OUR FRIENDS THE ENEMY.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 11282, 9 January 1915, Page 10

OUR FRIENDS THE ENEMY.

It lias npyer been the way of the' Scot' •<) liojr! jiis tongue-when ill is'spokou. '. ot a friend: and to those of us who i have oxpenciiced much kindness at the. .hands of Germans, the constant tale ot their misdeeds in war has made but, sorry rending. As one who knows them we "i who owes them a great debt of gratitude, as one who is still bound to ' Ji.;»Jiv ot the German fork by ties of midlines* and esteem. T would bet;: I leave t» attempt a little brightening Jo the sombre picture-a little mixing lot Kughler and kind thoughts witii 1 our execration and abuse. It is commonly supposed in this conn- < 1 .v that the Germans' hero-worship 01 ' then- own great men readies m absurd pitch, that it , P „ thin* without dia- ' crimination or good sense. This is not by nn.v moans universally true. ' : FKD UP WITH BISMARCK " Once when I was walking in Prass-a - with .1 German professor, on a .pitch fhirk night. v,e stumbled against tb» hasp ot a stntiie in the middle of a village market nlnce. "The übiquitous' Bismarck y-nn.' remarked the 'pro-' lessor; and the striking of a. match proved him correct. Somewhat aaimsed by his grunt of disapprovalted up wjth Bismarck statues "-- would be a pretty fair rendering of if- - f i um ,f hc W' not W™ «'th most of his compatriots in. holding the Prince to have been at least the greatest statesman of his dav. "Bv no means, _,vas the emphatic answer'.. Your Mr Gladstone, for example, wi f, r c n?'- a , f ? ter man -" And "bis «« no isolated instance of a, broadminded hnrnes, towards the peopleVnd the institution* of another land t'M? r *Z A trUe '- ar c ' ne oft ™ hears, ti at the Army , B everywhere treated, 2mMfh«T ™™ence; '» happier' «E 2 - Ge + People are themselves quite ready to .join in merriment fit the' tSiTl' eX S T tenant with his admiring lady friends, is con! that it would not be easy to find a f?*, " tt fr of »ny of" their more Lpjit-heartcd journals without at least lowingi Sa " n>le ° f h(lmom " as t,,e SI", The picture shows an immaculate su b-< a Item looking f rom the window s*. railway carriage his compartment being^otherwisefn 1-very fuVof &£; jonng and elderly. A comrade greets him from the platform-" Hullo, old' chap travelling, m , a , 'ladies only.'P" lo winch the passenger replies, with a pretence of boredom, "Looks like it!, only till ] got m." That the officer, especially the yoimi' omcer. is sometimes a self-complaceiv, ass, it nothing worse, it would, oi course be idle to deny: but he meets with the same hearty ridicule from the hulk ot the civilian population there as from strangers. And'are there not officers even m other armies, who incline to he-dare one say it~rather pleased with, themselves? THE YANKEE LADIES' TEMERITT incident with the same hilarious result compatnots; indeed even • iudiciouslv selected officers of the VaterVd have the tale, and have been known to repeat it' joyously among themselves A charming and verv.tmT American lady was standing one da'v with her.daughter (almost equally tiny)' C 3 %? he the s?ory best her«lL- We were talking, together « n the sidew*lk r Gnssie and I-outside oui house, when one of these lieutenants came along. And, would you believe it,, instead' of going around ori" the outside, he netuafly pushed in be-,-n!f en tr U ,f le r and m - as W6 vvere talk, Z\ ii el! ' I>ca ? tell you, I lifted mv umbrella, as quick as thought, him a right good across the Back with it. and Gnssie did the very same." ihere was probably no officer just' then, -in the whole of the KaiserV Army quite so fhor'oughlv surprised as that lieutenant; and one feels sure . ' that he has never again pushed between \ two -A mencan ladies, as they were talking together on the sidewalk " AN OFFICER'S PHRASE. A certain captain of the writer's ac- ' quaintance-a specially able and successful officer-had one favourite phiase which became conversational cirivDov ; among his friends. It, is doubtful whe- ' ther any of them ever dared to' quote ' it jestingly m his company, since he* used it himself m all sober oainent He was not one of those to whom ,-„ piu.' dent man would tell the incident of the American ladies. Speaking of a I supper which he had arranged—and the phrase applied to most things n wHich { he had a hand—he assured one that when he ordered a supper for his friends, i "You may rely on it being Kolossal einiach. aber nesig vornehm liter ally rendered. " Colossally simple, but cJCLftn- ' ticoJly distinguished." Tlie Phrase depicts an attitude of mind tliat is fairly typical, and our friend's insistent use of it made it plain that the "distinction of his class was in no tvi«e universally conceded, but was a thing which had to be constantly claimed. let, while one laughed at this little trait in his character, there was a great deal about the man that won wholehearted admiration. Working immensely .hard at his profession, lie yet found time, to be well informed "in many ther directions, and could discuss Shakespeare in English, or Voltaire in French, in a way that k ex-. ■pected iu our country only of the professed literary man. Keenly interested in painting and in music, himself a good performer upon the violoncello, he could take his part in talk about the arts with every iiiaik of sympathy and understanding' Respected a.nd liked by hu> men and by superiors and juniors alike, a, perfectly delightful father among his own young people, a gracious and most kindly 'host, he was, like many others, a friend whoift I shall always count it a privilege to ha.ve known. A POST OFFICE INCIDENT. There are, of course, officials of every class, in Germany as elsewhere, who are apt to have a rather inflated notion, of their own importance. But when it reaches an acute stage this malady has often about it an element of naivete, of simplicity .almost, that makes it possible to take the offender by .surprise [ --a manoeuvre which would have but doubtful success among ur Scot*. In the German post office, one. buy's one's stamps from a man in uniform who sits behind a little window, contrived, as in our railway booking offices, to open and shut only from within. Once, when the writer, in all innocence, had the temerity to tap gently upon such a, window, the mar. inside banned it open, and shouting. " You have, to wait upon my convenience." banged it shut again. Immediately, without giving him v.irae to get his breath, I jappeft again, and, the moment it was vpeiM<i, assured him that the. matter was the other way round, and that lie was there to "wait upon my convenience, "f received my stamps and retired before he had time to frame the—to him appropriate reply. On the other hand, as every unprejudiced traveller in Germany has fcimcl. there are officials in every grade rho display endless patience and kindness in their several domains. One has over and over again known cases where peo. pie, who might very woll have been told that they were idiots, were" treated instead with a fatherly care and gentleness that was truly touching. To condemn the whole" race utterly because we are at war with them is surely just as -wrong as even' kind of generalisation. It is as true of them as it is ot ourselves that some are good some are bad, and some are "just mioway between In many ways indeed, they are akin to us, and some of us can still find pleasure in the kinship. Brutes and vandals there -would indeed appear to be among their ranks, hut there are others also who command profound respect—soldiers and officers alike who are very bravo and courteous gentlemen—D.O.M., in the "Weekly Scotsman.''