PLAIN PEOPLE: Europe in the Spring

From Sicily to the North Cape of Norway, the first days of spring brought clearing skies to Western Europe. Snow (enough for good skiing) lingered in northern Sweden, but in Stockholm people lounged at noon on steps and benches, tilting their faces to the new sun. One spring night last week at Josefsberg in the Russian Zone of Austria a Red Army soldier had a quarrel in a nightclub; he came back later with a Tommy gun, sprayed the dance floor with bullets, killed the band leader and a customer, wounded more than a dozen. In Britain, country fields...