The Dawn of War.
The American's words proved true, although in another sense than he had
intended. His apprehensions became a political prophecy. There was
indeed something in this German atmosphere, and it was upon the Rhine,
that the first lightnings gleamed, heralding the approaching storm.
France had declared war! The blow came like a thunderbolt from a clear
sky, and as in rolling thunders, from its rocky mountains to the sea,
all Germany echoed the call to arms in thousand-fold reverberations.
Upon the Rhine, every city, village and hamlet was all aglow; here, the
excitement was more fiery, more ardent than elsewhere; for it was the
Rhineland for whose sake the momentous game was to be played, and every
man, down to the poorest peasant, felt himself called upon to defend
his precious inheritance, to avenge his insulted country, and prevent
the intended robbery. In one giant, unbroken procession, Germany threw
its assembled forces upon the imperiled boundaries; mightier and
mightier swelled the advancing tide of armed men, more and more densely
grouped the soldier-masses around the threatened palladium of the
nation. For this, the enemy was not half prepared. Those green waves
already rolled on under secure protection; shoulder to shoulder, stood
the now united Germany, keeping guard on the banks of its Rhine, ready
to protect the sacred, ancient stream or to hurl it, an annihilating
tide, into the enemy's country.
Nowhere did the fires of enthusiasm mount higher than in B. The
students hastened to join the ranks or the sanitary corps; the
professors closed their lectures, and when age and health permitted,
placed themselves at the head of the students; the women exerted all
their powers to send aid and comfort to the soldiers soon to be wounded
in the field. All were impelled onward as by one mighty impulse; all
was feverish activity and excitement; here, in the city, the once
strictly-guarded barriers of class and position were broken down; here,
as throughout the fatherland, the old hostility between North and South
was forgotten; all united in one common sacrifice, one renunciation;
all were borne onward by one common tempest of enthusiasm.