their acorns; the bees have clustered; the woodchucks are asleep; and the snap in the big hickory by the side of the house has crept down out of reach of the fingers of the frost. I will put on the storm-doors and the double windows. Even now the logs are blazing cheerily on the wide, warm hearth. THE OFFERING BY OLIVE CECILIA JACKS How have we fallen from our high estate, Are these not dust and ashes in thy sight, Have we not sinned against the Spirit's might, What dost thou ask from all the sons of men? Atonement for this wrong? Behold, we lay upon thine altar, then, A host twelve million strong: Twelve million dead; they stand before thy face, An offering for sin; Their cry goes forth into the bounds of space; Our dead they are, - friend, foe, alike, our dead; On sodden battlefield They laid them down; for us their blood was shed; For our transgressions were we smitten sore; For us the chastisement of peace they bore, Not theirs alone the atoning sacrifice: In unity of sorrow paid the price, Gave of their best, their all: One was the heartache, one the darkened home; And one the company Of living dead, who wait to see God come: A mighty company. THE AIRMAN'S ESCAPE BY GEORGE W. PURYEAR I IT was in the afternoon of September 15 that we arrived at Villingen. The prison camp was n't at all attractive from the outside, but it proved much better and more comfortable than it looked. It covered an area of about 1000 metres by 250. Barracks were built around the outer edges, with an open court in the centre, in which were a tennis-court, volley-ball court, library, reading-room, and assembly hall. Around these, inside the line of barracks, was room for us to walk or run for exercise. This had been a Russian officers' camp, but it was being vacated for American officers. There were still two hundred Russians there, and at that time seventy Americans. The American Red Cross had bulk supplies, both of food and clothing, at Villingen. Food was issued every Monday. The German food here was nothing but the old vegetable compound. Once a week we got a little slice of very poor meat. The Russians, who had to live largely on this food, looked awfully pale and underfed. We were not bothered with any formal breakfast at all. Instead, they issued us twenty lumps of sugar a week, which pleased us much better. I never ate any of my sugar, but saved every piece of it for rations on my escape. The Germans took a picture of each of us, after which we could, if we chose, go out of camp for walks, on our word of honor. We could not walk about at our pleasure, of course, but were allowed to go out at a certain time every other day (the weather and convenience of the Germans permitting), in a group of not less than ten, or more than fifty. A German non-commissioned officer went with us as a guide, and we were subject to his orders. We would be out an hour or two. As we went out we would give our written word of honor not to try to escape, accompanied with our picture; and when we returned, we would take it up again. The defenses of the camps were as follows. The outer windows of the barracks were barred. Where the barracks did not join, a blind fence with wire on top connected them. A few feet outside the line of barracks and fence came the main barrier, which went all around. This was, first, a low barbed-wire fence; just outside that, a ditch about four feet wide, filled with barbedwire entanglement; and at the outer edge of this came the main fence, of woven barbed wire, about nine feet high, with steel arms on top of the posts, curving toward the interior about two feet, thus making the top of the fence lean toward the inside, so that it was impossible to climb from that direction, even with nothing else to bother you. Just outside this was the outer guard patrol. This patrol was doubled before dark every night. There was also a line of electric lights a few feet outside, which burned all night. The weather was already growing cold, and I realized that the time for making the attempt, without hazard |