The Brecon County Times Neath Gazette and General Advertiser for the Counties of Brecon Carmarthen Radnor Monmouth Glamorgan Cardigan Montgomery Hereford

THE BARBARIANS. m A German Account of German Atrocities. OFTEN it is said by people who cannot bring themselves to believe the incredibly cruel things the Germans have done in the Great War, that the stories of German atrocities are one-sided and exaggerated. Just lately I chanced upon a document that. floods the sub- ject of German atrocities with another searchlight, and this time a search- light that none can say is biassed against Germany, because it chances to be purely German. This document contains some pictures of war in Serbia, and it is written by one Oskar Maurus Fontana, a reserve officer in the German Army, who accompanied German troops to Serbia in order to write about their fine deeds. Let me give you a few extracts from one of the German writer's articles published in a magazine called Die Schaubueline One morning, I saw a young peasant. A captain was pushing hilll gently before him, as if he were merely going with him to requisi- tion a haystack. In this scene there was, however, something which gripped one. There was a look in this ytfung man's eyes, such as I have never seen and such as made me ask What is it all about The captain and the young peasant disappeared. A few seconds later I heard rifle fire. I made enquiries, and was told a young comitadjis (brigand), who was captured here during a surprise attack, has just been shot.' w vr Some days laler, during a march, we came to a house which was on tire. It. was signal. Shrapnel rained on us. The soldiers put out the fire, and brought, along three women and an old man, whom they had found JJear the fire. They were accused of having set the house on fire. They reply, 'No.' They are ordered to confess. They reply: 'We did nothing. It is our house which is burning the others set it on fire.' They are then asked: 'How many Serbian troops passed. here ?' They reply We do not, know.' The major says: 'Shoot them.' The troops halt. We look on. breathless, at the drama we are so young to make war. No one tells these women in their own native tongue what is I going to be done to them. But they have understood; they lower their eyes like an animal that awaits the fatal stroke. They do not protest. » A momentary shudder passes over their bodies. They cannot, believe it, they do not understand their glances right and left seek salvation, some miracle. They march slowly with dragging feet. Before their condemnation they had looked fixedly at some of us, a mute regard without tears, so piercing, that we are forced to lower our eyes. Then we hear the crackling of the rifles. vr -x- Soldiers returning from a reconnaissance brought in an old peasant and his son. a youth of seventeen. They had fired once. some- where, on the Austrians; at least thc!! ore uccuscd of havimj done so. They reply with a haughty air, 'No.' And they persist in their denial. They are asked What do you know of the Serbs? How many have passed this way ?' They reply We know nothing we have seen no one.' The Illajor orders 'Shoot them. At least they arc accused of harmy done so." What a picture of German justice! "Kultur" to the trained German killing-man means just killing.

THESE W.A.A.0.S HAVE BEEN TO MARKET, j 1 (British Official. German Helmets are used as carriers for small parcels.

THE WOMAN'S PART. Think More About the Children's Food. |Bv MAKOARKT Ost;oi;\i..| When the Government first ratioIled meat in London and gave children under ten half the amount allotted to grown persons, a good many parents said that boys of nine wanted as much as they did themselves. And doctors and other experts agreed with them. Then the rations were altered, children over six receiving a grown-up allowance and many sensible persons said that children under e:it hardly require any meat at all. And many doctors and experts agreed with them. Pro- bably neither opinion is very far wrong, for human beings thrive upon a variety of diets, and it is rather difficult to make a child ill by giving him too much of any thing. Like the young puppy, he is generally willing, if not anxious, for a feed, and it takes a very exces- sive or indigestible meal to hurt a healthy child with a good set of teeth. Still, it is as well to be careful for several reasons. Some children are not healthy. Some parents provide very indigestible food. Some children have not good teeth, and a great many children who have teeth enough for any diet bolt their food like the puppy, who thinks that what he (loes not swallow hastily will be taken away from him. There are one or two broad rules that the careless mother neglects and the faddy mother breaks several times every day, and which can be followed out quite as well under rations as when we were able to buy any amount of food we could pay fur. Soft Foods in Their Place. The first, of these is neglected by the fadd\ mother. She has been careful, conscientious, over-anxious when her baby-was young, in seeing that it shall be fed entirely on milk or carefully selected infant foods. She has never let it have a taste of the family dinner be- cause if cried or grabbed for it, and she has her reward in a vigorous, flourishing child of eighteen months. Thus. too often, she goes 011 feeding the poor child, on slops she is proud of its teeth, but seems to think it keeps them only for amusement. At the end of an- other six months or another year the careless mother's baby will most likely be better and stronger than hers is. The golden rule is to feed a child on milk until it, has teeth suffi- cient for a solid diet, and then to feed it on a large proportion of food that really needs biting. Milk is an infant food, and though children of two to five can live on it, as invalids can, it is neither natural nor bene- ficial for them except in small quantities. But Teach Baby to Bite. To feed a child of three entirely oil boiled eggs, beef-tea, soft milk puddings, and bread and butter without crusts is every bit as foolish as to feed six months' infants on meat and pastry, and if this over-carefulness is persisted in, the coddled little boy or girl runs a great risk of growing up with all imperfect digestion and a very bad set of teeth. This is where the meat ra 1 ion comes in. Meat is very good for the child newly in possession of its first or second teeth, because it requires ami encourages a good deal of biting. If eggs, milk, cheese, and fish are given as substitutes for meat it must be remembered that though they are good foods they need hardiy any biting, and it is the act. of biting which en- larges the jaw sufficiently to make room for second teeth and wisdom teeth, and that keeps the teeth sharp and white. Therefore, if a child is deprived of meat or given its meat minced, it should have every day several hard biscuits, or oatcakes, or pieces of toast, and a raw apple. Do not think a banana or orange will do just as well—it won't. Milk and Sugar and Teeth. Another thing to remember is that, milk is very destructive to the enamel on teeth. A hard crust or apple should always be fateu after milk puddings. and no child who has a drink of milk the last thing at night should omit to brush the teeth after it, or at least rinse the mdutli. Children who are thirsty in -'Iill<iren the night should have water, not milk. Some people say sugar is bad for the teeth this is not true. What is bad is the habit of eating in between meals, of having something always in the mouth, whether this something is made of sugar or not. If children eat only at meals, have-not more than four meals a day, are given plain food, but never made to eat any- thing they really dislike, are encouraged to use their teeth and not allowed to "bolt" food, their appetites will be a very fair guide' as to how much they require. And, when in doubt, risk giving them too lIluch rather thall too little. MISCELLANEOUS RECIPES. CUT THIS OUT. Date Cakes. (No Eggs, Sugar, or Milk.) -INOBKDIENTS.- -4 ozs. flour; 4 ozs. whole meal H ozs. flrippinu; 4 ozs. dates; A tea, spoonful baking powder; ] gills water; tablespoonful treaele or j alii; I teaspoonful powdered spice; 1 teaspoonlul carbonate ol soda; saltspoonful salt. METHOD.—Put the fat, water, stoned., chopped dates, spice, and salt OIl to boil. Simmer for five minutes. The stones should be tied in a scrap of muslin and boiled with the rest to extract all possible sugar. Then let ihosc become nearly or quite cold. Mix the flours and baking powder; add these to the cooled mixture, and at the last stir in the soda dissolved in a tablespoonfut of cold water. Heat all well together, and bake for twentv minutes in a quick oven il made into cakes, or ] J- hours ill a moderate oven if baked altogether in one tin. X.H.—This makes a capital pllddlll 11 If I" put into a greased basin and stcameo lor two J'ours. One can use figs or piiinc- instcad of elates.

Fried Stuffed Herrings—IMUUHUKNTS. ."> medium sized herrings; oz. tut; 1 tea- spoonful aneho\y essence .V lb. boiled potatoes; salt; pepper; oatmeal parsley; I gill iiiiik. METHOD. -Soak and wipe the herrings, fillet, and remove the skin. Sieve the potato, add fat and a,ncho\y essence and the herring roe (if allY), spread the mixture on the cut side of each herring fillet-, dip in milk, cover cartdully with oat-meal and fry till golden. Sweet Batter Pudding. --Ixoitr.niI.NTS.- I ozs. flour; pint milk; 1 egg; 1 i a blcspoonl 111 sugar a pinch of sal! syrup or treacle. METHOD.Put the flour in a basin with the salt, make a well in the centre and break in the egg. unbeaten, mix in with the flour with « wooden spoon, gradually adding sufficient- milk to Forma thick batter, then beat lor minutes, pour in the remainder of the milk, cover and to for at least 1 hour. Well grease a pie-dish or deep Yorkshire pudding tin. pour in the batter and bake iu a moderate oven for [ of an hour. Serve at once with syrup or treacle. Fudge. heaped teaspoon ful of custard powder; 2 ozs. ground rice; Migar or lioney to taste; 1 gill milk; vanilla essence to taste. METHOD. Mix the rice, custard powder and [Continued at foot of nnxt column.]

AN INN IN FLANDERS. [BY LIEUT. ,1. B. MUHTON. J BEFORE tli€ war the estaminet (country inn) of the White Rose looked out over broad fields and a peaceful countryside. There were orchards, too, and the farmers of the neighbourhood were prosperous men. The estaminet was always their meeting place in the evening. Men with heavy boots and tanned skins came in for a drink and a smoke, and the landlady's daughter served them. Often the men sang quaint old songs in their harsh voices, and the rafters shook with prodigious laughter. Then came the war, and the men carried their quaint songs far away south to the Ardennes. Other men. strangers, sat at the wooden tables. They, too. had tanned skins and heavy boots, and they sang strange songs loudly, and their laughter was infectious. They called the old land- lady Mother." and joked with her, until she would have done anything in the world for them. The Germans were reported to be advancing, and one evening their guns were heard. The inhabitants of the village gathered their belongings and left their homes. The last to leave were the old innkeeper and her daughter, for they knew no world but the little world of their village. The German advance wavered and broke before the fury of the British counter- attack, but the German guns had done their work. It was a sad little estaminet, window-deep in rubble that looked out over fields scarred with shell-holes, and muddy wastes on every side. But the men ir in khaki were still there, singing their songs as if nothing had happened. The orchards were wrecked, and the church- spire leaned over, and in front of the village ran trenches with masses of barbed vi C, wire before them: and Staff officers worked in the front room of the little inn by candlelight for the sandbags darkened the house. One day a violent bombardment demolished nearly all that remained of the village, and the Germans attacked. Hardly one stone was left standing on another, and only the cellar of the estaminet remained. There was bitter and bloody fighting in and out of the village, and a great crater yawned in the main-street. A Company officer worked in the cellar, and in the evenings there were still songs. Sometimes one side gave a little ground, sometimes the other, and the cellar underwent many changes, but always there were men in khaki there, with their songs. Then the British began to advance, slowly at first. A Colonel slept there where there had once been rats and rows of bottles. The line moved forward, and an Aid-Post sprang up in the cellar the wounded were brought in on their stretchers, and attended to by candlelight, and there were still the same songs. Then the sound of the guns moved further away, and an Engineer Dump was established in the village. The cellar was filled with coils of wire, and bits of wood, and the men sang as they worked. One day, when the dump had moved forward, a party of men came to the village to build. A strange new house rose above the old cellar, and men gathered there again in the evenings. There were some Frenchmen among them, many without an arm or a leg, back from the Ardennes, and they sang their songs again, mingling them with the British songs and the old woman and her daughter returned. Mother they called her still, until she grew to be at home in the new house. Some men rummaging in the rubble found the old signboard, discoloured and chipped. They put it up over the door, and the estaminet of the White Rose, full of old songs, French and British, looked out once more over the newly-ploughed fields.

RATIONING HELPS ALL. Labour M.P.'s Tribute to Its Good Work. Mr. Charles Duncan, Labour M P. for Barrow-in-Furness, writes: "When, just over three months ago, I lefl this country on a mission to America, the most disquieting feature of home conditions was the food situation. The whole matter was in a state of chaos and contusion, and the discontent arising from inequality of treatment was approaching a dangereii'- stage. "The first thing that struck me on nn return recently was that the queues had vanished. That in itself was evidence that a great change had taken place making for the disappearance of great and serious diffi- culties. 31 y visits to shops and restaurauts since my return have shown me how speedily and easily the people have adapted themselves to the new state of things. If it has done nothing else, rationing has shown that the people are ready to accept any system and any organisation, however novei, which secures equality and fairness without class or purse distinction. "Before the scheme came inlo operation there was a good deal of anxious talk and all torts of difficulties were anticipated. Experience has shown those difficulties to be a good deal more imaginary t hall real. and it has been demonstrated beyond a shadow of doubt that by system and organisation it is possible so to simplify matters of difficulty as to enable satisfaction to reign where nothing grumbling and confusion prevailed before. Even those who may now be getting less ian they used to get are much more satisfied. ,mCa,l-5 they are ("«rtaih of getting definite tli^n at definite prices, whereas, before th»v ^bject to rationing, the amount and +v, amec^ was lai'gely a question of luck, J, ;WeV€ 111,1 even they would exist !? uno at all. Certainty and security ,n ir°tVV' a l)eople with whom I have i o contact seem quite satisfied."

THE JEREMIAHS. They worry )Net, this thing and ihey worn over that. But I notice when the atmosphere has cleared, That the bad luck they had looked for (¡¡dill come and knock them flat. And they did not have the trouble that they feared. They lik to start the morning with an appre- hensive sigh, For they find a bit of worry to their taste. But I cannot help a-thinking. as the years go speeding by, That an awful lot of worry goes to waste.

FOR THE PEACE OFFENSIVE. LITTLE WILLIE: Whatever are you doing with the shining armour ? BIG WILLIE: It's a bit hot for the Western Front, so Kuhlmann is going to fit me with a Peace Cloak for the next Offensive :=--=--=.=--=.=.=. -=-

FOOD TOPICS. Items About Rationing and Production. l By" SMALLHULD LIe" j Pills for Hunger. The tiermans have invented a pill to cure hunger troubles, and a. Berlin chemical firm is advertising it as a I means of alleviating a common trouble in Germany just now — headache and languor caused by insufficient food. But the pill does not till the aching void-it. only stills the craving for food. Our simpler way in a like emergency of tightening the belt is better. There are no after-effects such as invariablv follow the use of drugs. To Cet the Harvest In. The campaign to enrol women in the Land Army is making excellent progress, but, it. takes a lot of campaigning to get together 30.000 strong women fitted for the si rain of harvest work. The pay is not high, and the labour is exhausting, but it is healt-hv work and it is patriotic work. If only this year's naivest can be gathered in we shall have such a store of home-grown food in hand for next winter as never was the case before in this country. The preliminary work has been done. But the Annys call for the younger men means that there will he a severe dearth ol strength for reaping the product of thei r industry, and every woman who can must, give a hand. Germany is waiting," Sir Arthur JDirector-General of the Food Production department, says. "to see ,f what, stuff I English womanhood is made. Only our women can show them." And they will. The New Ration Books. When the present ration cards expire the public will be provided with ration books. The books are forgery-proof, being produced I by the same patent process as the one-|>ound hank note or Bradbury." which has not yet been successfully forged. The printing of them is controlled by the individual who pro- duces the bank-notes. A special feature is the coding system of serial numbers, by which it will be possible to trace the particular indi- vidual lo whom each book is issued. The books are printed with special inks which are not otherwise obtainable in this country. 70,000,000 books will be issued, comprising distinct forms for: Adults, Children, Adoles- cents. and Industrial Workers. Cookery Experts Available. A number of experienced demonstrators, specially trained in war time economical cookery by a chef of the highest standing, have been attached to the Food Survey Board. These cookery experts are prepared to visit any part of the country for the purpose of helping people who are responsible for the feeding of others to prepare a scientific dietary which shall be economical, palatable. and nutritious. Hospitals, school cawteens all places where cooking is done in bulk- can be helped in this way. Women's insti- tutes, domestic exhibitions, or audiences of housewives can, on application, have demon- strations, without fee or charge, on the kinds of cookery best suited to their needs. An expert baker lectures (principally to the trade) on potato bread making and substi- tutes generally. Application for assistance of the kind indicated should be addressed to Mrs. Pember Reeves. Ministry of Food, 35. Park Street, London. W.l. White Bread and Bark Bread. The National Food .Journal tells how, | just before the war, an old Gei-iiiaii seaiiiait told an Englishman who was chatting with him that nearly all German sailors were pleased to get and eat large quantities of English white bread as soon as they landed 011 our shores, although it invariably upset their digestions. For himself he disapproved of it, and had never eaten it. He had worked out, in his German way, a theory, dividing the European nations into white or fine bread eaters, and dark or coarse bread eaters and lie believed that if there were a European war the latter would out top. However, his own nation of dark bread eaters did not choose i tsallies as he would have wished, for both Austria and Hungary were accustomed to very white bread, although the Austrian peasant had" black" bread. On the other hand, the French and English, and to a large extent the Italians, were consumers of white bread. III liussit, as in Austria, the variety of bread used was more or less a class distinction. The wdiole situation has changed now, and we are all dark bread eaters. There is practi- cally no white bread left in Europe, ami America is "renouncing or limiting her whfte loaves of her own free will. Hungary ha been the last of the important Powers to pre- serve an expensive white "luxury bread," made from something still resembling fine wheat flour; but the last news from the country says that the sale of white bread after April 8th was forbidden. The is that we have as much bread as we care to cat, though urged to eat sparingly, lId that. 110 other nation hasnnot even America, which is going short for our sake.

[Continued from previous column.] sugar together, then mix them to a ercani ill the milk; Have ready a pint of fast-boiiing water, and stir the mixture into it. Let it boil gently over the tire for two or three minutes, stirring thoroughly all the time. Let it cool a little, then add three Or tour drops 01 vanilla to flavour it nicely. This is very goou ■erved hot, or can be served cold in custard ,lasses, with a wee bit of jam 011 top of each. Potato Triangles.- ) Ih. potatoes, boiled of. baked; (i -,jzs. /lour; i teaspoonlul salt; J tea^poonful baking powder; "J ozs. dripping; 1 egg ^dricd egg will is well -it, fresh. --Itttb potatoes through a colander or mash them with a fork, and mix with flour- baking powder, and dripping. Beat up the aii(i i fii-iii (toii,,Ii. en" in the milk, add it{ and make a firm dough- lioll outline)) thick HlIcl hake on a greased baking sheet in a fairly hot oven for twenty minutes. Slit open and put a small piece of bar-on fat. or dripping between the halves- This is good for supper or high tea. White Sauce without Fat. hC:J::Hj)<:Ts, oz. fi'ur (in- 1 oz. cornflour); 1 ^;i 11 milk; 1 ii) water or vegetable or rice stock; J » i>ee!ed onion; ten cloves; salt; pepper. 1)- iilto pan, reserving — tablespoonluls add the ojii°" and' cloves and bring to the boil. Put the flour into a basin and mix by degrees with tl'<' 1 wo tahlespoonfuls of cold liquid, stirring unto .mite smooth. Strain the boiling liquid slowly on to tins, stir till quite smooth, return to the pun. bring to the boil, season and cook gently } lor five minutes. This sauce may bo sened plain or wjfh t"L" addition of chopped parsley or 1 to 2 ozs. Urated cheese or two chopped onions. Sweet j sauce is made by the same method, but the pepper, salt, and onion are omitted ,nid the sauce sweetened with a teaspooiilul of sugai or hone' jam or golden syrup.