AFFABLE HUNS

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 246, 11 July 1919, Page 8

AFFABLE HUNS

A DANGER IN THE OCCUPIED ZONE. (By Percy A. Scholc.s in the "Daily Mail.") One of the greatest dangers to !ho young soldiers who ara garrisoning the occupied territory in Germany is the unexpected "friendliness" of the inhabitants. It lakes one by surprise to find oneself received not with .sullen looks, dnit with smiles. ' My host and hostess last week in Cologne niay be taken as [an example. ,

I was, of course, forcibly billeted on them, and they had to give np to me two of their rooms. 1,1 cannot be supposed that they liked it. Yet when I arrived home each evening my hostes.l received mo with a warm handshake, pressed me' to take some refreshment, before retiring, was solicitous as to n.y day's experiences, hoped I was not 100 fatigued., was anxious to know at what hour 1 wanted to be called, pressed mo to have a cup of ten in bed in the morning, reminded' me to be sure to put my clothes outside that they might 1m brushed, and so forth. My meals were taken in a certain mess, but if I. happened to be at home during the afternoon I was pressed to tnke coffee with the family. My host was most generous with his cigars, and would take no refusal-, butshook out a handful on to my table; and his son, who until-a few months, ago was fighting against us as an officer in the. German Army, was ready, like the rest of the family to do any little service. Now what went 'on in my. billet goes on wo may be sure, in ninny other humbler home's in which soldiers are quartered, and some of them are in mow danger than I was of taking German kindness as genuine. T havp.scen a letter from a soldier. It says: "We are always discusisng German 'nicenes*' It is so different from what we expected of,the Huns. lam sure that it is finite natural and not accordin" to plan.'/ ■ I know one family and they are just as nice as can be.' Lliere i, ho daughter, so please dont go suspecting things. lam impulsive, 1 know; but I will never believe any more stories .igainst the Boche." . m If this bov's "impulsiveness is common, German "nicenefs' is a real danger at present, and may become a grow?ng danger in the months ahead. 1 met a friend of mine who said that ho had iust spent an hour in the Hohe-Sh-asse listening to the conversation of he-inhabitant* at the time when the. stee is crowded with, business people ■ *oin» home for the evening meal, lie has I perfect 'knowledge of colloquial l.ei""'What are they saying of lis?" I asked. "Do thby love us as they pro''"No," he replied, "they haters." The fact is there is something like a conSirS\mon ß Ue.«^Bh,nelnnd borne gfving descriptions -nf'German "niceness. • • . ~ Of c™.rso there is one genuine motive common sense behind, it.