PITIABLE PLIGHT OF BOY OF SIXTEEN STRANDED IN ANTWERP -- HIS ARREST -- A TOWN IN RUINS -- BURYING THE DEAD -- THE LEVELED GUNS -- MARCHING AMONG GERMAN CAMPS -- NO MONEY AND NO WORK. To the thousands of unhappy Belgian refugees driven from their homes by the advancing Germans and transported to England the pity of the whole world has gone out; yet even more deplorable than the condition of these was the fate of those who were left behind to suffer at the hands of a relentless enemy. The story of a delicate boy of sixteen, as told in the following letter which he himself wrote from Antwerp to his former employer, an American living at the time in England, is typical. When this boy, fleeing from Aerschot, arrived in Antwerp, without friends, money or papers, there was no agency to help him. If he had been a smaller child somebody doubtless would have taken pity on him and carried him with them as they fled; if he had been able to preserve his legitimatization papers the Belgian authorities would have given him some support; and, of course, if he had been older, he would have been immediately enlisted in the service of his country. As it was he could only drift before the foe, and suffer. “ANTWERP, Sept. 23, 1914. “DEAR SIR: As you correctly said in my testimonial when you were closing the office, the war has isolated Belgium. Really I can well say that I have been painfully struck by this scourge, and I permit myself, dear sir, to give you a little description of my Calvary. “Your offices were closed in the beginning of August. As I did not know what to do and as the fatherland had not enough men to defend its territory I tried to get myself accepted as a volunteer. “On Aug. 10 I went to Aerschot, my native town, to get my certificate of good conduct. Then I went to Louvain to have same signed by the commander of the place. This gentleman sent me to St. Nicholas and thence to Hemixem, where I was rejected as too young. I then decided to return to Brussels, passing through Aerschot. Here my aunt asked me to stay with her, saying that she was afraid of the Germans. “I remained at Aerschot. This was Aug. 15. Suddenly, on the 19th, at nine o’clock in the morning, after a terrible bombardment, the Germans made their entry into Aerschot. In the first street which they passed through they broke into the houses. They brought out six men whom I knew very well and immediately shot them. Learning of this, I fled to Louvain, where I arrived on Aug. 19 at one o’clock. HIS ARREST