IV REPRISALS OF GOOD.

For the information contained in this chapter I am greatly indebted to the Friends’ Emergency Committee. Most of it has already appeared in their leaflets and reports, and in articles in The Friend. The following is a reprint of a letter sent by the Bishop of Winchester to the Times. It appeared in the issue of September 29, 1916:

German Work for Prisoners.

Sir,—The following facts, if you can find space for them, will, I think, be of interest and encouragement amidst all the sorrow and misery of war.

The word “reprisals” is often heard in diplomacy and in war; reprisals are attempted or suggested; or reprisals of cruelty are condemned, we rejoice to know, by the instinct and conscience of the nation. These are all reprisals of what is bad. Rarer, at least on the surface, are reprisals of good. But here is such a case.

At the outbreak of the war members of the Society of Friends and others came together for the purpose of bringing help to those men and women of enemy nationality in this country upon whom the war had brought suffering. Their lot was often a pitiable one. The pull of contrary affections, the unkindness of former friends, the sudden loss of means of livelihood, the internment of the men, with its enforced idleness, were some of the troubles which would have produced despair in many cases had not the members of this “Emergency Committee” (169, St. Stephen’s House, Westminster)[37] come to the rescue. They have given material help to thousands of families, and, above all, brought the healing touch of human sympathy to the men in the camps and their wives and children (mostly British-born) left to struggle on alone outside.

It was early in the war also that a group of Germans came together in Berlin and determined to start a similar work. The news of what was being done by the British Committee soon reached them and made them increase their efforts. Since then the two bodies have been in close communication, and each has endeavoured to see that what is done for “alien enemies” in one country is promptly repeated in the other.

Among the recent activities of the Berlin Committee has been the organising of travelling facilities and hospitality for wives from other parts of Germany, who are now allowed to visit their husbands at Ruhleben Camp; and it is now making vigorous efforts to co-ordinate and increase the work of the various agencies in Germany that are trying to lighten the lot of the military and civilian prisoners of war in their camps. At the end of June, I learn, a meeting in support of this work was held at the house of Prince Lichnowsky, former Ambassador in London, who returned specially from the front to preside. Many notable men and women were present, and a collection of 8,000 marks was made.

My reasons for writing to you with this information are two. In the first place, because these Berlin workers are incessantly spreading, through the German Press and otherwise, news of the doings of the British Committee, and even in this matter there should be reprisals. And, secondly, one cannot be too thankful to be able to put on record instances of that common humanity which we knew must exist in some quarters even among our enemies, overleaping national hates and prejudices, and which in this great work of Dr. Siegmund Schultze and his colleagues is so active and persistent. The names of several who are diligent in the work in Germany are those of men personally known to me in respect and affection; and (whatever their views of war and of Britain may be—which I do not know) I can feel as sure of their simple sincerity and good purpose as if they were my own countrymen. This may be, perhaps, an added excuse for troubling you.—Yours faithfully,

Edw. Winton.

Farnham Castle. Surrey, September 27.

The German work is an offshoot of the general work undertaken by the Enquiry and Assistance Agency for Germans abroad and foreigners in Germany (Auskunfts- und Hilfsstelle für Deutsche im Ausland und Ausländer in Deutschland). The following is a translation of the appeal issued by the parent society:

The war has caused great distress amongst countless Germans in foreign countries. In helping our countrymen we have to rely almost exclusively on the benevolence of the societies which have been for years in co-operation with us in those countries, especially upon our English and American co-workers in the religious societies for international friendship. In England, where great difficulties for German subjects might have been expected from the exceptional conditions prevailing, a Committee was formed directly the war broke out, whose object was to provide support for distressed Germans and Austrians in England; and already many Germans have told us verbally and in writing of the valuable help given to them by this Committee.

In consequence of many requests and complaints we have felt that it was our duty to interest ourselves in those foreigners who were in difficulties in Germany. At a time when the German people, from the highest to the lowest, have joined together in the consciousness of a stern defence against their enemies, and are fighting out the great struggle for existence and freedom, it may well appear to many that it is superfluous to render to the alien enemies amongst us any more than the most necessary services. But we have not only to think of those Germans who are now abroad, not only to remember that those foreigners who are in need in Germany are for the most part Germany’s best friends and are bound to us by a thousand ties; besides all this the task is laid upon us by our own desire to render friendly service in these times of hatred to those who now find it so difficult to obtain help. Even in war time, whoever needs our help is our neighbour, and love of their enemies remains the distinguishing mark of those who are loyal to our Lord.

We have accordingly decided to establish a Berlin Enquiry and Assistance Office to work with the corresponding offices at home and abroad, especially with the above-mentioned Emergency Committee in London, the Berne and Stuttgart Peace Bureaux, etc. We beg for help and gifts, which may be sent to the following address: Berliner Auskunfts- und Hilfsstelle für Deutsche im Ausland und Ausländer in Deutschland; communications to be addressed to Fräulein Dr. Elisabeth Rotten, Berlin No. 18, Friedenstrasse 60.

The signatories to this appeal were: Prof. W. Foerster, Ehrich Gramm (Banker), Dr. Kleineidam (Provost), Eduard de Neufville, Prof. Rade, Julius Rohrbach (Pastor), Dr. Elisabeth Rotten, Dr. Alice Solomon, F. Siegmund-Schultze (Pastor), Dr. Spiecker, Pastor Umfried.

It is important to note that of the families and others helped by the Committee, the largest percentage (49) were English. Russians made up 24 per cent, and French 9 per cent. (Dr. Elisabeth Rotten’s circular of April, 1916.)

The following documents explain themselves:—Extract from a letter of Dr. Elisabeth Rotten, dated January 6, 1916.

In spite of the fact that the numbers of permanent workers in the office and out of it increase all the time, we have work here from morning to night, often including holidays. But we do it gladly, for it is a labour of love. At present our chief work lies in taking home French children from the occupied territory of France. In Belgium this work is now nearly discharged, and a lady has only to go there once more, this month, to fetch the last batch of children. The French children are not fetched by our delegates; they travel in the larger trains for civilians, who are brought from the occupied territory of France, through Switzerland, back into the unoccupied[38] parts. What we now have to do is to see that the children who had been left behind, separated from their parents, are reunited with them as quickly as possible. The children themselves seldom know where their parents are, but we have the addresses through working in conjunction with the International “Feminist” Bureau at Lausanne. This creates a great deal of correspondence with the respective authorities. I am glad to be able to add that the [German] War Office has come forward with sympathy to help us in this work.

We have sent large consignments of warm clothing and food—including honeycake—to the civilian prisoners’ camps at Ruhleben and Holzminden, to be distributed among those that received nothing from other sources. French and Russian civilians are interned at Holzminden.

German women workers in connection with our Committee in other parts have also sent Christmas gifts to the camps nearest them. I enclose extracts from letters from Fräulein Jens, of Hamburg, and Frau Kirchhoff, of Bremen, which I put at your disposal. The Berlin Committee of the Women’s Suffrage Union has done the same for Döberitz, and other Committees in South and West Germany have also carried out similar work. It is of particular interest to note that the request that German women might remember the prisoners of war in such a way came from a German soldier at the front. The ladies were already planning something of the sort, and would certainly have done it; but still, such a request, so heartily and earnestly expressed, is remarkable.

From Frau Senator Kirchhoff, December 28, 1915:

The camp at Achim, near Bremen, in the province of Hanover, is called Etelsen Moor. Frau Schmitt and I finished off everything in one day, and early on the 23rd we drove out with two large trunks and three cardboard boxes. Altogether we had collected 536 marks; 190 went to Frau Feist, 100 marks cash went to the camp at Etelsen. Our trunks contained 40 flannel shirts and 40 pairs of pants, 40 pairs of slippers, 32 pairs of socks, mittens, helmets, scarves, 1,000 cigars, 100 cakes of chocolate, 25 note-books, 50 pencils, 50 blotters, drawing paper, india rubber, calendars, etc. Three prisoners—two Belgian and one Frenchman—came with two wheelbarrows; they were accompanied by two German non-commissioned officers. The men were exceedingly pleased: the German soldier said they had long been wishing to give the men presents and were happy that we had made it possible for them to do so. Afterwards I received two charming letters; one from the Commandant, who thanked me very heartily. They had been able to give every prisoner—chiefly Belgians and French, but also Russians and one Englishman—a present. He enclosed a touching, grateful letter from a Belgian prisoner, an adjutant, and a programme of their Christmas theatricals. I have seldom been so glad about anything as I am that this has been a success.

From Fräulein Jens, December 30, 1915. Work at Hamburg.

We had altogether about 400 marks, and out of this fund 100 parcels containing each about 3 marks worth of goods were purchased and handed over with 100 marks in money—for sick and needy prisoners—into the care of the camp chaplain. He took the opportunity of explaining in our presence to three of the camp “Captains,” an Englishman, a Frenchman and a Russian, the object of the gift. They were greatly touched and most grateful. The Englishman thanked us in the name of his country. We were only sorry that we could not do far, far more, but if even this little is a seed of corn which may in the future bring forth thoughts of reconciliation between the nations we shall be happy. Our presents were given for the New Year, as it is the custom for English and French to make presents then....

Some Thanks on Both Sides.

The following is from the Prisoners’ Aid Society of the German civilians interned in Camp III., Knockaloe, Isle of Man. If the English shows signs of effort, it is an effort of sincerity:—

To the Emergency Committee for the Assistance of Germans, Austrians and Hungarians in Distress.

Dear Madam,—We do not wish to fail to remember at the beginning of the New Year with gratitude those who, during the past difficult year, have made it their task to alleviate, wherever possible, the misery and the most pressing sorrows of such families who, by their internment as prisoners of war, were deprived of their bread-winners. When assembled in silent prayer during the last festive season—the season of Peace and Goodwill to all mankind—our hearts felt the particular necessity of expressing our innermost thanks to your Committee for all the magnanimous acts of brotherly love and relief shown and granted to the dependents of the interned.

Whilst we venture to ask you to see in these few lines the unanimous vote of thanks of all the prisoners of war at Knockaloe Camp III., and kindly bring it to the notice of those who in a self-sacrificing manner generously assisted your work of love, we, the undersigned, respectfully offer our heartfelt wishes for the New Year.

P. H. Bernhard, Chairman; Carl Glock, Deputy Chairman; C. P. Toellner, Treasurer; B. Pflug, Hospital.

And here we have an extract from a letter of gratitude from some Serbian prisoners to one of the German Committees. It was despatched by the Serbian Aid Committee at the camp Frankfurt-am-Oder, on February 22, 1917. “The hundred or so parcels for Serbian Prisoners of War mentioned in your kind letter of December 20, 1916, came to hand in good time and in good condition from Switzerland, and were distributed to those who were in the weakest condition, and those who were most needy. In all there were 94 parcels, and you have the blessing of 94 human beings, ill, weak, and altogether deserted by the world. As our former camp (Halbe b. Berlin) was broken up just at that time and distributed amongst four other camps, we have only just learned who it was who had given us such kindly and noble thoughts. We thank you therefore once more with our whole heart for your great goodness and charity—God will repay it to you.

“The gifts (the many good and beautiful things) reached us here in good time, and were divided amongst Serbians who [were in various camps] and the remainder we distributed here on Christmas Eve in the camp. You should have seen the joy of these poor men!... May God only grant a speedy peace!... While thanking you heartily once again, we beg you to think of us in the future also.... P.S.—In all the camps belonging to our group we have a total of 30-40 sick men.”

“Joining Hands with the Enemy.”

The spirit produced by reprisals of good is well shown in the following extracts from an article in The Friend. (April 20, 1917):—

There have been fresh evidences lately of the response from Germany to our efforts here, and of the likeness between our work and that of the Berlin Committee. The animating spirit is evidently so much the same that a wife left behind in England wrote to her repatriated husband in Germany, “Just write your letter and send it to St. Stephen’s House at Berlin, and they’ll send it for you.” The italics are ours.

Dr. Rotten wrote March 8:

“Just a few lines to tell you that a second parcel from Berne arrived to-day, containing the remainder of the reports about your work, namely, 25 copies of your Fourth Report and 100 copies of “A Day at St. Stephen’s House.” We are much pleased to make these vivid descriptions of your assistance to the Germans in England accessible to so many, as our experience has taught us that direct information has a much greater effect than our own full or abbreviated translations. But we try again and again with the latter, and at the present moment two different sketches of our endeavours in England and Germany for mutual help have been accepted by various papers, so we may hope to be able to send you a copy before long. Grateful as ever, with kindest greetings in the name of all.”

The same idea is carried further in a letter received by one of our helpers from a personal friend in Germany:

“Your printed report which came into my hands a few days ago has made me very happy. I was not surprised, but it only strengthened my belief in you and in the good of humanity. What you have done and are still doing brings nearer the goal that now seems so far off—everlasting peace grounded in respect and mutual understanding.”

From Dr. Rotten:

The Relatives of Men in Ruhleben.

When in April of last year, after repeated applications by us, regular visits by the wives and children were at last permitted, the regulations were at first rather strict. The separation of husband and wife by a table was felt to be a special hardship.[39] The visits taking a satisfactory course, however, this was altered in a few weeks, and since then visitors have been allowed in the camp itself and may walk around and converse freely with their relatives. Permission was, indeed, soon extended to mothers and sisters, and also fiancées of those interned, provided the engagement had taken place before internment. At the present time wives living in and around Berlin are allowed to visit once a month, the time permitted being nominally one hour, but this is fortunately not interpreted very strictly, so that in actual practice two hours are often allowed. Wives coming from a distance receive permission every three months; and it was for a long time a concern of these women and of their husbands—a concern shared by us—that these visits had to be made in a single period of two hours. Over and over again one found that the joy of reunion after so long a separation was so unnerving that they could scarcely unburden themselves on a single occasion of all the important matters reserved for discussion, and that only afterwards did they remember all that they had intended to say. We repeatedly made representations on this score in the proper quarter, appealing for a change in the regulation, and in December last we had the joy of obtaining permission for the wives from outside to stay in Berlin for a week and to make two visits of two hours during this period. In special cases a third visit might be allowed. All wives coming from a distance, at the same time as they receive the permit, are instructed by the Commandant to apply to us in the event of their needing any advice in respect of accommodation in Berlin. And so we are visited by many, whose reception in Berlin we either arrange for at their request in advance, or who, though acquainted with Berlin, yet come for information. They are so well satisfied with the conditions of their visits that at the present time there is no occasion to ask for further concessions.

Getting Men Out of Ruhleben.

Apart from our interest in the repatriation of the “over forty-fivers,” our principal concern for Ruhleben consists for the present in finding work outside the camp for the younger prisoners, for, thanks to the recent decision of the Commandant, resulting from our repeated applications, such prisoners may obtain leave of absence provided they find situations. It is, of course, very difficult for those in the camp to seek situations, and we are therefore making special efforts to find opportunities for work, induce employers to engage an alien, and then conduct negotiations. There are among those desiring to exchange their forced idleness at Ruhleben for productive work many who are concerned to remain loyal British subjects.

The following quotation from Dr. Rotten refers to a specially interesting intercommunication:

We are delighted and thankful to see from your letter of January 31 that an unnamed gentleman in America has sent you the sum of £400 with instructions to assign half of it to our work for foreigners in Germany, and saying that the British Government at once gave their consent to the payment of the amount to us. It will be a great help to our work and will be conscientiously used for British subjects and for the subjects of nations allied with England. For a considerable time our work has been such that we can take advantage of the relief agencies of other countries for the assistance of Germans abroad, and for that reason can apply the means placed at our disposal for the support of foreigners in Germany only. So our help is now practically confined to “alien enemies,” because the subjects of neutral States, should they be in need, can obtain other assistance, and it is our uppermost wish to relieve those who, but for us, would perhaps be utterly friendless. It is, moreover, a great satisfaction and encouragement to us that outside your and our spheres the community of our work is so strongly felt that people desire to further the efforts of the two societies simultaneously. The confidence so kindly felt in our efforts even abroad incites us to an ever increasing devotion to our work, to the undertaking of new tasks, and to the fulfilling of the old ones with more and more care in every detail.

The Spectroscope Story.

The spectroscope story is a particularly good example of the way reprisals of good work out. I take the following account from a leaflet signed W.R.H., and already known to many workers in the cause of fellowship.

A spectroscope, I believe, is an instrument which takes a ray of light and proceeds to spread it abroad. At all events, the description seems to suit in this case.

The spectroscope game was started by Bishop Bury. After his return from his visit to Ruhleben Camp he mentioned in a lecture that some of the science students interned there were very anxious to obtain the use of a spectroscope. The report of this lecture was read by one of the camp visitors of the Friends’ Emergency Committee, who was a schoolmaster and a scientist. Moreover, he possessed a spectroscope. So he joined in the game and played his piece. But instead of trying to send the instrument to Germany, he wrote to St. Stephen’s House and suggested that inquiries should be made as to whether any of the schools in the internment camps in England were in need of such an apparatus. If so, he would lend his, and ask our friends of the Berlin Committee for assisting alien enemies to try to do the same for Ruhleben. It was soon discovered that a group of men in Douglas Camp would welcome the spectroscope, which was at once sent them, and the corresponding message written to Berlin. It was not long before a reply was received telling us, as we expected, that every effort would be made, as usual, to carry out such a proposal for reciprocal service to prisoners.

A little later another player came into the game in the shape of the German War Office. (There seems to be a War Office player in every game that takes place in these days.) The German War Office was reluctant to permit valuable lenses to enter the internment camp without being quite sure first of all that the corresponding privilege had been allowed in England. Would we, therefore, obtain and forward a written certificate from the Commandant of the camp to say that the instrument had been allowed. This was soon done, and we next hear that the Berlin Committee, being unable to find a spectroscope themselves, had collected the sum of 900 marks for the purchase of one, and has asked permission for two of the leaders of the “University” of Ruhleben to be allowed out of camp to inspect instruments before purchase. This permission seems to have been readily granted, and Dr. Higgins and Mr. Chadwick met Dr. Rotten, the secretary of the Berlin Committee, in order to choose the most suitable apparatus. They finally decided upon one offered by Herr H., the head of an optical instrument firm.

At this point the game became specially interesting. Dr. Rotten was aware that Herr H.’s brother and his family had been closely in touch with the Emergency Committee, and had received considerable help in difficult and distressing circumstances. In recognition of the assistance given to his brother, he at once offered to lend to the camp, for the period of the war, a spectrometer and prisms valued together at 1,650 marks. The 900 marks collected were thus released to be used for other enterprises. Herr H. also sent a warm message offering to receive his brother’s children, who had lost their mother during the war, and to welcome his brother as soon as he was free to cross to Germany. He also offered to provide him with anything he might desire to help him pass away the weary hours in camp. We learnt that the brother had been studying French, and now wish to take up Spanish, and he has therefore chosen a set of Spanish instruction books as what he would like best.

The game still continues. Other well-known scientific firms in Berlin have been approached and interested in an effort to provide material for scientific work in Ruhleben, and we have received a request from Dr. Higgins to follow up an effort he is making to provide similar assistance for some men at Knockaloe, about whom he has written to various University professors and business friends in England. Herr H. has also sent us a list of nine firms whose principals he is acquainted with, to see if they also will help in like manner.

A spectroscope I believe, is an instrument which takes a ray of light and proceeds to spread it abroad. A fine instrument!

W.R.H.

The ray of light is spread by reprisals of good. When the nephew of a friend of mine was let out from Ruhleben on a fortnight’s leave, and received “overwhelming kindness” from his German hosts, what was it that so specially drew out their kindness? The fact that their own son, interned in this country, has been befriended here. (P. 105.)

A Baby Case Visitor.

Yet, in spite of all the efforts of sympathy, suffering, in camp and out, grows ever greater as the war continues. Here are two short stories of February, 1915, as reported to the Committee on this side. If, for a moment we can forget our passions, the sufferings of these, our fellows, must touch our hearts. Nearly four more years have passed and we know that greater loneliness and sorrow must have come to these hearts, as to so many more.

Our first call is in a horrid little street off Tottenham Court Road. Four knocks on a very shaky door brings Bertha, the wife of a German, a ships’ cook, who has never been long enough on shore to become a naturalised Englishman. Bertha was a servant for many years before she married, and had collected many precious possessions, and she and Friedrich had a comfortable home with plenty of furniture and full of all the useless and hideous knicknack which apparently make so many people happy. Only a few remain, for nearly all have “had to go”—the term we know so well to mean that they are now in pawn, and that it will probably never be possible to redeem them. When first we visited them they were living in a basement room where rats made it difficult for them to sleep, and where, on the many unexpected calls I paid, I never once found a fire.

“We are not people wot feel the cold like some, Miss,” they told me; “and the room’s so small it likely wouldn’t be ’ealthy to have a fire all day” so the “bit of washing” used to hang on a string for days and days before it dried, and they did their “bit of cooking” on a small gas ring. One day I called and found Friedrich still in bed; he was quite well, he said, “but we take turns to stay in bed, Miss, for it’s warmer there and you don’t seem to feel so hungry in bed as when you’re up.”

They were trying to save something out of a weekly 12s. 6d., after 6s. had been paid for rent, for the time when Bertha would have to go into hospital, and to buy some clothes that her little babe would need. Then you sent me, and let me tell her you would remember her when that time came, and you sent her flannel and wool to make the little clothes: after that a shilling a week could be spent on coals, and each time I went they sent you thanks and blessed you for your love.

We say good-bye here and go north to Camden Town where we call on Ludwig and Marie and their five children, the eldest of whom is six. He is Austrian and she is Irish, and they live in two rooms for which they pay 8s. 6d. a week. He was a waiter for thirteen years in a well known London restaurant, and his master has told him many times he would take him back if only the public or the newspapers would let him. But they won’t. So Ludwig had nothing to do, and tells me he thinks he shall go out of his mind sitting in idleness in his miserable surroundings. Marie has been in hospital, too, and then Ludwig had plenty to do looking after his four little children alone for two weeks, and says it was the hardest work he ever had to do, and is glad his lot in life is not to be a woman!

The doctor in the hospital told Marie she must have plenty of milk every day, and we smiled together, for we knew their weekly income left no margin for milk for her—the children must be fed first. So you are helping, and Marie has her milk each day, and she and her babe are growing strong and well again.

The work done by the Friends’ Emergency Committee, Dr. K. E. Markel and others on this side, and by Dr. Rotten, Siegmund Schulze, Prof. Stange and their fellows on the other, is indeed as “a clear flame of truth in a dark and haunted night.”

Prof. Stange.

To the great work of Prof. Stange, of Göttingen, I have once or twice alluded. He directs all the instruction given in the Göttingen camp, attends daily, gives lectures and superintends the library. He experienced the usual difficulties of any civilian who tries to practice Christianity in war-time. “One great German newspaper wrote with indignation that the prisoners in the Göttingen Camp had as good a time as if they were at a health resort.” Doubtless this paper, like some others, contrasted the (rumoured) abominable treatment of German prisoners by their enemies with the too great indulgence shown to prisoners in Germany. But Prof. Stange is not abashed. “No internment camp,” he writes, “can be compared with a ‘holiday resort.’ In spite of everything that may be done for the prisoners, internment is and remains always a very hard lot. In the Göttingen camp, too, many a prisoner needs not only the exertion of his whole strength, but help as well to make the endurance of his lot physically and spiritually possible.” Stange is one of those who have learned to envisage the anxieties, the loneliness, the uncertainty, the ennui of the prisoner, and the terrible enervation of long months, and, alas, years of confinement. In this, as in so many circumstances of the war, it is the more sensitive and developed minds that suffer most, and are most easily destroyed, those minds that are indispensable in the building of any worthy future.

Prof. Stange quite frankly acknowledges to a war prejudice against the English. But when he found their great need of help, his prejudices melted away, and he soon engaged in helping them too with books classes, and other means of activity.

Prof. Stange recognises that such work for enemy prisoners helps towards better treatment of their own prisoners abroad, but, he adds, “It must certainly be emphatically stated that we in Göttingen never took up our work for the prisoners with this object. What compelled us to work was simply and entirely the great distress and need of the prisoners themselves.” (P. 36. The extracts are from Prof. Stange’s pamphlet on Göttingen Camp.)

The Last Resting Place.

At last, rest. To many weary hearts it must have become a pitiful consolation that this at least is sure. “After life’s fitful fever he sleeps well.” And in that sleep no fevered passion can even “ruffle one corner of the folded shroud.” At last, rest; where the enmities and the ambitions are forgotten. In the presence of this stillness of death, even to the living their disputes seem small. If the mood could endure, death might not be needed to bring peace.

I.—England.

“In a corner of the bonny little churchyard of Frongoch, adjoining the extended camp, there are two solitary graves. Here, in a strange land, the land of their captivity, two German prisoner soldiers lie at rest, as in many a plot of ground in France and Flanders, German and British lie together, strife hushed in the last sleep. Here there are no grim sounds and sights of battle, but instead there is all the peace and beauty of a lovely spring. Immediately beyond the graves a wooded bank descends to the stream, and over and through the fresh green foliage, amidst which the birds are happily melodious this bright April morning, and all around can be seen the mountains of Wales, the ‘land of freedom.’ Over the grave of one of these liberated captives is a tombstone erected at the expense of, and engraved by, his fellow prisoners. It marks the place where Hugo Schröter, Under-Officer of one of the Crown Prince’s Infantry Regiments, who died on April 9, 1915, as the result of wounds received in the cause of his country, was laid to rest by his grateful comrades.

“The other grave has no stone as yet, but one is being prepared. It is that of a prisoner who died of consumption, after many months of lingering suffering in the hospital, where every care was bestowed upon him. It was in reference to this man that the Chief Officer wrote me: ‘To our regret died last Thursday the patient in the isolation hospital. If only he could have seen the two beautiful bunches of violets you sent! The funeral took place yesterday at 10-30. It was an impressive sight but a very sad one, too.’

“My daughter laid a little offering of white flowers on the grave, and then I photographed them in order to send copies to the families of the poor men, which I hope may prove little winged messengers of sympathy and goodwill.”

W. Whiting.

II.—Germany.

“A British officer, of whom one can truly say that he had not been afraid to speak the truth about his treatment in Germany, and in the Cologne hospital, was carried to his last resting-place yesterday.

“It was Captain Wilfred Beckett Birt, of the East Surrey Regiment No. 31, who, on the occasion of the attack in September, 1915, had his thigh shattered and was taken prisoner. Since January, 1916, he had been nursed in the fortress hospital, No. 6, situated in the Empress Augusta School. His chivalrous character and his conscientious impartiality made him respected and popular with his French and English fellow sufferers and the German Hospital Staff. Gratefully he acknowledged what the surgical art of assistant-surgeon Dr. Meyer had done to lessen his sufferings, and the loving care the German nurses, male and female, had bestowed on him and his comrades.

“The great affection in which he was held by friend and foe alike showed itself in the mourning over his death, which took place a few days ago. His wound, a short time before, had shown improvement, but the heart was no longer equal to the terrible strain. Those of his comrades who were not confined to bed rallied round his coffin yesterday, which had been put upon a bier in the hospital garden surrounded by flowers and palms.

“The principal mourners were his countrymen, who were seated on benches at the foot of the coffin; around it were the French and Belgians, the German doctors and hospital staff. Large lighted candles stood at the head of the coffin, which was covered with wreaths decorated with the English, French, Belgian, and German colours.

“Garrison Pastor Hartmann, in a moving speech, which went straight to the heart of the hearers, spoke about the deceased as a chivalrous fighter for his native land, as a good Christian and a truly noble character. It was touching to hear the parting hymn sung by the sonorous voices of the British wounded, accompanied solemnly on the harmonium by a British performer. All escorted the coffin to the gates. Once outside, it was reverently lifted on to the funeral car, which German gunners escorted to the cemetery. Four British and one French officer, as well as the German doctors who could be spared, followed in motor cars.

“At the gates of the cemetery, Lieutenant-General Schach, Colonel Lindemann, as representative of the Governor of the fortress, Major Esser, Dr. Lamberts, the chief medical officer of the garrison, deputations of the Officers’ and Medical Corps, the Band of the Reserve Battalion Pioneer Regiment No. 25, awaited the cortège.

“Pastor Hartmann spoke again, and, in words which made a deep impression on all, closed with prayer and benediction. Dr. Rademacher, the Catholic priest of the garrison, then made a funeral oration in English, affecting all who heard it.

“In the name of the hospital staff, Dr. Meyer expressed his heartfelt sorrow to the British officers present, the band played the hymn, ‘How gently they rest, those who are with the Lord,’ and, profoundly touched, Englishmen and Frenchmen shook hands with the clergy and the German officers.

“Three handfuls of earth on to the coffin of one who had found eternal rest, and the mourners dispersed.” Kölnische Zeitung.

Footnotes: