ras were
strictly suppressed.

While the German Press may not be above admitting a shortage of food in
Germany, it seriously annoys the Army that the French prisoners or the
French in the invaded regions should hear of it. I heard one story of
the wife of a French officer in Lille who was obliged to offer unwilling
hospitality to a German captain, who, in a somewhat clumsy endeavour to
be amiable, offered to try to get news of her husband and to convey it
to her. Appreciating the seeming friendliness of the captain, she
confided to him that she had means of communicating with her husband who
was on the French front. The captain informed against her, and the next
day she was sent for by the Kommandantur, who imposed a fine of 50 frs.
upon her for having received a letter from the enemy lines. Taking a
100-fr. note from her bag, she placed it on the desk, saying, "M. le
Kommandantur, here is the 50 frs. fine, and also another 50 frs. which I
am glad to subscribe for the starving women and children in Berlin."

"No one starves in Berlin," replied the Kommandantur.

"Oh, yes, they do," replied Madame X. "I know, because the captain who
so kindly informed you that I had received a letter from my husband
showed me a letter the other day from his wife, in which she spoke of
the sad condition of the women and children of Germany, who, whilst not
starving, were far from happy." Thus she not only had the pleasure of
seriously annoying the Kommandantur, but also a chance to get even with
the captain who had informed against her, and who is no longer in soft
quarters in Lille, but paying the penalty of his indiscretion by a
sojourn on the Yser.

The bridge at Meaux, destroyed in the course of the German retreat, has
not yet been entirely repaired. Beneath it rushes the Marne, and the
river sings in triumph, as it passes, that it is carrying away the soil
that has been desecrated by the steps of the invader and that day by day
it is washing clean the land of France.

In the fields where the corn is standing, the tiny crosses marking the
last resting-places of the men are entirely hidden; but where the grain
has been gathered, the graves stand out distinctly, marked not only by a
cross, but also by the tall bunches of corn which have been left growing
on these small patches of holy ground. It has always been said that
France has two harvests each year. Certainly in the fields of the Marne
there is not only the harvest of bread--