No one ever suspected the German mind of possessing a sense of humour.
But that it should prove such easy--and fair--game as Teutonic
behaviour in the course of the war has shown it to be is more than
the most maliciously satirical could ever have hoped. In turn, and
according to their several temperaments, the Allied nations have
indulged their wit at the expense of the Boche. The British have guyed
him with an almost affectionate contempt; the French have sacrificed
him with a wholly contemptuous hatred, and the rest have all scored off
him in turn.
But it has been left to the Belgians, and more particularly the
citizens of Brussels, to elevate the pleasing pastime of Boche-baiting
into a fine art. The heaviest harness has its weak joints, and the
comedies enacted during the German occupation of the Belgian capital
have shown that even the mailed fist is not proof against the
penetrating shafts of ridicule and wit.
For a contest of wit _versus_ mere force the Bruxellois were well
equipped. They have long enjoyed a reputation for a wit peculiarly
their own, a blend of English levity and French irony, and they have
had the advantage of a victim who positively, as the phrase goes, "asks
for it." Moreover, a brilliant lead was set them. The exploits of M.
Max, the dauntless Burgomaster of Brussels, will live long in the
annals of war, for his courageous wit well matched the spirit of the
troops which at Liège dared to confront and dispute the passage of the
German legions.
When the Germans marched into the undefended city, doing their utmost
to make their entry as humiliating as possible to the inhabitants, M.
Max went to meet their commander as calmly as though he were paying an
ordinary official call. The Prussian general informed him that he would
be held responsible for the good behaviour of the citizens and their
instant obedience to every order of the conquerers. The Burgomaster
knew very well what that meant--that he would be shot out of hand, as
other mayors had been, if anyone dared to lift a finger against the
Germans. But he received the news with a smiling face, and assured the
commandant that all necessary steps had already been taken for the
maintenance of public order. Then he went back to his office, showing
a courage and calmness in a most difficult situation that delighted
his fellow-countrymen, and even invoked the grudging admiration of the
enemy.