Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1919-02-04
CONTINUED From Yesterday, ,

Ihe camp we were put in was
ratner a large affair. At least. there
were largo number of barracks
which meant a roof over our heads,
and we had a stove too.
That helped lot, both for
warmth and cooking-if one had
anything to cook. I didn't and what
was worse, my bread was all and al
though we had been led to expect
something to eat when we arrived at
TINS camp, nothing materialized. For
day and O half no bread was given
us. and all We had to exist on was
soup once day, and a cup of acorn
coftee night and morning. One did
not grow fat on this diet, you can
bet. but kicking about it did not
seem to help any, so all we could
DO was wait and suffer. Escape
seemed to be out of the question,
for not only was 1t we'll guarded by
bobwire entanglements and fences
and guards, but the camp was
placed bang up against a fort. Very
kind and thoughtful of the Boche
indeed, for naturally, the allied
planes came over to bomb and they
came every clear night, too. From
both observation and heresay,
know it is rather hard to direct a
heavy bomb from a fast travelling
airplane to the exact spot one wishes
to hit, so you see the position we
were placed in. When it came to
Gotha raids Paris had nothing on
us, the only difference being that
they had cave cellars and we did
not. All We could do was stick in
the barracks and hope no bombs
came our way. Fortunately, during
my short stay, none did.
This camp had more conveniences
than the other camps 1 had been
in. One could even get warm bath
if he didn't mind doing it in an open
shed, for a big kettle of hot water
was heated every morning and into
this the prisoners dumped their
shirts and trousers-cooties and all
and after cooking them awhile,
scrubbed them clean. l figured L
needed a bath as bad as my shirt, so
took that first. After that washed
my shirt, hung it on the fence to
dry, and then sat down to watch 1t.
One had to, else it would be stolen.
Fortunately, the sun was shining
brightly that day, so sitting outside
minus ones shirt was not SO bad.
1t was soon dry and soon had all
my wardrobe on again. What a
pleasure putting on shirt, clean,
soft, warm and minus "cooties -
for the hot water had killed them
all-only a man having been trou-
bled with these hungry insects can
know. Being free from dirt and
"cooties," for a time at least, De-
gan feeling the old ache or munger
again, and having a little money,
invested in some vegetables whlch
were being sold by prisoners VINO
went out of camp to work every day.
They got them in different ways.
Sometimes q kind French woman
would give a sack of vegetables,
other times they stole them. But
mine not to question why or where.
1t was enough that l could buy
som ething to eat. True, turnlps,
cabbage and carrots are not very
filling. but its better than notnins
st Ali. and dividing the mixture
with a Frenchman for his services
aa cook. I ate il thankfully. A man
beside me even bought STEAK.
That it was horse did not orn1n-
ish his Joy in the eating, ior We
ceiyed so little meat that seeaH
from any sort of an animA va
Welcome. In fact, the Same orouent
a b;S nrice. Where the prisoners got
eiI the money was always mystery
To me. but then a French man Is q
tbrirtv soul and spends few sous
at any time. Being prls-
oner makes him doubly caretul SO
Won can bet he always got MS
moneys worth.
Tough Luck.
In keeping himself in smokes,
however. he always lost out Ior
there was only one source from
which he could get them ana INA.
was the Boche. AS always, cnu'
took advantage OF his unhappy con
dition and charged extoruonate
nrices One cigaret cost ten Genus
men who smoked them they were
rather good. too, probably being OF
tobacco, but at those prices
fine "Poilu" with his hunger Tor 10
ha cco and several francs IN MS
nocket did not last long. hunger
Tor food was bad enough, but add
to Il the hunger for tobacco also
and YOU can believe a man suf1er-
ed After 1 had watched some OF
these prisoners suffering from this
double hunger I thanked my stars
I did not smoke. L had only one
hunger to deal with, and many were
nv comrades who called me lucky
for not having the smoking habit
7 have seen men so hungry for
smoke they would see the coat off
their back to get money to get 1t.
Many even sold their shoes, while
Others wishing to remain warm as
well as smoke were driven to the
extremity of smoking leaves. AS
cabbage leaves seemed to be fairly
easy to obtain they were used by
many, as they dried quickly over a
hot fire and when cut up fine made
a good substitute. At least, they
looked like tobacco, and when put
in a pipe, even tasted like it--until
the first draw.
on the second day in this camp
rations were given us. A small
niece of black bread and couple
handfuls of small crackers. Golly!
How good that black soggy bread
tasted by that time! And that
same evening a small piece of
sausage-about an inch long-was
given each of US with the coffee"
Life seemed little pleasanter after
that, and we looked forward to our
continued journey into Germany for
this was merely a camp of passage,
SO to speak. We had been told that
none ever stayed longer than eight
days, but We had been told so many
xLt,.o NEa ff hafOra nOhndv was