tended
purpose. We could _buy_ the boards if we liked. As there was no
alternative source of supply we did so, and the price of purchase showed
that the carpenter cleared nine shillings on each crate! With much
difficulty we built our three extra beds between us, but the outlay for
materials alone was eighteen shillings!

The cold during the winter affected us very severely because the barrack
was absolutely devoid of any heating facilities. When the snow was
carpeting the ground to a depth of from six to eight inches, and the
thermometer was hovering several degrees below zero we lay awake nearly
the whole night shivering with cold. Indeed on more than one occasion,
I with others, abandoned all attempts to sleep and trudged the loft to
keep warm.

We appealed to the American Ambassador in the hope that he would be able
to rectify matters. When he came upon the scene there was another
outburst of indignation. He ordered the authorities to instal a heating
system without further delay. By driving through our sole protector in
this manner, we, as usual, received some measure of respite. But the
heating was useless to those living in the horse-boxes. The side
partitions of the latter were not carried up to the ceiling, but a space
of some two feet was left. To protect ourselves from the fierce
ear-cutting draught which swept through the stables we blocked these
spaces with brown paper. But the means which somewhat combated the
onslaughts of the draughts also shut out the heat, so that, in our case,
and it was typical of others, we really did not benefit one iota from
the "complete heating system" with which, so the German press asserted,
Ruhleben Camp was lavishly equipped.

Christmas Day, 1914, was an unholy nightmare. Our fare could not, by any
stretch of imagination, be described as Christmassy. We had several
pro-Germans among us--they preached this gospel in the hope of being
released if only on "passes," but the thoroughbred Prussian is not to be
gulled by patriots made-to-order--and they kept up the spirit of Yule
Tide with candles and what not, somewhat after the approved Teuton
manner. It was impressive, but so palpably artificial and shallow as
merely to court derision and mockery among the Britishers.

The great meal of the Day of Days was a huge joke! One barrack received
what might be excusably described as something like a chop, with
potatoes and gravy. The next barrack had a portion of a chop and
potato