sioned officer in charge of this post, I would have to be taken to Zurich. While waiting, we went into a café, where the soldier bought me a drink of cognac, as I still felt chilled. We got to Zurich about eleven o'clock, after quite an interesting trip. My guard, guide, or companion, whatever you might call him, would explain my identity to people at the different places where we stopped. Once our road ran along the Rhine, and I could look over and see the German guards along the other bank. At Zurich I went before the commandant. I had to pass a physical examination, and after I had proved myself to have excellent health, he gave a little note to my guard, and sent me out to buy an outfit of clothes. I had dinner here, and at two o'clock was sent by train to Reinfelden, to the commanding general of the frontier. I was then sent out to where I again found my credit unlimited. I ate a fine dinner, had a bath, and hopped into a good feather-bed. I had said to the landlord during dinner that I had been unable to get entirely warm since coming out of the river. My chill had been so great that I had never got my blood to circulating right. Every now and then a cold shiver would run over me, though there was no reason for my being cold. When I got into this bed, I found the biggest hot-water bottle in there that I ever saw. The landlord meant to see that I got "thawed out." It had been two and a half months since I had been in a comfortable bed, and five nights since I had been in any. You may imagine from that how I felt when I crawled into this one. I sank down in it, and if ever a man was happy, I was. With this perfect physical comfort was combined the knowledge that I had won my freedom. I thanked the Lord for my deliverance, and went to sleep. The warm bed, with the big hot-water bottle, did the work. I got so warm that night that I have n't felt cold since. The next morning a Swiss officer called for me and we went to Berne. The American military attaché had been notified, and Captain Davis, assistant military attaché, met us at the train. He did not recognize me, however, in my rustic civilian clothing, as the man he came to meet, and we missed him. The Swiss officer and I went on to the Swiss headquarters. We were just going in when Captain Davis caught us. I was in hopes that others of the bunch had come through, and, having taken an unnecessarily long time myself to avoid danger of recapture, I expected to find them there ahead of me. None, however, had arrived. Captain Davis told me that I was the first American army officer to escape. NOTES, QUESTIONS, AND COMMENTS THE SPIRIT OF '17 i MRS. MARY HERRICK SMITH is a sister of the Hon. Myron T. Herrick, once Governor of Ohio, and a former ambassador to France. We may well wish that she were a more frequent contributor to the magazines The writer is evidently portraying an actual experience: Wellsville, the home of her hero, is in southwestern New York; at Spartanburg, South Carolina, is located one of the great training camps; and Senator Wadsworth was just beginning his service in the national Senate. What qualities do you admire most in this "young fellow"? What details show the writer both a discriminating and a sympathetic observer of life? Why is the closing sentence especially effective? A LITERARY NIGHTMARE MARK TWAIN's real name was Samuel Langthorne Clemens. He was born in Missouri in 1835 and died in Connecticut in 1910. He is generally acknowledged as the greatest of the American humorists. A considerable portion of his early work was first published in the "Atlantic Monthly." How does the writer skillfully tempt us to repeat these verses? Repeat this jingle a few times; is it easy to learn? Does it stay with you and keep repeating itself? Try to account for its fascination. Name some other jingles, or some songs, that have "taken possession" of you. Does the humor here lie principally in what is said, or in the manner in which it is said? The author here seems rather to talk to the reader than to write for him. How does he produce this effect? |