I went up to Paris on the 19th, and had to stay over one night. The
trip up was long and tedious, but interesting. There were soldiers
everywhere. It amused me almost to tears to see the guards all along
the line. We hear so much of the wonderful equipment of the German
army. Germany has been spending fortunes for years on its equipment.
French taxpayers have kicked for years against spending public moneys on
war preparations. The guards all along the railroad were not a jot
better got up than those in our little commune. There they stand all
along the track in their patched trousers and blouses and sabots, with a
band round the left arm, a broken soldier cap, and a gun on the
shoulder. Luckily the uniform and shaved head do not make the soldier.

Just before we reached Chelles we saw the first signs of actual war
preparations, as there we ran inside the wire entanglements that protect
the approach to the outer fortifications at Paris, and at Pantin we saw
the first concentration of trains--miles and miles of made-up trains all
carrying the Red Cross on their doors, and line after line of trucks
with gray ammunition wagons, and cannons. We were being constantly held
up to let trainloads of soldiers and horses pass. In the station we saw
a long train being made up of men going to some point on the line to
join their regiments. It was a crowd of men who looked the lower
laboring class. They were in their working clothes, many of them almost
in rags, each carrying in a bundle, or a twine bag, his few belongings,
and some of them with a loaf of bread under the arm. It looked as
little martial as possible but for the stern look in the eyes of even
the commonest of them. I waited on the platform to see the train pull
out. There was no one to see these men off. They all seemed to
realize. I hope they did. I remembered the remark of the woman
regarding her husband when she saw him go: "After all, I am only his