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Show BrusselsLikeTombatNight 7 Curfew Rings at Eight O'clock and City Becomes Silent and Dark. CHANGED BY THE PRUSSIANS Gayety-Loving Belgians Being Punished Pun-ished Thus for Honoring King Albert Al-bert Learning to Stay at Home Evenings. Berlin. German newspapers print a letter from Brussels, sent by a German resident of that city, which gives a griiphlc picture of life there under Prussian domination. "If there is any man with n good memory who can think back to 1914 before the wur and remember how things were in Brussels at that time 1 would beg of him to resurrect in his mind the picture of that glorious time. What a life that was then ! From morning until night the air was tilled with entrancing music coming from all sides, and up and down the boulevards paraded gaily pressed men and women, laughing and chatting. Brussels Inughed, sang and danced In those days. Is Different Now. "What a difference now ! A few days ago in honor of King Albert some too zealous patriots held a religious service serv-ice and made use of the occasion to distribute dis-tribute manifestos not only In the church, but also in the streets. At the same time they Insulted some German soldiers. The result was that the governor gov-ernor of Brussels placed a fine of a million mil-lion marks on the city and issued an E . . order that all cafes and concert halls must be closed at eight o'clock in the evening and that the merry Belgians must go to bed at half-past eight. This is a hard blow to citizens who so much enjoy night life. "After eight o'clock at night Brussels Brus-sels is as silent and as dark as a tomb. The only sound heard is the heavy tread of the Prussian soldiers on patrol pa-trol duty. A few German restaurants have permission to remain open until midnight, and for the benefit of their patrons, the main street car line can run a car once an hour. "While many look upon this as a joke, it has its tragic side, for thousands thou-sands who made their living at night working in the various plnces of amusement amuse-ment are now without a position. However, How-ever, citizens of Brussels are resourceful, resource-ful, and instead of enjoying themselves In the evening they now do their own singing, drinking and dancing in the afternoon. The theaters all have matinee mati-nee performances and the cafes and dance halls do a big business in theift-ernoon. theift-ernoon. The closing down of all these resorts after eight o'clock in the evening eve-ning has no doubt had Its good effect in the family circle, for many a good vife now has the pleasure of having her husband home with her In the evening something thnt never happened before. be-fore. The order also has stimulated reading of good literature and the various vari-ous libraries have never had so many calls for books. City Like a Tomb. "But, joking aside, Brussels is like a tomb. Save for the rumble of distant guns on the Somme, a walk through the streets after dark is like walking In a cemetery. Only a German can be out after eight o'clock, and even he must be ready to give a good account of hlm- self. Occasionally the rumble of supply sup-ply and ammunition wagons going to the front is heard in the streets, and they look like specters as they disappear disap-pear in' the. fog of the night, A few nights ago a Zeppelin passed over the city, and her propellers made such a noise that they awoke nearly the whole city. Almost every window in the city was opened and faces were seen peering peer-ing out into the darkness, but the Zeppelin Zep-pelin quickly disappeared. Then the city went to sleep again." |