Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1916-01-16

store it, The postcards that were
printed at the moment of the earth
quake show her exactly as she is to-
day. Within the streets, no sign of
life: with the inhabitants standing idle
along the quay, shivering in the rain
and snow. with for background
crumbling walls. gaping cellars and
masonry. the picture was one of ter
rible desolation, of neglect and inefii-
cheney. The only structures that had
obviously been erected since the earth
quake We're the "ready-to-wear" shacks
sent stopgap from America.
One should not look critically at a
gift house. but they are certainly very
ugly. In Italy. where every spot is
a location" for moving pictures, where
the street corners are backgrounds for
where even poverty is picturesque, and
each landscape "composes' into a beau
tiful and wondrous painting, the zinc
shacks. in rigid lines. like the barracks
Occupy Shacks to Avoid Rent.
Sympathetic Americans sent them as
only temporary shelter until Messina
rose again. But, it was explained, IS
there is no rent to pay. the Italians,
instead of rebuilding. prefer to inhabit
the readyto-wear houses. How many
tourists the mere view of them drives
away no one can guess.
People who linger in Naples and by
train to Reggie join the boat at Mes
sina. never admit that they followed
that route to avoid being seasick. Sea-
sickness is an illness of which no one
ever boasts. He may take pride in
saying, I've an awful cold!" or, I've
such a headache L can't seer' and will
expect YOU to feel sorry. But he knows,
no matter how horribly he suffers from
NAL de mer. he will receive no SYM
pathy. In a Puck and Punch way he
will be merely comic. So, the pas
sengers who come over the side at
Messina always have an excuse other
than that they were lodging the sea.
1t is usually that they lost their lug
gage at Naples and had to search for
it. AS the Italian railroads, which are
operated by the government, always
lose your luggage, it is an admirable
excuse. So. also. is the one that you
delayed in order to visit the ruins Of
Pompei. The number of people who
have visited Pompeii solely because
the Bay of Naples was in an ugly mood
will never be counted.
Among those who joined at Messina
were the French princess who spoke
French much too well to be an Amesi-
can and American much too well to be
French. two military attaches, the
kings messenger and the Armenian
who was by profession an olive mer-
chant and by choice a manufacturer
once given an opportunity to exhibit
his genius.
Had Many Reasons for Delay.
The Italians held up our ship and
would not explain the reason why. So
the rumor man explained. 1t was be-
he
and Italy had made prize of her. Ten
minutes later he said Greece had joined
the allies. and the Italians were hold
ing our ship until they could obtain
convoy of torpedo boats. Then it was
because two submarines were waiting
for US outside the harbor. Later ii was
because the allies had blockaded Greece
and our Creek captain would not pro-
ceed-not because he was detained by
Italians, but by fear. Every time the
rumor man appeared in the door of the
smoking room he was welcomed with
ironic cheers. But he was not dIscour
aged. He would go outside and stand
in the rain while he Matched a new
| rumor. and then, in great excitement,
dash back to share it.
War levels all ranks, and the passen-
gers gathered in the smoking ROOM
playing solitaire, slipping muddy Turk
ish coffee and discussing the war in
seven languages. and everybody smok-
ed, especially the women. Finally the
military attaches put on uniforms Of
| their respective countries and were
roWed ashore to protest. The rest of
us paced the snow-swept decks and
gazed gloomily at the wrecked city.
Out of the fog a boat brought two Sis
| ters of the Poor. wrapped in the black
| cloaks of their order. They were petit
TONERS for the poor of Messina and
every one in the smoking room gave
them franc. Because one of them
was Irish and because she had to live
| in Messina 1 gave her 10 francs. Mean
| ing to be amiable, she said: "Ah, it
| takes the English to be generous"
] said ] was Irish.
The kings messenger looked up from
| amiable asked: Whats the differ
ence?'
The Irish sister answered him.
Nine francs" she said.
Ships Food Cause for War.
After we had been prisoners of war
for twenty-four hours John Bass of
the Chicago Daily News suggested that
IL we remained longer at Messina our
papers would say we thought the
earthquake was news, and had stopped
| to write a story about it. So we sent
telegram to our consul. We told
him unless we were instantly re-
leased, to go ahead and declare war
on Italy, but not on the other allies
Either the uniforms of the attaches or
our ultimatum alarmed the command
er of the port, for he gave US leave
| to depart. For the last time the rumor
man explained. We had been DELAYED
because Italy had declared war on
| Greece and did not want the food on
| board our ship to enter that country
| The Cigarette King told him il the
food on board was the same food we
had been eating. to ship it into any
| country was cause for war in itself.
| We passed in safely between ScylIa
and Charybdis. just as. year before,
| the Goeben and Breslau slipped be-
| tween them under the guns of the
British warships. AS the harbor mouth
| is so narrow that it is difficult for a
boat to pass through without scraping
off her paint. how they escaped is
| still mystery.
i The next morning we were in At
| hens.
Greece is not at war, but she is as
firmly on a war footing as Is France
or Italy. A man out of uniform was
l conspicuous. and all day regiments
passed through the streets carrying
the campaign kit and followed by the