Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1918-05-17

as the ratIlnS OF lhe WiIe IN lhe
first place. and it was q tense few
moments to me.
heard the German say a few
words to himself. but didn't under
stand them, of course, and then he |
made a sound as il to call dog, and
I realized that his theory of the
noise he had heard was that a dog
| had made its way through the fence.
For perhaps five minutes 1 didn't
stir. and then figuring that the Ger
man had probably continued on his
beat, / crept quietly under the wire
/ again. this time being mighty care
| full to hug the ground so close that
1 wouldn't touch the wire. and made
/ off in a different direction. Evil
/ IDENTIFY the barbed wire fence had
! been thrown around an ammunition
/ depot or something of the kind, and
1t was not a field at all that 1 had
| tried TO get into.
/ ] figured that other sentries were
probably in the neighborhood, and I
, proceeded very gingerly.
A Belgian Lady's Gift
After had got about a mile away
from this spot 1 came to an humble
| Belgian house and / knocked at the
door and applied for food in my
| usual way. pointing to my mouth to
/ indicate was hungry and to my ears
| and mouth to imply that 1 was deaf
| and dumb. The Belgian woman
/ who lived in the house brought me
/ a piece OF gread and two cold pota-
| toes and as 1 sat there eating them
[ she eyed me keenly.
I haven't the slightest doubt that
| she realized that 1 was a fugitive
! She lived so near the border that
/ it was for that reason I appreciated
! F,,1f, oF 81
| she ran, for no doubt the Germans
! were constantly watching the con-
! duet of these Belgians who lived
/ near the line.
/ My theory that she realized that
! I was not Belgian at all. but prob
ably some English fugitive. was con-
! firmed a moment later, when, as
made ready TO go, she touched me
| on the arm and indicated that I was
I to wait a moment. She went 70 n
| bureau and brought out two pieces
I of fancy Belgian lace which she in
sisted upon my taking away, al
/ though at that particular moment
/ had as much use for Belgian lace
as an elephant for a safety razor,
but I was touched with her thought
/ fulness and pressed her hand to show
! my gratitude. She would not ac-
cept the money I offered her.
Kept Lace For His Mother
I carried that lace through my
subsequent experiences, feeling that
it would be a fine souvenir for my
mother, although as a mater of
fact if I had known that it was 60
ing to delay my final escape for even
single moment, as it did, I am quite
sure she would rather 1 had never
seen il.
on one piece OF lace was the Flem-
ism word Charlie" and on the other
| the word "Esperage." At the time
! took these words to mean Char
ity' and Experience" and all
hoped for was that l would get as
much of the one as l was getting of
the other before I finally got
| through. learned subsequently that
what the words really stood for were
Charity" and Hope" and then I
was sure that my kind Belgian
| friend had indeed realized my plight
and that her thoughtful souvenir
I was intended to encourage me in the
I trials she must have known were
/ before me.
/ I didn't let the old Belgian lady
( know, because 1 did not want to
alarm her unnecessarily, but that
night slept in her back yard, leav-
ing early in the morning before it
| became light.
Later in the day applied at an
other house for food. 1t was oc-
I cupied by a father and mother and
{ ten children. 1 hesitated TO ask them
/ for food without Offering to pay for
/ il, as 1 realized what a task il must
/ have been for them to support them
/ selves without having to feed a hun
cry man. Accordingly I gave the
/ man mark and then indicated that
] waOfpd SOYr1 hing rn
Shares n Family Meal
+, They were just about to eat them
/ selves, apparently and they let me
! partake of their meal, which con-
} sisted of a huge bowl of some kind
OF soup which 1 was unable to iden-
tify and which they served in ordi-
nary wash basins. 1 don't know
that they ever used the basins to
wash in as well but whether they did
or not did not worry me very much.
/ The soup was good and I enjoyed it
very much.
All the time I was there 1 could
see the father and the eldest son, a
boy about seventeen were extremely
nervous. 1 had indicated to them
I that was deaf and dumb, but il they
believed me IL didn't seem to make
J them any more comfortable.
/ l fingered az the house for about
dAA AAphA e1ANCA N4AG lAAGdA anu
that time a young man came to call
on the eldest daughter, a young
woman of perhaps eighteen. The
caller eyed me very suspiciously, al
though I must have resembled any
thing but a British officer. They
smoke in Flemish and 1 did not un-
/ derstand a word they said, but I
think they were discussing my prob
able identity. During their CONVEX
sation, 1 had chance to look around
| the rooms. There were three alto
gether, two fairly large and one
somewhat smaller, about fourteen
| feet long and six deep. In this small
/ er room there were two double
| decked beds, which were apparently
/ intended to house the whole family,
] although how the whole twelve of
| them could sleep ip that one room
/ will ever remain mystery to me.
| From the kitchen you could walk
/ directly into the cow barn, where
/ two cows were kept, and this, as I
have pointed out before, is the usual
construction of the poorer Belgian
houses.
Callers Suspicion Aroused
I could not make out why the
caller seemed to be so antagonistic
to me, and yet am sure he was ar
guing with the family against ne.
Perhaps the fact that 1 wasn't wear
ing wooden shoes-I doubt whether