The Morgan City daily review. (Morgan City, La.) 1916-1920, 1918-07-11


the Germans but of none to the Bel
| gians.
At any rate I resolved that as soon as
| night came I would go out and In
vestigate the window. When got the
answer l laughed SO loud that l was
afraid for the moment I must have at
tracted the attention Of the neighbOrs,
! but I couldn't help 1t. The window
: was filled with huge quantities Of
sausage! The store was a butcher
! shop and one of the principal things
they sold apparently was sausage. The
display they made. although it con-
sisted merely Of sausages piled in the
windcw, certainly had plenty Of pull
Ing power. 1t pulled" nine Ger
mans out Of ten out Of their course and
indirectly pulled" me right across the
| street! The idea Of those Germans be-
| ing so interested in that window dis
| play as to stand in front Of the win
dow for two, three or four minutes at
time, however, certainly seemed
| funny to me, and when got back to
the house / sat at the keyhole again
! and found just as much interest as
/, before in watching the Germans stop
in their tracks when they reached the
| window, even though was now aware
what the attraction was.
One Of my chief occupations during
these days was catching flies. would
catch fly, put him in spiders web
| (there were plenty of them in the old
house,, and sit down for the spider to
come down and get him. But always l
pictured myself in the same predica-
ment and rescued the fly just as the
spider was about to grab him. Several
times when things were dull l was
tempted to see the tragedy through,
but perhaps the same Providence that
guided me safely through all perils
was guarding, too, the destiny Of those
flies, for I always weakened and the
flies never did suffer from my lust for
| amusement.
The house was well supplied with
books-in fact, one of the choicest IL
braries think I ever saw-but they
were all written either in Flemish or
French. could read no Flemish and
very little French. might have made
a little Roadway with the latter, but
the books all seemed too deep for me
and gave it up. There was one thing
though that I did read and reread
from beginning to end; that was
New York Herald which must have ar
, rived just about the time war was de-
clared. Several things in this in
terested me. and particularly the base
ball scores. which I studied with as
much care as real fan possibly could
an up-to-date score. couldn't refrain
from laughing when I came to an &C
count of Zimmerman (of the Cubs)
being benched for some spat with the
umpire, and 1t afforded me Just as
much interest three years after 1t had
happened-perhaps more-than some
current item of worldwide interest
had at that time.
I rummaged the house many times
from cellar to garnet in my search for
something to eat, but the harvest Of
three years Of war had made any sue
cess along that line impossible. was
like the man out in the ocean in boat
and thirsty with water everywhere but
not drop to drink.
I was tempted while in the city to
go to church one Sunday, but my better
judgment told me it would be useless
risk. OF course, someone would surely
say something to me and I didn't
know how many Germans would be
there or what migt- happen, so gave
up that idea.
During all the time was concealed
in this house saw but one automobile
and that was a German staff officers.
That same afternoon had one Of the
frights Of my young life.
Ihad been gazing out Of the keyhole
as usual when I heard coming down
the street the measured tread Of Ger
man soldiers. It didn't sound like very
many, but there was no doubt In my
mind that German soldiers were
marching down the street. went up
stairs and peeked through the window
and sure enough a squad Of German in.
fantry was coming down the street
accompanied BY q military motor
truck. l hadn't the slightest Idea that
they were coming after me, but still
the possibilities Of the situation gave
me more or less alarm, and consid.
cred how I could make my escape IL
by chance I was the man they were
after. The idea Of hiding in the wine
cellar appealed to me as the most
practical; there must have been
plenty of places among the wine kegs
and cases where q man could conceal
himself, but, as matter Of fact, did
not believe that any such contingency
would arise.
The marching soldiers came nearer,
could hear them at the next house.
In a moment I would see them pass
the keyhole through which I was look
ing.
"Haltm
At the word of command shouted by