and be ready to start,
also not to show ourselves out of doors much, as there is the greatest
fury and indignation at present against the English, and to be careful
what we said and did. We are all terribly anxious, and it is rather
trying for me, as I am the only woman in the place quite alone.

_August 7th._--Still no help! Innumerable wild rumours are flying
about. They say that those who left Altheim have all come back, unable
to get farther than Frankfort. We are beginning to feel hopeless.
Nothing about England is in the German papers, and, of course, we see
no others. It is quite terrible being without news. Last night there
was great scrubbing and scraping of Altheim shop windows, and all the
notices: "English spoken here" have disappeared.

There is a mania about spies in Frankfort, we hear, and some Americans
yesterday were very roughly handled because their motor bore a French
maker's name. The Americans have returned to Altheim, and their motor
has been taken to fight for the Fatherland! Our situation is dreadful,
but we are keeping up brave hearts. Every day a fresh "Bekanntmachung"
(notice) appears; that of to-day was addressed to the children and
called upon them to gather in the harvest, the workers having gone as
soldiers and turned their "pruning hooks" into swords. My postcards
written in German have all come back. One cannot communicate with
anyone outside Altheim. What a position! God in His mercy help us! It
seems so strange to see German troops marching to the tune of "God
Save the King," yet it is Germany's National Anthem too, and these are
the words they sing to it:--

"Heil Dir im Sieger Kranz,
Herrscher des Vaterlands,
Heil Kaiser Dir!" etc.

[Illustration: IN KANADA
(_Behold the German idea of a Canadian_)]

A "Warnung" has now been affixed to trees in the Avenue forbidding
Russians, English, French or Belgians to go within 100 metres of the
station. The Russians are being hardly used, but so far Germans are
quite nice to us. Mrs. N---- tells me a gruesome tale of a Russian
lady who left her hotel for Russia smiling, well dressed, and happy.
At Giessen all Russians were turned out of the train and put into a
waiting-room, and locked up there without any convenience of food,
drink, or beds for the night. The following morning they were told to
come out and soldiers marched them several miles into the country to a
farm-house. Some of the poor creatures were faint from want