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ADVENTURE OF SALVATIONISTS
IN GERMANY.
An interesting letter fram a Salvation
Army officer working in Germany lias been
receive! 'by Mns. Commissioner Hay, of the
Salvation Army, Metbourne. The writer
sayB:—
'When the war broke but wo vrere
warned to leave -3e roufny as soon as pos
sible. The divisional ofliicer of the Ham
buig district was an Englishwoman— Major
Laura Prescott— wham you wall remember
the commissioner chose same fourteen
years ago for work in Germany. We were
given one day to dear out of the place.
We were only allowed bo take with us
what iwe could carry, so we had to pack
our trunks and leave them behind. We
left even our 'bonnets, as we were forced
to travel in priv&to, the -people (being told
that we iwere as they called us, an English
comlpany. We ldBt A'ltona, the next town'
to Hoanfburg, at midnight Saturday after
waiting two h'ourB for the train, during
which time a lady, who iwas very inquisi
tive as to our business, told the major Bhe
wan sure we were Russian Poles. She
went io the police and suggested we .were
spies. Tho train iwas full of soldiers froan
end Ito end. We had to get in where we
coukl. W*e stopped at every station, and
when we got to Rensberg, where there is
a bridge over Lhe Kid Canal, we had to
get out and cany our luggage and walk
for over an hour to tbe next town. We
were not allowed to ride over the bridge,
because they were afraid of (bombs. We
arrived nit IlenBfeldt, where we had to wait
for four and a half hours for the train
which took us to the last station before
the Danish border. There we had to wait
7j liouiK. A.t 12.30 at night we entrained
a,'.i.in, and inside an hour 1-ul to get out
tevke to show our passes, and had our
limited luggage turned inside out. We
had .to go through this performance cach
fame. \ou can imagine our feelings when
this itort olf thing is carried ou in the
middle of the night at a Wayside station,
lit only by oil lamps ati'd surrounded by
gendsinme.3 and soldiers with fixed
bayonels. Our feelings can be more easily
imagined tliiin described.
After a journey, which occnpied 40
hours instead of the usual 17, we arrived
at Copenhagen, whefe, of course; our
Army comrades were exceedingly kind to
us; but our adventures were only begin
ning. After waiting a few days because
there were no ooats running on account of
mines, we heard that one was to sail for
Lcitb on Saturday evening. After travel
ling all day from Copenhagen to Esjberg,
we arrived at the latter place at G in tho
?evening. We had been sailing for about
two hours when a German submarine
stopped us. The lieutenant boarded our
boat, looked at the ship's papers, said it
was all right and went. This happened
twice again, and in the middle of the night,
to be precise at a quarter to 1 a.m., a
cruiser steamed up, swept us with its
searchlights, fired blank shot to make us
stop, and, as you may imagine, we thought
all kinds of things; indeed, wondering whe
ther wo had struck a mine. However, we
hud to turn nhout and follow the cruiser to
Heligoland, where we arrived, and where
the order was signalled to Cuxhaven. Fin
ally, after eight days we found ourselves
outside Hamburg again. We were natur
ally-all anxious to know what was to hap
pen, but they told us to go to sleep in
peace, as it was all right for the present.
So ended our second Sunday on the jour
ney. The next day the captain looked at
the papers again, and wc heard that all
was right and could now procccd on our
journey; but, to our surprise, on tlie Wed
nesday we found ourselves once more off
Heligoland. When there we were shut in,
with all windows of portholes shaded with
curtains and guarded by men with fixed
bayonets at every corner of our ship. This,
of course, was to prevent ns seeing the
fortifications. I thinx, through being sur
rounded with these men and bayonets, and
with the thought of striking a mine, I got
the creeps. It was awful 1'
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