A War-time Journal, Germany 1914 and German Travel Notes | Page 5

from Berlin. The Chief was a gruff, disagreeable old man, who,
to my amiable "Guten Tag" and "Adieu" vouchsafed no reply.
[Footnote 1: This we were told at the time.]
August 18th.--A dreadful blow! We English are forbidden to go to
Holland, and told that our destination is to be Denmark. Imagine
crossing that mined sea now! For reasons of their own German
authorities will not allow any of us to go by or near the Rhine.
August 19th.--The German Press is to me a revelation of bombast,
self-righteousness, falsehood, and hypocrisy. What shocks one most is
the familiar and perpetual calling upon God to witness that He alone
has led the Germans to victory and blessed their cause. I read a poem
yesterday, which began "Du Gott der Deutschen," as if indeed the Deity
were the especial property of the German Nation! Massacre, pillage,
destruction, violation of territory, everything wicked God is supposed
to bless! What hideously distorted minds, and where is the sane, if
prosaic Teuton of one's imaginings! I wake often in the morning and
wonder if all that has happened here has not been a horrible
nightmare--if it can be possible in the twentieth century that I, a woman,
am a prisoner, and for no sin that one has committed. I cannot order an
Einspänner and drive to the station without a challenge and danger. I
cannot possibly get away without my passport. If I attempted to drive
to the Rhine my fate might be that of the poor Russians who were shot
the other day. In any case I could not leave Germany without my
passport nor enter Dutch territory without permission from the

Netherlands Consul at Frankfort. It seems all hopeless and
heartbreaking.
August 20th.--Another terrific blow! Fraulein S---- came into my room
this morning and said: "Kein Engländer, kein Ausländer, kann
Deutschland verlassen" (no Englishman, no foreigner can leave
Germany). I rushed off immediately to the Polizei Amt and found it
only too terribly true. Worse! Mr. W---- and Mr. S----, who tried to
arrange for a steamer on the Rhine to take us away, have been arrested,
and are being tried on a trumped-up charge of forgery, and the
Company who were the go-betweens demand 3,000 marks because the
boat came a certain distance down the river in order to embark us.
(Later) The Englishmen have been acquitted of forgery, but we fear we
shall have to pay the £120. I have one mark left!
There is jubilation all over the town as the Germans have taken Belfort.
Käthchen enters triumphantly. "Unter Führung des Kronprinzen von
Bayern haben Truppen gestern in Schlachten zwischen Metz und den
Vogesen noch einen Sieg erkämpft," and she goes on with the weary
old story of "viele tausend Gefangene" (many thousand prisoners).
August 21st.--I found that charming old American friends of mine, the
W----s, were here, and I went to see them at the Grand Hotel. They
have been to a Nach Kur in Thuringia, and have had most alarming and
unpleasant adventures coming back. However, being American their
pains and penalties are nearly over. A special train is to take them and
their compatriots to the Hague on Wednesday next. They go to the
flesh-pots of Egypt, and we are left to eat manna in the wilderness!
They can drive in the country, while we poor Britishers may not go
outside the town, and oh! how sick we are of the avenues and streets of
the red-roofed Bath Houses and shop windows whose contents we
know by heart. Mr. W---- told me a good tale of the chef of a Hotel
here, who was obliged to obey his country's call and join the French
forces. When he found German bullets whizzing about him at
Mülhausen, he said to himself (so the story goes), "What is my duty? Is
it best for me to let these cursed Germans make an end of me, or live to
cook another day for my country?" He decided that living was his game,

threw his rifle away, lay flat on his face, and let the bullets whistle over
him. He was taken prisoner to his great relief, and now lies in Frankfort
prison where his German brother chef has visited him! The French of
course are a brave nation, but I daresay the poor cook was more at
home with his pots and pans than with bayonets and rifles!
No papers! no letters! no news! no chance of escape! Two men were
put in prison yesterday for laughing at Germany. Two Russians were
stopped in a motor car, and when arms were found upon them they
were put up against a wall and shot.
August 22nd.--Altheim has gone mad with joy over the victory near
Metz. Church bells chime and German children sing