* * * * *

HEART-TO-HEART TALKS.

(_Herr Schultze and Herr Müller, privates in a Prussian regiment of
Infantry._)

_Schultze._ Leave will soon be over now and we shall have to go back to the
fighting.

_Müller._ Yes; it is not a very cheerful prospect.

_Schultze._ No; that is a very true saying. And, what is more, there seems
no possible end to this War, though (_dropping his voice and looking
round_) we all hate it from the bottom of our hearts.

_Müller._ Yes, we all hate it. Indeed the hatred between me and the War
gets worse and worse every day. I don't care who hears me.

_Schultze._ Don't be too bold; one never knows who may be listening.

_Müller._ It is to become mad. Why did we ever let the ALL-HIGHEST MAJESTY
begin such a war? We were all so comfortable, and then suddenly the
Austrian ARCHDUKE gets himself murdered and, piff-paff, we Germans must go
to war against Russia and France and England. I am very sorry for the
ARCHDUKE, but there were other Archdukes to supply his place, and even if
there had not been I do not think he himself was worth the four millions of
killed, wounded and prisoners whom we have lost since the guns began to go
off.