SCENES IN FRANCE

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2353, 8 January 1915, Page 6

SCENES IN FRANCE

FOOTBALL BENEFITS FOR . . WOUNDED. Away from i tho busy, populous centres,' it takes some time 'to get accustomed to the idea that Franoe is at war at all, writes the' "Westminster Gazette's" Paris correspondent. e 'There are young men wearing medallions, and flowers, 'and huge tri-colour-ed rosettes, and patriotic inscriptions on their breasts, to' bo seen in everj village;' but you see them once in every year, at the time of the drawing of lots under the conscription—when all is peace. Near every railway bridge there is,' in the country districts, a little enrough hut,, or a shelter of branches that looks like the work of gypsies—and' two or three men, in their, blouses and their sabots, huddled around a fire within it: but it is only when you notice one of them walking up and down, with a- rifle and a fixed bayonet over hi 9 shoulder that you realise" that they are reservists on allimportant guard duty. It is unusual, perhaps, to find the man behind the grocer's counter, or the_ at one of the churches in. military uniform —the "chasseur" at a cafe militajy as far as the waist and "chasseur" from the waist upwards—and to see women at every "guichet," whero men are usually, employed; but they all go about their work with so little self-conscious-ness, and so placidly, that the reason for all this is not, in an instant, obvious.' _ .There is even another difficulty in connection with the working of the railways that does not at once suggest its own interpretation. The trains that are attending to their ordinary , work . of carrying passengers are very few; and to make up for their lack of numbers, practically , all of- them stop at every station on their line of route. A journey of forty miloi made in three hours may be regarded as well made, just now! But as the trains are few they have "to carry heavy loads, and yet at ' busy stations only ono small "guichet" is kept open to supply a mob of people struggling for tickets., : I—being 'in a hurry—protested against this at one place; but it was whispered in my ear by an apologetic' official that this w«b done with the insidious design of making it impossible for all the crowd to get their tickets in time, lest • there should be more passengers than the train could accommodate! Little things like this, and the fact that everywhere many women ore to be seen wearing: the garb of deep mourning are the only indications of war in man.y places; but there is one other in districts to which the tragedy 'pf the timo has been brought Rome more forcibly. Farther sast than lam at present the. walls of factories, of barns, of barracks, and public buildings look as thouah they had suffered some stranee malicious damage. They are roughly broken—perforated—in l a more or less regular manner. They . were loot>holed, in faot, three months ago, in case the "Bodies" shculfl pass that way; and in many cases, their loopholes were of-some slight service. But today—a crisp, bright November Sunday —even in little towns that have broken walls as a. memento of the new "Armee Terriblo," there are football matches being played; and the gatemoney is being put. aside "pour les blesses inilitoires." «