GLOOMY HUNS.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 17223, 14 December 1923, Page 1

GLOOMY HUNS.

BY SINBAD. A man has returned from the land of the Ruhr, and strange are the tales that he tells ; the lot of the German is painful and poor, who now in that neighbourhood dwells. “ Oh, weep,” says this fellow, “Oh, weep for the Hun, whom France is compelling to pay; he leads an existence quite barren of fun, a life that is doleful and grey. The French have the Germans all bullied and cowed, of that there can be no denial, for no one e’er ventures to chuckle aloud, and never is noticed a smile. A laugh would be reckoned a horrible thing, in that dreadful country of gloom ; there reigns, where the folk once with pleasure did 6ing. a silence like that of the tomb. Oh. Frenchmen are wicked, to be so severe, to those who are now in their power ; where there 'should be nothing but laughter and cheer, the people with bitterness glower.”

Though sentiment sighs for the poor vanquished Hun, and weeps for the Boche’s hard lot, in view of the things this same German Iras done, I can but describe it as rot. When Germans in war time did occupy France, their methods were cruel and stern ; they drilled in their “ Kultur ” while they had the chance, but now it’s the other side’s turn.