Payette enterprise. (Payette, Canyon Co., Idaho) 1909-1935, 1918-07-18
my bearings entirely, and dayifght
found me with nothing ACCOMPLISHED

as they. perhaps, have never been vel
coined before l was very tired-just
about all in-but spent a better day
in the woods than the previous one,
That night the stars came out; I
located my friend, the North Star, and
tried 10 make up for lost time. But
when one IS making only seven or eight
miles a day. or rather night, one
night lost means whole lot, especi-
ally when each day keeps him from
freedom Such III fortune and dis
couragements as this were harder 70
endure, / believe. than the actual
hunger, and the accompanying Eorry
naturally reduced my weight Az times
l was furiOusly angry with myself for
the mistakes made and the foolish
things I did. but always tried to see
whatever il might be, that relieved
the strain Of habit and helped 10 pass
the time away. / think II a man IS
OTerDurdened with q sense Of humor
and wants to get nd Of II, this trip I
took would be an excellent remedy
for fl Right at this time 1 would
have welcomed anything for compan-
ion I believe even q snake would
have been q Godsend 70 me-
With a name as Irish as mine, il is
only natural that 1 looked for goats
along the way, thinking that I might
be able to milk them There are very
few cows in this country, and the op-
pOrtunities for milking them fewer
than the COWS themselves because they
are housed in barns adjoining the
homes and always alerIly watched By
their fortunate owners l did hope
that I might find a goat staked out
some place in the fields, but in au ny
travels 1 never saw & goat or q pig.
and only a few COWS Several times
searched nests for eggs, but somebody
always had beaten me 70 il, as I never
even found so much as a nest egg
There was no chance Of getting away
with any bullying stuff in LuIen-
bOurg- knew, because the young men
have not been forced into the army
and are still at home, and as they are
decidedly pro-Germaa. il would have
been pretty hard for me to demand
anything in that part OF the country.
II was not like taking things away
from old men and women or robbing
people that could not stop ne If they
chose 70 do so. / thought ar this time
that / was suffering about the worst
hardships any human being could ever
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later 10 find that the best Of my jour
ney was made along about this time
There were plenty Of vegetables. even
though they were raw, and these were
much better than the things I was
afterwards compelled to eat or go
without
We frequently hear of men who have
lived for G. certain number of days on
their own resources in the woods Just
on bet or to prove that the back
tO-nature- theory still has the merits
and viii still work Ny advice to some
OF those nature seekers is that If in
the future they wish TO make 9 real
good record Try the little countries OF
Luxembourg and Belgium with slice
OF Germany thrown in
I suppose that during this expert
ence OF mine I made many mistakes
and Travelled many unnecessary miles
which one with knowledge Of wood I
manship might have avoided and /
failed 10 take advantage of many
things which would have been quite
apparent to one who knew. II must
not be forgotten. however. that 1 did .
not undertake this adventure yolun-
tarily. II wss wished on me-" Il
simply had 10 make the most Of the
knowledge I had
AT about this time blisters began TO 4
appear on my legs and my knees
svelled. In addition was pretty well 4
convinced that had lost the sight of
my left eye. hadn't seen thing out
Of it since NY leap from the train
When 1 imagine the villainous sp-
pearance 1 must have presented st this
dm-my unhealed wounds, eighteen
days growth Of beard snd general
hsggard and unkept visageI think
the fear felt about meeting strangers
was perhaps unwarrsnted. The
chances are they would have been in
hnitely more scared than I,
As it was. was nearly out Of Lux
embOurg before / came face TO face
with anyone 1t was about 6 O'Clock in
the morning and / was travelling along
a regular path Just as 1 wss sp-
preaching cross-path. 1 heard foot
steps coming down IT. stopped short.
STOPPED over and pretended 10 be sd-
iuSting my shoelace, figuring that If
the stranger turned into my path he
would probably pass right by me- As
luck would have It. he continued on
his way and never noticed me ST all.
After that 1 frequently noticed
groups of Luxembourg peasants in
the distance but usually saw them
first and managed TO avoid them
On the eighteenth Day after my leap
from the train 1 crossed into Belgium
It had taken me Just nine days TO get
through LuIembourg-a distance
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