Show 1 DISAPPOINTS HEN SEEN CLOSE 1 AT HAND HANDI I mt- mt rian nan City Seems Beautiful From Bay but Is Shabby Shabby Shab Shab- by and Rundown j By Sir Perci Percival al Phillips if ff Correspondent of the International ional News Service and the London p Express y BEIRUT May ay 5 From From the dick of oft or ore t e e Baron Call Cal the most di dilatory mer amer that ever loafed along ng the therian it Irian rian coast northward from Port r d Beirut was th the fairest picture a tow town n I had seen this sid side of the ert ed WhIch sho should ld h have v been suf- suf tent warning to to expect the worst We e elbowed ou our way way into into the harbor and gazed gaze hopefully her deceptive beauty Tier upon rot of white houses rose steeply from ie waters water's edge there here were alluring lashes dashes of green among the rooftops Ii ate late public buildings Un s. s hurch church domes minarets a p background of steep slopes reaching skyward to snowy snowy crest of Lebanon lost in Imn clouds A desirable city ind md in- in d d. d obviously outranking In size sized d id splendor her competitors for the E h trade of Syria 1 l' l The he harbor shouted as much Thirty I t tamers amers of or half haIt a doze nationalities 4 i for room Inside the little i Breakwater demanding more or less j and d In as many languages i of Ugh lighters tel'S and c The mother of all aired alred her washing at a buo buoy A 4 trim edged through the horde of an- an ored Greek Greel Italian Japanese and freighters some freighters some of or them amed warned German prizes beginning a aw aw awand w wand and letter Better life life and and exhibited ge general er l on her bridge deck trooper was n-as discharging her cargo infantry at the auay Idlers overran verran the round force of ofis i is liveN scene cene and the tricolor of ranee thice nce flew dew taut in the tle morning w en si 4 brusque young lieutenant nant Colonial lonial infantry had stamped our rejecting ports those not bearing baring A ylse ise his consul at Port Said Said Said- were were at M t liberty to go ashore and disillusioned I rh Th h mirage vanished like an Arab- Arab ri NIghts set t at Drury Drun Lane I Remained only the usual dirty dust I den down at heel cit city of the East Ing out for fresh paint and sani- sani I tion I ENCH TROOPS EVERYWHERE ou on u imai e you vou are back in the tl zone Trench troops are every every- here The hg familiar scenes of the thee e stern estern ern front keen crossin crossing your yourI I indo Ind and iet it yet it Is not the same ot Ithe the same type of soldier nor yet jet et officer tIcer These are for the most rt hard bitten scarred and scorched gions Ions of northern A Africa Algerians Ir Jed Jred d fezzes fezzes' and khaki wander amon amone among e azars o occasionally a shiny black ne alese flashes his gleaming teeth l b ou from a ration cart majors burned brown by bv African sun lean wrinkled and erish stare grimly at you through nez nce-nez re-nez re tailored young oung suba subalterns inking of Paris Fars and hating hatin Beirut I sack the mea stocked hook book I iy pops ops ps black bearded from he MIdi l and ana slim staff officers from ad on the hill nn and W sift ift through the varied arIed i TO rong 1 which is Beirut out of doors OF ANXIETY ETY From time to time a trooper Is reen re- re Jen en with khaki and vanishes north- north I j I ward a column marches to the railway railway railway rail rail- way station entrains and climbs over the Lebanon range From the hinterland hinterland hinterland hinter hinter- land which swallows them up come sinister conflicting reports of fighting i and of f brigandage Travelers lers belated I and disheveled wander in at Intervals I from Aleppo an dother centers of un rest You pick up strange strang stories of their experiences es in hl the hill hm country i The city it itself elf is as calm as London Lon Lou don Yet Tet beneath the busy routine of I i ever every da day lire life yo you detect an air of anxiety a feeling of tension of un uncertainty uncertainty un- un un-I un certainty tinged with apprehension The country is troubled and so are its people POOR STARVING 11 The only patient people are the poor th tb the starving poor They take with gratitude the doles of rice given them by bv the kindly French but they seem to have little interest and less hope in in the future future They have sufI suffered suf suf- I feted mu much h. h As I c came cime me back to my dilatory steamer I saw little ragged I Children mh hovering eri g in lIt the ro roadway A AI Aladen Aladen I laden lorry dashed by at breakneck speed They darted into the dust and when it had passed groped there therewith therewith with eager hands They were were searching searching searching search search- ing for grains of corn that might have fallen from the bursting sacks |