rs, did not
hesitate to renew my wardrobe, which demanded replenishment,
particularly as the prices appeared to be attractive. We were ignorant
as to the origin of this stock, but it did not trouble our minds until
my purchase of a pair of socks. This precipitated an uproar, because
within one of the socks I found a small piece of paper on which was
written, undoubtedly by the hand which had diligently knitted the
article, "With love from----. To a poor British prisoner of war in
Germany," followed by the name of the Mission to whom the articles had
been sent, doubtless in response to an appeal.

This discovery revealed the maddening circumstance that what had been
sent out to Ruhleben for free distribution among the prisoners was
actually being sold. There was an enquiry which yielded a more or less
convincing result according to one's point of view.

There was also an outcry over the crates in which these articles were
sent to us. The party of which I was a member had removed from the loft
to a horse-box beneath which had been vacated. When we entered this
attractive residence the walls were still covered with manure--they
were not given a dressing of whitewash until later--while lying upon the
bare floor, with only a thin sack of doubtful shavings between us and
the stone, did not heighten our spirits. But as we were becoming
reconciled to our captivity, we decided to make our uninviting stall as
homely as we could. We decided upon a wooden bed apiece. The
authorities, after persistent worrying, only partially acceded to our
demands by providing three primitive single beds for occupation by six
men.

As we could not persuade the authorities to serve us with a bed apiece,
we decided to build the three extra beds ourselves. But we were faced
with the extreme difficulty of procuring the requisite wood! The
authorities had none to give away and very little to sell. When we saw
these empty packing cases, which were of huge dimensions, we thought
luck had come our way at last, so we approached the proprietor of the
stores for permission to break them up. But to our disgust he informed
us that he had already parted with them--for a consideration we
discovered afterwards. Two had been secured by a German sentry in the
camp to be converted into wardrobes, while the others were in the hands
of the camp carpenter. We approached this worthy, but he ridiculed the
suggestion that he should give some of the wood to us for our in