It is a
literary creation, not a statement of fact. I have been in villages
when German troops were entering, had entered, and were about to enter.
I saw helpless, terror-stricken women huddled against the wall, children
hiding in their skirts, old men dazed and vague.
Then, as the blue-gray uniforms appeared at the head of the street, with
sunlight on the pikes and helmets, came the cry--half a sob, "Les
Allemands."
The German fabrications are unworthy. Let the little slain children, and
the violated women, sleep in honor. Your race was stern enough in doing
them to death. Let them alone, now that you have cleared them from your
path to Paris.
Doctor George Sarton, of the University of Ghent writes me:
"During the last months, the Germans have launched new slanders against
Belgium. Their present tactics are more discreet and seem to be
successful. Many 'neutral' travelers--especially Americans and
Swiss--have been to Belgium to see the battlefields or, perhaps, to get
an idea of what such an occupation by foreign soldiers exactly amounts
to. Of course, these men can see nothing without the assistance of the
German authorities, and they can but see what is shown to them. The
greater their curiosity, the more courtesy extended to them, the more
also they feel indebted to their German hosts. These are well aware of
it: the sightseers are taken in their net, and with a very few
exceptions, their critical sense is quickly obliterated.
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