rsy, the brigand of
the Belgian annexation has incessantly said that his apparent hardness
is the necessary accompaniment of his inherent strength. Nietzsche said:
"I give you a new commandment: Be hard." And the Prussian says: "I am
hard," in a prompt and respectful manner. But, as a matter of fact, he
is not hard; he is only heavy. He is not indifferent to all feelings; he
is only indifferent to everybody else's feelings. At the thought of his
own virtues he is always ready to burst into tears. His smiles, however,
are even more frequent and more fatuous than his tears; and they are all
leers like that which Mr. Raemaekers has drawn on the face of the
expansive Prussian officer in the arm-chair. Compared with such an
exhibition, there is something relatively virile about the tiger cruelty
which has occasionally defaced the record of the Spaniard or the Arab.
But to be conquered by such Germans as these would be like being eaten
by slugs.

G. K. CHESTERTON.

[Illustration: SEDUCTION

"Ain't I a lovable fellow?"]

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MURDER ON THE HIGH SEAS

The recent descent of so many of her citizens from the people now
warring in Europe has of necessity prevented America from looking on
events in Europe with a single eye. But the predominant American type
and the predominant American frame of mind are still typified by the
lithe and sinuous figure of the New England pioneer. It is his tradition
to mind his own business, but it is also his business to see that none
of the old monarchies make free with his rights or with his people. And
he stands for a race that has been cradled in wars with savages. No one
knows better the methods of the Apache and the Mohawk, and when women
and children fall into such pitiless hands as these, it goes against the
grain with Uncle Sam to keep his hands off them, even if the women and
children are not his own. He would like to be indifferent if he could.
He would prefer to smoke his cigar, and pass along, and believe those
who tell him that it is none of his affair. But when he does look--and
he cannot help looking--he sees a figure of such heavy bestiality that
his gorge rises. He must keep his hands clenched in his pockets lest he
soils them in striking down the blood-stained gnome before him.

Can he restrain himself for good? That angry glint in his eye would make
one