HEART-TO-HEART TALKS.
(Herr Schultze and Herr Müller, privates in a Prussian regiment of Infantry.)
Schultze. Leave will soon be over now and we shall have to go back to the fighting.
Müller. Yes; it is not a very cheerful prospect.
Schultze. No; that is a very true saying. And, what is more, there seems no possible end to this War, though (dropping his voice and looking round) we all hate it from the bottom of our hearts.
Müller. Yes, we all hate it. Indeed the hatred between me and the War gets worse and worse every day. I don't care who hears me.
Schultze. Don't be too bold; one never knows who may be listening.
Müller. It is to become mad. Why did we ever let the All-Highest Majesty begin such a war? We were all so comfortable, and then suddenly the Austrian Archduke gets himself murdered and, piff-paff, we Germans must go to war against Russia and France and England. I am very sorry for the Archduke, but there were other Archdukes to supply his place, and even if there had not been I do not think he himself was worth the four millions of killed, wounded and prisoners whom we have lost since the guns began to go off.
Schultze. It is terrible to think of. And the sausages get worse and worse, and the beer costs more and more and is not like beer at all.