Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1919-02-12
(Continued From Yesterday

outside the hospital door. At leaslf
one of them must have arrived De-
cause several days later the door
to our ward opened and in walkeo
three girls. Mighty pretty. they
were. too-and me sitting up in bed
with nothing on but night shirt'
1 had. 1 had no other clothes, be-
cause the Boche had taken my blue
uniform to be disinfected. How l did
wish for it then, but the ladies didn't
give me much time for meditatloh'
for the prettiest one spoke to me al
most at once. and what was more
surprising in English. You're the
American aviator, aren't you? said
she YES" said ], looking up from
the book was reading with much
surprise "but how did you know 1t!
There are other men in the roomL
'Oh," said she, you look different.
And that is as close as 1 ever came
to finding out what the distinguish
ing marks were about an American.
And yet, the fact remains that al
though there were some twenty men
in that room, Boche, French and
English, she picked me out immedi-
ately as 1.-The American" That she
knew 1 was there at all does not
seem strange, for the Boche could
not help growing about the capture
of an American, and an aviator to
boot
Everywhere I went it was that
way. The fact was we'll advertised
and furnished endless speculation for
the Boche. Being an aviator and an
American was combination enough.
but wearing the uniform of the
French was a little beyond their
MI. Iwfk frnt
that at all. Anyway. the young lady
did not waste all her time on sym
pathy, but supplied my material
wants also. giving me grapes pacon
and crackers.
did not like the bacon and my
teeth were not strong enough to bite
the crackers, but the grapes were
bigger and better tasted than any
that ever came out of California, so
1 gave my Share of bacon and grapes
to the Frenchman for grapes. The
girls did not know it, but just look
ing at them did me more good than
any of their eatable gifts, for its
lucky indeed, for a prisoner of war
If he ever sees a woman, let alone
talk to one. These girls also brought
some more English magazines for
me. That they were some ten years
old was a small matter. 1t was
something to while away the time,
which was beginning to hang heavy
on my hands. And just to show that
women are not the only vain crea-
lures on the earth. no sooner had
the girls left than 1 began making
inquiries as to where my clothes
had gone to and what the chances
were of getting them back.
Hints Dropped
This took a couple of days and
during that time the three girls
made me another visit. this time
bringing more eatablef things-for
me, at least. oh yes, they brought
gifts to the other sick prisoners, also.
But my sweet tooth still predom-
mated and I dropped hints quite
generously as this weakness, and
did 1t to such good effect that cakes
and honey sandwiches came my way
during that second visit 1t was a
little blonde that saw to this, for
for which 1 duly thanked her. No, she
could not speak English, but 1 could
scratch up enough French on occa-
sions to make myself understood.
No sooner had the girls left than
the Boche interpreter. came around
and asked me If 1 would be kind
enough to go downstairs and visit
an English prisoner who was very,
very i'll. Not only was he sick but
so lonesome he was ready to give
up, as there was no one in the room
to whom he could talk. 1 gladly
looked him UP. happy to know that
little pow-wow on my part might
cheer anyone up. And he certainly
needed cheering, for he had been
treated as cruelty as It was possible
to treat a man without killing him.
In fact two of his comrades who
were with him died on the way to
the hospital. AS for him, he was so
weak he could hardly speak above
a whisper but that did not prevent
him from telling me his story. His
trouble must have gone to his head
for he would talk of nothing else.
Knowing this was bad for fhim in
his condition I tried to side track
him on to other subjects; how close
peace was! how pFetty the girls
were who had visited us in the morn
ing and so on, but there was moth
ing doing. He would talk of his
sufferings. So I finally gave up and
let him get it out of his system.
1t was just another of those stories
of Boche cruelty and neglect which
I was daily hearing from many
sources. In fact, 1 was getting sort
of fed up on the sad end of the war,
for with everyone 1 talked came
stories of the inhuman conduct of
the Boche. I didn't need any more
confirmation OF this fact, for it was.
all around me. but the tale this hag-
gard wreck of an English soldier
told me was about the limit
He with two of his comrades had
suddenly been taken very sick, so
sick that the authorities in their
camp deemed it advisable to send
them to a hospital. That's pretty
sick. believe me, but it did not get
them any better accommodations
than the healthy prisoners, for with
number of other sick prisoners
they were all piled into a box car,
the door closed and locked and away
they went. The journey took three
days, and during that time they
were given hot coffee twice. That
was all! Nothing else whatever! Do
you wonder two of them died as
soon as they reached the hospital?
1t was this that was preying on this
soldiers mind. for the three of them
had been carried in the night before
and laid in adjoining beds. The
next morning he was the only live
one of the three-a stranger in
strange, strange land! sick unto
death; a prisoner at the mercy of his
enemies. and with his two best pals
lying stiff and cold on either side of