body and
soul together. I was taken through many of the houses and although no
actual prohibition to talk was given it was virtually impossible to
speak with the prisoners, as I was always hurriedly rushed along from
one place to another. In order to make a pretence of conversation, one
of the two captains who escorted me would sometimes say to a prisoner,
"What nationality are you?" "Scotch, sir." "What regiment?"
"Argyle-Highlanders, sir." "Ah, so!" and we would then hurry along
again. We were in the camp an hour and a half, and during that time I
succeeded in asking three short well-chosen questions of
intelligent-looking British non-commissioned officers.

First question: "Do you get enough to eat?"

Answer: "My Gawd, no!"

Second question: "How do present conditions
compare with the past?"

Answer: "Wonderfully improved, sir,
in comparison."

Third question: "How often do you write
home?"

Answer: "One letter every two months,
but they _say_ they
are going to improve that."

* * * * *

I saw the four o'clock feeding. It reminded me of nothing except
seeing animals fed at the Zoo. In the kitchen I saw the British
soldiers receive their afternoon meal. A line of five great cauldrons
of hot soup extended down the room, each one being about four feet
high and four feet in diameter. The prisoners entered through a
vestibule at one end of the building, where they passed between two
German sentinels to whom each delivered up a metal check before being
allowed to pass inside. There is a roll-call in the sheds before every
meal and each man is then handed a check which later entitles him to
receive his ration. Each prisoner possesses and keeps constantly with
him one iron bowl and one large spoon. When they are permitted to
enter the kitchen the prisoners rush to whatever cauldron is least
busy. There a cook, armed with a long-handled measure holding about a
pint, ladles out one measureful of soup into each man's bowl and this
constitutes the entire repast. The Captain of Landsturm in explaining
to me about the metal checks said indignantly, "Why, if we did not
have this system of checks, they would all come back three and four
times!" by which remark he showed the typical German lack of anything
ap