RECOGNISED BY SHOES.

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 2, Issue 147, 15 April 1940, Page 6

RECOGNISED BY SHOES.

AMERICAN S EXPERIENCE IN GERMANY Americans walking German streets with "real'" overcoats or "real" shoes or frequenting German restaurants are the objects of much curiosity by people who have had to accustom themselves to "ersatz".or substitute goods, says the Christian Science Monitor. One New England manufacturer, for instance, who is spending the winter months in Berlin, describes how he took a stroll one cold winter day through a city park. "I had put on the warmest shoes I had," he said. "They had four layer soles —first leather, then an inlay of rubber, then another strip of leather, and finally a nonskid, corrugated strip of rubber. "I felt slightly uncomfortable, I confess, when I noticed how a man doggedly followed my steps and circled round and round the flower bed a few steps behind me. "Finally he caught up with me. 'Excuse me, sir,' he said, politely tipping his hat, 'but would you mind telling me where you bought such a wonderful pair of shoes?" "Where Are Your Stripes?" London seems to be the chief setting for stories about "dear old ladies" and the Avar, but Duncdin produced an amusing example recently. A young second-lieutenant wearing his uniform for about the third time since receiving his commission encountered an elderly woman acquaintance in Princess Street. "So you are ir uniform now," she said. "Hut where are your stripes?" she asked in surprise. "Sure'y a young man like you can get at least one stripe!" Needless to say, the young subaltern was a somewhat disconcerted soldier when the "dear old lady" had passed on her way.