Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1919-02-17


Yes. said l. let's get out of here.
20 out in the town and ask a civilian
to take us in
He agreed and soon we had de-
scended the four stories leading to
our garret and We're marching down
the street on the lookout for some
ilghted windows, or some civilian
on the street.
sure enough, we soon ran into a
woman. who on hearing our story,
TOOK us to an old abandoned house
ana there gave us a bed. 1t wasn't
covered with clean sheets. nor were
any woolen blankets theron, but it!
was fairly soft and net very dirty.
The lady even brought us some cof-
FEE and sugar.
we furnished the rest OF the meal.
and 1T was then that 1 discovered
now really kind that woman had
been back in Namur Belgium, for
III that package she had packed,
there other things besides bread and
p1ller. There were apes, cakes,
sugar, package of cocoa and could
DelleVe my eyes a dozen pieces of
milk chocolate.
Luxuries were few
Your of course cannot appreciate
What that meant for all these things
are in every day use in America.
But in Belgium it was different every
one of those articles l named were
luXuries, and L knew il. l will al
ways remember that lady and her
husband as long as | live especially
did l remember them that night be-
! cause l was very hungry.
The next morning that English
speaking Frenchman and | lost no
| rf hot -
orders or no orders. t3r we knew
| II we would stay thero we world
probably starVe. so we jumped un
the hrst truck going out and we
were not particular which direction
il went either.
| Our goal was the city of Cambria,
| for there we heard there was a
| French outtitting station, where we
would be deprived OF cooties, given
ciean clothes ana :, BATH AMI sent
home by train. -\fter several days
travel by foot and lorry we finaaly
arrived there. Travelling in this way
we slept where night found us.
once 1t was in a horse stable. sure.
! We had bed! and horse blankets
! for covers, and I'm nsrS u say that
l have never slept in q warmer or
or softer bed. Another time we hit
a camp of AustrdGans We had
quite jolly time rEere, as L found
them not at all like the Euglishmen
Ia fact. they seemed more like
Americans.
| ot course, tn : thought we were
! ooth tte2chmea. and did not UNDER
stand their language so they spoke
quite freely. We were in the COM
! pany store house at the time and
they were roofing around among ait
| that bunch of eatable junk and de-
/ batinS-aloud what they should
give us, said one; here is some cheese
and apricot jam. Think they would
| like that? Right there L forgot
was weary t'renchman and remem-
bered only that l was a hungry
American. That sure would go good
l spoke up.
! Golly, you should have seen those
mch look. 1t was comical to see
! them and L laughed aloud and
| promptly spouted some more. There
was no question about what they
would give us then any thing l want
! ed was mine. Their captain even
asked to talk TO me when he found
, l was an American and an aviator.
| Even among these men that COM
oInation was curiosity. l sure had
| an enjoyable time in that camp and
| we were given all we could eat.
| Good thick soup, white bread with
| all the butter and Jam we wanted
and hot tea with milk and sugar
Drink much Chocolate
That night when we were all gath
| cred around the fire in the kitchen
swapping yarns the cook made choco-
late. l drank so much of that l
nearly bursted.
We had lot of fun wondering
whether the cooks helper, who said
he was Russian, was a Boche or what
he said he was. They still sus-
pected and were watching him close
ly, so when another Russian passed
by they brought him in and intro
duced the two to see if their sup
| posed Russian could really speak his
native tongue. Maybe he could,
| don't know, not being familiar with
the language; but 1 do know the two
OF them broke out in French quite
| often.
The only way we could figure this
out was that the Russian cook had
been away from home so long he
has forgotten his native tongue.
| Late that night while we were still
| having a hilarious time watching the
two Russians, an English prisoner
| came in.
lie sure mad a sad story to tell
| Seven times he had escaped during
| his two years captivity, six times
| being brought back and punished
with solitary confinement and a diet
| or bread and water. The seventh
time he succeeded though, and that
was only three days before the arms
| uce.
No Place for Russians
They bunked the Englishman and
us in the kitchen that night. That
meant that the Russians were out
of bed, and would have to sleep
in one of the many tents erected
| outside and since it was dark they
would need a light. But tie Aus
tralians were not sure they could
| trust candle with these two Rus
slams. Maybe they were Fins from
! northern Russia and would eat it.
After some argument pro and con
| the Australians finally decided to take
a chance and gave them a candle
impressing on them with many gest-
ures and emphatic English-which.
of course, they didn't understand
that this candle was to burn and not
! to eat. | guess they used it in the
| proper way. for it was still fulfill
| ing its proper functions as they en-
tered the tent Whether they ate IT
afterwards as a night cap L don't
know.
The next morning we left these
kind and jolly Australians with
much regret and can of jam apiece.