The Lamar register., 1918-07-17

full for an old suit, but apparently
they were too poor to have more than
they actually needed themselves. and
l rose to go. / had aroused them out
of bed and knew l ought not to keep
them up longer than was absolutely
necessary.
As / approached the door / got a
glance at myself In a mirror. | was
the awfulest sight had laid eyes oni
The glimpse / got of myself startled
me almost as much as If had seen
dreaded German helmet My left eye
was fairly well healed by this time
and l was beginning to regain sight
of 1t, but my face was so huggard and
my beard so long and unkempt that
looked like Santa Claus ON II bat
As they let me out of the door l
pointed to the opposite direction to
the one intended taking and started
Off in the direction ! had Indicated.
Later l changed my course completely
to throw of any possible pursuit.
The next day l was so worn out from
exposure and exhaustion that l threw
away my coat, thinking that the less
weight / had to carry the better 1t
would be for me, but when night Game
| regretted my mistake because the
nights were now getting colder.
thought ut first II would be better for
me to retrace my steps and look for
the coat l had so th0ughtlessly dis
carded, but l decided 10 go on with
out 1t.
then began to discard everything
that / had In my pocket. finally throw
ing my wrist watch into II canal. A
wrist-watch does not add much
weight, but when you plod along and
have not eaten for month II finally
becomes rather heavy. The next
thing / discarded was II pair of flying
mlttens.
These mittens had gotten at Camp
Borden, In Canada. and had become
quite famous. as. my friends termed
them "snow shoes" In fact. they
were ridiculous pair OF mittens, but
the best pair l ever had and | really
felt worse when l lost those mittens
than anything else. l could not think
OF anybody else ever using them. so l
dug IA hole In the mud and buried
them and could not help but laugh
at the thought II my friends could see
me burying my mittens. because they
were standing joke In Canada, Eng
land and France.
1 had on two shirts and as they were
always both wet and didn't keep me
warm, II was useless TO wear both.
One of these was shirt that l had
bought In France. the other an Amer
lean army shirt. They were both
khaki and one as apt TO give me away
as the other. so discarded the French
shirt. The American army shirt
brought back with me to England and
1t is still In my possession.
When escaped from the train still
had the Bavarian cap OF bright red In
my pocket and wore II for many
nights, but / took great care that no
one saw 1t. 1t also had proven very
useful when swimming rivers. for L
carried my map and few other be-
longings In II and | had fully made
up my mind to bring 1t home AS
souvenir. But the farther / went
the heavier my extra clothing became.
50 WIS toihpfiith =" uotaiu even
the cap. / knew that II would be II
tell-tale mark II | simply threw 1t
away, so one night after swimming
river. dug hole In the soft mud on
the bank and buried It,, too. with con
siderably less ceremony than my fly
ing mittens had received perhaps; 50
that was the end OF my Bavarlan hat.
My experience mt the Belgian's
house whetted my appetite for more
food and figured that what had been
done once could be done again.
Sooner or later. realized l would
probably approach Belgian and find
"a German instead. but In such con-
tingency | was determined to meas
ure my strength against the Huns II
necessary to effect my escape.
As II was, however. most OF the Bel
CLANS to whom applied for food gave
1t to me readily enough. and II some
of them refused me 1t was only be
cause they feared | might be u spy
or that the Germans would shoot them
II their action were subsequently
found out.
About the fifth day after l had en-
tered Belgium | was spending the day
as usual In clump of bushes when
discerned In the distance what ap-
peared to be something hanging on a
line. All day long | stNined my eyes
trying IN decide what IL could be and