Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1919-03-18

sat there eating them she eyed M
very keenly.
I haven't the slightest doubt that
she realized I was fugitive. She lived
so near the border that 1t was more
for that reason, I appreciated more
fully the extent Of the risk she ran, fOr
no doubt the Germans were constantly
watching the conduct Of these Bel
CLANS who lived near the line.
Ny theory that she realized that
was not Belgian at all, but prob
aby some English fugitive, was con.
frmed moment later, when, as
made ready to go, she touched me on
the arm and indicated that was to
wait moment. She went to bureau
and brought out two pieces Of fancy
Belgian lace which she Insisted upon
my taking away, although at that par
ticular moment I had as much use for
Belgian lace as an elephant for a
safety razor, but / was touched with
her thoughtfulness and pressed her
hand to show my gratitude. She would
not accept the money I offered her.
I carried the lace through my sub.
sequent experiences, feeling that 1t
would be fine souvenir for my
mother, although as matter Of fact If
I had known that 1t was going to de-
lay my final escape for even a single
moment, as 1t did, ! am quite sure
she would rather had not seen 1t.
On one piece OF lace was the Flem-
ish word "Charlte" and on the other
the word "Esperage." At the time
took these words to mean Charity
and Experience" and all l hoped was
that I would get as much Of the one
as I was getting Of the other before
finally got through. I learned subse.
quently that what the words really
stood for were Charity" and "Hope,"
and then I was sure that my kind Bel.
gian friend had indeed realized my
plight and that her thoughtful SOU
venir was intended to encourage me In
the trials she must have known were
before me.
l didn't let the old Belgian lady
know, because did not want to alarm
her unnecessarily, but that night /
slept In her backyard, leaving early
in the morning before 1t became light.
Later in the day l applied at an
other house for food. It was occupied
by q father and mother and ten chill.
dren. hesitated to ask them for food
without Offering to pay for 1t, as re-
allied what task 1t must have been
for them to support themselves with
out having to feed hungry man. Ac-
cordingly 1 gave the man mark and
then indicated that l wanted some
thing to eat. They were just about to
eat, themselves, apparently, and they
let me paltakc OF their meal, which
consisted OF huge bowl Of some kind
Of soup which | was unable to iden-
tify and which they served in ordinary
wash basins. / don't know that they
ever used the basins to wash In as
we'll, but whether they did or not did
not worry me very much. The soup
was good and enjoyed 1t.
All the time l was there / could see
the father and the eldest son, boy
about seventeen, were extremely nerv-
GUS. I had indicated to them that l
was deaf and dumb, but II they be-
lieved me 1t didn't seem to make them
any more comfortable.
fingered at the house for about an
hour after the meal and during that
time young man came to call on the
eldest daughter, young woman OF
perhaps eighteen. The caller eyed me
very suspiciously. although / must
have resembled anything but British
officer. They spoke Flemish and did
not understand word they said. but
I think they were discussing my prob
able identity. During their CONVERSE
ton, / had chance to look around
the room. There were three alto
gether, two fali.y large and one
somewhat smaller, about fourteen feet
long and six deep. In this smaller
room there were two dOuble-decked
beds, which were apparently intended
to house the whole family, although
how the whole twelve Of them could
sleep in that one room will ever re-
main mystery to me.
From the kitchen you could walk
directly into the cow.barn, where two
COWS were kept, and this, as l have
pointed out before, is the usual con-
struction of the poorer Belgian houses.
could not make out why the caller
seemed to be so antagonistic to me,
and yet am sure he was arguing with
the family against me. Perhaps the
fact that I wasn't wearing wooden
shoes-I doubt whether I could have
obtained a pair big enough for me
had convinced him that I was not
really Belgian, because there was
nothing about me otherwise which
could have given him that idea.
At that time, and suppose 1t Is
true today, about "a per cent OF the
people in Belgium were wearing
wooden shoes. Among the peasants l
don't believe I ever saw any other
kind of footwear and they are more
common there than they are In Hol-
land. The Dutch wear them more on
account of q lack Of leather. I was
told that during the coming year prac'
tically all the peasants and poorer
people In Germany, too, will adopt
wooden shoes for farm work. as that
IA one direction in which wood can be
substituted for leather without much
loss.
When the young man left. / left
shortly afterwards, as was not at
all comfortable about what his inten-
tons were regarding me. For all l
knew he might have gone to notify
the German authorities that there was
strange man in the vicinity-more
perhaps to protect his friends from
suspicion Of having aided me than to
injure me.
At any rate, was not going to take
any chances and I got out OF that
neighborhood as rapidly as I could.
That night found me right on the
frontier Of Holland.
Continued next week