use strict;
use XML::Simple;
use Data::Dumper;

my $xml = <<EOT;
<Begin>
 <Here ID="4">This is the start...</Here>
 <There REF="5">This is the middle...</There>
</Begin>
EOT

my $xs = XML::Simple->new;
my $data = $xs->XMLin($xml);
print "$data->{Here}{ID}\n";
print "$data->{There}{REF}\n";
print Dumper($data);