"The King of the Belgians [Albert I] has been living day and night in his motor car, visiting every port of the front. He has turned his palace into a huge military hospital. All the wonderful pictures and furniture have been removed. The windows have been painted white with a large red cross in the middle. There are five beds in what used to be the Kaiser's room during his visits, and 90 beds in what was the ballroom. The smart ladies of Brussels have been motoring out to watch battles in the cool of the afternoons as gaily and casually as though they were going to the races."

Other things happening in this wartime included:

"Every military train in Bosnia carries hostages, to be shot if the population tries to wreck the train. The French knapsack weighs 49 pounds, an enormous reduction since 1870, when soldiers were bent almost double by their great burdens. German officers carry doses of poison in their sword handles in case they should be mortally wounded and have to linger on battlefields in great suffering. In France, all private correspondence is opened and read. In Switzerland, you may only send postcards, which must be written in French, German, or Italian. The French have wonderful field glasses, fitted with prisms, whereby the distance can be told within five yards from up to 1000 yards away . . . they cost £80 a pair. The French were amazed by the completeness of the British equipment when our troops landed at Havre. They were most impressed by the 100 typewriters provided for the general staff. Troops sleep in churches all over France. They prefer them to outhouses or stables, as there is more air. The floor is covered with a thick layer of straw, and ingenious soldiers make impromptu mattresses and pillows with their clothes."