orn
coffee and a hunk of black bread. The mid-day repast comprised a soup
contrived from potatoes, cabbage, and carrots with traces of meat. One
strange mixture which the authorities were fond of serving out to us was
a plate of rice and prunes garnished with a small sausage! I invariably
traded the sausage with a comrade for prunes, this so-called German
dainty not appealing to my palate in the slightest. After a while,
however, this dish vanished from the limited menu. Tea was merely a
repetition of the morning meal.

Our first emphatic protest was in connection with our sleeping
accommodation in the loft. A representative came from the American
Embassy and we introduced him forthwith to our sleeping quarters. We not
only voiced our complaints but we demonstrated our inability to get warm
at night owing to the cold floor striking through the straw. He agreed
with us and ordered the authorities to provide us with sleeping
arrangements somewhat more closely allied to civilized practice. The
Germans obeyed the letter but not the spirit of the Representative's
recommendations. They sent us in a few boards spaced an inch or two
apart and nailed to thin cross battens. In this way our bodies were
lifted about two inches off the floor!

The straw when served out to us was perfectly clean and fresh, but it
did not retain this attractiveness for a very long time. The soil in the
vicinity of Ruhleben is friable, the surface being a thick layer of fine
sand in dry, and an evil-looking slush in wet, weather. As the prisoners
when entering the barracks were unable to clean their boots, the mud was
transferred to the straw. Not only did the straw thus become extremely
dirty but the mud, upon drying, charged it heavily with dust. When a
tired man threw himself down heavily upon his sorry couch he was
enveloped for a few seconds in the cloud of dust which he sent from the
straw into the air. Whenever we attempted to shake up our beds to make
them slightly more comfortable, the darkness of the loft was rendered
darker by the dense dust fog which was precipitated. Naturally violent
coughing and sneezing attended these operations and the dust, being far
from clean in itself, wrought fearful havoc with our lungs. I recall one
prisoner who was in perfect health when he entered the camp, but within
a few weeks he had contracted tuberculosis. He declined so rapidly as to
arouse the apprehensions of the authorities, who hurriedly sent him ho