Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1921-08-03

were fed at our tables, which Gre
ated strong social feeling with the
whole city folk. This was in strik-
ing contrast with German ship
which lay next to us at the wharf
and had sign hung over her gang
way, mo admittance.' During our
stay of two weeks, we were invited
to many banquets, both private and
public, and shown every courtesy at
all times.
Kalmar is an ancient city of
about 5000 inhabitants, founded in
about 1900, at which time Norway,
| Denmark and Sweden were all I'M
| der one government, ruled by King
| Gustave l. 1t is neat, quiet city,
| the inhabitants extremely courte-
Gus, especially to Americans. The
women are very neat, modest and
shy. There are many places for
recreation, beautiful parks, and
many first-class open-air cafes, all
| illuminated by handsome electric
designs, Japanese lanterns and flow
ers galore. Prohibition is strictly
enforced. There are government
stations where the natives are
served with limited amount OF
Swedish punch and other liquors
every Saturday; but none is to be
had through the week. Drunken
! ness is almost unheard OF.
On the point which commands the
entrance to the harbor, is an old
castle, built by King Olsen in 1860,
when he escaped from English cap
tivity and crossed the North sea in
a small open rowboat. The in
terror of this castle is wonderful.
in
work | think outstrip our own Con-
gressional library at Washington,
which is accredited with being the
finest in the world. This castle was
built for defense and refuge in time
of war, and is large stone
structure built around hollow
court Mounted on the parapet is a
line of old-style cannon. From the
court are underground passes lead
ing up to the guns and lookout |
posts: also secret passes to the out
side. which, when closed, are hard |
to find In time of attack, the
natives would flock into the castle
for defense and safety. Besides the
living quarters, there were also
dungeons where prisoners were
kept. OF course. this castle would
ern implements of warfare. There
is also the remains of an old fort on
top of which is walk, arched with
shade trees, around the harbor side
of the city; also moat, crossed
now by many bridges.
While here, our ship was libelled
by the owners of the Russian ship
which we ran into, and several of us
were summoned into court as wit
nesses The court consisted OF
three judges, a clerk and an inter-
prefer, which was quite essential, as
the judges could not speak English
and we could not speak Swedish
There were no lawyers or jury. The
Judges questioned the witnesses on
both sides and rendered their de-
cision, which in this case was in our
favor. The other party appealed to
the Royal Court, and l have never
heard how that court decided the
case.
From here we were sent to
Oscarsham, another Swedish port.
for the balance of our cargo. This
city is very much like Kalmar ex-
cept that it is more modern. From
here, l visited Stockholm, the capital
and commercial city of the country.
August 81 we babe adieu to fair
Sweden, and took pilot for kiel,
Germany, en- route for Hull, Eng
land. Passing around the north OF
GLAND, our run down the Baltic sea
that bright moonlight night was a
beautiful one. The range lights and
glaring flashlights along the shore
and the many lights of passing ships,
presented an impressive scene. AT
a. m. this dreamy pleasure was
with little anxiety. when
we received wireless that an
American steamship. short dis
lance from us in the Gulf of Riga,
had struck a floating mine and was
being towed into Riga in distress.
At $40 a. m, we arrived at Kiel
and dropped our Swedish pilot, for
we were then in German waters
Kiel is a small, fortified city at the
entrance to the Kaiser Wilhelm
canal. The Notifications are not
very extensive. The defense in time
of war lies in the extensive mine
fields with which Kiel bay is strewn.
Being detained here on account of
lock trouble, seven Of us availed our
selves Of the opportunity and took a
hike by auto across Germany, over
it's nice roads, through its beautiful
cities and villages, and fiourishing
farms, all intact and free from the
i'll effects of the war of which she
was the wager.
This is Germany, veritable beehive
of industry, teeming with every APP
pearance of prosperity. After wag-
ing war against nearly the whole
world, she energies with practically
are only loss, besides many thousand
lives, that of her shipping. Say
what we may of their tactics in war,
they are a smart race of people.
All the Germans we met treated
us very nicely, but they were all of
one voice: "If you fire-eating Yanks
had kept out of it, we would have
won the war in two months more"