The Canon City record with which is consolidated the Canon City cannon., 1918-09-26

tuOSe GOes IL WDuiu tt1st bteu n frfy
good companion for mr. and might. II
tile occasion arose. help me out In n
fight But had no way OF feeding 1t
and the animal would probably have
starved to death. / could live on veg
etnbles. which could always depend
upon finding In the fields. but a dog
couldn't. and s0 gave up the idea
The knack Of making fire with tw0
pieces of dry wood / had often read
about. but I had never pat 1t 10 a TEST
and for various reasons concluded
that 1t would be unsafe for me to
build q IRE even IL had matches. In
ths first pince, there wns no absolute
need for II. I didn't have anything
30 cook nor utensils to cook It In even
IL / had. While the air was getting
TO be rnther cool at night. was usu-
ally on the 20 Mt that time and didn't
notice II. In the daytime. when /
was resting or sleeping. the sun WIS
usually out
To have borrowed matches from a
s5eigian peasant would have been fens-
ibie. but when I was willing TO snka
the chance of approaching anyone. II
was just as easy to ask for food rs
matches.
It the second place. 1t would have
been extremely dangerous to have
built q IRE even II had needed II.
You can't build q nre in Belgium.
which r. the most thicily populated
country In Europe. without everyone
knowing 1t, and was far from anx-
ious to advertising my whereabouts.
The villages In that part OF Bel
GUM through which was making my
course were 90 close together that
there was hardly ever an hour passed
without my hearing some clock strike.
Every village has ITS clock. Many
times could hear the clocks striking
In two villages At the same time
But the hour had very little interest
to me. Ny program was to travel a
fast ~ I could from sunset to sunrise
and pay NO attention to the hours Ia
between. and in the daytime / had
only two things to worry about: keep
concealed and get ~ much sleep ns
possible.
The cabbage that got in Belgium
consisted OF the small heads that the
peasants had not cut. All the strength
had concentrated In these little heads
and they would be as bitter as gall. /
would have to be pretty hungry to-
day before could ever eat cabbage
again and the enme observation ap-
plies TO cnrrots. turnips and sugar
beets--especiaily sugar beets-
II is rather remarkable thing that
today even n smell Of turnips. raw or
cooked. makes me sick. and yet few
short months ago my life depended
upon them
Night after night as I searched for
food. I was always In hopes that 1
might come upon sope. tomatoes or
ceicry-vegetabIes wnicn reaisy
liked. but with the exception of once.
when found some celery. was never
10 fortunate I ate 10 much Of the
celery the night l came upon II that
was sick for two days thereafter,
but I carried several lunches away
with me and used to chew on 1t as
walked along.
OF course. l kept my eyes open all
the time for fruit trees. but apparently
Il was too late in the year for fruit. as
all that I ever was nble to flnd were
two pears, which got out OF tree.
That was one OF my red-lettcr days.
but was never able to repeat II.
In the brooks and ponds that
passed often noticed fish OF different
kinds. That was either In the early
morning just before I turned In for
the day. or on moonlight nights when
tho wnter seemed as clear In spots
nj In the daytime. II occurred to me
that II would be simple matter to rig
hook and line and catch some fish.
but had no means Of cooking them
and It was useless to flsh for the sake
Of Il.
One night In Belgium my course
took me through desolate stretch Of
country which seemed to be absolutely
uncultivatesl. must have covered
twelve miles during the night. without
passing q single farm or cultivated
neid. My stock OF turnips which
hnd picked the night before was gone
and planned. Of course. to get enough
to carry me through the following
day.
The North Star vas shining brightly
that night and there was absolutely
nothing to prevent my steering an alb
solutely direct course for Holland and
liberty. but my path seemed to lie
through arid pastures Far to the
east or to the west could hear
family the striking Of village bells.
and knew that II ! changed my
course would undoubtedly strike
fhrme and vegetables. but the North
Star seemed to plead with me to fol-
low Il and Z would not turn asl0e.