Anyway, I am
going to try it. I am going armed with every sort of paper--provisional
passport from our consul, permis de sejour from my mayor here, and a
local permit to enter and leave Paris, which does not allow me to stay
inside the fortifications after six o'clock at night, unless I get
myself identified at the prefecture of the arrondissement in which I
propose to stay and have my passport vised.
X
August 24, 1914.
I seem to be able to get my letters off to you much more regularly than
I dared to hope.
I went up to Paris on the 19th, and had to stay over one night. The
trip up was long and tedious, but interesting. There were soldiers
everywhere. It amused me almost to tears to see the guards all along
the line. We hear so much of the wonderful equipment of the German
army. Germany has been spending fortunes for years on its equipment.
French taxpayers have kicked for years against spending public moneys on
war preparations. The guards all along the railroad were not a jot
better got up than those in our little commune. There they stand all
along the track in their patched trousers and blouses and sabots, with a
band round the left arm, a broken soldier cap, and a gun on the
shoulder.
Pages:
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77