A WAR-TIME JOURNAL

GERMANY 1914 AND GERMAN TRAVEL NOTES

[Illustration: ENGLISCHE KRIEGSFUeHRUNG (_How the Englishman makes war._)]

A WAR-TIME JOURNAL GERMANY 1914 AND GERMAN TRAVEL NOTES

BY

LADY JEPHSON

AUTHOR OF 'A CANADIAN SCRAP-BOOK' AND 'LETTERS TO A DEBUTANTE'

LONDON ELKIN MATHEWS, CORK STREET M CM XV

PREFACE

Prefaces are rarely read, yet I have the hardihood to venture on this one because there are certain things in connection with my journal which it is necessary to explain. On returning from Germany, although urged by my friends to publish the story of my experiences, I refused, fearing to do anything which in the smallest degree might prejudice the case of those still in captivity. There came a day, nevertheless, when I read that all English people had left "Altheim." The papers announced that men under forty-five had been interned at Ruhleben, and those over that age had been sent to Giessen. There seemed, therefore, no possible object in further withholding the journal, since, after all, there was nothing in it which could by any possibility affect the fate of others less fortunate than I. Accordingly I sent my manuscript to the _Evening Standard_, which accepted it, and published the first couple of pages. Then, in deference to the wishes of people whose relations were still at "Altheim" (having been sent back from Giessen), I stopped my diary. However, in view of the daily revelations in the Press as regards prisoners in Germany, I have come, after seven months, to the conclusion that nothing I can say will in any degree make the condition of prisoners there worse. Meanwhile it is of supreme interest to compare the opinions and conduct of Germans at the beginning of the war with what they express and observe now. My journal is simply a record made each day of my detention, and although it has no pretension to being literature, it is at least a truthful picture of the state of things as we in Altheim saw them at the beginning of the war. For obvious reasons the place of detention has been given a fictitious name.

HARRIET J. JEPHSON.

CONTENTS

PAGE

A WAR-TIME JOURNAL 11

GERMAN TRAVEL NOTES:

"TAKIN' NOTES" 67

OF SOME FELLOW TRAVELLERS AND THE CATHEDRAL OF MAINZ 76

Table of contents (by pages)

• 1: A War-time Journal, Germany 1914 and German Travel
• 2: All of whom are leaving Altheim
• 3: Who had made out a list of the English in Altheim
• 4: The Americans have returned to Altheim
• 5: They say Holland is crammed with refugees
• 6: I cannot possibly get away without my passport
• 7: Kann Deutschland verlassen no Englishman
• 8: And be forwarded to the military authorities in Berlin
• 9: The Frankfurter Zeitung calls it decisive
• 10: The whole of Altheim went mad last night
• 11: I draw deductions from the Frankfurter Zeitung
• 12: Life in Altheim has changed under war conditions
• 13: Lady M tells me that they have arrived in Hamburg
• 14: Nowadays there are no Hessians or Wuertembergers
• 15: His wound had never been washed
• 16: All were early at the Bahn Hof
• 17: At Goch we had to show our passports
• 18: A bend of the river hid Nonnenwerth from sight
• 19: And then a surprise in the shape of Rhine salmon
• 20: Not even to cut out Keren Happuch
• 21: And I felt sorry for poor Fraeulein Meyer
• 22: There is little to see in Mainz
• 23: But less critical eyes find much to admire in Schlangenbad
• 24: Useful information Schlangenbad
• 25: Wandering through the streets of Liebenstein
• 26: Beauty is not in vogue at Liebenstein
• 27: The Roman Palace and the Basilica