Peace; World War, 1914-1918 -- Personal narratives
I then turned to a wealthy brewer and he said that he would O. K. our
bills if we did not get the money. This remained a promise, for he never
was tested to put his promise into execution, though he did go into the
bank one day and tell the clerk to give us twenty pounds more.
It came about, after worrying and waiting a week, in this way: The word
came that our government had arranged so that we were to get some money
on our letters of credit. After standing out in the hot sun a half-day
the bank clerk gave my mother and me one hundred and fifty dollars on
two letters of credit. I objected, saying that we were entitled to one
hundred and fifty dollars apiece. The clerk replied curtly that the
money to be paid out was at his discretion. The one hundred and fifty
dollars was intended for traveling expenses until we should reach
Berlin. He did not seem to take cognizance of the fact that we had a two
weeks' board-bill to pay before we should get that far.
When I appeared with my mother a few days later in quest of more money
he was furious, as he accused me of calling him a d-- thing, though I
had only accused him of being a disagreeable person.
It looked for a while as though the bank clerk was determined to have me
arrested for calling him a bad name. I afterward learned that even in
homes of peace you can be arrested for calling bad names and the offence
becomes worse in war times. I was afraid that he might accuse me next of
being a spy, so I made my escape and never saw the man again. The brewer
and my mother finally quieted him and he gave us twenty pounds, or one
hundred dollars, more. Some of the men finally arranged so that they got
a few hundred dollars every week, at least enough to pay their board.
But I consoled myself by saying that there were some who had less credit
than we had. There was an American man who had lived for years in
China, and he said that he could not get a dollar. A Chicago lawyer
took pity and shared his fifty pounds with him, trusting to fate to get
some more.
After realizing fully that I could not get any money from the small
bank, and in such desperate times it was foolish to depend on promises
for aid, I decided to campaign for more money.
Just before the cables had been closed, I had been advised from home to
seek advice and financial aid, if necessary, from two men in Frankfurt;
the one I had met six months before and the other I did not know. At
first I thought I would take a train and go up to Frankfurt to shorten
the process of borrowing money. Though it is only a five hours' trip,
under ordinary circumstances, from where I was, it had been prolonged to
a fourteen hours' journey. I did not want to trust to the mail, as less
than ten per cent. of the letters written were being received. I was
glad to find out that I could wire for twenty-five cents, as money was
too precious to be wasted on long distance messages, and it broke my
heart every time I had to send a cable.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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