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diff --git a/old/51222-0.txt b/old/51222-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 787c0f2..0000000 --- a/old/51222-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,3699 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg EBook of A Captive at Carlsruhe and Other German -Prison Camps, by Joseph Lee - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most -other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of -the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have -to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. - -Title: A Captive at Carlsruhe and Other German Prison Camps - -Author: Joseph Lee - -Release Date: February 15, 2016 [EBook #51222] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A CAPTIVE AT CARLSRUHE *** - - - - -Produced by MWS, Craig Kirkwood, and the Online Distributed -Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was -produced from images generously made available by The -Internet Archive.) - - - - - - -Transcriber’s Notes: - -Text enclosed by underscores is in italics (_italics_). - -Additional Transcriber’s Notes are at the end. - - * * * * * - -A CAPTIVE AT CARLSRUHE - - * * * * * - - +-----------------------+ - | _BY THE SAME AUTHOR_ | - +-----------------------+ - | | - | BALLADS OF BATTLE | - | | - | WORK-A-DAY WARRIORS | - | | - | Each 3_s._ 6_d._ net. | - +-----------------------+ - - * * * * * - -[Illustration: A CORNER OF CARLSRUHE CAMP] - - - - -A CAPTIVE AT CARLSRUHE AND OTHER GERMAN PRISON CAMPS - - - BY JOSEPH LEE - - WITH NUMEROUS ILLUSTRATIONS BY THE AUTHOR - - “Now you shall have no worse prison than my chamber, nor jailer than - myself” - - LONDON: JOHN LANE, THE BODLEY HEAD - NEW YORK: JOHN LANE COMPANY. MCMXX - - * * * * * - -WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS, LIMITED, LONDON AND BECCLES, ENGLAND - - * * * * * - -TO - -ALL MY FELLOWS IN MISFORTUNE OF MY OWN KIN AND OF THE ALLIED COUNTRIES -WHOSE VARIED COMPANIONSHIP HELPED TO LIGHTEN MY MANY DAYS OF CAPTIVITY - - - - -CONTENTS - - - PART I CAUDRY--LE CATEAU--CARLSRUHE - - I - PAGE - The first day--The search--Letters of divorcement--A reading - of the Pickwickians--Fellows in misfortune--A sculptor--A - Sappho--The bell for the dead--Sedan--The vulture 15 - - II - - Carlsruhe camp--Crumbs from the rich man’s table--Tea with - Colonel Turano--Shamrock for dinner!--First letters and - parcels--A Nazarite--Christmas at Carlsruhe--Sketching the - Commandant 29 - - III - - Funeral of a prisoner of war at Carlsruhe--First freedom for - a year--In the streets--A wreath from the Grand Duchess of - Baden--The Rev. Mr. Flad--A lecture on Abyssinia--A black - mood 45 - - IV - - Entertainment in exile--The camp theatre--“Asile de - Nuit”--Scene-painter, scene-shifter, poster-artist, actor, - prompter, “noises-off,” and playwright--“A Chelsea Christmas - Eve”--“A Venetian Vignette”--A nightingale “off”--“How - he Lied to her Husband”--“The Rising of the Moon”--“The - Homeland” 59 - - V - - Victims of the cruiser _Wolf_--Suicide of a Japanese - captain--“In the dark and among the ice”--A bottle - message--Clinging to office--The Debating Society--The vines - and vineyards of France--“Happy in all things--saving these - bonds!”--A straining of the Entente--A “stirring time”--A - voluntary fast! 80 - - VI - - Air raids--British airmen brought down--Dust to dust--An - inimitable imitator--Songs from Coimbra--A German - bombardment--March, 1918--The bath attendant--Our - orderlies--Gustav--Imprisonment “for revolt” 96 - - VII - - Carlsruhe at its kindliest--The chestnut trees--Aspen and - poplar--The new hut--“Torrents of Spring!”--Linguistic - efforts--A surprise to Mother--A dinner with the - Italians--The last day in Carlsruhe 113 - - PART II BEESKOW--BERLIN - - VIII - - The journey--“A Roman holiday”--Our new quarters--The - old tower--The _Kantine_ and the catering--“Much - reading----”--“East Lynne,” by Carlyle!--Our walks - abroad--The stork tower--Birds of a feather 131 - - IX - - Escapes and escapades--“_Achtung!_”--The flight that - failed--Confinement in the “Tower”--Massacre of the - innocents--“Patience” and impatience--Ragging the - Commandant--“His Excellency wishes” 153 - - X - - The _Marienkirche_--Organ pipes for munitions--Madame - Reinl--For the dead--A Polish baptism--Adventures - afoot--“_Kuchen!_”--The ancient road-mender--“In since Mons!” 170 - - XI - - The Revolution--“_Bientôt la paix!_”--A smuggled copy of - The Times--Abdication of the Kaiser--The passing of - the Commandant--The Red Flag is flown--Latitudes and - liberties--Sketching in the streets--“_Nach der Heimat!_”--A - soldiers’ ball--“_Warum ist der Krieg?_”--Murillo’s - “Immaculate Conception” 185 - - XII - - In Berlin during the Revolution--“Thank God, Britain has - won!”--The _Dom_ and the Galleries--The Palace--“_Für Ebert - und Hasse!_”--The Hindenburg statue--Liebknecht and Rosa - Luxemburg--The machine-gun waggons come up--Caricatures - of the Kaiser--Captivity de luxe!--“Are you English - officers?”--Freedom--“_Es ist vollbracht!_” 203 - - - - -LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS - - - PAGE - - A Corner of Carlsruhe Camp _Frontispiece_ - - Fellows in Misfortune 15 - - A Reading of the Pickwickians 21 - - A Sculptor 23 - - The Unter-Offizier 25 - - Christmas Day at Carlsruhe 28 - - Arrival of the Parcel Cart 29 - - The Chapel at Carlsruhe 31 - - Col. Albert Turano 33 - - The Camp Commandant at Carlsruhe 38 - - A Game of Cards 41 - - Funeral of a British Prisoner of War 44 - - A Serbian Colonel 45 - - The Catholic Priest 51 - - The Rev. Mr. Flad 52 - - An Italian Major of Mountain Artillery 56 - - Playbill, “The Rising of the Moon” 58 - - Our Orchestra 59 - - A Carlsruhe Concert Programme 62 - - “A Chelsea Christmas Eve” 64 - - “A Venetian Vignette” 70 - - “How He Lied to Her Husband.” Playbill 72 - - “J’invite le Colonel.” Playbill 73 - - One of our Orchestra 79 - - Engineer of the “Hitachi Maru” 80 - - Captain of the “Tarantella” 84 - - A Serbian Officer Prisoner 86 - - A Rehearsal 88 - - Twice Wounded 95 - - Orderly Hanet, “Le Père Noël” 96 - - Funeral of Two British Aviators 100 - - Captain Teixeira 104 - - Orderly Toulon, Chasseur Alpini 110 - - The two Serbian Colonels take the Sun 112 - - Lt. Bertolotti 113 - - Lt. Caruso 116 - - Lt. Visco 119 - - Lt. Lazarri 121 - - Maggiore Tuzzi 125 - - The “Altes Amt,” Beeskow Lager 130 - - The Outer Walls of Beeskow Lager 131 - - The Prison Camp at Beeskow: An - Audience with the Commandant 135 - - The Old Tower, Beeskow 138 - - Herr Solomon, the Kantine Keeper 141 - - “Only One Book!” 142 - - The Stork Tower, Beeskow 147 - - Prisoners All 149 - - The Prison Gateway 152 - - The Marienkirche, Beeskow 156 - - The Late Lieut. Robinson, V.C. 159 - - Caricature of the Camp Commandant 165 - - Narrow Alley, Beeskow 169 - - Service for the Dead 175 - - Old Inn at Beeskow, now burned down 179 - - “In since Mons!” 183 - - Kirchestrasse, Beeskow 184 - - The Oldest House in Beeskow 196 - - Murillo’s “Immaculate Conception of - the Virgin.” (_Painted by a French - officer, prisoner of war, on the - outer wall of the camp_) 200 - - Captain Tim Sugrue 202 - - A Caricature of the Kaiser. (_Bought - in the streets of Berlin during - the Revolution_) 213 - - * * * * * - -PART I CAUDRY--LE CATEAU--CARLSRUHE - - * * * * * - -A CAPTIVE AT CARLSRUHE - -[Illustration: Cap improvized from an aviator’s boot. - -A modern Icarus. - -Chausseur à pied. - -FELLOWS IN MISFORTUNE.] - - - - -I THE FIRST DAY - - -As we limped and stumbled into Caudry in the dusk we presented a very -disturbing spectacle. - -Two young French women stood at a cottage door, and, when our doleful -procession passed, one of them flung herself into her sister’s arms in -a paroxysm of grief. - -The good folk of the town would have slipped bread into our hands, but -our German guards pressed them back with their rifles. Bayonets and -rifle butts could not prevent them, however, from flinging us words of -cheer and encouragement. “_Courage! Bonne chance! Bonne nuit!_” - -How illogical is war! This very morning, as we entered the first -village in which German troops were billeted, we found them waiting to -serve us, with outset tables on which were clean glasses and pitchers -of clear water! Earlier, while the enemy attack was still developing, I -observed a German--himself at the charge, and with at his elbow Death, -the equal foeman of all who fight--wave a reassuring hand to a British -soldier prisoner who was showing signs of distress. - -So in the dark we came to a grim factory, into which we were shepherded -for the night. We had had nothing to eat all day; we were to have -nothing to eat now. There was, however, an issuing of bowls of what, -for lack of a better name--or of a worse--was designated coffee. - -There was now also to be a search, and a giving up of all papers, -knives, razors, or other steel instruments--bare bodkins by which -we might be disposed to seek redress, relief, or release. Search had -already been made at a German headquarters within a few miles of -the line. Prior to which, as we marched down heavily flanked by our -guards, I had, with surreptitious hand thrust into my tunic pocket, -succeeded in tearing up and scattering over the land, sundry military -papers, and the proof sheets of a book of mine in which were some very -complimentary references to the Kaiser. Here it was also that a wounded -fellow-officer, giving up his letters, and asking me to explain that -two from his wife he had not yet read, the gnarled old German officer -handed them back with a salute. - -It was difficult to parade the men for search now. They raised -themselves on an elbow or sat up and endeavoured to shake the sleep -from their eyes, and then dropped heavily back upon the floor again. -Ultimately they were herded to one end of the factory, from which -they emerged in file, dropping as they passed their poor, precious -epistolatory possessions--letters with crosses and baby kisses--into -an outstretched sack. One man approached me and asked that he might -retain papers, including a written confession, necessary to divorce -proceedings against his wife. I put the case to the German officer; -he put it to his military conscience, and decided. Yes, they might be -retained. - -That first night I slept without dreaming; it was when I awoke that I -appeared to be in a dream. - -At noon next day I received the first meal of which I had partaken -for the last forty-eight hours. It consisted of a mess of beans and -potatoes, which I, being then in fit state to sympathize entirely with -Esau, found more than palatable. Later, in the afternoon, when a red -sword lay across the western sky, we marched to Le Cateau. Here there -was a separating of sheep from goats, the senior officers being housed -somewhere with more or less of comfort, doubtless, while all below the -rank of Captain were packed into another discarded factory, whose only -production for some time to come seemed likely to be human misery. - -Followed four melancholy and miserable days, whose passing was not to -be measured by figures on a dial or dates upon a calendar, but by the -clamour of appetites unappeased; by the entry of our dole of bread and -our basin of skilly. In our waking hours we discussed only food; by -night we dreamed of monumental menus displayed on table-covers of snowy -whiteness. Scenting a possible profit, a German soldier insinuated into -the camp and put up for auction some half-dozen tins of sardines, to -the provocation almost of a riot. - -Our billets were dirty and verminous. Properly organized and harnessed -there was a sufficiency of performance and activity in the fleas to -have supplied the motive power to the whole factory! We could not -shave, because we had no soap nor steel; we could not wash, because the -water was frozen in the pump, and icicles hung by the wall. - -If there was little to eat there was even less to read, the only -literature in the whole company consisting of one Testament and one -Book of Common Prayer, and these being in continual demand. - -On the fifth day there came a break in the monotony, some sixteen of us -being removed to the headquarters, where had been an examination on our -arrival. As we waited for admittance a few French folk gathered around, -and two girls from a house opposite made efforts at conversation. Our -guards menaced them not too seriously with their bayonets, whereupon -they scampered for their house and slammed the door. In a few minutes -the door was cautiously opened again; there was a ripple of laughter, -and two mischievous faces, with a mocking grimace for the Army of -Occupation, appeared round the post. - -In our new quarters eight of us occupied one room. Report had it -that the walls, besides various pieces of pendent paper, had ears, -a dictaphone being supposedly secreted on the premises. That being -so, the Germans are never likely to have heard much that was good of -themselves. - -[Illustration: A READING OF THE PICKWICKIANS.] - -A search disclosed treasure in the shape of sundry parts of the -Pickwick Papers, not certainly the famous original parts in their -green--shall we say their evergreen covers?--but sections devised for -the simultaneous satisfying of a number of readers. These parts we -carefully gathered together, when it was discovered that the immortal -transactions began with the celebrated bachelor supper given by Mr. Bob -Sawyer at his lodgings in Lant Street, in the Borough. Here, indeed, -was matter to cause gastronomic agitation in starving men! Yet, need -we, then, go supperless to bed? Shall we not also become Pickwickians, -and, constituting ourselves members of the Club, drop in upon the party -as not entirely unwelcome guests? And so I read until “lights out” sent -us perforce to bed. - -Recalling that it was my birthday, and by way of a gift to myself, -I succeeded in persuading the _Unteroffizier_ to purchase for me a -sketch-book and pencils, with which I amused myself and comrades -by a series of portrait studies of more or less veracity. One of -these my fellows in misfortune was a sculptor who had exhibited at -the R.A., and who now exhibited a photograph of one of his works--a -statue of Sappho--which he carried in his pocket. We two decided -to hang together--unless we were shot separately--as we had heard -amazing reports of ateliers to be secured in certain _Läger_ by humble -followers of the arts graphic and plastic. - -During all the days of our stay here, and precisely at four o’clock -of the afternoon, a bell tolled solemnly from the church under whose -shadow we lay. It was for the burial of German soldiers killed at -Cambrai. - -Early on a Sunday morning, while the stars still shivered in a frosty -sky, we set out to entrain for Carlsruhe, very optimistically with one -day’s rations in our pouches, and that a day’s rations which would have -shown meagre as the _hors-d’œuvre_ of an ordinary meal. We arrived at -Carlsruhe on the evening of Tuesday, and in the interim would probably -have succumbed to starvation for lack of food, if we had not been in a -state of suspended animation owing to the cold. - -[Illustration: A SCULPTOR.] - -Only one incident of that journey do I desire to recall. In the middle -of the night I awoke shiveringly from a fitful sleep to find that the -train had come to a stop in a large station. I glanced idly from the -window, and an arc lamp lit up a great signboard, on which was painted -in large ominous letters the one word--SEDAN. - -From Carlsruhe Station we passed through streets not uninteresting -architecturally, and without exciting undue curiosity or comment, until -we came to the Europäisches Hotel. This to famished men seemed to -suggest something at least of hopeful hospitalities, but, on entering, -the place was obviously as barren of festivity as a Government Board -room. We shall have food to eat at five o’clock. At five we wept that -it had not come; at six, at seven. We wept even more when at eight it -actually arrived. - -I observed then, and on subsequent occasions, that after a meal, myself -and Marsden (who, as befits a good sculptor, has fashioned for himself -a frame of fine proportion) were inclined to emerge from a more or less -languorous state and kick up our heels like young colts. - - -THE VULTURE - -We discovered that by climbing on to the frame of the iron bedstead, -and clutching perilously at the ventilating portion of the window in -our cell, we could just succeed in gaining a glimpse of the street. -To the right we seemed to be in the neighbourhood of a zoological -garden or an aviary of some dimension. The only inhabitant of the cages -visible to us, however, was a large vulture, which sat there day after -day, an unchanging picture of sullenness and stolidity. I wondered if -perchance it scented or visioned the red fields which lay not so many -miles away. - -And so the days passed. After considerable agitation I succeeded -in securing a few volumes of the Tauchnitz edition, amongst them -Stevenson’s “The Master of Ballantrae.” This possibly, however, induced -in me a greater home-sickness for Scotland than ever. - -[Illustration: THE UNTEROFFIZIER.] - -Finding a draught-board to our hand outlined upon the table, and making -counters of paper white and blue, we four prisoners on a day played for -the championship of the cell and a superadded stake of four thin slices -of bread. I won somewhat easily, being a Scotsman, and something of a -player as a boy; indeed, heaven forgive me! it was I who suggested the -game. As victor, however, I was seized with compassion and compunction, -so that, while I retained the title, I returned to each man his share -of that staff of life, on which, it has to be confessed, we were -having to lean somewhat heavily. - -At last came the order that we were to shift from the hotel to the -_Offizier kriegsgefangenenlager_. Whereupon, clapping my steel helmet -upon my head, and thrusting my uneaten morsel of bread into one of my -tunic pockets, I was ready for the road. - -[Illustration: CHRISTMAS DAY AT CARLSRUHE.] - - * * * * * - -[Illustration: ARRIVAL OF THE PARCEL CART.] - - - - -II LIFE AT CARLSRUHE LAGER - - -As we passed a sentry and turned in between high palisades heavily -fortified by barbed wire, I had a feeling of disappointment, if not of -dismay. I had hoped to live more closely to Nature, whereas Carlsruhe -Camp lay in a central part of the town, and was overlooked at almost -every point by high buildings, hotels, restaurants, and mansions. The -few trees were, of course, meantime bare of leaves, and there were no -traces of grass in the long stretches of court between the huts. - -In the _salon d’appel_ we were searched. My sketch-book was -scrutinized, critically, perhaps, but not uncharitably, and I was -permitted to keep it. Of what other poor possessions I now had, only my -signalling whistle was taken. - -Dinner that night consisted of soup, followed by _Sauerkraut_. -Breakfast next morning, in my case, consisted of a cold shower bath and -anticipations of lunch at midday! - -There was a little chapel at Carlsruhe used alternately and -harmoniously by English Churchmen, Roman Catholics, and Nonconformists. -While we awaited service on this first morning of my arrival there -was a distribution of biscuits--briquettes of bread really--which -were received from their Government by the French officer and orderly -prisoners at the rate of seventy per man per week; a plentitude which -permitted of the orderlies trading them among the less-favoured British -officers at anything from fifty pfennig to a mark each. - -[Illustration: THE CHAPEL AT CARLSRUHE.] - -On the present occasion, when the baskets had been carried away, a -few crumbs and sweepings of the biscuits were left upon the floor, -while we stood around with our backs to the wall and our hands in our -pockets. Presently one prisoner put forth an apparently accidental -foot, which covered probably the largest of the pieces. Then, somewhat -shamefacedly, he stooped and picked it up. Upon which signal, with one -accord, and with as close a resemblance to a flock of city sparrows as -anything I ever saw, we swooped down upon the fragments. For my share I -succeeded in securing two pieces of quite half an inch square! - -Those were indeed hungry days, when a man’s wealth was not to be -calculated by the amount standing to his credit at Messrs. Cox & Co.’s, -or even by the abundance of his blankets, but by the number of French -biscuits which he had succeeded in securing. Here of all places in the -world might one see a Brigadier-General crossing the square carefully -balancing a mess of pork and beans upon a plate, or nursing the -contents of a tin of sardines upon a saucer! - -To be invited to tea by a friendly and more flourishing mess was -the greatest beatitude that could befall a man. In these cases of -ceremonious call the guest always carried his own crockery and cutlery. - -[Illustration: COL. ALBERT TURANO, ARTIGLIERIA ITALIANO.] - -One such pleasant refection, with Col. Albert Turano, Artiglieria -Italiano, lingers very pleasantly in my memory. In view of his rank -the Colonel occupied alone a small chamber in one of the huts. On the -wall was a crucifix, and a few reproductions of religious paintings and -decorations by the Danish artist, Joakim Skovgaard. A shelf of Italian -books, a deal table, two stools, and an iron bedstead, with above it -a plant, to be unnamed by me, but which looked as if it might develop -into a tree, in a flower-pot so tiny that it seemed as if it might have -done service as a thimble. The Colonel prepared the coffee with great -care, and served it with much courtliness. The entire contents of his -larder consisted of a few fragments of hard French biscuits. These we -steeped in the coffee, and of this quite delectable sop partook with -much contentment. - -In talk we turned over the art treasures of Venice and Florence, and -when I referred to Dante, and particularly to the episode of Paolo and -Francesca, the Colonel produced from his breast pocket a little marked -copy of the “Divina Commedia,” in a chamois-leather case, which he -had carried through the campaign, and read me the passage in Italian. -Followed cigarettes, and a joint vow that if we foregathered in London -our dinner at the Trocadero would be completed by just such a cup of -coffee--_à la_ Carlsruhe! Some time later, while he was being changed -to another camp, the gallant Colonel succeeded in effecting his escape. - -In retrospect the menu at Carlsruhe seems to have consisted of -interminable plates of soup, followed by sauerkraut and anæmic -potatoes. No effort was made--nor was there any need--to stimulate our -appetites by surprise dishes or kickshaws; although on St. Patrick’s -Day a wild rumour went round the camp that we were to have boiled -shamrock for dinner! Some officers could achieve five plates of soup -at a meal; one could rarely venture to brave the day on less than -three. On Thursdays and Sundays there was a morsel of meat--the veriest -opening and immediate closing of the lid of the flesh pot, as it were. -On certain days, apples--for which we lined up in a queue--were to be -bought at the _Kantine_ at one mark per pound. Sardines cost five to -six marks a tin; other prices were in proportion. - - -FIRST LETTERS AND PARCELS - -The coming of one’s first letter was a memorable event in camp life. -The immediate impulse was to retire with it to the remotest corner of -the court--as a dog with a bone, or a lover with a _billet-doux_--and -there devour it, and for days after one was continually impelled to a -re-perusal. A Portuguese officer who had made a vow, Nazarite-wise, not -to shave or cut his hair until such time as news would come from the -far country, was three and a half months in camp before he received -his first letter. Then, amid loud laughter and cries of “_Barbier! -Barbier!_” he departed with the precious epistle in his hand, and later -in the day made his appearance, looking not unlike a shorn lamb! - -The arrival of the first parcel was an event of even more general -interest and import. If it were a clothing parcel it would contain -a change of raiment, as grateful and as welcome as the wedding -garment. If it were a food parcel it enabled you to extend pleasant -hospitalities in more necessitous directions--one of the privileges and -compensations of camp life. - -You pass your bread ration to the recently arrived officer who is your -neighbour at dinner. “Do you care to have this bread, old chap? I have -plenty.” He is an Australian, and there is considerably over six foot -of him to be fed. He gives a gulp and a gasp now. “My God,” he says, “I -thought I wasn’t to be able to say ‘Yes’ quick enough!” - -I received my first parcel after two months of captivity. One officer, -after the lapse of many barren moons, received twenty-six packets--an -entire waggon load--at one time! Give me neither poverty nor riches! - - -CHRISTMAS AT CARLSRUHE - -On Christmas Day, the Germans, if they could not give us peace on -earth, probably made effort at an expression of goodwill even to -_Gefangenen_! Dinner, at all events, consisted of soup, potatoes, an -ounce or two of meat, one pound of eating apples, and a quarter of a -litre of red wine--decidedly a red _litre_ day! Christmas trees were -raised and decorated in the _salon d’appel_; the Camp Commandant gave -gifts to all the orderlies; a raffle, organized by the French officers, -took place, when I was so fortunate as to secure a bar of chocolate, -and there was a further distribution of apples at night, the gifts of -La Croix Rouge, Geneva. I have probably not eaten on one day so many -apples of uncertain ripeness since last I robbed an orchard as a boy. - -In the chapel the Lieutenant--a layman--who customarily took the -Anglican services, read the hymn from Milton’s “Ode on the Morning of -Christ’s Nativity,” and several carols were sung. I may say that all -such services concluded with the lusty singing of a verse of “God Save -the King.” - -[Illustration: THE CAMP COMMANDANT.] - -Roll-call in the morning was at ten; in the evening at 8.45; lights out -at nine o’clock. I shared a hut with seven other officers, three of -them aviators, who had all, like Lucifer, son of the morning, fallen -to earth violently and from varying altitudes. On New Year’s Eve we -blanketed our windows, kept lights burning, and at midnight drank a -modest glass of port to the coming year. - -Our scale of dietary not conducing to exuberance of spirits, or urging -to violent exercises, most of the officers spent a considerable part of -these short winter days in reading or in card-playing. As unofficial -limner to the very cosmopolitan camp, my pencil was kept continually -sharpened in effort to capture the varying characteristics of some -seventeen different nationalities. - -One day I found the Commandant looking over my shoulder. He was keenly -interested, suggested that he might give me a sitting, and reverted -several times to the question of price. Finally I hinted that while I -could not dream of accepting monetary recompense, he could, if he cared -to be so complaisant, connive at my escape by way of part payment! - -No one, I believe, ever escaped from Carlsruhe Camp, though various -efforts were made by tunnelling. To make exit by a more direct method -three high palisades and barbed wire fences had to be scaled, and that -in almost certain view of numerous sentries without and within. Sitting -by the barbed wire in a remote part of the court, a _Posten_ outside -would open a little slit in the paling and turn upon me an eye which -was alone visible, rolling round watchfully, and with much of the -effect of the Eye Omnipotent with which we were awed in boyish days. - -We saw and heard little of the life of the surrounding town. Now and -then a housemaid would shake a cover or a cushion from a window in -one of the overlooking houses, or the _Hausfrau_ herself might gaze -gloomily forth. One night after we had retired to bed, and certainly at -an hour not far from midnight, we heard what appeared to be a quartette -of girls singing outside in the street. We flung open the windows and -listened with vast pleasure to a very beautiful rendering of what may -have been an Easter hymn; possibly a more pagan chant to the Goddess of -Love. - -[Illustration: A GAME OF CARDS.] - -Sometimes, of an afternoon, one would hear from the other side of the -palisade the sound of marching men--a sound as seemingly resolute and -relentless as the progression of Fate. Sometimes came the playful -and laughing cry of a little child. One day as I read and mused in -“Rotten Row,” two schoolboys, doubtless home for the week-end, and at -all events perched holiday-wise upon the roof of an hotel, made their -presence known to me in pleasant and friendly fashion by a cheerful -whistle. Having attracted my attention, they proceeded with true boyish -humour and with eloquent turnings of the head, to invite me to a -companionship upon the roof! - -On a June evening, walking with a French Commandant, and endeavouring -to recount to him in French one of the fables of La Fontaine, we were -brought to a pause by what was a wistful picture to us at one of -the overlooking windows--a father, a mother, and sweet little girl, -enjoying the quiet twilight hour together. The Commandant, when we had -resumed our walk--which we did whenever we were discovered--confided -to me that he had three boys, of ages gently graduated, and that the -youngest, Michael, was very sad because he had not seen his father for -so long a time. - -[Illustration: FUNERAL OF A PRISONER OF WAR] - - * * * * * - -[Illustration: A SERBIAN COLONEL.] - - - - -III FUNERAL OF A PRISONER OF WAR - - -One morning at roll-call the German N.C.O. all unwittingly called, -“Captain H----!” Then more insistently, “Captain H----!” And still -again. - -There was no reply. Captain H---- had died in hospital the night before -of pneumonia, contracted through exposure when his ship was torpedoed. - -I was appointed to represent our hut at the funeral. That morning, -immediately after breakfast, something of a stir was to be observed -about the camp, and presently the officers who had been elected to -attend the funeral began to assemble in front of the Commandant’s hut. - -Many of the uniforms presented considerable compromise; several of us, -myself included, who had been taken in shrapnel helmets and trench -equipment, having borrowed Sam Browne belts and aviators’ caps. The -Serbian Colonels, however, were decidedly _brave_, if slightly bizarre, -in their brand-new brown greatcoats, with crimson facings, lapels -and linings, their horned caps and general appearance conveying to -my mind a somewhat whimsical impression of armed, aggressive, and -mail-sheathed beetles. The Italian Major of mountain artillery was -there with a slanting feather in his cap, while the Commandant himself -was resplendently martial in his spiked helmet, with, for decoration, -the Iron Cross and, I think, l’Aigle Noir. - -Three or four great wreaths, sombre with fir branches and bay, -and bearing coloured streamers, are allocated among the various -nationalities represented, and forming up more or less in processional -order, the party, followed by the somewhat envious gaze of those who -remain behind, moves towards the gateway. Some of our number have not -been outside these gates for well-nigh a year; one officer, indeed, -has preferred to forego this opportunity of liberty for an hour or two -in order that he may achieve a complete year of incarceration in the -_Kriegsgefangenenlager_, his anniversary falling due in a few days. - -I myself have been captive in this camp for less than two months, yet I -feel a panting and palpitating as we wait for the guard to turn the key -in the gate; I seem to breathe more deeply when we have passed into the -street. In a word, as he moves among us, the senior British officer has -warned us that we are on parole. - -Two electric tram-cars, connected, await us, and we mount and take -our places. It is a cold morning, one of the coldest for some -months. A small crowd which has collected gazes silently and not -unsympathetically upon the scene. The group consists mostly of -children, going schoolward, and perhaps it is owing to the severe cold, -but their faces are pinched and thin. It moves me mightily to imagine -that we are in any sense of the word at war with these little ones. - -As the car speeds through the streets we rub the frost from the panes -and gaze out upon the world like a batch of schoolboys on an excursion. -Old Maier, the German orderly, indeed, takes particular pains to point -out to us places and objects of interest as we pass; the _Stadthaus_; -the monument to the Margrave Charles William, founder of the city, -which encloses his dust; the various churches. The architecture is -interesting, although, as I understand, we are moving through the least -opulent parts of Carlsruhe. - -On the outskirts of the town the cars stop in front of a church, where -is drawn up a German guard of over a hundred, with a brass band, and -a firing-party of fifty men. We file into the chapel, and the wreaths -are laid upon the black coffin, which rests under the shadow of a great -cross with a bronze Christ. This, and a painting of a miracle of -healing, are the only adornments of an interior which is dignified and -harmoniously coloured in greys and greens. - -“That is the General of the district with the Commandant,” whispers -Maier in my ear. - -The service is brief and simple. The Lutheran pastor, in black cap -and white bands, delivers a short address, reads a few passages from -the Scriptures, and engages in prayer. Then the bearers take up their -bitter burden and pass down the aisle. One green wreath lies on top of -the coffin; it falls off, and I stoop down and replace it. As we reach -the door Maier is once more at my ear. “That wreath is from the Grand -Duchess of Baden!” - -As we pass down the steps the band is playing somewhere in front, -softly and sorrowfully, then there is a few minutes’ silence while the -procession passes into the avenue leading to the cemetery. Here and -there are a few desolate-looking civilians. Now comes the sound of -drums; something between a distant thunder-roll and the heavy dropping -of rain in a thunder shower. Chopin’s “Marche Funèbre.” I have never -heard it played in a more fitting environment. The dark-grey body of -German soldiery winds among the trees, which throw up gaunt, leafless -branches agonizingly against a dull grey sky. - -How illogical is war! I have seen a hundred men--as many as are here -assembled for the burial of one--huddled into what was practically one -common grave! Surely we are not come forth entirely to bury the dead -with ceremony; but to persuade ourselves, to prove as convincingly as -may be, that the ancient courtesies, the old kindlinesses, are not -entirely dead and buried! - -As the music passes into the lyric movement of the march I see -wistfulness in the faces of some of the veteran warriors; regretfulness -in the very stoop of their shoulders. There is something moving at all -times even in the formal and ceremonial grief of man; it is accentuated -when he is clothed in the full panoply of war. - -A short service over the grave, then the firing-party throw their three -volleys into the air, as if making noisy question as to the scheme of -things at the unanswering heavens. The brasses seem to make mournful -reply that no answer has indeed been vouchsafed. Then, the body being -lowered into the grave, each of us casts upon it three shovelfuls of -earth, making the sign of the Cross or saluting the military dead -according to our creed and conception. And so we leave the poor dust, -till it be disturbed by music more insistent and clamorous than the -clarions of men! - -[Illustration: THE CATHOLIC PRIEST.] - -A French soldier who has died in hospital is also being interred, -and, though it is bitterly cold, we all wait until the cortège has -arrived, and the burial service--in this case performed by the -Catholic priest--has been carried out. As we return through the -avenue we overtake the sad, solitary figure of a widow in sombre -black leading a boy of six or seven by the hand. Both figures are -suggestive of refinement, both faces are pale, and that of the mother -is grief-stricken. As we pass I am so near that I almost brush them. -I turn and look back at the boy, whose face is full of beauty. The -insistent gaze of an enemy officer seems to frighten him, and he -shrinks closer to his mother’s side. - - -A LECTURE ON ABYSSINIA - -[Illustration: THE REV. MR. FLAD.] - -The Rev. Father Daniels, the Roman Catholic priest to whom I have -referred, made regular visitation to the camp, and we had, furthermore, -occasional ministration from a Protestant divine, the Rev. Mr. Flad. -This gentleman appeared in our midst with great suddenness one morning, -and there was much ado to beat up a creditable congregation for him. -This ultimately being forthcoming, and at the moment when the pastor -was inviting us to accompany him with a pure heart to the Throne of -Heavenly Grace entered Hans with an urgent and whispered message, which -turned out to be an invitation to lunch from the Grand Duchess of -Baden. The summons left the good padre obviously preoccupied during -the service, and necessitated a postponement of the Communion until the -afternoon. This led to a suggestion that the pastor might lecture us in -the evening on his experiences in Abyssinia. - -The father of Mr. Flad was a missionary in Abyssinia during the reign -of King Theodore. His mother, a friend of Florence Nightingale, was -a deaconess in the Church. When trouble arose between the King and -the British Government--through the ignoring of the former’s letter -suggesting a latter-day crusade for the liberation of the Holy Land -from the Turks--Flad senior and fifty-eight other Europeans were -imprisoned, and many of them had to undergo the punishment of being -chained to a native soldier for four and a half years. - -The native soldier, it is a relief to learn, was changed every week--a -transaction which one can imagine as being welcome as a change of linen! - -Ultimately Flad was despatched as Ambassador from King Theodore to -Queen Victoria, with whom he had two interviews at Osborne, his wife -being meanwhile held as hostage for his return. “I have here your two -eyes and your heart,” said King Theodore. - -During these difficult and dangerous years Mrs. Flad kept a diary, -which was published, but which is now out of print. With the coming of -Lord Napier the prisoners were released, and King Theodore came to a -tragic end by his own hand. The pastor is hopeful of some day taking up -his father’s work and he passed round a book printed in Geëz, I take -it, a page of which he reads every day. His father used to tell him how -in the native cafés he had heard discussion as to whether the Queen of -Sheba who visited King Solomon was ruler of Abyssinia or Arabia. - -One need not be in Abyssinia to be chained to a black mood at least, -if not a black man. Sitting in the court at Carlsruhe, watching the -barbed wire shake and shiver like a man in an ague to the play of my -foot, I have been seized with a sudden fear of the horrors from which -I have emerged. This fear in retrospect, so to speak, was greater far -than anything I can confess to have felt in actuality; as if one who -had boldly and blindly crossed a profound abyss on a tight-rope should -faint or falter, grow dizzy and fall, having reached firm ground once -more; as if one had all the past still to pass through, and it were not -possible that one should safely pass through it. - -To me, on such an occasion, appeared my buoyant young Italian friend -Cotta, who, passing an arm through mine, haled me off for a glass of -the atrocious white wine of the country--or at least of the _Kantine_. -Thereafter we walked together in the Close, Cotta giving his English an -airing. - -“Yes, I speak English very well, very well. Have you see the donkey?” - -The little donkey, which, yoked to a little waggon, brings us on most -days a load of parcels, and which has become so friendly to an alien -officer that even in charge of a somewhat obdurate driver it will make -a sudden detour from its course in order to shove its muzzle into my -hand, was grazing in the circular grass plot in the centre of the -square. - -“It is the better German in the camp!” says Cotta. “Ah, I am very sad, -very sad,” he proceeds. “I have no letter from my girl, and the Germans -have take from me her photograph. Damn! damn!” - -[Illustration: AN ITALIAN MAJOR OF MOUNTAIN ARTILLERY.] - - * * * * * - -[Illustration: PLAYBILL FOR LADY GREGORY’S “THE RISING OF THE MOON”] - - * * * * * - -[Illustration: OUR ORCHESTRA.] - - - - -IV ENTERTAINMENT IN EXILE - - -Man cannot live by bread alone--nor may he, even with a supplementary -basin of soup! Immediately after dinner on the Saturday evening of my -arrival in Carlsruhe, a steady stream of officers set in towards the -_salon d’appel_. Being still without chart or compass as regards the -camp, I also drifted in this direction, and found that at the far end -of the hall a stage was erected, and that a cosmopolitan audience was -already gathered in the expectant dusk of the auditorium. A few rows of -forms from the court served as dress circle and stalls; later arrivals -brought their own chairs or stools from the dormitories; standing in -the background, the orderlies, obviously washed of their week’s labours -in the kitchen or the camp, were the gods, and from their Olympus gave -occasional encouragement, or passed comment and criticism upon the -performance. - -On this particular evening, together with various musical and vocal -efforts, there was a very capable representation by a cast of French -officers, of Max Maurey’s comedy in one act, “Asile de Nuit.” Prior -to the enactment, and for the benefit of those in the audience who -might be innocent of French, a British officer gave out the _motif_ in -English. - -As I sat contentedly in my place--the burden of the wearinesses of the -last weeks fallen from my shoulders--it was borne in upon me that much -of the success of a play is in the eager and receptive mood of the -audience; also that in the naïve freshness of an amateur performance -is a charm which has too frequently perished in the more finished -production of the professional actor. At all events, in “Asile de -Nuit”--the “Night Refuge”--I found indeed refuge for the night! - -Monsieur the Superintendent of an--uncharitable--institution, is -pompous, proud, and overbearing, particularly to his unwelcome clients. -It is just on the closing hour of nine, and he is preparing to depart -for the business of his favourite café, when one of these waifs blows -in. Monsieur storms at the tramp for the lateness of the hour, for the -ludicrousness of his name, for anything and everything, and ultimately, -after passing him over to a brow-beaten assistant for the condign -punishment of a bath, goes off himself for a beer. - -He returns almost immediately, quite chapfallen. He has learned that -the Superintendent of another “Refuge” has been dismissed for failing -to entertain an angel unawares in the person of a disguised journalist. -He is persuaded that the piece of ragged illiteracy which he himself -is harbouring is a pen also charged and pointed for his undoing. -Consequently the amazed vagrant is overwhelmed with clothing from the -Superintendent’s own wardrobe, cigars from his private cabinet; he is -even finally permitted to escape the last indignity of ablution! - -[Illustration: A CARLSRUHE CONCERT PROGRAMME.] - -Into the service of the theatre I immediately found myself intrigued -and impressed, in the somewhat composite character of scene-painter, -scene-shifter, poster-artist, actor, prompter, “noises-off,” and -playwright. My first essay in this latter capacity was entitled “A -Chelsea Christmas Eve,” the scene being a studio, embellished with -sundry artistic audacities--nudes and nocturnes, post-impressionisms -and cubisms--and from the cardboard window of which was a view of the -Thames, including the Tower Bridge!--there entirely for economical -reasons, and not geographic. - -[Illustration: “A CHELSEA CHRISTMAS EVE,” AS PLAYED AT CARLSRUHE LAGER] - -So pleasant, nevertheless, was this little make-believe interior that -we rarely entered for a rehearsal without discovering and disturbing -sundry reading animals who had crept into it as a quiet and congenial -environment, and who frequently and regretfully suggested that it would -be desirable as a permanency. During the performance the on-coming of -a monstrous and realistic pie, built--not baked--in a wash-hand basin, -filled with boiling water, and covered with a richly-coloured cardboard -crust, was nearly provocative of an assault upon the stage by a hungry -and overwrought audience! - -Another dramatic effort, devised for the bringing on to the stage of my -good friends--and the good friends of all the camp--Bertolotti, Calvi -the pianist, and Lazarri the sweet singer, was “An Italian Vignette.” -The scenery, which was painted on paper readily reversible, so that -one could very literally have “a prison and a palace” on each side, -I evolved from pleasant if somewhat untrustworthy recollection of a -fortnight’s stay in Venice many years ago. - -_There is a glorious city in the sea._ - -_The sea is in the broad, the narrow streets_--and that after such -sort as proved somewhat disconcerting to the two Venetians present in -camp. Owing to the circumscriptions of the stage the scene was more -suggestive than realistic, the gondola, instead of entering from below -the Ponte dei Sospiri, swimming in a canal running parallel with the -Bridge of--Sighs--but of no dimensions! - -As regards dresses, it was possible to hire through “Hans,” the German -orderly, one evening dress suit, one blue ditto, one odd pair of -quite unmentionable “unmentionables,” and one Homburg hat. To prevent -effort at escape these garments had to be returned to the authorities -immediately after each performance. Nothing in anywise approximating -to a garb mediæval being obtainable, each man--and “woman”--must dress -the part to the best of possibilities. - -Clelia (Lieut. Smith), for example, of whom I, as Marco, was supposed -to be enamoured, trusted to hide his identity--particularly as -disclosed by his feet--in a few yards of chintz, rather unhappily of -identical pattern with the stage curtain! A cardigan jacket, frilled -and ruffled with an edging of white linen torn from a frayed pocket -handkerchief, made a quite presentable doublet for me. Toulon, the -French orderly’s _béret_, turned up at the corners, and bearing red -plumes, held in place by a shining tin pipe-top, served as headgear. -The lid of a boric ointment box suspended from my black lanyard formed -a distinguished-looking decoration of merit; the tasselled cord of a -dressing-gown made an admirable sword-belt. - -An Italian military mantle completed my costume. A mandolin--an -instrument of torture to be dreaded above all others, but which -musically was mute in the piece, and pictorially represented a -guitar--was borrowed from an orderly. - -In passages where “A Venetian Vignette” did not awe the audience it -at least amused it. Owing to an eleventh-hour timidity on the part -of two of our Italians I had to touch the light guitar and raise my -voice in apparent song, while off, Lieut. Calvi, with piano muted with -newspapers, and Lieut. Lazarri, with distended larynx, supplied the -actualities, and this with such success that the many new-comers among -the audience, knowing neither Joseph nor Lazarri, were deceived, and I -received a very ill-deserved ovation for Toselli’s “Serenade.” - -[Illustration: SCENE FROM “A VENETIAN VIGNETTE”] - -The Portuguese Captain Teixeira, who had wonderful imitative faculties, -so that twice I have seen him hypnotize young birds to within a few -inches of his hand, as a nightingale “off,” “trilled with all the -passion of all the love songs that have been sung since the world -began”--an interpolation made by the dramatist in his dialogue to -permit of an effect so original! “Noises off” tolled the bell--the -great kitchen poker--which was intended to warn the lovers of the -fleet passage of the hour, just about five minutes behind time, making -his thus tardy entry on the principle that nothing be lost. - -Lieut. H., who had taken part in bull-fighting in Southern America, -gave me the _coup de grâce_ in his own fashion, between the shoulder -blades, and, judging by the force, with a momentary forgetting of the -fact that he was only in Southern Germany. With a “Mio Dio! Io sono -morto!” for the sake of local colouring, I and the curtain fell almost -simultaneously. - -“The Secret: A Shudder in 3 Scenes,” was probably most memorable -from the secret fact that it secured me a few inches of forbidden -candle, which I used in surreptitious reading after “lights out” -for some nights after. “The Brigand: a Musical Absurdity,” written -by a versatile Roman Catholic padre, was apparently sufficiently -realistic to procure me the first visit next morning from an officer -in the audience who had lost his watch! Unrehearsed effects in -this performance were the igniting of the cardboard brazier by the -toppling over of the candle set within to illuminate it; the rolling -across the stage of an empty and otherwise rather suspicious looking -bottle, and the violent antipathies evidenced by “Bobby,” a French -officer’s adopted fox-terrier, which I had to keep at bay with my -double-barrelled cardboard blunderbuss. - -[Illustration: A CARLSRUHE PLAY-BILL.] - -Emerging from the hall within a few minutes of roll-call and with our -faces masked by the vigorous colourations of our brigandage “under the -greenwood tree,” we discovered to our dismay that the water supply had -been cut off. For days afterwards my knees had a brownness unknown to -them since I discarded the Black Watch kilt. - -[Illustration: POSTER FOR A FRENCH PLAY.] - -A very creditable performance was given of Bernard Shaw’s one-act play, -“How He Lied to Her Husband”; Oscar Wilde’s “The Importance of Being -Earnest,” abridged to one act, was essayed with great earnestness. The -French players gave us some very adroit performances, particularly of -such comedies as Labiche’s “J’invite le Colonel.” - -One day there arrived in camp Lieut. Martin, late of the Abbey Theatre, -Dublin, a little Irishman with a big brogue, a fund of humour and of -its concomitant, good humour, and a budget of news of literary import, -as that W. B. Yeats was married, and that G. B. S. had taken his place -at the theatre. - -It was suggested to Martin that we might stage one of the Irish plays. -He had had copies of a number of these in his valise when he was -captured, but, of course, these were lost. He was able ultimately, -however, to write out from memory Lady Gregory’s “The Rising of the -Moon,” and for my guidance he gave me a little paper model of the -staging as designed originally, I imagine, by Jack Yeats. For the -performance the German authorities lent us a huge beer barrel--entirely -empty. The cast was an all-Irish one, Lieut.-Colonel Lord Farnham -playing the part of Sergeant of the R.I.C., Lieut. Martin playing the -supposed ballad-singer. - -A week later, when Martin departed for another camp, he slipped into my -hand a scrap of paper bearing a scrap of philosophy from “The Rising -of the Moon”: “’Tis a quare world, and ’tis little any mother knows -when she sees her child creepin’ on the floor what’ll happen to it, or -who’ll be who in the end.” - -Well, I hope that I may yet chance across the humoursome little -Irishman once more before the final--setting of the sun! - - -“THE HOMELAND” - -While we were thus making effort to entertain ourselves within the -camp, outside in the Fest Theatre in Carlsruhe there was a performance, -for the benefit of the Eighth War Loan, of “The Homeland,” a war vision -by Leo Sternburg. A translation of this appeared in the _Continental -Times_, a ridiculous and half-illiterate propaganda sheet which we -could receive thrice weekly at a cost of 2.70 marks per month. - -The scene is the battlefield. Ahasuerus, the Wandering Jew, moves amid -the dead men that lie about. The dawn is coming up the skies. Soldiers -of the Medical Corps carry stretchers to and fro. Occasionally the -mutter of the distant battle rolls over the scene. - -The Wandering Jew laments that he has been unable to find extinction -even in this welter of the world war. A dying soldier greets him as a -messenger from the Homeland: - -Give me your hand--that hand from home. They have not left me to die -alone in a strange land. They have sent me greetings. - -AHASUERUS: No, no! - -SOLDIER: Your hand---- - -AHASUERUS: You have it. It is well. The most homeless of men stands -before thee--he is as homeless as thou. - -SOLDIER: As I! I who die for home--I homeless! - -AHASUERUS: Thou art in error. The homeland would not die for _thee_. - -The Wandering Jew goes on to speak of apathy among the people, and -reminds the soldier that “not only arms win victories to-day. The -war of all men against all men has been unloosed. War against the -woman and the child. War against fields and forests and farm and -house. Peaceful labour turns to battle. The metal of the church bells -fights. The seed fights as it falls into the furrow. Money marches in -ranks.... But ... men eat and sleep and wax fat. They hear of the death -of millions, and say: ‘Yes, yes.’ Gods that descend before their very -eyes, and the wonders of a heroism half divine, no longer move their -senses--no sacrifice can stir them out of their daily rut. They have -but one care to trouble them--it is that you might return greater than -when you set forth.” - -SOLDIER (emphatically, to the men of the Medical Corps): Away! away! -I would die of life and not of death.... Let me lie down beside mine -enemy, he that hath endured what I have endured, he, as a comrade that -understands me. - -AHASUERUS: Come, thou mayst deem thyself blest in that thou diest so -that thou mayst not behold a race of lesser men. Ye have grown beyond -human compass in the fires of your time, your heads would strike the -ceilings in your little chambers. - -Ultimately, however, new troops enter, and one of these gives -reassurance to the dying man. - -SECOND SOLDIER: Property hath converted itself into armies, and the joy -of riches means only the capacity to give.... Coffers and chests fly -open. Countesses bring their silver, the legacy of famous ancestors, -the old maid-servant her hoarded wage. The widow gives up her golden -chain, the last love gift of her dead mate; the merchant his gains, -and the old peasants the walnut tree in whose shadow they played as -children.... The whole land becomes a mighty armoury ... they hammer, -hammer, hammer, day and night. - -DYING SOLDIER: Do you not hear the thunder of Wieland’s hammer? The -ringing armour of the Valkyries? Do you not hear the hoof-beats of -their stallions? - -SECOND SOLDIER: Yea, rivers and fields, mountains and woods dream -anew their German dreams.... Silently the women offer up their -beauty ... the park of roses becomes the potato patch. The savant is -his own servant. The mother can no longer mother her child. Work puts -out the torch of love ... but all bear this ... they bear it for the -sake of the blood which flowed for their sake. - -SOLDIER: I die ... I die happy. - -[_He dies._] - -AHASUERUS: O Fate! This moment outweighs all my two thousand years of -torment. I am reconciled with my sorrow, in that the centuries have -spared me to behold the mighty heroism of this people. - -[_Curtain._] - -[Illustration: ONE OF OUR ORCHESTRA.] - - * * * * * - -[Illustration: ENGINEER OF THE “HITACHI MARU.”] - - - - -V VICTIMS OF THE “WOLF” - - -Carlsruhe _Kriegsgefangenenlager_ being what was known as a -Distribution Camp, there was a continual coming and going of officers. -Here we had no continuing city. An occasional prisoner might linger -on--as if entirely overlooked and forgotten--for a year or even two; -in the majority of cases, however, the stay only extended for a few -weeks, sometimes merely a few days. On three consecutive weeks the cast -for one of our plays was removed almost _en bloc_. Friendships were -formed overnight, to be violently disrupted by departure on the morrow. -In our little world was a complete epitome of life. - -One afternoon in early March there arrived in camp a cartload of trunks -and sea-chests bearing strange hieroglyphics, with a rumour that these -would be followed by the officers of various nationality, including -Japanese, captured from the ships sunk by the notorious German cruiser -_Wolf_. - -Two days later they arrived, sailormen from the seven seas, British, -American, Australian, Scandinavian, so that the next morning their -blue suits and brown boots gave the _salon d’appel_ the appearance -of a mercantile marine office when a crew is signing on. Some of the -Captains, grizzled and weather-beaten, had an easy gait, a quiet laying -down of the foot, which inevitably suggested the bridge or the moving -decks of ships; different entirely from the more formal military -stride. Some of them were doubtless glad to stretch their legs, having -been cruising in the piratical _Wolf_ for a year or fifteen months. - -The Japanese officers made me very heartily welcome to their hut, on -a shelf in which I noticed immediately on my entry a little statue of -Buddha. While I sketched some of these placid, not readily fathomable -faces, I heard, in broken English, the tragic story of the broken life -of their Captain, the Commander of the _Hitachi Maru_. - -The Captain had intended suicide from the time he lost his -vessel--thirteen of her crew were killed in the fight--and simply -awaited his opportunity. This came to him in the darkness and amid -the floes of Iceland, when the _Wolf_, with fangs red with blood, was -running back for Kiel. - -Engineer Lieut.-Commander K. Shiraishi, of the Imperial Japanese Navy, -is speaking, his immobile face--so that I may complete my sketch--as -rigid as that of the little Buddha which I can see behind him. He -has shared a berth with the Captain, and tells me that on the night -of his disappearance he left the cabin, “and he come not back.” He -had slipped quietly overboard--“in the dark and among the ice”--thus -embarking on a final voyage, new and strange. - -“All night we hear the ice grinding past the ship,” said my -Lieut.-Commander, without the flicker of an eyelid. “In the dark--and -among the ice!” - -Returning to my hut, by a literary coincidence not uncommon, I opened -Joseph Conrad, and read in “Il Conde”: “He put the tip of his finger -on a spot close under his breast-bone, the very spot of the human body -where a Japanese gentleman begins the operation of the Harakiri, which -is a form of suicide following upon dishonour, upon an intolerable -outrage to the delicacy of one’s feelings.” - -Captain Meadows, of the _Tarantella_, the first steamer sunk by the -_Wolf_, was a man of Herculean build, and quite apparently, and as -befitted the skipper of a ship named as his was, he had led the German -Commander something of a dance. Every morning, until he was caught in -the act, the Captain used to empty the water from his bath into the -sea, and with it a bottle giving the bearings of the _Wolf_, and some -account of her depredations. Even when the time came that two or three -German sailors flung themselves suddenly upon him, he succeeded in -“mailing his letter,” and when he received a vehement reprimand he made -retort that if the Commander thought it necessary to shout even louder -he might use his megaphone! - -[Illustration: CAPTAIN OF THE “TARANTELLA.”] - -The _Wolf_ apparently employed a hydroplane with great effect in -locating her prey, and in evading capture. The Captain of the _Matunga_ -showed me a snapshot--from which I made a sketch--of the last moments -of his sinking ship. - - -CLINGING TO OFFICE - -However unwillingly officers may have come to Carlsruhe, there was -always a certain loathness to leave for another camp, on the -principle, doubtless, that it is better to “bear those ills we have, -than fly to others that we know not of.” There was something hugely -diverting in the tenacity with which prisoners clung to whatever shred -of office or appointment they could lay claim to. The members of the -Cabinet cannot be more reluctant to leave hold of their portfolios than -were the _Gefangenen_ to pack up their portmanteaux. - -[Illustration: A SERBIAN OFFICER PRISONER OF WAR] - -One officer was Secretary for the English section; another was -Assistant Secretary, while there were a number of Committeemen whose -labours were not over-arduous. Two or three of us attended to the -distribution of food to the needy; two or three to the doling out of -clothing to the nude. Then there were the masters of music; pianists, -violinists, and at least one ’cellist; the dramatic entertainers -under the “O.C. Theatres”; and a group of choristers who in chapel -every Sunday evening at evensong did lustily raise their voices in -“Magnificat” and “Nunc Dimittis”; partly, it must be confessed, that -the Lord might let His servants _remain_ in peace! - -[Illustration: A REHEARSAL.] - -A Debating Society was formed, whose primary object, when the secrets -of men’s hearts are laid bare, will probably prove to have been the -providing of permanencies for the President and the Secretary. At these -meetings, by the way, we gravely discussed problems so original as the -Reconstitution of the Lords; the Influence of the Press; Classical or -Modern Education in Public Schools; and with equal gravity on a more -irresponsible evening the profound question, “Should bald heads be -buttered?” To the best of my recollection we arrived at the conclusion -that they should at least be boiled. - -A French Captain, who in civil life was a wine merchant, gave a lecture -on the wines and vineyards of France, the designing of a series of -drawings and maps illustrative of which permitted me to pass out of my -captivity for a spell, and wander in the pleasant region of the Gironde. - -These were our only feasible ways of escape at Carlsruhe. A bird might -flutter past the window of my chamber with a sharp little flight of -song. At once I was out and away with it, not necessarily to the -magnificences and splendours, but perhaps to almost penurious patches -and spaces on the outskirts of the dour old town of my nativity, where -pavement and grass-plot touch, and where, amid the lamp-posts and -the telegraph poles, there are familiar trees to be recognized and -loved--where, indeed, one may lift to the lips and kiss the hem of -Nature’s somewhat bedraggled skirt. And still--“You can’t get out!” -said the starling. - -One morning, lying alongside him in my cot, I remarked to a -fellow-prisoner, “You look very happy.” To which, being well versed -in the Scriptures, he immediately retorted, “I am happy in all things -_saving these bonds_!” - -It is not good for man to be alone, but doubtless _Gefangenen_ had a -little too much of the gregarious--one felt a recurring need for some -seclusion deeper than the common captivity. Such a place of retirement -I ultimately discovered, not in the chapel, but in the more mundane -environment of our tiny theatre, crawling mouse-like into a crevice -between one of the sidewings and the wall. Here I was safe from even -those who made their casual entrances and exits. Here also could I -read to the plaintive accompaniment of M. Calvi’s violin busy on a -Vieuxtemps “Air Varié,” or of M. Lazarri rehearsing a vocal number -for Saturday evening’s concert--could indeed afford time to cheer and -encourage these kindly artistes at the close of each piece by muffled -applause from a hidden but not entirely anonymous audience. - -At one corner of my narrow cell was a portion of a window giving on -to the quadrangle, so that by raising an occasional eye I could see -how our little world was wagging. To the rear was part of a set scene -showing a lurid and blood-red sun setting over the waters, even in -which primitive art there was the suggestion of many sunsets that I -have seen; many that I yet hope to see. - - -A STRAINING OF THE ENTENTE - -Even in this quiet retreat, however, one could not count on being -entirely free from faction and fight. On an otherwise quiet Sunday -afternoon, an English aviator at the piano and a French officer with a -violin have fallen into feud over a matter of musical precedence, and -within a few feet of each other are playing at the same time entirely -different tunes, and that with vehemence and vindictiveness. The -pianist, firmly planted on the piano stool, where he has spent most of -the day, passes without pause or punctuation from Chopin to ragtime and -from ragtime to absolute incoherence. - -The Frenchman sits on a form with his back to the wall--literally and -metaphorically--and vents his spleen on the catgut. I stand it for full -fifteen minutes by my watch, and then, going quietly into the empty -chapel and leaving the door sufficiently ajar, I open the organ, pull -out all the stops, brace my knees against the swell pedals, and so -burst into a sort of Grand Chœur in G. - -When I emerged the Frenchman had fled and calm was once more settling -upon the piano keys. Blessed are the peacemakers! - -Our piano was ultimately a “baby” grand, though its tone was less -infantile than suggestive of that of an old roué. Indeed, there was -little grand about it, except that there was so little “upright.” - -Early next morning I discovered the French violinist in the court -taking a variety of exercise, running, circling on the horizontal bar, -and jumping over the forms and seats, in an effort doubtless to keep -the muscles and sinews of his body as taut as his fiddle-strings. - - -A “STIRRING TIME” - -There was one respect in which we could quite legitimately claim to be -having a stirring time in camp, and that was as regards our ceaseless -culinary operations. Recurrently as cook it was one’s duty to see that -the members of one’s mess did not perish of starvation, surfeit, or -ptomaine poisoning. Frequently with inadequate means as regards fuel, -so that I have suggested to an officer endeavouring to thaw tinned -sausage over burning paper that he might try Thermogene! Personally I -achieved something of repute--or disrepute--for two dishes of my own -contriving, one a mock Scottish haggis, and the other what I am afraid -was little more than a mockery of English plum-pudding. - -It was through no reflection on our cooking, however, but simply for -the reduction of a steadily increasing _embonpoint_ that one of our -number undertook a voluntary five days’ fast. Besides being under -ordinary conditions extremely good-natured by day, X had a mirthful -habit of laughing in his sleep, the only case in a considerable -experience of somnambulistic phenomena among soldiers during the war -which I have yet encountered. - -In the early hours of the final morning of his fast he indeed laughed, -but in a minor key, just a ghost of a guffaw, with a very apparent and -pathetic tendency to merge into a sob. That morning he finished his -fast and his breakfast almost simultaneously. In order that he should -break the glad tidings gently, so to speak, to his famished and clamant -stomach, we had specially reserved for him a tin of rice and milk, very -happily designated “Amity.” This was followed up later in the day by a -handful of stewed prunes, and he was soon once more in his right mind, -if not so essentially clothed upon. He had, in fact, dropped just about -one stone in weight in these five days of fasting. - -There was a suggestion that after the war some of us would be qualified -to publish a cookery book: “Mrs. Beeton Beaten!” - -[Illustration: TWICE WOUNDED] - - * * * * * - -[Illustration: ORDERLY HANET--“LE PÈRE NOËL.”] - - - - -VI AIR RAIDS AND OTHER ACTIVITIES - - -Carlsruhe _Lager_ was located on the spot where a hundred people, -mostly women and children, were killed during an air raid on Corpus -Christi Day, 1916. A few days before the second anniversary our mess -was at tea in the hut, when Father Daniels, the German priest, arrived -in search of the Roman Catholic padre, and partook of a cup. Our talk -was of raids, of which there had been a succession, and of _the_ air -raid in particular. - -“It happened,” said Father Daniels, “just outside the window of this -hut; there, where the pole is.” The pole is only a few feet away. It -is used as a bumble-puppy pole now. The trees around still bear marks -of the explosion; pieces of shell and shrapnel embedded in the stems. -There was no Corpus Christi procession, however, as so often claimed; -simply a crowding for admission into a circus and menagerie. Old Maier, -the German _Lazarette_ orderly, had a son wounded that day. - -Carlsruhe and Mannheim both suffered heavily from our aircraft during -the period of my captivity. In one week there were eight raids--one -every day and two on Sundays, so to speak. In the early hours of the -morning we would awaken to the melancholy music of the warning sirens, -and, getting out of bed and into slippers, would find all the heavens -intersected by searchlights. - -Soon the shrapnel would begin to fall heavily into the courtyard, the -pieces striking the ground and the roofs of our huts very viciously. In -the morning we could usually pick up a large amount of shrapnel, some -of the ragged shreds being almost a foot in length. During the night -the sounding of the air-raid warning signal was customarily greeted -by ironical cheers from the Allied prisoners; during a day attack we -would stand out in the court and watch proceedings, although, with a -commendable anxiety for our safety, the German authorities would urge -us to take cover. - -One such air raid took place about nine o’clock on the morning of -the 31st May, the day after the festival of Corpus Christi. An -arrangement had been arrived at between the belligerents, I understand, -that no bombing should take place on that day, but, in their usual -absent-minded fashion, the Germans had committed a misdemeanour. So -here were our boys over first thing with a gentle reminder. This -consisted of ten bombs--a sort of decalogue of imperative “thou shalt -nots”--several of which fell quite near to the camp. Heavy damage -was done, and there were a considerable number of casualties among -the civilians. We were so unhappy, however, as to witness one of our -’planes brought down in combat, and later we learned that a second -machine had fallen. - -[Illustration: FUNERAL OF TWO BRITISH AVIATORS] - -This last fell into a marsh, and neither the craft nor the crew were -recovered. The other two men, however, were buried the following -afternoon. Besides representation from all the other nationalities -in camp, the funeral party included twelve British officers. After -selection of the aviator officer prisoners and the senior ranks five -places were still available, and these we balloted for. I drew a blank, -but R., successful, was not too keen about going, and I secured a gift -of his place, helping him to a decision, if truth must be told, by a -little present of two tins, each containing one hundred cigarettes! - -This was my second time outside the gates during the whole of my seven -months’ captivity at Carlsruhe. The journey was the same as before, -though now was visible the whole wondrous work of Nature in these last -few months of spring and early summer. In church I sat in the second -row immediately behind General von Rinck, and could not help observing -how his grey hair and his grey, deeply-engraven face, harmonized and -were at one with the field-grey of his uniform, but that in that -face there was no note of answering colour to the red facings of his -tunic, or to the finely-arranged ribbons of his many decorations and -distinctions. - -The service was similar to the former, and throughout the brief time -that it lasted the sides of the two black wooden boxes which lay before -the altar, a wreath at the foot of each, appeared to fall asunder, and -I seemed to see clearly the poor mangled bodies which were therein. The -same impressive music as we passed from the church and up the avenue to -the cemetery; the same word of command to the firing-party; the same -volleys fired upward into futility; the same tribute paid by each of -us, a spadeful of dust--to what would soon be but a spadeful of dust. -There is little variation in Death, or in the ceremonies by which we -endeavour to disguise from ourselves his distressing and disturbing -realisms. Being Saturday, there were many civilians in the cemetery, -staid old men who seemed to have come in from the country; students and -schoolboys standing at the salute; women weeping at the burial of the -dead who have caused their dead! - -A few days later the civilians, mostly factory girls, killed in the air -raid were buried, but we neither heard nor saw any evidences of the -funeral. The German _communiqué_ read: “Shortly after 9 a.m. an attack -ensued on the open town of Carlsruhe. Ten or twelve bombs were dropped, -which fell, partly in open country, partly in gardens. Some damage to -houses caused. Unfortunately, four people fell victims to the attack; -six others were badly hurt, partly from their own fault. At 9.45 the -alarm was over.” - -And--the four aviators and the four civilians were lying very quiet! - - -AN INIMITABLE IMITATOR - -Sometimes, after “lights out,” a warning siren would be blown in camp, -which, to the initiated, simply made warning that Captain Teixeira, -our inimitable imitator, had been induced good-naturedly to give a -performance. Then might be heard the Captain sawing his way to freedom, -to the bringing in of the disconcerted guard. Followed imitation of all -the fowls in the farmyard, and all the feathers in the forest, or, most -humorous of all, “an infant crying in the night, and with no language -but a cry.” Perhaps I would suggest twins, whereat the Captain, who -is a family man, would revert to poultry, and give an imitation of an -exultant hen, whose cackling we found none the less realistic in that -we have a tin of “eggs and bacon” under way for to-morrow’s breakfast. - -[Illustration: CAPTAIN TEIXEIRA.] - -Captain Teixeira could not only imitate the song of birds. He was a -singer himself. Among many other manifestations of friendship, he -gave me a set of improvisations, “Songs from Coimbra”--Coimbra, a -University town and capital of the Portuguese province of Beira, giving -its name to that school of poetry which had inception in 1848 with -the publication of “O Trovador.” I have made effort to convert these -“Cantares” into English verse: - - I - - Let my coffin be - Of shape strange and bizarre-- - The shape of a heart, - The shape of a guitar! - - II - - If a man should be slain, - And a cross mark his rest, - He shall also have grave, - Little brown girl, in your breast! - - III - - There are caverns in my breast - As in the bottoms of the sea - Fashioned by tides of tears, - And sorrows surging in me. - - IV - - Some day when I die - O love, warm and rare, - In a shroud let me lie - Of your shadowy hair. - - -A GERMAN BOMBARDMENT - -One afternoon German aviators bombarded the camp--very harmlessly, -however--with broadsheets, and not with bombs. After an exciting race -and scrum I succeeded in securing a copy. It was in the form of a -child’s catechism, with as heading a quaint woodcut of a town on the -Rhine. It commenced: “Mother: My child, lovst thou thy Fatherland? -Son: Yes, mother, Yes, with my whole heart. Mother: Why lovst thou thy -Fatherland? Son: Because there was I cradled.” It ended with an appeal -for the Eighth War Loan. - -Although we had, of course, no access to English newspapers, the German -authorities permitted us to order the _Frankfurter Zeitung_ and the -_Berliner Tageblatt_, and from these the most imperative news was -translated and written up daily in a _communiqué_ book. During more -urgent periods _Extrablätter_ were posted up in the dining hut. Thus -news of the great German offensive in March, 1918 percolating into -camp caused us unutterable dullness and depression. Most of us seemed -absolutely helpless and hopeless in these dark days. - -“I love my country,” said Lieut. H---- chokingly. - -To make matters worse there was almost an entire clearance of the camp, -including many of the men who had added to the gaiety of such nations -as were here represented. Flags were flying, and in the distant streets -one could hear the sound of singing and cheering. Whether by chance, -however, or, as is possible, by more delicate design, none of the -banners, except the two official ones at the gate, were hung so high -in the surrounding houses as blatantly and jubilantly to overlook the -camp. In the case of the Russian peace, as in that with the Ukraine, -the flags were hung from the topmost stories; in the present instance -they were not hung above the level of the palisades, and were more -evidently intended for the man in the street. - - -THE BATH ATTENDANT - -The soldiers on sentry duty were rarely unfriendly, though they -were forbidden to have any intercourse with the prisoners. Certain -functionaries, however, we, of necessity, got to know more intimately. -Entering the bathing hut one morning, the attendant--a new man, -youthful, and of healthy and happy appearance; his predecessor was -the most morose and doubtless liverish of Germans--was reading a book -with a lurid cover giving an account of the U-boat campaign. He made -endeavour to hide the volume from my sight. I found that he had been a -sailor, and, among other English vessels, had served in the steamers of -the White Star Line. He was certainly decidedly at sea as to the duties -of his present office, his aim apparently being to give us a douche -with the cleansing properties of a hot and the tonic virtues of a cold -bath at one and the same time. All, however, in the happiest and most -friendly fashion. - -One morning he was in beaming, if somewhat bashful, mood, and confided -to me that he had been married the previous night; showed me his -ring, and ultimately a photograph of the blushing young bride--who, -it must be confessed, looked decidedly older and more experienced -than her mate. He further informed me that she had “_viel Geld_,” -while he--rolling up his sleeve, and demonstrating--had nothing but -his muscles. Perhaps it was owing to over-much happiness, but on that -morning he seemed quite unable to manipulate the various screws and -levers, so that we were quite chilled before the coming of the cold -douching. - - -OUR ORDERLIES - -Our orderlies, like ourselves, were of various nationality, but there -was a consensus of opinion that the genius of the French soldier seemed -to lie most in the direction of that office. I, at all events, was -fortunate in my Frenchmen. First was our faithful Gustav--breaker of -cups and not too scrupulous a cleaner of the same, but nevertheless a -kindly and willing servant and a shrewd. When one morning, amid great -excitement and much embracing and kissing upon both cheeks by his -countrymen, Gustav left the camp _en route_ for France--his indifferent -health and the long period of his captivity entitling him to an -exchange--we were somewhat disconsolate. - -[Illustration: ORDERLY TOULON, CHASSEUR ALPINI.] - -Followed Robert, however, who told us that we might call him “Bobby,” -and who broke cups quite as effectively as Gustav, and cleaned them no -more efficiently. To us he was docility itself, but one morning, having -dressed with extreme care, and having found a substitute to wait upon -us, he went off mysteriously to town before breakfast, and on his -return informed us that he had been sentenced by the Germans to fifteen -months’ imprisonment “for revolt.” His offence was committed in the -first year of the war, and there was dubiety as to when the punishment -would commence. He showed me a photograph of his “_femme et enfants_,” -whom he had not seen in the flesh since 2nd August, 1914. Then he -wept. “Courage, Robert,” said I. “You will see your _enfants, après la -guerre_.” “Yes, but they will no longer be _enfants_!” - -[Illustration: THE TWO SERBIAN COLONELS TAKE THE SUN.] - - * * * * * - -[Illustration: LT. BERTOLOTTI.] - - - - -VII CARLSRUHE AT ITS KINDLIEST - - -With the coming of spring and early summer, Carlsruhe Camp, which for -many weeks had lain under deep snow, followed, at the touch of thaw, -by layers of mud and great pools of water, began to assume a more -pleasing aspect. In the centre of the court was a plot of green with -a bordering of rose bushes. On either side of this were two brief -avenues of horse-chestnut trees, which towards the middle of April were -in full foliage, the leaves hanging downwards like hands held demurely -or devoutly, the flowers showing like candles before an altar, or fairy -lights upon a fir tree at Christmas time. - -A month later, sitting in the court reading, we would be bombarded -by blossoms from these chestnuts, as if they would say, Look! And -assuredly they were well worth looking at. Whimsically they reminded me -of rubicund country faces framed in old-fashioned white bonnets. - -A prisoner myself, I imprison a few of these blossoms where they have -fallen between the pages of my book. In the fall of a blossom or of a -leaf from a tree there is the suggestion of a launch as well as of a -funeral. - -Outside the _Lager_ was a great poplar with a fine upward thrust and -sweep above the palisade; within was his tremulous sister, an aspen, -with leaves all aquiver like sequins upon the attire of a gipsy dancer. - -Even the barbed-wire fences seemed to make effort to hide something of -their menace, the grasses and weeds growing at their feet, laying -frail hands upon them as if clinging to them for support. - -[Illustration: LIEUT. CARUSO] - -A new hut is being erected in camp, and in the early morning, among the -other perfumes of Nature, I noted with pleasure the smell of new wood. -After all, a wooden hut is but a tree forced and fashioned into another -growth. Pity it is, almost, that it in turn cannot bourgeon and bring -forth! - -I am reading Turgenev. Lieut. Hunt passes me running; he is doing his -daily three times circuit of the camp. “Torrents of Spring!” he cries -laughingly, kicking up his heels colt-like, in reference both to my -book and to his own exuberance! - - -LINGUISTIC EFFORTS - -If we did not subsist by taking in each other’s laundry we possibly -survived death from ennui by teaching each other languages. - -As I read I can hear Dr. Griffin’s deliberate and enunciating voice. He -is our most proficient of professors, and is giving a French officer a -lesson in English, with special reference to the pronunciation. “The -knife of the boy and the stick of the man. Have you the pen of the -sister?” - -Two wounded officers are pushed in through the gates--one in a bath -chair, the other on a stretcher on wheels. A gramophone is giving forth -a military march with well-nigh the full power of a military band. The -march finishes with “God Save the King,” and a number of the officers -stand to attention. A drayman, who has been delivering stores to the -_Kantine_, cracks his whip with a report like a revolver shot, until -the sentry opens the gate, and he passes out. From one of the adjoining -houses come flights of arpeggios from a piano well played. - -One of my Italian friends, who, on the maternal side, is of Scottish -descent, is learning English, with the very tender idea of “giving a -surprise to Mother.” Bertolotti, another good comrade, and very apt -pupil of my own, approaches me after about a week’s tuition. “Good -morning,” he says. “Good morning.” Then, with more deliberation, “It is -a--bloody fool (beautiful) day!” - -Even this, however, is not so bad as the story told of Commandant -Niemeyer of Clausthal, who, when some prisoners on parade showed -evidence of mirthfulness at his somewhat pretentious display of rather -dubious English, burst forth irately, “You officers think I know -nothing--but I know damn all!” - -[Illustration: LT. VISCO.] - -I must not pass from my Italian friends without reference to the -hospitable and, indeed, quite regal dinner to which the group -entertained me upon a certain Sunday afternoon. Major Tuzzi sat at the -head of the board, for the covering of which my hosts had succeeded in -conjuring up from somewhere or other a white table-cloth--the only one -I saw during my captivity. They had also achieved quite a variety of -dishes, all of undeniable cookery. Chief of these was a great trencher -of macaroni, in the consumption of which--because of the greater -deftness in manipulation of my friends, and the unbounded generosity -of their helpings--I was easily the last man. A right merry and -unforgetable repast, with more of kindly family suggestion in it than -any I had in Germany. - - -LAST DAY IN CARLSRUHE - -On Friday morning the 5th July, between six and seven, “Hans” -entered our room, and fixing a sorrowful eye upon me--as one who -should enter the condemned cell to announce that it is approaching -eight o’clock--commenced his customary formula, “Well, gentlemen, -I’m sorry----” I knew that the hour of my departure had come, and, -before he had finished speaking, had mentally begun to pack up. - -[Illustration: LIEUT. LAZZARI] - -My chief emotion was exhilaration at the notion of a change of -environment after just two hundred days of captivity at Carlsruhe. I -bought a suit-case--chiefly composed of cardboard--into which I made -as diplomatic a packing of my sketches and papers as might be, in case -of trouble in that direction during the search which prefaces our -departure as it did our advent. - -“Naked we came into the world,” but I discovered that I had gradually -amassed very considerable possessions. Bundled most of them into a -woven straw sack which had held French biscuits, and which had already -done me comfortable service as a rug in front of my couch. Handed -over the cash-box--I had been appointed cashier of the camp the night -before--and gave account of my stewardship to the Brigadier-General -who was senior British officer in camp. 3.50 marks expended to repair -broken violin strings; 6.20 marks received from an orderly, being the -billiard-table takings for two days. Then farewells to be said all -round. - -Teixeira embraces me in true Portuguese fashion, Tuzzi wrings my hand -and repeats sadly, “It is necessary,” a phrase which we have both -come to use in pressing upon each other little presents of tobacco -and edibles. Lazzari gives me to understand that his robust tenor -will be mute to-morrow night, Calvi that his heart-strings as well -as those of his violin are broken. And so we pass into the “silence” -room for search. It turns out in the present instance to be a mere -formality--the interpreter puts his hand into my portmanteau and makes -a few pressures, as if he were feeling for heart-beats rather than for -hidden devices and designs. - -We partake of soup--the last plate of an uncountable series--and then -we form up outside the court. We hear that we are bound for Beeskow, -near Berlin. - -We answer to our names, and take up position in fours; there is a -hoarse order, and a clicking of magazines--the guards are loading -their rifles. The officer reports all correct, salutes, and then -motions us forward with a movement of his hand, and thus, amid cries -of encouragement and injunction from our comrades who remain, we get -into step, and pass through the gates. My last vision of Carlsruhe -_Kriegsgefangenenlager_ shows me the British Brigadiers and the Serbian -Colonels returning our salute; Maggiore Tuzzi, with a look of settled -melancholy upon his face, and Capitaine Teixeira, standing aloof, with -his hand upon his heart, as suggesting that I shall ever have occupancy -there. - -[Illustration: MAGGIORE TUZZI.] - - * * * * * - -PART II BEESKOW--BERLIN - - * * * * * - -[Illustration: “ALTES AMT,” BEESKOW LAGER] - - * * * * * - -[Illustration: A “VERBOTEN” SKETCH.] - - - - -VIII BEESKOW LAGER - - -The journey from Carlsruhe, in Baden, to Beeskow in der Mark presented -a marked contrast to the nightmare, the shivering and sleepless -progression between Le Cateau and Carlsruhe in mid-winter. We occupied -second-class carriages, well and warmly upholstered, and these we held -without change throughout the journey of thirty odd hours. - -The people encountered _en route_ were entirely civil, and not -over-curious. Every second woman seemed to bear upon her back--besides -the apparent burden of the war--a basket; every third man a rucksack. -Everywhere were visible evidences of intensive agriculture; the making -the most of a possibly not too opulent soil. Tillage right up the -hillslopes; potato patches almost up to the six-foot way. Continually -we alternated field and wood; brown boles of fir and pine, with, hidden -in their duskiness, the white stems of the silver birch, like flashes -of summer lightning. - -We had just a glimpse of Heidelberg, with its castle on the hill, and -arrived at Frankfurt towards six o’clock in the evening. We marched -through the crowded station--which in one of its wings bore evidence -of a recent air raid--to a hall where we had a meal of macaroni and -rissoles served by a pert and self-possessed boy of eleven clothed in a -precocious suit of evening dress. - -Next morning Weimar, with its quiet memories of Goethe and Schiller; -Merseburg, with its vast and unquiet Krupp works, springing up here in -precaution against possible air raids on Essen. And so, about nine of -the clock on Saturday evening, after a divergence from the main line, -the train pulled up at Beeskow, where it became at once apparent that -practically all the youngsters, and a large number of the grown-ups of -the town, had turned out to witness our arrival. - -It was the nearest thing to taking part on the wrong side at a -spectacle or victory that I had yet experienced--of being “butcher’d to -make a Roman holiday”--and yet it was soon evident that there was not a -sufficiency of “hate” in the whole crowd to cover a 50-pfennig piece. -To most of the children this was the first sight of the _Engländer_, -and they had obviously expected much more of monstrosity and oddity -than was forthcoming, and were disposed to be mirthful on very easy -provocation. - -A Lieutenant of the Cameron Highlanders, dressed in an arrangement of -the garb of old Gaul, which permitted of carpet slippers, puttees, and -an orderly’s peaked cap, consequently received most of the attention. - -Presently we came to a red-brick building of grim and ancient aspect, -with still visible evidences of an ancient moat. Turning up a rudely -cobbled way, we passed through an old wooden gateway, which, opened for -our admittance, closed immediately again, making a welcome shutting-out -of the noise of the rabble. We were in a sloping courtyard of -circumscribed appearance, with a square old red-brick tower standing up -in the dusk, and a surrounding of other buildings, with rolling roofs, -having rounded dormer windows in them. - -Most of the other officers were disappointed at a first impression of -the place. “Lee’s happy,” said one, “because he’s got an old castle to -sketch!” - -Before we could presume on bed--for which, having spent a sleepless -night in the train, we were more than ready--there had to be a -searching of baggage. This brought me no little searching of heart, -my impedimenta, as an old-timer, being easily the heaviest, and -containing sketches and journals which I desired to preserve. I was -busily explaining the multitude of these note-books by hinting at my -theatrical activities at Carlsruhe, when another of the examining -officers produced from one of my portfolios what at first sight might -have seemed to be a somewhat incriminating sketch of that camp. Beyond -a rather flattering interest in my artistic efforts generally, however, -the drawings were passed without trouble, but the _Oberleutnant_ said -that it would be necessary to retain for perusal one book of my journal. - -[Illustration: THE PRISON CAMP AT BEESKOW--AN AUDIENCE WITH THE -COMMANDANT.] - -I found that my dormitory was located in what had been a bishop’s -palace, the arms still being visible on either side of one of the -windows. Passing up a very old and dirty, but not uninteresting -staircase, and through a somewhat dingy and dilapidated dining-hall, I -obtained sanctuary with eleven other officers in an equally dingy and -disreputable room, the ancient oaken cross-rafters of which had been -painted to a ridiculous imitation of marble! Notwithstanding, there was -small likelihood of my dreaming “that I dwelt in marble halls.” Lights, -for this night only, were not turned out until midnight, though I have -it on my conscience that I endeavoured to mislead the _Feldwebel_ -into the belief that this was the customary hour at Carlsruhe. - -[Illustration: THE OLD TOWER, BEESKOW LAGER] - -Hot coffee--_Ersatz_--made from acorns, was served at eight o’clock -next morning; at nine, to the sound of hammer-blows struck upon the -old, red-rusted coulter of a plough swung from a wooden frame, we -mustered in the court for roll-call. There were three officers--the -Commandant, an elderly gentleman, with an obviously explosive temper, -and a decidedly unmilitary stoop; the _Oberleutnant_, portly and -complacent-looking; and the Lieutenant, a young man, and the only one -of the trio to have seen service in this war. He was here, indeed, -because he had been very badly wounded. The orders of the camp were -read by the interpreter, who would doubtless have looked rather -_distingué_ in evening dress, but whom a private soldier’s uniform -rendered stiff and gauche. - -He was sufficiently gracious to give me some details as to the history -of our new domicile, the _altes Amt_, and the squat old _Turm_. The -place was erected in 1252 by Barons or Knights, in whose hands it -remained for a couple of centuries. These Barons becoming financially -indebted to the Bishops of Frankfurt-on-the-Oder, and Lebus, the -buildings ultimately passed into their possession, and were used as -an ecclesiastical residence. About the beginning of last century they -reverted to the Crown, and finally to the Corporation of Beeskow. It -was looked upon as a punishment camp, and we were the first British -prisoners to be held there. - - -THE KANTINE AND THE CATERING - -We had a _Kantine_, run by a civilian named Herr Solomon, who, however, -because of his dilatoriness, and an easy deferring until to-morrow of -what should have been ordered to-day, was always known as “Morgen, -Morgen!” The _Kantine_, which was open daily from 11 to 1, and 5 to -7 evening, contained a selection of commodities ranging from a lager -beer--which was very essentially a _Lager_ beer--to a solitary example -of a variation of Sandow’s chest-expander, for which no purchaser was -ever forthcoming. Something to expand a still lower compartment of our -anatomy was what we were in continual search of. - -[Illustration: HERR SOLOMON, THE KANTINE KEEPER.] - -The catering here, however, which was also in Herr “Morgen, Morgen’s” -hands, marked a great advance on the Carlsruhe kitchen. The finer hand -of femininity was quite apparent in the cooking, a number of women from -the country being employed, and we usually were served with a soup -which we could eat without loss of self-respect. Being in the centre of -an agricultural district, we had a good supply of potatoes and certain -vegetables, and when we were able to supplement these with a slice of -bully, we did not do too badly. - - -“MUCH READING----!” - -Immediately on our arrival at Beeskow I was appointed to the enviable -post of librarian, but found myself in the unenviable position of -having no library. I accordingly placed upon the notice board the -following urgent appeal: - -[Illustration: “ONLY ONE BOOK!”] - -This rather tickled the camp, including the German officers, -who immediately responded with a gift of some twenty volumes. -Unfortunately, these were entirely in German, through which only one or -two of the officers could even spell their way, but they were in the -nature of a godsend to M. Bloch, a Russian dentist, who was the only -foreign officer in camp, and who spoke German as fluently as one may -speak that influent tongue. _Pro tem._, then, I considered myself as -acting to him in the not onerous capacity of private librarian. - -A few fragments of Tauchnitz editions were very literally “fluttering” -around the camp, and on these I affixed wherever possible the seal -of my office--and a touch of seccotine. I also sent out appeals to -the Christlichen Vereine Junger Männer, Berlin; to Sir Alfred Davies, -and the Camp Libraries Committee, London; while I made ordering of a -formidable list of Tauchnitz publications. Berlin responded almost -immediately with thirty volumes of varied sort, mostly the gift -apparently of private citizens. - -In several of the works I observed a bookplate, inscribed “Sophie, -Mein Buch,” and representing a very green and very flourishing Tree -of Knowledge, bearing five apples of a more than tempting redness, a -rising sun, and an open volume. Somehow the bookplate conjured up -before me a vision of the gentle Sophie, fresh as the dawn, and rosy -and ripe as the pictured apples. - -With this collection and the odds and ends floating about the camp I -decided to open shop, though my shelves would only afford a fraction of -a book per man. Accordingly at nine o’clock in the morning, immediately -after roll-call, I headed a regular rush and stampede to the library; -undid the padlock, swung wide the door of the book cupboard, and -declared the library indeed open. - -As senior officer of the camp, the Colonel had choice of the first -volume, after which it was a case of first come first served. For a few -minutes the floor space in front of my cupboard presented something of -the appearance of a football field with a “rugger” scrum on, and then -I closed the door upon only two books--and these the second volumes of -two-volume novels. In less than a month, however, I had several hundred -books under my charge. - -One day the German interpreter handed me a note of four volumes -which he was desirous of having on loan. These were: “The Poems of -Robert Burns”; “The Adventures of Tom Sawyers”; “An Ideal Husband,” -by Oscar Wilde; and “East Lynne,” by----Carlyle! This last rather -nonplussed me until I recalled that the name of the greatly-wronged and -long-suffering solicitor in the novel--which one might say had solved -the problem of perpetual emotion--was Carlyle. - -It was this same interpreter who, donating to the library a small -guide book of Beeskow, first tore off the cover which carried a map of -the town and environs. “As a good German,” he said, “it is my duty to -prevent you from escaping.” - - -WE WALK ABROAD - -Having adhibited our signatures to a form of parole stipulating that we -should not make effort to escape, under penalty of death, during such -time as we were out for exercise, on the third or fourth day after our -arrival we went out for a walk under conduct of Lieut. Kruggel. - -Beeskow is a country town of four or five thousand inhabitants, and -possesses certain streets picturesque and paintable. There is a -red-brick church, with a steeple and a great sloping roof. On the old -walls, which still stand, are a series of towers, on the largest of -which, as if presiding over the town, were two storks, who gazed at us -as if with curiosity over the edge of their nest. - -On this first morning we elected to visit the playing-field allotted -to the camp, which is situated about a mile distant from it. To the -professional eye of one of our number, an old internationalist, it will -serve for football, but not for cricket. - -On the other side of the road, behind a _Gasthof_, and just on the edge -of a strip of forest, there was a tennis court, but it had obviously -not been played on for many a day. We at once commenced clearing the -ground, a task in which we were soon being aided by _mein Herr_ of the -_Gasthof_--who is proprietor of the court--his wife, and his daughters. - -One of the girls has a rake, which she playfully aims at Lieutenant -Kruggel, who promptly throws up his arms and cries, “_Kamarad!_” - -[Illustration: THE STORK TOWER, BEESKOW.] - -As we returned, a bald-headed, elderly gentleman standing behind -the gate of a villa garden spat upon the ground, and treated us to -a mouthful or two of morning hate. Lieutenant Kruggel apologized -profusely. Strange that the civilian should be uncivil--the soldier -never. - - -BIRDS OF A FEATHER - -In the little courtyard three or four white fan-tailed pigeons -fluttered about the roofs, like peace birds prematurely arrived from -oversea, while on the other side of the barbed wire was a small colony -of rabbits and poultry and pigs, the property of the German guard. -Then there was Jacob, a ferocious and fearless jackdaw with clipped -wings, who was not indisposed to be friendly, however. Certainly we -were companions in misfortune, my wings not less thoroughly clipped -than his. Ultimately, while I read, or even sketched, he would lie on -his back in my hand with his legs in the air, ever and anon opening a -drowsy eye. Long before I had seen them, however, he would have greeted -several of his own kind, if not his own kin, wheeling round the old -tower, and they would return answer. - -[Illustration: PRISONERS ALL.] - -Sometimes of a morning I would pick Jacob up as I passed to the bath, -and, perched upon my finger, he would participate with me in the -rigorous joys of the cold douche, the water rattling off his back -like rain from an umbrella. Latterly there were two jackdaws, and I -have watched a German sentry feeding them with spiders collected in -a matchbox, swinging them out on their own thread as an angler would -cast a baited line. After the Armistice these two delightful vagabonds -suddenly and mysteriously vanished. Rumour had it that they appeared on -a German table in a German pie! - -[Illustration: THE PRISON GATEWAY] - - - - -IX ESCAPES AND ESCAPADES - - -Only one officer ever escaped from Beeskow Camp, and he only by the -dusty and tenebrous passage of Death. He was a Rumanian, and he -actually succeeded in scaling the high wall encircling the _Lager_, but -fell off into the dried moat and broke his neck. - -Tunnelling under the ancient wall was the method that seemed to hold -out most promise of success, and a number of efforts were made in this -direction. These were all detected, however, at various stages of the -mining operations. One such discovery led to a regular hue and cry -and the hunt up for possible “holes.” Three or four _Posten_, one of -whom put a facetious finger to the side of his nose, came clattering -into the reading-room on this errand, when we all held up our feet to -facilitate matters! In explanation of the gaping hole found behind a -cupboard in one of the dormitories “rats” were suggested. - -A new _Feldwebel_ who came to the camp seemed to have received strict -injunction to look daily at the bars of the windows to make certain -that there had been no tampering with them overnight. Thus he had -a habit of dropping in at unexpected moments to the library, the -dining-hall, or the dormitories, but always with an air of looking for -some one or something else. Assuredly he did not wish to impute to us -the using upon the windows of anything so unfriendly as a file. - -One morning he came suddenly into our room, walked awkwardly and -self-consciously to the window, by which was standing a deck chair; -then, casting a quick, sidelong glance at the barred pane, he said -smilingly in German, “A very good chair,” and so departed. - -[Illustration: THE MARIENKIRCHE, BEESKOW] - -This _Feldwebel_, by the way, although he arrived in July, came in like -a lion, and went out like a lamb, turning out to be the gentlest -German of them all. He was black-bearded as Thor or Odin, and at -his first parade, on the appearance of the Commandant and staff, -he bellowed “_Ach-tung!_” in a stentorian voice, which, if it did -not make us shake in our shoes, certainly caused us to smile in our -sleeves. Even the camp officers were amused, and Lieut. Kruggel laughed -outright. Next morning the poor _Feldwebel’s_ “_Ach-tung!_” was so -subdued and so robbed of its virility, that it was more stimulating to -our risible faculties than that of the day before. He had obviously -been requested to modify his powerful “word of command.” - - -THE FLIGHT THAT FAILED - -One day I had been sketching the interior of the Marienkirche at -Beeskow, a sentry with loaded rifle sitting by me in the silent church. -He informed me that he also was an artist, but with his feet and not -his hands, and that he had danced at the London Hippodrome. That night, -after roll-call, the German, Lieutenant Stark, expressed a desire to -see the drawing. - -As it was dark, I practically impelled him for a few paces to -the arc-lamp at the gate, at the very moment when three Captains -courageously made an effort to pass through the building used as an -office, which gives on to the garden, from whence access to the road -would have been comparatively easy. A further diversion was created -by a Lieutenant falling down in the court as if in a fit, though this -was nothing but a feint. The office was occupied by Germans, however, -and, softly and politely closing the door behind them, the trio turned -back. Captain Brown, by reason of his great stature--he was six feet -six inches--was readily recognized, and next morning the three officers -were brought up for attempting to escape, and sentenced to three days’ -confinement in the “Tower.” - -Imprisonment in this old strong place, by the way, was not looked upon -as a very grievous punishment. In fact, but for the disability of being -deprived of the daily walk, it was an improvement on our ordinary -condition. The prisoner had a room, a bed, a table, and a chair to -himself; a lamp, which he could keep burning long after “lights -out,” and meals sent up to him by a member of his mess punctually at -the appointed times. Then, as librarian, I allowed certain latitudes -in the supply of literature. To Captain Brown, as appropriate to -his position, I sent Tighe Hopkins’ “Dungeons of Old Paris”; then, -relenting, and remembering that he was a Scot and an Edinburgh man, I -followed this up immediately by Stevenson’s “The Master of Ballantrae.” - -[Illustration: THE LATE LIEUT. W. L. ROBINSON, V.C. (A FELLOW-PRISONER -AT BEESKOW LAGER)] - -Another bid for freedom was made by Captain R., to whom for the purpose -I lent a red neckerchief and a civilian cap, which had somehow escaped -the authoritative eye and got through to me. R.’s scheme was to secrete -himself under a table covered with a blanket, at which a quartette -was playing a belated game of “Bridge” in the court under one of the -lamps and in close proximity to the barbed fence, cut the wire, and lie -hid in the shrubbery until such time as he might find opportunity of -passing out of the gate. - -We had just sat down to dinner, when the violent ringing of the -_Appell_ bell announced to us that the plot had been detected. Next -morning I met a German soldier carrying a yard or two of barbed -wire--like a line newly baited--with which to replace the cutting -made by the Captain, and at parade a camp order was read notifying -all concerned that no more tables or chairs would be permitted in -the courtyard. Almost immediately thereafter, amid the groans of the -British officers, began a ruthless cutting down of the few shrubs and -saplings which adorned the yard and which could conceivably afford us -any hiding. - -Even Lieut. Kruggel’s sunflowers and creepers, which provided a hedge -of privacy for his little cottage, had to be sacrificed, to his great -distress and disgust. In the afternoon three pumpkins sat forlornly -upon the three steps of the Lieutenant’s cottage, all that had been -left to him of horticultural adornment! - -On another evening in October an officer, disguised as a German -_Posten_, boldly approached the gate with the somewhat optimistic hope -that he would be permitted to pass out unchallenged. He was detected -by the sentry, however, and came running back, taking off his disguise -as he fled. When the guards ultimately reached his room for a search, -he was playing “Patience.” Before making his venture he returned me -his library book, which, I observed with interest, was the Iliad. -Unhappily, there was to be no Odyssey for him on this occasion. - -One morning at breakfast a civilian arrived in the dining-hall, -accompanied by a sentry, to execute some repairs upon the gas stoves. -He turned his back for a moment; the _Posten_ is reported to have -looked lovingly and longingly into a pot of rice, and lo, presto! a -couple of pairs of pincers belonging to the plumber had disappeared. No -trace of what they called the “tongs” being forthcoming before morning -roll-call, a search was instituted, during which time, except for the -senior officer of each room, we were excluded from our quarters. The -pincers were discovered next day, but for two mornings we were deprived -of our walks abroad. - - -RAGGING THE COMMANDANT - -There is a piece of music of amazing eccentricity and extravagance, -yclept “By Heck,” by Henri. It is what is known as a “Fox Trot,” and, -as recorded for the gramophone, is played by the Metropolitan Band. We -were sufficiently mischievous one morning to arrange that it commence -its erratic riot at an open window immediately the word “_Achtung!_” -from the _Feldwebel_ announced the arrival of the Commandant on parade. - -The scheme worked beyond wildest imaginings. One blow from the hammer -upon the old coulter, and we tumbled out--and fell in. Simultaneously -with the second stroke the door of the Commandant’s room opened, and he -emerged, for all the world after the fashion of the little male figure -which used to issue from the old-fashioned weather-house when the day -promised fine, or foul, I forget which. It was certainly to be foul -this morning. - -[Illustration: CARICATURE OF THE CAMP COMMANDANT. By a Rumanian -officer.] - -“_Achtung!_” We came to the salute, and simultaneously there came a -burst of mirthful music from the window. The effect on the Commandant -was electrical. He shook his fist at the open window, and in two or -three seconds had as many convulsed sentries tearing up the stairs to -stop the ribald strains. Meanwhile, with thumping of timpani, drum-tap, -cat-call, cock-crow, whistle, and motor-horn, the gramophone ground out -its litany, until at last it was pulled up with a jerk. The Commandant -had the instrument commandeered and sequestered in the tower, but -later, yielding to the plausibilities of Lieut. D., he returned it. “I -think I like theatre better in the morning,” was the new interpreter’s -comment. - -The mere sight of our somewhat careless parade seemed sometimes -sufficient to throw the Commandant into a frenzy. One morning a -Lieutenant was caught smoking by the old man, who swung his arms -furiously, and passed sentence of three days’ confinement in the tower. -To relieve the tedium the prisoner must have taken a flute with him, -for towards evening melancholy notes floated from the barred window, -the air being “The Close of a Perfect Day!” - - -“HIS EXCELLENCY WISHES” - -On a certain day in August, the result doubtless of our continual -complaint as to conditions in the _Lager_, His Excellency General -Waldhausen, Inspector of Prisoner of War Camps, paid us a visit. Rather -a soldierly type this old General, with gruffness and kindliness -apparently continually contending for the mastery. He shook hands with -the Colonel and some of the senior officers, and asked the name of each -of the others--to what purpose I cannot conceive, as most of these -names could convey nothing to him. - -“His Excellency wishes that you are to gather round!” Thus the -interpreter. We gathered round very intimately, something to His -Excellency’s dismay, who had not anticipated such an encircling -movement. - -Then His Excellency opened his mouth and spoke to us, and signalled -with his hand to the interpreter. The interpreter looked more than -usually pallid, and more than usually uncomfortable. He began in -trembling tones: “His Excellency wishes--His Excellency wishes--His -Excellency wishes you to know that we consider you no longer our -enemies.” - -His Excellency casts glances, first at the interpreter, then at us, to -see whether his magnanimity has been rightly understood. - -Then he talks again, and the interpreter, with knocking at the knees -and dismay in the eyes, essays to interpret. - -“His Excellency wishes--His Excellency wishes--that you do obey -strictly the prescriptions of the camp.” The staff smile; His -Excellency looks suspicious. “Have they rightly understood?” One -of the staff suggests to him that some of the English officers are -laughing. Gruffness predominates at once. - -The interpreter, more visibly nervous than ever, is incited to try -again. “His Excellency wishes--His Excellency wishes--His Excellency -wishes that----” - -His Excellency fumes; His Excellency wishes that the poor -interpreter--now almost in a state of collapse--commit his message -to paper before he commit further indiscretions. There is a lengthy -confabulation and concoction of phrase, and ultimately the interpreter -reads stammeringly: - -“His Excellency wishes you to know that he considers you as no longer -our enemies. His Excellency wishes you to know that he will do -everything he can possibly for your comforts. His Excellency wishes -you to strictly observe the prescriptions of the camp.” Thereafter His -Excellency gives audience, and, as a result, it is understood that a -card system of parole will be adopted; that an effort will be made to -combat the plague of fleas, and that otherwise there will be immediate -reform. - -[Illustration: NARROW ALLEY, BEESKOW.] - - - - -X IN CHURCH--A POLISH BAPTISM - - -Once a month we were privileged to attend the ancient Marienkirche, -where a service modelled as nearly as might be on the English Church -evensong was conducted by the German Lutheran pastor. The service, -including the sermon, which only lasted three minutes--a model brevity -for homilies--was sympathetic, simple, and not difficult to follow for -anyone with a slight knowledge of German. - -As not infrequently, I probably received most benefit and benediction -from matters extraneous to the ritual. My ears would be assailed by the -sharp, almost metallic, tapping upon the windows of the leaves of the -elm tree outside, which may have sported thus to the winds of a century -or more. My roving eyes sought the Last Supper upon the reredos, -whereon it was to be observed that one of the Twelve is handing a -morsel to a dog, while the Disciple whom Jesus loved has his arm -affectionately through that of his Master. The interior of the church -is entirely white, with here and there a quickening and vivification in -a note of red or blue or brown on the altar, the pulpit, and the organ. - -After the service, I wandered up the old wooden stairs to the choir -and organ loft, remarking the carven names and other havoc wrought by -generations of choir boys, and, indeed, impressed with a sense that -their roguish spirits were tripping up before me. - -The organ is old. On the manual the sharps are in white, the naturals -in black. The blowing arrangement consists of a succession of three -movable beams, on which I had a glimpse of the old blower, like some -ancient, dilapidated god chained to his task and making ascent of -interminable flights of stairs. The organ had been stripped of all -but the very smallest of its metal pipes for the making of munitions; -doubtless they have gone hurtling through the air to deeper diapasons -than they ever sounded here! - -In the ambulatory is an ancient and crude wooden Calvary; a great -tributary box “Für die Armen,” much bestudded with nails, and dating -from Luther’s day; also cases with medals of Beeskow men who have -fought for the Fatherland from the Napoleonic Wars onward. In the -pulpit is a quaint old hour-glass of four glasses; in the vestry a -church clock centuries old. - -As we returned from one of these services the interpreter--the third -in succession--told me that as a young man he set out to adventure to -Iceland. He got as far as Swinemunde, when he met a young lady, and so, -as he said, “I got engaged instead.” “Such things happen,” he added -reflectively. I could only express the hope that never since had he -got into such hot water as he might have experienced at the Geysers! -The interpreter’s wife, by the way, was Madame Reinl, who has sung at -Covent Garden in such parts as Isolde, and who for a number of years -was a _prima donna_ in Berlin. - - -FOR THE DEAD - -The Sunday after the signing of the Armistice a score of us attended -morning service. We had seats in one of the galleries facing the -pulpit, so that we could participate without being too conspicuously -present. As it was, the congregation evinced no undue curiosity, though -the three or four choir boys in the organ loft seemed to accept us -gratefully as something of a spectacle for the enlivening of a dull day. - -The congregation was very sparse, and consisted mostly of elderly -women, sombre, sorrowful, almost emblematic figures; sad-faced, black -clad, lonely. The vast white interior seemed cold--was cold, so that -the organist, in his high latitudes, kept on his coat, with the collar -upturned, and during the sermon made excursion among the architecture -of the instrument. The pastor looked ill and depressed, and, with -obviously a sad heart, he commenced his discourse, “This has been a -heavy week for the Fatherland.” - -On the following Sunday was held the yearly service for the dead. -There were six or seven hundred people present, again mostly women, and -again all in black. Many of them wept silently throughout the service, -others gave way now and again to audible outbursts of grief. I could -only see one living German soldier, but who shall say the spirits of -how many dead were there? - -[Illustration: SERVICE FOR THE DEAD] - - -A POLISH BAPTISM - -In our walks abroad we have frequently passed a humble little chapel, -which has been built for the numerous Poles who work on the farms in -the neighbourhood. One Sunday forenoon in October, when hints and -hopes of peace were in the air, I accompanied the padre and the Roman -Catholic party in camp to this chapel, and was witness of a very -interesting and picturesque baptismal ceremony. - -The low-roofed room with its humble altar at one end, its walls hung -with the stations of the cross, and perforated with windows showing -the golden dying glories of the trees, was crowded with these rural -folks. The women and girls were wearing quaint and brightly-coloured -skirts and head-dresses showing pathetic effort after fashion and -fitness of attire for the occasion. A virile femininity this, obviously -built for child-bearing. In fact, most of the women seem to be in -an interesting condition, and the officiating priest has no fewer -than five infants to baptize. From these bundles of babyhood, which -look like white bolsters tied with brightly-coloured ribands, comes -a continuous, but not too vehement, crying, which, even to my not -unsympathetic ear, seems something similar to the squealing of little -pigs. - -Three women stand up, supported by their lawful lords, ungainly, in -unfamiliar Sunday garments, and diminutive beside their wives. Ever and -anon one of the women performs mystery and miracle with her fingers in -the mouth of her offspring to the temporary appeasing of its rage. - -The remaining two women, who are seated, are in deep black, and their -husbands are not forthcoming. When their turn arrives, and they too -stand before the priest, there is something peculiarly pathetic in -the unconscious crying of these posthumous infants whose fathers have -doubtless fallen, just as I can behold the leaves falling from the -trees outwith the windows. - -These humble folk, many of them, would desire to remain behind for -our service, but the guard has received special instructions from the -Commandant this morning, and the German soldiers turn them out. One -elderly dame makes a spirited demand for admission, and, the soldier -proving obdurate, she bides her time until his back is turned, then -enters and falls upon her knees facing the altar as if defying him to -turn her out. - -The padre gives us a little homily on the approaching peace, with a -further urging of that “Peace which the world cannot give.” - -On the march back to our _Lager_ we pass an ancient and dilapidated -hackney-coach, open to display to an admiring world two of our mothers, -with bundles tied with blue ribbon and red, in which the babies have -been entirely buried out of sight against a biting wind. - -[Illustration: OLD INN AT BEESKOW, NOW BURNED DOWN.] - - -ADVENTURES AFOOT - -On the outskirts of Beeskow was a great _Kaserne_ or barracks of the -Garde-Feldartillerie-Regiments, from which in the morning we could -sometimes hear the bugle sing reveille. This is not dissimilar to our -own, and carries the same suggestion in it of the ascending sun. In -those dreary and difficult days the same heavy and uneasy suggestion -also, that it falls upon many ears as unwishful to hear it as they -would the Last Trump on Judgment Morn. - -Sometimes we would meet a company of German soldiers coming back -from a route march or returning from the shooting range--a likely -enough looking lot, marching stoutly and singing lustily. When the -_Unteroffizier_ saw us he would give the order to march to attention, -which was very smartly carried out. In walking through the town we were -continually followed by the little children, who would clatter after us -in their sabots, in manner reminiscent of the “Pied Piper of Hamelin,” -making demand for “_Kuchen_.” They would even break into our ranks, and -insinuate their hands into our tunic pockets in search of the biscuits -which were sometimes tossed to them. - -During a walk one afternoon we were overtaken by a sharp shower, -and sought shelter under the trees around some cottages. A little -girl watched us with a timid wonder, which ultimately gave place to -half-confidence. The rain increasing in violence, the mother threw open -her door in invitation, while she and the little girl retired to the -kitchen, leaving us the lobby, in which we sheltered until the worst of -the storm was over. - -One day we met an aged woman bearing a burden of faggots through the -forest. When she cast eyes on us she suddenly put her hand to her -face and burst into bitter tears. One afternoon we passed an old -road-mender, whose carefully built piles of stones had much of the -order and durability of a wall, and on whose bent back was a tangible -token of the passage of years as big as any of his boulders. - -On another occasion when we walked to the tennis court the German -Lieutenant’s wife was waiting for him at the _Gasthof_, and the two -partook of refreshment together at a little table under the trees. When -we marched back we found that she was still accompanying him on the -side-walk, which seemed to give to the whole parade a decidedly homely -suggestion. - -On Saturday afternoons we played football with the orderlies, when, in -view of my advancing years and other discretions, I occasionally acted -in the more retired position of full back. Pleasanter for me, however, -was it to lie on my back in the forest, watching the young fir trees -swaying to the wind like the masts of ships, while ever and anon they -struck with a noise suggestive of the crossing of swords. - -One of our orderlies, by the way, had been captured at Mons, and was a -typical soldier of the period. He and his mate were lying in a ditch, -up to the middle in mud and water, and under heavy fire. “I says to -him, ‘Put a little artificial flower on me grave--I’m fond o’ roses -myself.’” His teeth were knocked out by the butt of a soldier’s rifle, -and he was flung into a church. When he first saw a loaf he “charged -it,” toothless gums and all. He is still in the “eye for an eye, tooth -for a tooth,” attitude towards his enemies. And he has lost practically -a whole set! - -Another orderly, who had recently been on commando, showed me his leg, -which was badly scalded. “That’s the sort of thing we do, sir,” he -said, “to prevent being sent down the mines!” - -[Illustration: “IN SINCE MONS!”] - -[Illustration: KIRCHESTRASSE, BEESKOW. One of many such sketches made -freely in the streets after the Armistice.] - - - - -XI THE REVOLUTION - - -From scraps of conversation with the sentries and the interpreter, we -knew by the middle of October that the Germans would sign an armistice -whatever the terms might be. One afternoon the “Top” and “Bottom” -of the house were engaged in a hockey match. As I stood on the road -watching the contested field, passed me a cart driven by a French -soldier prisoner of war. A German boy, burdened with a great sack of -_Kartoffeln_ for Beeskow, gave hail, and the soldier pulled up and -waited patiently until both boy and burden were on board. As he moved -off he saluted me, and cried cheerily, “Bientôt, la paix!” - -I approached Lieut. Stark and asked him when the game was likely to -finish. “I suppose,” said he in his slow, deliberate English, “when -they have won enough.” The German civilian, who had some days before -surreptitiously slipped us a copy of the _Times_, was here again -to-day, and obviously anxious to unburden himself to some one. Lieut. -Stark, however, succeeded in hedging him off until the return journey, -when we in front overtook him on the footpath. While still two or three -yards behind him, I said, “Change your umbrella to your left hand!” -As we passed we were thus able to slip him a couple of packets of tea -in exchange for another copy of the paper, and also to arrange that -in future he place the paper behind a certain tree. These papers were -about a fortnight old usually, but they were very precious to us, and -were circulated in rotation to every officer in the _Lager_. - -On Saturday evening, the 9th November, an _Extrablatt_, announcing the -“Abdankung des Kaisers,” found its way into camp, and created some -little excitement. At Beeskow we were within breathing distance of -Berlin, one might say, and we almost seemed to be haunted by a vision -of that haunted man who had striven, in his own egotistical way, to -fashion his country, and who seemed destined to see it shattered into -shards. There was a rumour that the officer at the _Kaserne_ had been -deposed, and, in expectation of trouble, all the shops in Beeskow -closed at six o’clock. In the dark outside we heard two or three shots, -but no one seemed able to explain them. - - -THE PASSING OF THE COMMANDANT - -On Sunday morning, as it transpired, we paraded before the old -Commandant for the last time. Shortly after _Appell_ he was waited upon -by a delegation from the men, headed by a stout corporal who in peace -time is a North Sea fisherman, and informed that his services were no -longer required. With a touch of pride the corporal told me of his part -in the deposition. - -When informed that he must resign, “_Warum?_” inquired the Commandant. -This was explained, but he still demurred. “I must wait,” said he, “for -instructions from headquarters.” “We give you your instructions,” -replied the corporal, “and you must go.” - -Thereupon the old man wept. “_Er weinet_,” said the corporal, and he -drew a finger from his eye downward to demonstrate. Greater than the -Commandant wept in these days, I take it! - -While we talked, standing on the road by the playing-field, came along -the civilian, who succeeded eventually in transferring to my possession -a copy of the _Times_ for 29th October containing a sensational -discussion in the Reichstag, and also a slip of paper folded to a spill -on which he had pencilled the terms of the armistice. - -Over the barracks we found that the Imperial flag had been shorn of -its black and white strips, and that only a thin red shred stood out -menacingly in the wind from the staff. - -A picket, with arms piled, was posted at the forked roads, and from -the caps of all the soldiers the badges had been torn. These men more -than ever seemed disposed to be fraternal; indeed, as we passed the -_Kaserne_ some of the soldiers at the windows shouted out that they -would be glad to play us a game of football now. - -They deposed the Major who was in charge of the barracks, and the -Medical Officer--he of the dashing manner and the Airedale terrier, who -visited us for inoculatory purposes--had also to go. The Major and his -young daughter were in a hotel when the soldiers demanded an audience. -The Major endeavoured to escape by a back entrance, but was held, and -had the humiliation of having his epaulets torn off, while his sword -was broken and the pieces handed to the children standing around. So we -had the story. - -In our own camp Lieut. Stark, who was a ranker, and also reputed to -be sympathetic to the revolution, was elected Commandant by the men’s -committee--distinguished by white bands on their arms--in spite of the -fact that Lieut. Kruggel was his superior in rank. The men took off -Kruggel’s epaulets and badges, and then saluted him. - -It was in these troublous times that Captain U., who was being -transferred to another camp on account of his health, succeeded -in jumping off the train when it slowed down somewhere in the -neighbourhood of Storkow. The train was stopped, but no very effectual -search was made, and the Captain, retracing his steps, had almost -reached Lubben, when he was overtaken and held up by a gamekeeper on -a bicycle, and carrying a gun. He was brought back to camp, and had -a great reception, particularly from the members of his own mess, we -having prepared a sort of composite meal of breakfast, lunch, tea, and -dinner. U. was looking none the worse for two or three nights’ and -days’ exposure, and attributed his healthful appearance to “having had -something to do.” Lieutenant Stark imposed no punishment, his only -comment being, “This is not the good time for escaping; there will be -peace in two days.” - - -LATITUDES AND LIBERTIES - -Under the new regime our privileges were considerably extended. A -few days after the Armistice, for instance, we were permitted to be -present at a cinematographic entertainment. - -The show was held in a rather dull and sad little hall, on the roof -and walls of which, however, some artist had made valiant efforts at -decoration with impossible pots and vases of impossible roses--neither -white, nor red, nor even blue. - -Behind the screen was a suggestion of a small stage, on which, -doubtless, tragedy histrionic had been achieved in the days -before tragedy overtook the town and the country generally. A -dispirited-looking woman seemed to be in charge of affairs, and -under her rather anxious direction our orderlies--all out for the -afternoon--wheeled a piano into the hall, on which Lieutenant Davies -and a German soldier, who has studied at the Berlin Conservatorium, -alternately played melodies classic and cinematographic during the -performance. A preliminary notice flung on the screen, “Rauchen ist -Verboten,” went unheeded. - -The first film, which gave rather charming glimpses of German family -life, represented the adventures and misadventures of a poor little -girl, who, after drinking a magic elixir, dreamt that she had become -the daughter of a Graf. Mark Twain’s “Prince and the Pauper” in more -modern guise. Second item, the efforts of a policeman to bring home -his sheaves with him in the shape of a very sly and slippery tramp. -The third, a _Lustspiel_ in four most amatory acts, introducing the -customary machinery, so well known to the cinema stage, of love -missives, magnificent motor-cars, bedrooms and bathrooms; keyholes -betwixt these apartments; the never-failing porter with the inevitable -trunk which forms the last inevitable stronghold and sanctuary for the -inevitable hapless lover pursued by the inevitable unhappy husband. - -Altogether, not too bad an entertainment for the money, which was -one mark per head--_Lagergeld_, we having not yet been supplied with -ordinary currency. This was the first night I had been out after dark -since my capture, and it was pleasant to step free upon the pavement, -and to see the comfortable lights in the shops. At a second cinema -entertainment, we had--by request--a series of pictures showing German -soldiers at work and play in rest billets. - -In the outskirts of the forest stood the Gesellschaft Gasthaus, -with, in the window, announcement of an entertainment in the form of -an acrobatic act by “Les Original Alfonso Geissler.” The handbill, -highly coloured, represented in one part of it, Monsieur, in evening -dress, and with all the suavity of the dove, making request for a -glass of beer from Mademoiselle at a public bar; in a second tableau -discovers him, sloughed of his garb of respectability and, arrayed -in multi-coloured tights, displaying all the cunning and pliancy of -the serpent in marvellous contortions among the barroom properties. -The proprietor informed us that he and his wife and three sons--one -the hero of the handbill--were all travelling acrobats, that they had -appeared frequently in England, and that they were in Sweden when the -war broke out. It was observable that during the entertainment--which, -despite the bill, proved to be entirely cinematographic--the proprietor -obtained his incidental music by making demand upon several of the -talented among the audience. - -In this connection a rather notable incident occurred, though here -it seemed to pass without note. A boy of about fourteen, who had -earned his admission by operating the cinema for the major part of -the evening, came quietly forward, took the violin from the rather -faltering hand of a young soldier who had been agonizing for the last -hour, and commenced to play with a sure and virile bow. He proved to be -a friend of our German soldier pianist, and like him has studied at the -Berlin Conservatorium. - - -SKETCHING IN THE STREETS - -I was now allowed to sketch freely in the streets without hindrance or -interruption, save for the presence of the younglings, which, after -all, need not prove distracting or disconcerting. On the contrary, -it may be even stimulating. Their criticism, for one thing, is -largely enthusiastic, and this sometimes proves contagious. “_Fein!_” -“_Hübsch!_” The pencil probably makes effort to prove worthy of such -compliment. Then again, there is generally something patient and gently -apologetic in the presence of a child, while one grown-up looking over -the shoulder is usually sufficient for disconcertment. - -I am sketching the Kirchestrasse. The name, however, is not visible -at my end of the street, and I make inquiry of the little girl who -for the last ten minutes has been standing quietly by my side. She -misunderstands me at first, and upon my sketch-block writes her own -name, “Charlotte Reseler.” There let it remain to add the value of a -memory to the drawing. - -On one such sketching expedition I was overtaken by a motor-waggon, -packed with German soldiers, straight from the front, who seemed -somewhat surprised to see me thus walking alone through the streets of -the town with a sketch-block under my arm. The waggon was decorated -with fir branches, while chalked upon the sides were such inscriptions -as “Nach der Heimat!” In the streets also were decorations, flags and -fir festoons, and garlands bearing the legend, “Willkommen!” One thing, -however, cannot be lifted from these streets, nor lightened into them, -and that is the dejection of defeat; the flush of victory. - -[Illustration: THE OLDEST HOUSE IN BEESKOW.] - -I was sketching what is, since the burning of the “Grüne Baum,” the -oldest house in Beeskow. I had hardly started, when the proprietor of -the shop in the lower part of the building came running over, and, -talking too rapidly for my entire comprehension, gave me to understand -at least that he desired something added to my sketch. He disappeared, -and in a few minutes there was unfurled from an upper window a great -chocolate and white flag of Brandenburg. A little boy had all this -while stood quietly by my side, save when, quite unbidden, he went -over, and placed himself by the front of the house, just at the proper -spot, that I might put him into the picture. - -He spoke now, but whether for my information or encouragement I know -not. - -“England,” said he, “hat gewonnen--Deutschland hat verloren!” - -I turned to look at him; he was but nine or ten, yet his voice sounded -so forlornly that to me, standing in this street of gathering dusk and -down-trodden snow, there came a sense of the awful tragedy of defeat! - - -A SOLDIERS’ BALL - -I cannot dance, but there is always a portion of the ball, at least, -to the beholder. Captain Sugrue and I had looked into the _Gasthaus_ -at the Railway Crossing. It was an animated scene which met our -eyes. The saloon was decorated with flags and festoons of red roses, -while about eighty couples, composed of German soldiers and their -sweethearts--these last with countenances of a colour to match the -decorations--danced on almost without cessation. Certainly there were -intervals, but these were of the shortest duration. The cavaliers would -approach, possibly with a short bow; more frequently the overture was -merely a smart tap upon the shoulder, and they were off. A little -orchestra of piano, violins and ’cello, was housed on a little stage, -upon which at one time there mounted the Master of the Ceremonies to -announce the finding of a lady’s girdle. - -Captain Sugrue and I also made various excursions afoot to townships -within a radius of ten or twelve miles from Beeskow. One of these -expeditions took us to the little village of Radinkendorf, where, after -some research, we found a very modest little _Gasthof_, where an old -woman undertook to supply us with coffee. - -Whilst we waited, and she worked her coffee-mill, she invited us in -motherly fashion into an inner room for warmth. Presently the coffee -was prepared, and while we sipped it, “Where do you live?” inquired the -aged woman. - -“Zu Beeskow,” I replied. “We are prisoners.” - -“Ah, das macht nichts,” said the dame kindly. “Das macht nichts. We -are all human. Warum ist der Krieg?” distressfully, and touching her -forehead with her finger as if in despair of a solution. “Why is the -war? Why? Why?” - -I could not tell her. - -On another occasion Tim and I footed it to the small town of Friedland, -which at one time, apparently, has had a Jewish population. As we sat -together in the dusk by the stove in the _Gasthaus_, there entered -a German soldier obviously fresh--but as obviously fatigued--from -the front. He approached, recognizing our calling, but anticipating -kinship, and was rather nonplussed on discovering our nationality. He -told us that for the last days his company had been retiring at the -rate of thirty kilometres a day, and leaving almost everything behind -them. - -Before returning we paid a visit to the _Rathaus_--in the Middle Ages -the Castle of the Herren von Köckeritz. With his walking-stick Tim -measured the walls--which are of amazing thickness--to the no small -surprise of several members of the clerical staff who appeared at the -window. - -[Illustration: MURILLO’S “IMMACULATE CONCEPTION OF THE VIRGIN.” Painted -by a French officer, prisoner of war, on the outer wall of the camp in -1915.] - -[Illustration: CAPTAIN TIM SUGRUE] - - - - -XII IN BERLIN DURING THE REVOLUTION - - -On a Friday evening of early December, my dear friend and -fellow-prisoner, Captain Tim Sugrue, and I conspired to take French -leave from the German prison _Lager_ and make a bolt for Berlin. Six -o’clock next morning found us at the station; a little diplomacy and we -had obtained tickets--singles only, as we must return by a different -route. - -From Beeskow to Berlin is a run of two hours and a half. For the latter -part of the journey we are with business men. There is unfolding of -newspapers, and we catch sight of occasional headlines. Street fighting -in Berlin last night; 14 killed, 50 wounded. Anything may be expected -to happen to-day--which means that anything may be expected to happen -to us. - -As we pass Karlshorst an obliging German directs our attention to it -as the German Derby; as we enter the environs of the town he has a -pointing hand for various features of interest. - -Bahnhof Friedrichstrasse. As we make our way out through the barriers -among the crowd, a tall, handsome gentleman and a young lady--equally -handsome--who is obviously his daughter, seem to convey to us a -telepathic smile of friendliness. In a few minutes we find them beside -us in the throng; there comes a whisper in not entirely perfect -English, “Thank God, Britain has won!”--and then they are gone. With -a quick understanding the girl collector at the barrier permits me to -retain my ticket as a souvenir. - -We have had no breakfast; we are hungry; we make so bold as to enter a -restaurant near the station. The waiter attends us, without apparent -curiosity, and as of long custom. For three marks we have a fried -haddock, some salad, and a cup of coffee. We could easily have paid -as much in London for as little--we could easily have paid more. For -proof of my veracity to future historians, I slip a menu card into my -pocket. - -From the instruction of a rather intelligent _Posten_ at Beeskow I have -taken the precaution to prepare a rough plan of the centre of this -most centralized of all great cities. We pass up Friedrichstrasse, and -at the point where it intersects Unter den Linden pause for a moment, -undecided as to left or right. It immediately becomes apparent that -we must not pause, even for a moment. We are already the centre of a -curious little crowd. - -“What can I do for you, Captain?” Hat in hand, a youth of seventeen or -eighteen approaches. We explain that we are simply up for the day, so -to speak, and as I can see what is obviously the _Dom_ on our left, we -make off at a sharp pace down the boulevard. - -The people have seen British officers before; it is only when it dawns -upon them that we are unaccompanied by a guard that their eyes begin to -open. There is no hint of hostility, however. Twice during the day we -are directly asked by civilians if we are in advance of a possible army -of occupation. - -The _Dom_ is the St. Paul’s of Berlin, but it is less impressive. The -organist is here, however, blowing what are doubtless his own very -real personal sorrows to the roof. As he passes into a fugal passage -I observe that, as at Beeskow, the pipes of the instrument have taken -flight. - -The picture gallery is closed to-day, but entrance is to be had to -the gallery of sculpture, and entrance we make. Tim is obviously -impatient; sculpturesque life is not sufficiently full-blooded for him. -Consequently I approach an attendant, and request that he discover to -us the most celebrated items of his collection. Whereupon is opening of -doors, unlocking of cabinets, up-pulling of blinds, and letting in of -more light generally. - -Most celebrated of all is a Grecian sculpture of 480 B.C., taken from -the Louvre in 1870. When I suggest, as delicately as may be, that there -is danger of it having to make further journeyings, the attendant -sighs, and softly replaces the covering curtains. Young Hercules -killing the snakes; a Badender Knabe; Göttin als Flora ergänzt; -Trauernde Dienerin vom Grabmal der Nikarete aus Athens; a few hasty -impressions--but how refreshing; white clouds in a summer sky--and Tim -has haled me forth into the streets. - -On the galleries, as on all similar public buildings, has been posted a -placard in vivid red, “Nationales Eigentum!” National Possession. - -It almost might seem as if in these penurious days for Germany, -inventory of the national possessions had been taken, and, having been -found to be but scanty, decision had been arrived at to hold fast to -what few poor things appeared to be real and tangible! Everywhere -also one finds vehement posters in red, inciting--to order! Pictured -soldiers, open-eyed with terror, open-mouthed with message, beating -alarum drums; sailors frantically waving flag signals of distress. - -Palaces, memorials, museums, bridges; with much that is to be admired, -Berlin seems so heavily encrusted and over-weighted with ponderous -decoration, as to convey an impression almost that the ground may -give way underfoot. That the solid foundations of things have given -way must be more than an impression with many of these drawn-faced, -dejected-looking passers-by. In the architecture there is a suggestion -of London, of Paris, of ancient Rome--a suggestion of ancient Rome -that is strongest, however, in a chill and deadly feeling of decline -and fall. On many of the buildings, and particularly on the Königl. -Marstall, is the markings of machine-gun fire--the guns have played -upon the windows quite apparently like fire hose for the putting out of -a difficult conflagration. On one of the palaces is stuck a sheet of -paper written upon boldly and carelessly with blue pencil: - -“FÜR EBERT UND HASSE.” - -_Nationales Eigentum_ with a vengeance! Whether they are using the -Royal suite for bureau or bedroom, or both, I know not. - -At all points, and indeed acting as police for the city, are soldiers -and sailors of the security service with white bands on their arms. -Large parties of these men patrol the streets, with a peculiar movement -in the column due to juxtaposition of the measured military step, and -the easy swing of the sailor. We would pass such companies with a -more or less unseeing eye, but we are continually assailed by cheery -greetings of “Wie geht’s?” and “Guten Morgen!” - -If we pause before a public building, a soldier or sailor immediately -approaches and asks if we desire to enter. In suchwise we get glimpse -of a number of the important public institutions, including the modern -and rather magnificent Royal Library. In the Royal Opera House, despite -the revolution, performances are announced for to-night of Verdi’s -“Otello,” for to-morrow (Sunday) night of “Rigoletto.” - -Some of the streets running off Unter den Linden bear marks of -yesterday’s fighting; some of them are still big with agitation; -groups and queues of gesticulating soldiers and civilians. We pass the -Legations and through the Brandenburger Tor into the Tiergarten, and -take leisurely view of the Reichstag, looking deserted and dejected, -and as if all the glory of debate had departed from it for ever. Here -is the Siegessäule and the Denkmal to Bismarck, Moltke, and the long -lineage of German warriors. Here also is the Hindenburg statue, looking -decidedly forlorn and rather foolish. Tim and I decide that it would -hardly be expedient for us to drive in a couple of nails! - - -LIEBKNECHT AND ROSA LUXEMBURG - -Now approaches a great procession of men and women, silent, sad, -slow-moving, sombre-hued save for the red banners which here and there -droop into the ranks and show through the trees like gouts of blood. -It is the Spartacusbundes Party, with Liebknecht and Rosa Luxemburg at -their head. They are doubtless come to mourn their dead of yesterday -and to demand redress and revenge. The procession winds its way through -the paths, and ultimately the speakers take up position beside the -statue of one of the Margraves, where Liebknecht’s father agitated -before him in less agitated times than these. - -Liebknecht speaks now, fiercely and with arms outflung and disturbed as -the leafless branches of the trees which form a background. There is a -wild scream and the crowd commences to stampede. The motor-waggons of -the Security Service of the Social Democratic Party are coming up, grim -and grinning with machine-guns. A terrified crowd is a very terrible -thing. - -My last experience of its blind whirl and bewilderment was when the -Germans shelled Béthune with big guns at long range on a market Monday -of August, 1916. We looked like having trouble now. “Through force of -habit they will doubtless take their sighting shots on us,” I said to -Tim. - -The soldiers have had orders, however, not to shoot unless they were -attacked, and the crowd gradually regains reassurance. Standing on the -outskirts of the throng, I bought an album of views of Berlin from a -poor little girl, and immediately after a similar collection from an -old woman equally poor and equally insistent. - -My last recollection of Liebknecht is of a gesticulating volcanic -figure, and of a livid face, with the wild eyes and the distorted mouth -of a Greek tragic mask. He was killed a few weeks later, within a few -hundred yards of where we heard him speak. - -We have during the day made incursions to various cafés, the -“Victoria,” and the one-time very cosmopolitan “Bauer.” In this last, -at just an hour before train time we are seated, at question whether, -our adventure having proved so successful so far, it be not financially -possible to carry it into another day. We decide that if we go fasting -during the morrow--a proceeding familiarity with which has rendered not -too fearful---we shall have purses sufficient to pay for a bed in the -hotel, and our return fares to Beeskow. - -We have been sitting meanwhile amid a cheerless concourse. The people -enter, take their refreshment without any appearance of refreshing, and -so depart. “See,” says a Russian, just released from Ruhleben, who has -entered into conversation, “how they are dazed; how they are dreaming! -All of Germany is as a great empty building!” - -The streets are crowded, and there is much excitement in the air. -Outside the Friedrichstrasse Station we make purchase of a series of -severe caricatures of the Kaiser, watched by quite a crowd who seem to -recognize the irony of the situation. We have no difficulty in getting -into a hotel, and we make no delay in getting into a very inviting bed. - -[Illustration: A CARICATURE OF THE KAISER. Bought in the streets of -Berlin.] - - -CAPTIVITY DE LUXE! - -Behold next morning two British _Gefangenen_ in the capital of Germany, -pillowed luxuriously in bed, pulling the bell-rope insistently, and, a -waiter appearing, making demands for an immediate serving of coffee. -Not only so, but having search made in the German Bradshaw for the hour -of departure of the train which was to convey us back to prison, and -the time at which we could attend a celebration of Mass. - -St. Hedewick is a great circular cathedral, not without a certain -impressiveness, particularly when crowded as it was on our arrival. The -service was in progress, and from the great organ came a sound like a -rushing mighty wind. When we emerged it was raining, and we decided to -call as invited on our Russian friend of yesterday. We made our way -to the address circuitously and laboriously, receiving direction--and -misdirection--from a sailor sentry, who left his post and accompanied -us for a ten-minutes’ march to put us on the proper car. “I have to -Hartlepool and Gateshead been,” he said. - -The Russian family were delighted to see us, and extended what -hospitalities they could, generously and graciously. They advised us to -leave Berlin by the afternoon train, as the revolutionary storm which -was obviously brewing was expected to burst blood-red that day. “I will -see you to the station, then I shall not leave the house again.” - -A nephew entering at this time, he undertook charge of us. As we stood -on the platform of the tram, there tore alongside of us a motor-car, -driven furiously, and full of soldiers and sailors who bombarded -us with copies of the revolutionary paper, the _Rote Fahne_ (Red -Flag), and with leaflets making call for a great mass meeting of the -Spartacusbund. - -I secured a copy. Among the named speakers were Rosa Luxemburg, -Liebknecht, Levi, Duncker.[1] - -Arrived at the Gorlitzer Station, we found that there would be no -train till evening, and at our guide’s suggestion we three drank -chocolate--at five marks for three cups, including a 50-pfennig tip -to the waiter--and listened to the melancholy music in the great café -which used to be called the “Piccadilly,” but which at the outbreak of -the war was renamed “Das Vaterland.” - -Returning to the station, we decided that our friend had best make -purchase of the tickets, to prevent possible conflict. - -While we waited there leapt upon us an aggressive young woman. - -“Are you English officers?” she demanded. - -“We are,” said we. - -“Thank God for that!” she cried. “I’m English too, though I’m married -to a German; and I love my country better than I love my husband, and -think I shall come home!” - -As this presented a marital problem too profound for our plumbing, we -made the pretext of our friend’s return with the tickets to beat a -hasty retreat. - -We arrived back in Beeskow about ten o’clock, rang the bell and -demanded admittance as good and dutiful _Gefangenen_. The _Posten_ -opened the gate, and when he beheld us twain he very decidedly and -indubitably closed a knowing eye! - - -FREEDOM AND FAREWELL - -_It has come at last!_ And now that it has at last come it has -not brought that immediate and amazing emotion of exultation -which we had imagined and anticipated so long. We are leaving for -_Home_--_To-day_--in a few hours! The brain receives the message, -grasps it apparently, and passes it on to the heart. The heart hears, -doubtless, yet it only says, soberly, even sadly, “Yes, that is so.” -Perhaps later, after many days; after months; in after-years, maybe, -there will be the full realization that we have come out of captivity, -and we shall be moved even to tears! - -Meanwhile, our boxes have to be filled; our cupboards have to be -emptied. My last recollection of the German soldiery--these legions of -a would-be modern Rome--is of their standing around while we piled into -their outspread arms our old pots and pans, boxes of broken biscuits, -and fragments of hardened bread. _Sic transit!_ - -Four o’clock. We pass through the gate of the old Bischofsschloss for -the last time. As we go down the street one of the officers shows me -the great padlock which he has carried off in his pocket as a souvenir! -If he had been a Samson, he would doubtless have preferred the gate -itself! - -The people stand at doors and windows and wave us farewell. Auf -Wiedersehen! Some of the passers-by insist on shaking us by the hand -and wishing us God-speed. We have become familiar to them--and not too -fearful--during the past five months. At the station there is something -of a crowd; as the train moves out there is something of a cheer. - -By nine o’clock we are once more in Berlin. We hire a whole squadron of -dilapidated hackney coaches and move in somewhat whimsical procession -for an hour through the already dark and almost deserted streets. - - * * * * * - -Warnemünde. We pass immediately from the train to the quay, where the -Danish ship _Prins Christian_ is lying with steam up. A Danish officer -is in waiting at the gangway, and as each officer answers to his name -he passes over the ship’s side--a free man once more. - -Lieut. Kruggel descends to the saloon to bid us good-bye. He shakes -hands all round. - -“Es ist vollbracht,” I said. - -“Es ist vollbracht,” he replied. - -And with a military salute, he turned, and, a suggestion of sadness in -the stoop of his shoulders, made his way up the companion ladder. - -THE END. - -FOOTNOTE: - -[1] Two days later, in the train for Copenhagen, I gave up my seat -willingly to a little boy with a face of great intellectuality, who -was obviously in a very delicate state of health. This was accepted -gratefully for the lad by the two Danish gentlemen who had him in -charge. They told me that he was the son of Herr Duncker, Professor -of Philosophy in the Berlin University, and one of the leaders of the -Spartacusbund; that they were taking him to Copenhagen, where his elder -brother already was, partly because he was suffering from malnutrition, -but principally for safety, neither his father nor mother expecting -to survive the Revolution. A sister of eighteen or nineteen stays -with her parents. The boy’s guardians also informed me that the lad, -who was only nine years old, already wrote verse which would not be -discreditable to a young man, and that his brother had in a few months -become the chief scholar in the Copenhagen school. - - * * * * * - -BALLADS OF BATTLE AND WORK-A-DAY WARRIORS - -By Lieut. JOSEPH LEE - -_SOME PRESS OPINIONS_ - -_The Times._--“There is real fibre and lifeblood in them, and they -never fail to hold the attention.” - -_The Spectator._--“Of the verse that has come straight from the -trenches, the BALLADS OF BATTLE are among the very best.” - -_Morning Post._--“There is staunch stuff in this little book of -verse from the trenches.... Here is a soldier and a poet and a -black-and-white artist of merit, and we wouldn’t exchange him for a -dozen professional versifiers who ... cannot write with a spade or draw -with a bayonet or blow martial music out of a mouth-organ.” - -_Manchester Guardian._--“There is no shadow of doubt but that Sergeant -Joseph Lee’s BALLADS OF BATTLE are the real thing.... In its way this -little book is one of the most striking publications of the war.” - -_Leeds Mercury._--“Many war poems have been published of late, but few -approach the BALLADS OF BATTLE in point of imagination, and vitality of -expression. There is a grim realism in the Sergeant’s poems, as well as -an intensity of vision that is at times almost startling.” - -_The Bookman._--“Sergeant Lee is in the succession, spiritual -descendant of those balladists and lyricists who have made the name of -Scotland bright.... As for the manner of the book, it is good--it is -very good, it is notable.” - -_Glasgow Herald._--“Sergeant Lee’s verses are as frank and straight -as we would wish a soldier-poet’s work to be; but behind all the -humour and grim realism there is a poet’s ideal humanised by a Scot’s -tenderness, and the serious poems are worthy of any company. Their -courageous cheerfulness is inspiring.” - -_The Tatler._--“A little volume which I shall always hope to keep. -Mostly these vivid little poems were composed well within the firing -line; all of them are haunting--some because of their jocular -soldier-spirit, others for their wonderful realization of the silent -tragedy of war.” - -_Sheffield Telegraph._--“A human, throbbing thing from the trenches. It -strikes vibrant notes of laughter and tears; now it weeps, and now it -is full of the exuberant joy of life; it is a living document authentic -and deep.” - - * * * * * - -Transcriber’s Notes: - -The one footnote has been moved to the end of the text and relabeled. - -Illustrations have been moved to paragraph breaks near where they are -mentioned. - -Punctuation has been made consistent. - -Variations in spelling and hyphenation were retained as they appear in -the original publication, except that obvious typos have been corrected. - -Changes have been made as follows: - -p. 83: “untolerable” changed to “intolerable” (an intolerable outrage) - - - - - -End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of A Captive at Carlsruhe and Other -German Prison Camps, by Joseph Lee - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A CAPTIVE AT CARLSRUHE *** - -***** This file should be named 51222-0.txt or 51222-0.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/5/1/2/2/51222/ - -Produced by MWS, Craig Kirkwood, and the Online Distributed -Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was -produced from images generously made available by The -Internet Archive.) - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United -States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. 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