Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1918-07-19

| hoped for was that I would get as
much of the one as l was getting o.
the other before / finally go<
through. | learned subsequently thai
what the words really stood for We're
Charity and Hope" and then I
was sure that my kind Belgian friend
had indeed realized my plight and
that her thoughtful souvenir was in
tended to encourage me in the trials
she must have known were before
me.
1 didnS let the old Belgian lady
know, because l did not want to
alarm her unnecessarily, but that
night l slept in her back yard, leaV-
ing early in the morning before 1t
became light.
Later in the day 1 applied at an
other house for food. 1t was occu-
lied by father and mother and ten
children. l hesitated to ask them
for food without offering to pay for
it, as l realized what task it must
have been for them to support them
selves without having to feed hun
CRY man. Accordingly l gave the
man a mark and then indicated that
l wanted something to eat.
Shares a Family Meal
They were just about to eat them
selves, apparently, and they let me
partake of their meal, which consist
ed of a huge bowl of some kind of
soup which l was unable to identify
and which they served in ordinary
wash basins. l don't know that they
ever used the basins 10 wash in as
we'll, but whether they did or not did
not worry me very much. The soup
was good and 1 enjoyed it very much.
All the time l was there 1 could
see the father and the eldest son, a
boy about seventeen, were extreme
ly nervous. l had indicated to them
that l was deaf and dumb, but If
they believed me it didn't seem to
make them any more comfortable.
/ fingered at the house for about
an hour after the meal and during
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 | must have resembled any
thing but a British officer. They
spoke in Flemish and 1 did not
understand a word they said, but
think they were discussing my prob
able identity. During, their CONVEX
sation, l had a chance to look
around the rooms. There were three
altogether, two fairly large and
one somewhat smaller, about four
teen feet long and six deep. In this
smaller room there were two dou-
ble-decked beds, which were appar-
emily intended to house the whole
family, although how the whole
twelve of them could sleep in that
one room will ever remain a mys-
terry to me.
From the kitchen you could walk
directly into the cow-barn, where
two cows were kept, and this, as 1
have pointed out before, is the
usual construction of the poorer
Belgian houses.
Callers Suspicion Aroused
1 could not make out why the
to me, and yet / am sure he was
arguing with the family against
me. Perhaps the fact l wasn't wear
INK WOOuCn SuOCO-l uOuDI WICIuCl
| could have obtained a pair big
enough for me-had convinced him
that l was not really a Belgian, be-
cause there was nothing about me
otherwise which could have given
him that idea.
At that time, and / suppose it is
true today, about ninety per cent of
the people in Belgium were wearing
wood shoes. Among the peasants
| don't believe / ever saw any. other
kind of footwear and they are more
common there than they are in Hol-
land. The Dutch wear them more
as a matter of lack of leather.
was told that during the coming
year practically all the peasants
and poorer people in Germany, too,
will adopt wooden shoes for farm
work, as that is one direction in
which wood can be subTtituted for
| leather without much loss.
When the young man left / left
shortly afterward, as l was not at
all comfortable about what his in
tentions were regarding me. For all
l knew he might have gone to no
| tify the German authorities that
there was a strange man in the vi
cinity-more perhaps to protect his
friends from suspicion Of having
aided me than to injure me.
At any rate, l was not going to
take any chances and I got out of
that neighborhood as rapidly as 1
could
That night found me right on the
frontier of Holland.
The best information obtainable is contained
in two new books on Poultry, Cattle, Hogs
and Horses, just published by the Stockyards