Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1919-02-13

character OF tile Boche to let any
thing so nice run around loose. How
ever, If they had not deported them
| toto Germany later learned how they
had punished them in another way.
1t seems the Boche required large
quantities of hair in the manufacture
OF ammunition. The horse or camel
Esupply soon was exhausted and they
had no way of replenishing it. so
they began using human hair. Ma
turally, the Belgians refused to have
their hair cut off no matter what the
! penalty was for disobeying the COM
mand. Therefore, the Boche appoint
ed special men, who, armed with
sharp knife walked along the street
looking for some young girl to pass
by with lot of hair hanging down
her back. Sneaking up behind the un-
fortunate girl, he would sever with
single sweep her crowning glory and
he off almost before she could scream.
Such things were at an end now
however, and everybody rejoicing. The
Belgians color of red, black and gold
were everywhere as well as the other
Allied colors, and the show windows
looked very beautiful in their bright
and artistic trimmings. In fact. it
was hard to believe that this city
had been through four terrible years
CT war, as we walked down that
street.
Cody Dressed
1t just goes to show how much VI
tality L had lost. that after fifteen
minutes of slow walking. l was 50
tried l could hardly stand up. 1t was
chilly too, for it was late in Novem-
per and l had no overcoat. Just the
same old light uniform and B. V. DIS.
When it came to a "chlc" costume 1
n
hut the humble Poilu in his mud
stained, ill4ftting uniform was at
least warm, which 1 was not. Such
being the case, I was back in the hos
Fital inside of half an hour to thaw
out and rest up
In the afternoon I went out again.
but the Englishman would not go
with me, saying that nobody paid
any attention to him because of my
dazzling costume. Also" said he
the civilians treat the French pris-
oners better than the English" These
reasons made me laugh aplenty, es-
peclally the first one. That the lat
ter was true was beyond doubt, but
the reason was quite simple. The
French spoke the same language as
the Belgians, and could therefore
make known their wants: but the
poor Englishman was out of luck, un-
less he was good at the sign Ian
guage, for there were probably but
half dozen people in the whole city
VINO could speak English. The Eng
llshman did not consider these things
at all. merely stating results and
what he thought about them. Since
he would not go along I went alone.
| had better time anyway, because
L had heard many rumors of the kind
ness of the towns people. According
TO rumor the prisoners could have
anything they wanted by simply ask
ing for 1t. I promptly went about. put
ting this to the test by hunting up
the pretty blonde who had remember
ed my preference for honey sand
wiches, she was delighted to see
me, and not only gave me her hand
and q smile, but soup, cake and cof-
fee as well. The coffee had milk and
sugar in too. In fact, she set the
sugar bowl right in front of me and
told me to go to it. / fear 1 forgot
my good manners after that, for that
was the first sugar bowl l had seen
since leaving America. In Paris one
doesn't serve himself you know. He
either brings his sugar with him or ne
don't get any.
No Objections Passed
No objection was made, however
when I dropped four cubes of sugar
in my cup. Both mother and daughter
continued to smile benignly on me
and when the soup and coffee was
finished. offered me some more. Ma
turally. 1 soon had all I could hold.
and began to think of other things
needed besides sweets. There was a
pair of blue wooden socks and a
white handkerchief lying in a neat
pile on the mantelpiece Both Of
these articles I was sadly in need of,
and looking at them meaningly I be-
gan hunting for words with which to
ask for them. But the little blonde
interpreted the look correctly and
gave them to me before I asked, saw
ing demurely as she did so that she
had knitted the socks herself. IN
hand it to her she certainly did
good job. for not only were they
warm but well made also.-No moth
er. 1 have not them with me now.
They were worn out on the trip back
to civilization. But that trip did not
come until sometime after that.
Meanwhile things were getting worse
and worse for we prisoners in the
hospital. for suddenly one day the
Boche up and left us. Not only did
the Boche patients go but the hos
pital crew also. even down to the
And there we were-some 80 of us,
most of the 80 being pretty sick
With nothing to eat. nobody to take
care of us, and nowhere to go. This,
of course, did not affect me, for I was
not very sick, but you can believe me
1 lost no time in making arrange
ments for other quarters. AS for the
others, the civilian population came
in Immediately and took charge. Ma
turally, everything was in confusion
and the Boche having left, the civil
lians kept coming in fiocks to take
things that they had left-behind. 1T
was not a hospital in fact. Merely
school which the Boche had turned
into a hospital by burning the desks
for frewood. installing beds and
changing the maps for pictures of the
Kaiser. The school had been under
the jurisdiction of the Catholic church
therefore. as soon as the Boche left
a number of priests came in and took
charge.
In Need of Practice
One of these priests could speak
very good English. and finding me out
Immediately he began practicing on
mo for all he was worth. I did net
mind so much at first, but when he