Such things as this must be common enough hereabouts, but one hears very
little of them and sees even less. Aix-la-Chapelle has suffered most
heavily. The Aix regiment was shot to pieces in the first day's
fighting at Liege. Nearly half its members were killed or wounded; but
astonishingly few women in mourning are to be seen on the street, and
none of the men wear those crape arm bands that are so common in Europe
ordinarily; nor, except about the railroad station, are very many
wounded to be seen.
There are any number of wounded privates in the local hospitals; but
there must be a rule against their appearance in public places, for it
is only occasionally that I meet one abroad. Slightly wounded officers
are more plentiful. I judge from this that no such restriction applies
to them as applies to the common soldiers. This hotel is full of them--
young officers mostly, with their heads tied up or their arms in black
silk slings, or limping about on canes or crutches.
Until a few days ago the columns of the back pages of the Aix and
Cologne papers were black-edged with cards inserted by relatives in
memory of officers who had fallen--"For King and Fatherland!" the cards
always said.
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