Читать книгу The Times Great War Letters: Correspondence during the First World War - James Owen - Страница 8

TRAVELLING FROM GERMANY

6 August 1914

SIR,—IN TO-DAY’S ISSUE of The Times you publish a letter by John Jay Chapman to which I and, I am sure, many others must take serious exception.

Your correspondent describes in lurid terms the sufferings experienced by travellers in Germany the last few days. “The hand of ruthless force which regarded neither God nor man was laid on them. Every decency of existing society had vanished. No appeal to any principle or power in the universe remained,” and so on ad nauseam.

I should like to chronicle my personal experience, which was of a vastly different character. Accompanied by another woman I travelled from Baden-Baden to Berlin on Friday last on a crowded train and we were, I believe, the only English people on board. The majority of the travellers were Germans and Russians. The stations en route were packed with people vainly desiring places, this state of things getting worse as we neared the capital. Everywhere we met with much more than the ordinary courtesy extended to women travelling. I was very much impressed by the real kindness and chivalry shown to us on three different occasions by German men, who voluntarily gave up their places to save us from sitting on our bags in a crowded corridor, and who put themselves to much trouble to obtain food for us at the stations.

We returned from Berlin last Saturday at 1 o’clock, and on arriving at Osnabruck at 5.30 heard that mobilization had begun. The train was held up several times to allow others to pass, all crowded with soldiers, and we knew that it might be our fate to be left stranded, should the authorities have required our train to convey troops in. Happily for us we reached England via Flushing without more inconvenience than would happen on any overcrowded train or boat.

I should like to put on record that during all those hours of intense excitement, with a nation newly called to arms, we did not meet with a single instance of rudeness in Germany. What is more, we never saw so much as a glance of enmity directed towards us. Even in Berlin itself last Saturday, where the whole town was in the throes of a deep national emotion, walking and driving among the huge crowd we never experienced anything but kindness.

Whatever our feelings may be as to the causes and nature of this war, it is devoutly to be hoped that English people will not be led astray by the irresponsible statements of travellers. We are at war with a great nation, and it behoves us to be true to ourselves and our English traditions of fair play.

FLORENCE PHILLIPS