long it would be before New Zealand parents would rise in their wrath and demand tho abolition of that iniquitous system under which their children are " cribb'd, cabin'd and confin'd " in these poisonous school prisons. The way to abolish such a state of things seemed to me to bo to build new schools with small classrooms, such as I saw here in Opladen. The children in this town, too, flocked round us in the most friendly manner Their appetite for lollies, chocolate, or any thing sweet appeared to be insatiabla These children were very clean and welldressed, and showed no evidence of poverty except perhaps in the matter of footwear. Their teeth also wero beautifully cared for. _ I was at once struck with the manner in which they carried their school-bags Boys and pir's alike invariably carried their bags strapped over both shoulders, just as a soldier carries his pack. I am convinced that if we adopted this style in New Zealand we should not see so much of the stooping "ait and round shoulders so common in our growing boys and girls. After breakfast we fell in again to inarch to' the New Zealand Army Headquarters, from which we received directions as to our respective ur'ts. All day long we were continually meeting parties of the " diggers,", who had been in occupation now "ncirly a week. They were in all cases smartly turned out. In no case did 1 observe the least- bit of swank or bravado such as one ni'.:'lit almost pardonably I nve i spotted to liii'l in conquerors. Instead there was a quiet yet confident bearing wluiiik ftwdently impressed the Germans.