Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1918-04-26

in the direction which 1 thought was
north. 1 hadn't been at all sure of
my bearings the day before. and as
1t had rained the sun failed entirely
| to help me out, but was almost sure
had the right direction and trusted
to luck.
| That night 1 found more rivers.
canals and swamps than 1 ever found
in my life before, but had the good
fortune to stumble on to some celery.
and after my diet of beets it surely
was a treat. Perhaps it's unneces-
sary to add that I took on a good
supply of celery and for days I went
along chewing celery like a COW
would a cud.
One Whole Day Lost.
Along toward morning, when
supposed 1 had gotten in fairly
good lap of my journey-perhaps
seven or eight miles-I began to rec
ognize certain objects as familiar
| landmarks. At least 1 thought L had
seen them before and as travelled
along / knew positively I had seen
certain objects very recently.
on to my right-not over a quar-
ter of mile-I noticed some fairly
good sized woods and thought 1
would go over there to hide that day.
because it looked as though the sun
was going to shine and I hoped to
get my clothes dry. and perhaps get
a decent sleep. I had this celery and
large beet so 1 knew 1 would be
able to live the day through.
Finally 1 made my way over to the
woods. 1t was still too dark in
among the trees to do much in the
way of selecting my quarters for the
day. and l could not get a step far
ther. So l waited on the edge of
the forest until dawn and then set
out to explore the place, with q view
to finding some nook where 1 might
sleep.
Imagine my disgust, and discour
agement, too, when an hour or so
later 1 came upon the exact place
where 1 had spent the day before,
and I realized that all night long
{ had been circling the very woods l
was trying to get away from. 1
think perhaps 1 had gone all of a
quarter mile in the right direction,
but then had lost my bearings en-
tirely. and daylight found me with
nothing accomplished.
The sun, however, did come out
lDdl udSs anu WelCOHltu It's warm
rays, as they. perhaps, have never
been welcomed before. 1 was very
tired-just about all in-but I spent
better day in the woods than the
previous one.
That night the stars came out;
located my friend the North Star,
and tried to make up for lost time.
But when one is making only seven
or eight miles a day. or rather a
night, one night lost means a whole
lot, especially when each day keeps
him from freedom.
Harder to Benr Than Hunger.
Such ill fortune and discourage
ments as this were harder to endure,
I believe, than the actual hunger. and
the accompanying worry naturally
reduced my weight. At times I
was furiously angry with myself for
the mistakes 1 made and the foolish
things I did, but I always tried to
see something funny about the situa-
ton, whatever it might be, that re-
lieved the strain a bit and helped to
pass the time away.
l think IL q man is overburdened
with sense of humor and wants to
get rid of it, this trip 1 took would
be an excellent remedy for it. Right
at this time 1 would have welcomed
anything for a companion. 1 be-
lieve even a snake would have been
a Godsend to me.
With a name as Irish as mine, 1t
is only natural that looked for
goats along the way. thinking that
l might be able to milk them. There
are very few cows in this country.
and the opportunities for milking
them fewer than cows themselves be-
cause they are housed in barns ad-
joining the homes and always alert
ly watched by their fortunate
owners. I did hope that / might
find a goat staked out some place
in the fields, but in all my travels
1 never saw a goat or pig, and
only a few cows. Several times
1 searched nests for eggs, but some-
body had always beaten me to it,
as 1 never even found so much as
a nest egg.
There was no chance of getting
away with any bullying" stuff in
Luxembourg, knew, because the
young men have not been forced
into the army and are still at home,
and as they are decidedly pro-Ger-
man, it would have been pretty hard
for me to demand anything in that
part of the country. 1t was not like
taking things away from old men
and women or robbing people that
could not stop me if they choose to
do so.
I thought at this time that was
suffering about the worst hardships
any human being could ever be call
ed upon to endure, but L was later
to find that the best of my journey |
was made along about this time. |
There were plenty of vegetables, |
even though they were raw, and |
these were much better than the |
things 1 was afterward compelled to
eat or go without.