THE WOMEN OF PARIS.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XLI, Issue 13493, 23 September 1914, Page 4

THE WOMEN OF PARIS.

TEARFUL BUT BRAVE LEAVER - TAKINGS. " SHOP-LOOTING BY ROUGHS. [By, Hamilton Fyte.) PARTS, August 3,, T left Nancy to avoid being turned out. No foreigners were allowed ' to remain within' the. lilies of the frontier defence. Tliey must go, at all events, further back than Ton I, which is som.-^ fourteen miles from Nancy on the way to Paris. , * ' In any case, even 'if I had by special favor been allowed to remain I should have been cut oft entirely, able neither to send out nor to receive telegrams, and without post or train servires. So I decided to. rush through to Paris and get permission there to accompany the army before it was too late. Toul was closed. ,1 had to go round the town. No one could go through. And_ then came frequent stoppages, barriers- put across the' road, soldiers on guard -signalling the motor-car tn stop, polite corporals asking for papers of identity, sometimes fussy civilians bubbling over ' with unnecessary 'questions'. - v '*' * ''■'"' These stops delayed lis. put an hour or. more on my time. We left Nancy at six m the morning. We had 180 miles to cover. We got to Paris, at 1.30.- ' PENALTY OF. GREED. Tho hot- afternoon was made hotter by the crowded streets and the. perpetual shouting. There is a strange look on .the grand f b;oulevards. What is it? No'ohrmbuses, very few cabs. Those that are about charge double and treble the usual prices." Some of them .suffered -for, their.. agreed. ". ..-A' ;taxi-cab driver ' wanted to ' a reservist exorbitantly f or taltitig ; hini ' to Aaisterhtz"Station;- where' he v had to leaye for his "place' of 'rhob'ilisatiori: : A crowd got v hold of the taxicab driver and gave him something: to remember.: .. " :' ' ' *• " , In a. cafe there was a similar scene. A soldi er .ordered ; . a bock— a. glass of beoi;— and was asked sevenpence, for it jinstoad.of threepence. VTt. did not take .long : to breSk upl that cafe. Yet all the same, prices. Have gone up. -Workmen's Testaments'; double' their tariff. "What .can? w.e -ido?'" tlie; restaurateurs ask-. : 'Potatoes, for .example, were \a pehhy a pound. .They, are" 'Vhow • sixpence. Everything is dearer, except . women's frocks- and hats. .The dressmakers and' milliners would be glad to sell these lat,. half-price, -quarter-price, 'any . price tHey could get. They are mournfully taking -tljem- out of, the. shop", window's .and putting them. aXvay "till. 'after, the war."; The- fashions. are certain-. t0,- naye .changedVjiy ■■.then,, if, anyone.* in.- Europe is able to, think of fashions at ;aIL . ' ' LOOTING BY HOOLIGANS. | ' "., Shops are. closing -m. .all' the streets. Many of the more luxurious anc*. expensjive have not opened. v . Why should ' they? There. are no visitors. There -is, .tip money.', At such a moment Uixury' takes ! a ..back. seat. ■ Further,,, all tlie. , show-cases: which, tempt the passersby. along the boulevards 'are being quickly emptied. The goods m them are not safe, ',''.. Already there has. beep a great dealof.'lootingu. At least, it .seems a great deal to' .English people accustomed ' to ! see' "anything of that kind-put down by . j:a v Jbeavy white-gloved hand w-itK;a"baton-iri it. Hero it is'l-the usual I accompaniment of popular emotion. '' • iFjie Eretext is "Down with the German'!"' u't 'the real . motive springs from, hooliganism. Jt T ? «? tlie scum of the .popu'-: j; lace ' which comes' to the top wheft''|the i patriotic pot- is on the boil. The crowds • that continually parade | ! -up and' down the Boulevard des ItalLiens singing the "Marseillaise," cheerling the soldiers who pass and trailing !' flags' .'are'', coihposed of weedy youth's'a.nd sfnisteir-ldokijng apaches. Respectable and responsible 'people take no jmrtin ; these*; ebhllilsions:''' They shrug llieiil , shoulders " disdainfully. In " a day or ■ two,; they say, .'when'the .reservists' have fall left/ -the police will know what to do with 'the rabble. A , few revolver ..shots .and they will give no more 'trouble. '.-.*■ - .

;- But m. 'the meantime they are suffiiciently dangerous, these troops of hooligans. They have ibroken uu nearly ""'all- the "maggi" . shops; "Maggi" is a brand of milk and consomme. It has been advertised a good deal m England. §ome time ago it was discovered to be, a German product, sold by' d German "firm".." Now its' depots are in' 'ruins. . ' ' ;;• : ' ' ; ;., , '"".'..y'l';,; • ; TROPHIES OF ' WRECItAGE, ' ly I" liave just --. seen •■' One Completely I wrecked and a band of little bpys went,off • carrying; -trophics — a. broken trolly ' land apiece of the shop''' f rprit. 'They 1 ;are exhibiting them oil the boulevard now. Many shops., of other, kinds' have, Jbeen 'smashed, r iricludihg' ; 'Ap'perifedt's. because' they belonged or' : Svei-e s,qpposed Ho' beiong to Geimv^n jprbprietors. ■ About £50 worth' Of chiha -\yas' broken at one place "m the "Boulevard -des Italiens almost m orie feU swoop of ' an attacking' crpwd. Frorolf another- shop frirniture^ was taken, piled m the street,' and set alight. < ' .-.'"'-."' '. .."''! A brasserie kept by * a ce'ritiih ' "' : M. Mhller' arquls'ed the suspicions of a nuiii-. ber of hooligans . led - by a : savage wbriiaii of the p'etr oleu'se type ... She 'tle.clared that M.; Muller was ;a German and that a'wpmaii arid her two daughters sitting' in a window wei*e Germans too. Instantly, an attack .was/ beguh. lit'- was only b.y;>l. ' Muller-- liar-; /ranguing - the .attackers and \< declaring that /he was as; goqd v a . Frehchmari a? .any. of ,thim. and; .producing -'.as proof his mobilisation card. Then their mood changed., and^they cheered, him. for;. ten minutes 'on ' end. . „ I . ,- - • 'Already 'the. absence' of ..men 'in -the street • is • hpticeable,. It wjlk. be/yery muc|i more 'so before the.. week, , is', out . ThV;reriioval , of all "the men : between: the ages of eighteen ■ and ' , f prty-fiye-^some are- older than. that even— must make a striking difference.-" * ' ; RED;EYED/ WOMEN. '''- To-day nearly ;evei"y < man ;, has a wife or sweetheart hanginjf on his arm,-hold-ing hi& hands; lookirig:' ittio /his*' face. It is pitifril'to see' nearly > every , -woman witli red eyes. Theirs is a. bitter "part, The men are excited. Tliey meet-'bl-d friends. Old memories cpme to theiri as tliey put on their uniforms and' sleep again on straw. , -;. . For the worriari who stay behind there is no consolation of comradeship, no bustle of the .preparation fpr.'entrairiment, no seritirnent of la gl6ire. They are sad. They cry, some silently, 'soriie loudly. ° " # ,:''"'■•'■■''■ While" I was getting up this morning I heard the wife of the concierge . at my hotel biddipg gqod-bye to her",huSbaridi ' Poor creature ! Yet there is "no : flinching, no desire m anyone's mind to „ shrink from the ordeai which Gerriiany has 'brutally and treacherously forced on 'her neighbor s. "Wo have 'had enough,'' the French say. "For eleven years we have borne alarms, insults, and brutalities: 'We could have lived at peace with,- all men, but this wae not allowed. Germany has goaded 'us . beyond I bearing. We have liad enoffgh." ' ; ' ( '„'". ' So from the moment on Saturday afternoon when, the church bells rang to announce that France needed ' and called on, every., man capable df taking part m her defence, the national spirits have been calm and steady. Tlie noise and effervescence on the boulevards, dp not represent Frerich feeling. . • The' flation goes to war without frothy enthusiasm, without' any foolish vauntine or vain "glory. '-'. Btlt it cioes^ to war with its jaws set firm and its mind made up. ' It believes that m line with England and with Russia it can hold its own arid. move. It has had enough: