Metropolis weekly gazette. (Metropolis, Ill.) 1???-19??, 1917-04-20
The Stolen Passport.


IN the leafy month of June, 1914,
| was making pedestrian tour
through Switzerland, and when 1
emerged from there it was over
the heights living ON the west. Stand
ing on an eminence | was looking down
upon France spread out before ME
when, CHANGING aside, | saw a 'yot1fs
woman sitting before an easel sketahs
ing. She turned her face, and, seeing
woman standing near her, she smiled.
| went to her and looked at the pic
ture. -
sat down on the ground near her,
and while she remained on her sketch
ing stool and worked we chatted.
attempted to interest her in the United
States, but she did not appear to adj
mire our institutions
You are a nation of individuals"
she said, land there Is nothing to weld
you. Many races are represented
among you, and the people of each race
stand togethertq1fd- keep up their ma
tional traditions. If war should
break out between any too nations
here the people of each in America
would come back TO fight for the IA
therland, even those who had leen
born on American soil
you are mtstaken," l replied. Our
foreigners are. glad to escape the dis
advantages ola monarchical form of
government they become naturalized,
land that makes them American citi-
zeDs.''
Let war come in Europe contin-
ued the artist, land you will see. r..
You prefer,an emperor"
Yes, we Germans are one people I'M
der one head. We have the most eff
Gent form of government" 80.
| asked her where she was going, and
she said that she intended sketehing
along. the French border northward
She described. tie scenery northward
as attractive, and since | was wander
ing at will concluded to go a part of
the way with her. She received the an
nouncemcnt, coldly, but when | added
that would take the first good road
came to down into. France she seemed
better pleased.
SO we proceeded northward together,
she stopping now and again TO sketch.
Her pictures were very singular. In
deed, they were rather. it seemed to
me. the groundwork for pictures, and
when I told her that | did not under
stand them she told me that they-were
memoranda from which pictures would
be painted on her return tc her home in
Berlin.
We kept together till evening, when
we came to a hotel where we asked for
rooms. We were told that there Wa9
but one room vacant, and If we cared
to. accept it together we might do So
My companion expressed herself as
agreeable to the plan, and | also con-
sented
II must look out for my PASSPORT L
said to. her when we were going to bed.
a stranger in Europe without a pass
port is, like a fish without gills.' And I
put hy passport under my pillow.
Whed iNaWoke the next morning and
looked fQwsrd esother bed it was va
cant. Nor were my companions clothes
in sight. Her sketching materials, too,
were gone. l got cut of bed and went
to the door. 1t was locked from the in
side. Turning. TO a window, l noticed
that few feet beneath it was a shed.
1t occurred to me that my artist friend
had gone out by the window and de-
l>scended from the roof of the shed.
WAS she a 'tliief? I opened my bag.
where kept. any nprey: The funds
We're there. | counted them, and none
were missing. Relieved, | dressed N.Y.
self and pat asE!hand lllider my pillo W.
for my passport. 1t was gone. :. =.
l was glad that my cash had been
spared Instead of my passport. could
get on without the one, though might
need 1t sorely, but not without the
other. But what did the girl ~ "a ts,siih
1t? For my life / could divine no rea-
son for her stealing IT. She was going
back to Berlin to work. up her s1Setclrcs..
and surely in her own county she
needed no passport, especially one be-
longing to another. ..
Going to a mirror to do n bit of
prinking before descending TO Abreak-
fast my image reminded,me slightly Of
the thief. Then | remembered that we
were both about the same height and
build, both blends and both blue eyed,
though she was of lighter hair and eyes
than |. Nevertheless, / could not di-
vine why she should want my pass.
port.
The first gun fired by the Germans a
few weeks later forced the reason into.
my stupid brain. The border between
France and Germany was a hotbed for
spies on both sides. This girl was
doubtless spy for the German govern
ment. She was laying down memoranda
in the shape of a basis for pictures Of
the topography of the ground on the
French border.
But before the war opened / saw her
again. / had put up at hotel near the
German border and took a seat in the
dining room for supper At a table
near by sat the girl who had stolen my
passport. If she saw and recognized