Norwich bulletin., 1919-03-14

language between us. in making me understand that he was sorry for me. Too bad he said; far from home, | hungry, work hard agreed with him. That fellow had some sense a perspective. l think nc could al taost see my finish. as 1 felt that l could myself.
 These Essen men got on such good l terms with us that they would stand cn the top edge of the excavations down in which we were working and watch for the officers who came reg uiarly to inspect our work When no officer was Ill sight, they would tip us off and aiiow us to lie down in the dirt to rest, and Wher they saw an l officer approaching they would let us kGoW and up we'd jump and make the dirt fly until the officer had gone away again. This we would repeat all day l long as much as we dared.
 There were times when some of Us | thought that the German soldiers l were nearly dS bad off as we were, in- scfar as getting food was concern I ed, though they did have more to eat l titan was given us.
 The soup that we bad to drink was | terrible. Just to smeh oC it was enough to turn your stomach, but it was that soup CT death ty starvation land we were sticking it ont as best we could
 The Russians in that camp were the Strangest people eyer saw. Their government never sent them anythfn@. They didn't seem to have any friends. 1 hat they got to eat. there and at other camps l saw them in, was the German government ration - almost eXcluSlNely >tlnking soup made from cow beets. black bread and acorn cof- fee. And they grew lat on it.
 life varisd very little from day to cay at Darmstadt. It WIS a case of work and starve-and think of home, iand France. where we knew the allies were bravely fighting and. eveutu- a!.y, bound 70 win. 1t was early sum mCr now and the Germans were en- l G2ged in their terrible drives for Paris and the Channel ports, and Of these tremendous efforts we heard much. But we never lost faith in the ah-iity of the allies to heat them. The IieSuon WlJn Us was whether we , would live to see it.
 After a few weeks at Darmstadt T, with other Americans, was transferred to another prison camp at Giesseu Life there was much the same for us as in the previous camp. Hard work all of the tinle-and practically nOth- . N'1e' not ray of hope from any quarter We knew through German papers how the drives on the western front were going and, contrary to popular belief : the Germans told more of their re- :, verses and losses through their press than is generally believed outside of t Germany.
 After time at Giessen I was one of many selected to go into Belgium to hplD in STViDT1ipor ma 1,11fa r+7r,,f.e- Z of their machinery, We would be put | into mills mad made to remove the big I machines, screw them on to 3xEs. and | make them ready for shipment into Il Germany. It was ill Brussels. the Bel gian capital, that, l think l azgari- enced my bluest day in captivity i Working in a. big mill that yF' were
 taking machinery from, l happened to !, look at the stamp on the end of it. l saw that it was made by the Brown & . Sharpe Co, Providence, R. l., U. ;. A } and the sight of that name and that Il city near my old home town had a crushing effect upon me. 1 sat down = 1 on q box, overcome by hOmesickness q and emotion, and my condition had
 never seemed so fOrlOrn or hopeless y But l had other things to see in that : mill 1 found another machine tha ? had been made in d plant close fC 1 O- l. ISLLIilF NtlEkt tue IU-N Was ELt- [, toned just before we finally sailed f0I I France. 1 used to go by that plant - frequently. Much of the other ma 1 chinery. 1T the IniIl was made in the good oldU. $. A, and it made me sick
 at heart to think of the plice 1 was ip
 They didnt4keep the Americans long iu Belgium We taccideutallyI B broke too much machinery on thu Germans, so they-sent us away from
 there-and back to Giessen.
 By August I was down to 13( pounds and felt that | couldn't loss
 another pound. I had lost 70, and was
 skin and bones Then came. my frs
 glorious day. A packages Hrfiyed4f01
 me from the American Red Crossl
 felt that my salvation was at hand
 as indeed at was. The package con
 tained food real food, and was happy
 There was meat. 1 ate of such fer tn,
 first time since April 20, excepting f0
 the one mouthful' of horsefesh | haC
 previously mentioned. Talk about {
 child at a Christmas tree! Why. n,
 child was ever happier then than 1. J felt that my life had been saved-as surely was-and that I might live.eft see my native land again. The Ept
 Cross had burst through where armie
 had failed to cross and had brought m
 succor from out of a months lon,
 night of misery.
 q was overjoyed, and happy to say
 other Americam prisoners were mad
 as glad by the arrival of Red Cros
 packages as l. was myself. We'll, fror
 then on the worst of our troubles waI :, over; that is, so far as food was con cerned. There never was a time unt
 we got out of Germany that we couI not have eaten much more than " had but the Red Cross packages cam
 regularly and they were real life say
 CTS. These packages contained a va
 riety of foodstuffs. varying in som
 respects from week to week, but al
 ways keeping us supplied with essen
 tials. We even got a generous suppl
 of smokes each week.
 "So far as my personal experienc
 went, the Germans never rifed OU
 Red Cross packages. When one cam
 for me l would be called out and