Germany in War Time: What an American Girl Saw and HeardMcAuley, Mary Ethel
History
Germany in War Time: What an American Girl Saw and Heard
McAuley, Mary Ethel
World War, 1914-1918 -- Germany
I got a very good searching, and I had to take off all my clothes,
only when she told me to take off my shoes and I commenced to unlace
one boot she said never mind that one, to take off the other one. I
had hardly gotten dressed before there was a knock at the door of the
dressing-room and some one said I was wanted. I put on my hat and went
out, and there planked in front of the door with both legs spread out
and a long sword at his side, was a good-looking little Saxon officer
aged about twenty years.
He had a fierce look on his face as he demanded, "Why didn't you give
this up in the other room?"
"I couldn't," I answered, "it was in my stocking. You couldn't expect
me to take it out of my stocking before all those men, could you?"
Then we both laughed and I said, "I hope you will give it to me again."
"Of course I will," he answered.
[Illustration: _Russian Refugees Returning Home._]
I went with him to the commanding officer, but that man would not
give me back the letter. I didn't care, I was so glad I hadn't been
arrested. When we came back from Vienna, I was the only one of our
party that had to undress. I never noticed it, but there was some
kind of a mark on my pass, and as soon as the official saw it I had to
undress. But this time I had nothing in my stocking. When they searched
my trunk they took away from me all the post cards and photos of Vienna
I had, and didn't give them back.
After leaving Tetschen, the train runs for hours through Bohemia. It
does not touch at Prague but at a number of small picturesque towns
such as Kolin and Znaim. The country is extensively cultivated and very
fertile. The train was supposed to be an express train but it stopped
at every little way-station.
At one station, a very beautifully dressed lady with a little girl got
on the train. I thought that she must be the wife of some high official
and I was surprised at her lovely clothes away out there in Bohemia.
She sat next to me, and in a short time she began talking to the woman
who sat across from her and who kept asking over and over if any one in
the coupé knew when we got to Deutschbrod. The beautifully-dressed lady
said that she knew for she was going there. And then she told the whole
coupé about the place.
To my surprise she said that she was the wife of the apothecary at the
Barracks at Deutschbrod. The Barracks is a city built since the war on
the hills above the town. It was built by the Austrian government and
is the home of the refugees of East Galicia whose homes were destroyed
by the Russians. Most of these _Flüchtlinge_, as the Germans call them,
are Polish and Russian Jews, but they have also two hundred Italians
from near Görz.
[Illustration: _A Family of Polish Refugees._]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account