I must have lived through a century of this terrible motion and din and
unheard of roads for trains, and confused thinking. But at length
everything began to take a more familiar appearance again, the noise
grew less, the roads more secluded, and by degrees we recognized the
dear, peaceful country. Now we could think of Berlin, or rather, what we
had seen of it, more calmly, and wonder why it made such an impression.
I see now. We had never seen so large a city before, and were not
prepared to see such sights, bursting upon us so suddenly as that. It
was like allowing a blind man to see the full glare of the sun all at
once. Our little Plotzk, and even the larger cities we had passed
through, compared to Berlin about the same as total darkness does to
great brilliancy of light.

In a great lonely field opposite a solitary wooden house within a large
yard, our train pulled up at last, and a conductor commanded the
passengers to make haste and get out. He need not have told us to hurry;
we were glad enough to be free again after such a long imprisonment in
the uncomfortable car. All rushed to the door. We breathed more freely
in the open field, but the conductor did not wait for us to enjoy our
freedom. He hurried us into the one large room which made up the house,
and then into the yard. Here a great many men and women, dressed in
white, received us, the women attending to the women and girls of the
passengers, and the men to the others.

This was another scene of bewildering confusion, parents losing their
children, and little ones crying; baggage being thrown together in one
corner of the yard, heedless of contents, which suffered in consequence;
those white-clad Germans shouting commands always accompanied with
"Quick! Quick!"; the confused passengers obeying all orders like meek
children, only questioning now and then what was going to be done with
them.

And no wonder if in some minds stories arose of people being captured by
robbers, murderers, and the like. Here we had been taken to a lonely
place where only that house was to be seen; our things were taken away,
our friends separated from us; a man came to inspect us, as if to
ascertain our full value; strange looking people driving us about like
dumb animals, helpless and unresisting; children we could not see,
crying in a way that suggested terrible things; ourselves driven into a
little room where a great kettle was boiling on a little stove; our
clothes ta