Five Mile Beach weekly journal., 1918-08-09

Borden, in Canada, and had become
quite famous, as my friends termed
them 'snow Shoes" In fact, they
were a ridiculous pair of mittens, but
the best pair 1 ever had and l really
felt worse when 1 lost those mittens
than anything else. l could not think
of anybody else ever using them, so !
dug a hole In the mud and buried
them and could not help but laugh
at the thought if my friends could see
me burying my mittens, because they
were a standing joke in Canada, Eng
land and France.
l had on two shirts and as they were
always both wet and didn't keep me
warm, it was useless to wear both.
One of these was a 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 1 discarded the French
shirt. The American army shirt ]
brought back with me to England and
1t is still in my possession.
When 1 escaped from the train / still
ilu III IAN cap VI DlLEnL IGu III
my pocket and wore it for many
nights, but I took great care that no
n saw it. 1t also had proven very
useful when swimming rivers, for ]
carried my map and a few other be-
~longings in it and l had fully made
up my mind to bring it home as a
souvenir. But the farther l went
the heavier my extra clothing became,
sc / was compelled to discard eve
the cap. 1 knew that it would be a
tell-tale mark if l simply threw it
away, so one night after swimming a
river, l dug a 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; so
that was the end of my Bavarian hat.
My experience at the Belgian's
house whetted my appetite for more
food and 1 figured that what had been
done once could be done again.
Sooner or later. l realized / would
probably approach a Belgian and find
a German instead, but in such a con-
t%ingency / was determined to meas
ure my strength against the Huns if
necessary to effect my escape.
AS it was, however, most of the Bel
gians to whom l applied for food gave
it to me readily enough, and if some
of them refused me it was only be-
cause they feared l might be a spy
or that the Germans would shoot them
if their action were subsequently
found out.
About the fifth day after / had en-
tered Belgium l was spending the day
as usual in a clump of bushes when l
discerned in the distance what ap-
peared to be something hanging on a
line. All day long strained my eyes
trying to decide what it could be and
arguing with myself that it might be
something that 1 could add to my in
adequate w%ordrobe, but the distance
was so great that 1 could not identify
it. I had a great fear that before
night came it would probably be re-
moved.
AS soon as darkness fell, however, 1
crawled out of my hiding place and
worked up to the line and got a pair
of overalls for my industry. The pair
of overalls was the first bit of civil
ian clothes 1 had thus far picked up
with the exception of a civilian cap
which 1 had found at the prison and
concealed on my person and which l
still had. The overalls were rather
small and very short, but when I put
them on l found that they hung down
far enough to cover my breeches.
1t was perhaps three days later that
1 planned to search another house for
further clothes. Entering Belgian
houses at night is anything but a safe
proposition, because their families are
large and sometimes as many as seven
or eight sleep in a single room. The
barn is usually connected with the
house proper, and there was always
the danger of disturbing ONE dumb
animal ever If the inmates of the
house were not aroused.
Frequently I took a chance Of
searching a back yard at night in the
hope of finding food scraps, but my
success in that direction was so slight
that l soon decided that it wasn't
worth the risk and l continued to
live on raw vegetables that 1 could
pick with safety in the fields and the
occasional meal that 1 was able to get
from the Belgian peasants in the day
time.
Nevertheless 1 was determined to
get more in the way of clothing and
when night came I picked out a house
that looked as though it might furnish
me with what I wanted. 1t vas a
moonlight night and if 1 could get in
the barn / would have a fair chance of
my way around by the moon
light which would enter the windows.
The barn adjoined the main part of
the house, but 1 CROPPED around very
carefully and soon 1 touched some
thing hanging or a peg. l didn't
know what it was, but 1 confiscated
it and carried it out into the fields.
in tho MOONLIGHT I oSamiOa6 |