The World. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1912-1921, 1918-07-03


/ window in such a way that l could
see what was going on in the street.
! without being observed by those who
passed by. when I noticed my friend,
/ the cat coming down the steps of the
| opposite house with something in his
mouth. Without considering the risks
| | ran, | opened the front door, ran
down the steps and across the street,
and bounced on that cat before It could
| get away with its supper, for that, as
[ had imagined, was what I had seen
| in its mouth. It turned out to be
| piece of stewed rabbit, which l contis-
Gated eagerly and took back with me
/ 10 the house.
! Perhaps | felt little sorry for the
| eat but I certainly had no qualms
about eating the animals dinner. l
was much too hungry to dwell upon
niceties, and a piece of stewed rabbit
vas certainly too good for cat to eat
| when a man was starving. | ate and
| enjoyed it and the incident suggested
to me way in which l might possibly
/ obtain food again when all other ave-
nues failed.
From my place of ceneealment fire.
! gently saw huge carts being pushed
/ through the streets gathering potato
/ Feelings, refuse of cabbage and similar
| food remnants, which, In America, are
i considered garbage and destroyed. In
| Belgium they were using this gar
/ bagen to make their bread ont of, and
! while the idea may sound revolving to
| us, the fact is that the Germans have
! brought these things down to such, "a
! science that the bread they make this
way is really very good to eat. know
| II would have been like cake TO me
| when l was in need Of food indeed l
would have eaten the garbage" d.
rect, LET alone the bread.
Although as I have said, | suffered
greatly from hunger while occupying
| this house, there were one or two
things I observed through the keyhoie
or from the windows which made me
| laugh, and some of the incidents that
occurred during my voluntary impris-
| onment were really funny.
7 From the keyhole / could see, for In
stance, a shop window on the other
side of the street, several houses down
the block. All day long German sol
+, diers would be passing in front of the
| house and l noticed that practically
every one Of them would stop in front
of this store window and look in, Oc-
easionally soldier on duty bent would
hurry past, but | think nine out Of ten
of them were sufficiently interested to
spend at least minute, and some of
them three or four minutes gazing at
whatever was being exhibited in that
window, although ( noticed that it
failed to attract the BeIgians.
| have a considerable streak of curl
osity in me, and | couldn't help won
dering what 1t could be in that window
which almost without exception
seemed to interest German soldiers but
failed to hold the Belgians, and after
conjuring my brains for while on Che
problem I came to the conclusion that
the shop must have been a book-shop
and the window contained German
magazines, which, naturally enough,
would be Of the greatest interest to
the Germans but of none to the Bel
gians.
At any rate resolved that as soon as
night came / would go out and IN
veStigate the window. When / got the
answer | laughed so loud that ] was
afraid for the moment must have at
| tracted the attention of the neighbors,
/ but l couldn't help it. 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 gausage. The
display they made, although it con-
sisted merely of sausages piled in the
window. certainly had plenty of pull
ing" power. 1t pulled niIfe 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
| a time. however, certainly seemed
| funny to me, and when I 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
! tthere were plenty Of them in the old
| hoase), and sit down for the spider to
come down and get him. But always
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 dun l was
| tempted to see the tragedy through,
but perhaps tie same Providence that
guided me sately through all perils
was guarding, to2, ttiiie destiny of those
flies, for ] 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 Ii
hrarias tbiul- T a,yay tbo,y