GRIM FACTS.

Waikato Times, Volume 87, Issue 13269, 26 August 1916, Page 4 (Supplement)

GRIM FACTS.

Harrowing details if life m a (iene.ui prison hospital are given b\ ' liarlos lien nebuls, in a volume titled In the il.oalof German v ; the [)i.iry > ! a Wound' c! I'risoner." A lew ext.a ts called u in it, show what tlio iiuijoiity i f wounded French men have to endure when tiny tail into the hands of their opponent-;, v. !io .-.('em to have no e ia option i t the i ights of ;i prisoner, m-r commiseration for t!.-' wounded. 'the happenings of two days tell the whole tale. It i.s as follows: November 21.—New i t-.-ti ii li lis i n utu light to write; wa <an now only write one letter at a time. The f< od was bad, but a healthy man could digest it. Now it is cut down suddenly. The bread is woini eaten. We aie no longer allowed t i pai chase in the town. Suirveillaiiee .- •■'.eie. gloomy, suspii ions. Seaii lits in oar p.sessions every day. Wean- forbidden to receive packages bum France. Wc try to Ut our Irielids know, hut cur bttcrs aie lorwaided so tardilv tlial inany arc still on the way. Will "we g< t the 'pai k ages now bound to us'; We are soon put at rest on the matter. Those tot whom parcels ainve are handed the wrappers and ha\e to pay a lax of eighty pfennings a kilogiannne for preserves and ehoeo kite. And then the contents are seized. "Kveaything goes into strange hands ami -'lt is a gracious gin that the French wounded make to their German friends,' th" Boche cliapain tells us. "Now the. 'Gazette de l/aiaine,' a spe < ia! edition, printed in honible French, is interdicte<l to ns. it i.s not much of a loss. What villainies that sheet contained! What insults to good French men! An insert in a gieat German daily, it was the receptacle for all the ab surd rumours. "But this interdiction amies with it a grave deprivation. No more French hooks, fiction or otherwise; no more Herman dictionaries, nor even the old ill us trated papers that the prisoners had thumbed over. We are prisoners, and prison means silence, solitude. To iad would be to think. To read of France even evil would be to exalt in us a latent tenderness, to blow to life the embers of blackened enthusiasm. The shadow of Germany has come between us and our beloved authors. I had the '•Deman de Midi," of Bourget, so interesting. It was seized at once. And I have had to conceal my notes in my bed. ' "White P&per in a drawer attracted attention. The Prussian soldier who found it was exasperated. " 'What's this paper for 1 Where did it com* from ?' " 'To study German.' My response was very calm. He showed his hatred. ".'You will have time to do that when