The Canon City record with which is consolidated the Canon City cannon., 1918-09-19
The Canon City Record Thursday September 10, 1918.


iooked ouf. She could not imagine
stiIi atfired In that old oyereoaf- She
gave "a cry and her husband and a
boy came 70 the door.
They could not speak English and /
could not speak Flemish. but pointed
TO my flying coat and then to the sky
and said "Flegcr' tfiier). which I
fhourliT would tell. them what was.
Whether they understood or were
intimidaied by the hard-looking APP
pearance. / don't know. but certainty
1t would have 10 be II brave old man
and boy who would start an argument
with such villainous looking char
acter az stood before them that night !
had nor shaved for month. my
clothes were wet, torn and dirty. my
ieesings were gone-they had gotten
81 heavy had To discard rhem-Iny
hair was matted and my cheeks were
flushed with fever. In my hand I
carried the rock In my handkerchief
ard | made no effort TO conceal Its
presence or its mission
Anyway. they notioned me indoors,
snve me my first hot meal in more
than MONTH True. II consisted only
OF warm potatoes. They had been
previously cooked. but the old woman
warmed them up in milk in one OF the
diriiest kettles / had ever seen 1
asked for bread. but she shook her
head. although l think 1t must have
been for lack or 1t rather than be-
cause she begrudged IL TO mo- For
did that night. j swallowed those
warm potatoes ravenously and drank
four glasses of water. one after an
other 1t was the best msal had had
since the banquet" in the prison at
courfrni.
The woman OF the house was prob
ably sevenfy-five years old and had
evidently worn wooden shoes all her
life. for she had Gallons spot on the
side of her foot the size OF half dol
lar and it looked so hard that doubt
whether you could have driven nail
into il with hammer:
As / sat there drying myse.f-for 1
was in no hurry to leave the first
human habitation / had entered in
four weeks-l reflected ON my un-
happy lot and the unknown troubles
and dangers that lay ahead of me.
Here. for more than q month. had
been leading the life OF a hunted
anlmnl--yes. worse than a hunted
animal. for nature clothes her less
favored creatures more appropriate
ly for the life they lead than I was
.-soshsi for mine-and there was not
the slightest reason 10 hope that con
difions would grow any better.
Perhaps the first warm food bad
eaten for over month had released
unused springs Of philosophy in me.
MS food sometimes does for a man
] pointed TO my torn and water
soaked clothes nnd conveyed tc them
A. best could that would be CRATE
ftii for an old suit. but apparensly
they were too poor to have more than
they actually needed themselves. and
l rose TO CO. had aroused them out
Of bed and knew ] ought not TO keep
them up longer than was absolutely
necessary.
As 1 approached the door i got q
glance nj myself In a mirror. I WAS
the aufules, sight had laid eyes ON
The glimpse i got OF myself startled
me almost as much as IL had seen
dreaded German helmet, Ny left eye
was fniriy wei; healed by this time
and ! WAS beginning to regain sight
of II. buI my face was so hngsard and
my beard SO long and unkempt that L
looked like Santa Claus ON bat,
As they let me out of the door /
pointed TO the opposite direction TO
the one intended taking and started
on In the direction I had Indicated.
Later 1 changed my course completely
TO throw on any possible pursuit.
The next day was SO worn out from
exposure and exhaustion that / threw
away my coat. thinking that the less
weight had to carry the better IL
would be for me, but when night came
l regretted my mistake because the
nights were now getting colder.
thought at first IL would be better for
me TO reirace my steps and look for
the coat l had 50 though;lessiy dis
carded. but l decided to 20 ON with
out IL.
] then bernn to discard everything
that had in my pocket. finally throw
ing my wrist watch into canal. A
wrist-watch does not add much
weight, bu; when you piod along and
have not eaten for month II finally
becomes rather heavy. The next
thing ! discarded was a pair of flying
mitfens.
These mittens had gotten at Camp
Borden. In Canada. und had become
quite famous. as my friends termed
them "snow shoes" In fact, they