MAURICE BARRES in eloquent preface tells us of some of the
sufferings that M. DOMELIER had to endure while trying to carry out his
difficult duties. The French who remained in Charleville had more than
ample opportunities of seeing both the EX-KAISER and his eldest son, and M.
DOMELIER writes of them with a pen dipped in gall. No book that I have read
puts before one more poignantly the miseries which the inhabitants of
invaded France had to bear during "the great agony." For the most part they
bore them with a courage beyond all praise; but some few, giving way under
stress of physical suffering or moral temptation, forgot their nationality;
and these M. DOMELIER makes no pretence to spare. I think that even those
of us who have definitely made up our minds regarding the Hun and want to
read no more about him will welcome this book. For if it is primarily an
indictment of Germans and German methods, it is hardly less a tribute to
those who held firm through all their misery and never gave up hope during
the darkest days.
* * * * *
I have before now met (in books) heroes who wore dungaree and had as
setting an engineer-shop or a foundry, but never one who equalled _Jim
Robinson_ (HUTCHINSON) in the strictness of his attention to business.
_Jim_ is the managing director of _Cupreouscine, Limited_, a firm which
deals in a wonderful copper alloy which he himself has invented, and the
book tells the story of his long and losing fight against the other
directors, who are all in favour of amalgamation with another and much
larger concern.
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