Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1919-03-04
It was about z o'clock in the ever

Il
having food In his possession wher
calling on me. I was standing at the
window in such a way that could
see what was going on In the street
without being observed by those who
passed by, when noticed my friend
the cat. coming down the steps Of the
opposite house with something In his
mouth. Without considering the risks
I ran, opened the front door, ran
down the steps and across the street,
! and pounced on that cat before 1t could
get away with its supper. for that. as
I had imagined, was what had seen
in its mouth. 1t turned out to be a
piece of stewed rabbit, which I confis-
Gated eagerly and took back with me
to the house.
Perhaps I felt little sorry for the
cat, but l certainly had no qualms
about eating the animals dinner. !
was much too hungry to dwell upon
niceties. and piece Of stewed rabbit
was certainly too good for q cat to eat
when a man was starving. I ate and
enjoyed it and the incident suggested
to me way in which might possibly
obtain food again when all other ave-
nues failed.
From my place of concealment I fire.
gently saw huge carts being pushed
through the streets gathering potato
peelings, refuse of cabbage and similar
food remnants, which, in America. are
considered garbage and destroyed. In
Belgium they were using this "gar-
bage" to make their bread out of. and
while the idea may sound revolving to
us, the fact Is that the Germans have
brought these things down to such q
science that the bread they make this
way is really very good to eat. know
it would have been like cake to me
when I was in need Of food; indeed I
would have eaten the garbage" d.
rect, let alone the bread.
Although, as I have said. suffered
greatly from hunger while occupying
this house, there were one or two
things I observed through the keyhole
or from the windows which made me
laugh, and some Of the incidents that
occurred during my voluntary impris-
onment were really funny.
From the keyhole could see, for in
stance, q shop window on the other
side Of the street, several houses down
the block. All day long German SOL
diers would be passing In front Of the
house and I noticed that practically
every one Of them would stop in front
of.this store window and look in. Oc.
casionally a soldier on duty bent would
hurry past, but think nine out Of ten
Of them were sufficiently interested to
spend at least q minute, and some OF
them three or four minutes gazing at
whatever was being exhibited In that
window, although noticed that 1t
failed to attract the Belgians.
have considerable streak Of curl
osity in me, and couldn't help won
dering what it could be in that window
which almost without exception
seemed to interest German soldiers but
failed to hold the Belgians, and after
conjuring my brains for q while on the
problem I came to the conclusion that
the shop must have been beok-shop
and the window contained German
magazines, which, naturally enough,
would be Of the greatest interest to
the Germans but of none to the Bel
CLANS.
At any rate I resolved that as soon as
night came I would 60 out and in
vestigate the window. When I got the
answer / laughed so loud that was
afraid for the moment I must have at.
tracted the attention Of the neighbors,
but couldn't help It.. The window
was filled with huge quantities of
sausage! The store was a butcher
shop and one of the principal things
they sold apparently was sausage. The
display they made, although it con-
sisted merely Of sausages piled in the
window, certainly had plenty Of "pull-
ing" power. It pulled" nine Ger
mans out Of ten out Of their course and
indirectly ''pulled" me right across the
street, The idea of those Germans be-
ing so interested in that window dis
play as to stand In front Of the win
dow for two, three or four minutes at
time, however, certainly seemed
funny to me, and when I got back to
the house I sat at the keyhole again
and found just as much interest as
before In watching the Germans stop
in their tracks when they reached the
window. even though I was now aware
what the attraction was. =.
One of my chief occupations during
these days was catching flies. would
catch fly, put him in a spiders web
(there were plenty Of them in the old
house), and sit down for the spider to
come down and get him. But always !
pictured myself in the same predica-
ment and rescued the fly just as the
spider was about to grab him. Several
times when things were dull I was
tempted to see the tragedy through.
but perhaps the same Providence that
guided me safely through all perils
was guarding. too, the destiny Of those
flies, for always weakened and the
flies never. did suffer from my lust for
amusement. s,'
The house was well supplied with
books-in fact. one Of the choicest IL
braries think I ever saw-but they
were all written either in Flemish or
French. i could read no Flemish and
very little French. I might have made
a little headway with the latter. but
the books all seemed too deep for me
and I gave 1t up. There was one thing
though that I did read and reread
from beginning to end, that was q
New York Herald which must have ar
/! rived Just about the time war was de-
'>-rd Several things In th'r In
terested me, and particularly the base.
ball scores, which / studied with as
much care as real fan possibly could
an up-to-date score. / couldn't refrain
from laughing when came to an &c.
count Of Zimmerman (of the Cubs)
being .benched for some spat with the
nmpire. and 1t afforded me just az