THE LIBRARY 
 
 OF 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY 
 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 RIVERSIDE
 

 
 A NATION AT BAY
 
 Kutli S. Faniani
 
 AJNATION AT BAY 
 
 What an American Woman 
 Saw and Did in Suffering Serbia 
 
 RUTH S/TARNAM 
 
 WITH THIRTY ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 Many of them from Photographs 
 Taken by the Author 
 
 INDIANAPOLIS 
 
 THE BOBBS-MERRILL COMPANY 
 PUBLISHERS
 
 J / vj I 
 
 Copyright, 1918 
 THE BOBBS-MERRILL COMPANY 
 
 PRESS or 
 
 BRAUNWORTH a CO. 
 
 BOOK MANUFACTURER* 
 
 BROOKLYN. N. V.
 
 TO THE 
 
 DEVOTED WORKERS 
 
 WHO LIVED AND SUFFERED 
 AND DIED IN SESBIA
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER PAGB 
 
 I. A BACKWARD GLANCE .... 1 
 II. MY FIRST INTRODUCTION TO WAR IN 
 
 SERBIA 11 
 
 III. A GLANCE AT THE COUNTRY OF OUR 
 
 GAME LITTLE ALLY .... 24 
 
 IV. THE PLOT 45 
 
 V. THE DEBACLE 50 
 
 VI. HELLS ON EARTH 57 
 
 VII. THE CALL 66 
 
 VIII. THROUGH BEAUTIFUL SERBIA . . 78 
 
 IX. AT WORK 88 
 
 X. AUSTRIAN PRISONERS .... 96 
 
 XI. THE RETURN 103 
 
 XII. DOING MY BIT IN ENGLAND AND AMER- 
 ICA 112 
 
 XIII. THROUGH THE WAR ZONE . . .119 
 
 XIV. EASTWARD Ho! 130 
 
 XV. SALONIKA 148 
 
 XVI. OFF TO THE FRONT .... 155 
 
 XVII. " THE AMERICAN UNIT "... 163 
 
 XVIII. APPROACHING THE BATTLE LINE . 174 
 
 XIX. THE BATTLE 185 
 
 XX. How I BECAME A SOLDIER . . . 193 
 
 XXI. THE RETURN 203 
 
 APPEAL OF THE SERBIAN WOMEN TO ALL SO- 
 CIETIES OF WOMEN . 221
 
 ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 FAQS 
 
 Photograph used by the author on passports . 12 
 
 Convalescents at Madame Grouitch's Hospital 
 in Belgrade, 1913 13 
 
 General Michael Rashitch, Leader of Serbian 
 Army in Retreat over Albanian Mountains . 42 
 
 Refugees at Iben 43 
 
 Red Cross Hospital Ship " Sphinx " . . .60 
 English home of the author 61 
 
 Outfitting refugee children in Macedonia with 
 clothing from America 74 
 
 Mountains over which the Serbians retreated . 75 
 
 Ilyia 86 
 
 Austro-Slav prisoners at Ghev Gelya . . 87 
 
 Quay at Salonika 98 
 
 Place Liberte, Salonika, (four o'clock any day !) 99 
 
 Recent victims of gas bombs dropped from 
 enemy aeroplanes on Monastir . . .110 
 
 Princess Alexis in the store-room at Vrintze 111 
 Bringing in sick civilians at Vrynatchka Banya 122 
 
 Prince George of Serbia, Admiral Troubridge 
 and the author 123 
 
 Bulgarian dead 134 
 
 Bulgarian trenches near Brod .... 135 
 Emily Louisa Simmonds 146
 
 ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Crown Prince's Headquarters near Brod . . 147 
 Colonel Doctor Sondermayer .... 158 
 The White Tower, Salonika 159 
 
 Major Doctor Gelibert at Salonika and Surgeons 
 of Scottish Woman's Hospital . . . .170 
 
 Wounded being brought in on mule-back . . 171 
 
 Voivode Mishitch, Prof. Reiss and Lieut. Pros- 
 kowetz 180 
 
 Serbian Field Hospital Camp at Vrbeni. Rich- 
 ard Wainwright, Lieutenant Proskowetz, 
 Emily Louisa Simmonds 181 
 
 Taken during the battle of Brod. Commander- 
 in-Chief Voivode Mishitch, Com. of Morava 
 Div. Col. Milovanovitch, Chief of Medical 
 Service Col. Dr. Sondermayer and the author 194 
 
 Czerna Bend, from H. Q. O. P 195 
 
 Eleutherios Venizelos, Greek Premier . . 208 
 Vodena . 209
 
 PREFACE 
 
 MY readers will see why I cannot send this 
 little book forth without at least craving their 
 indulgence. Since it is my first Book it will doubt- 
 less have many faults but in it I have tried to ex- 
 press the deep emotions, the admiration and the 
 respect which the sight of Serbia's great courage 
 has aroused in me; the experiences that I have 
 had in that beautiful, suffering country and, above 
 all, to pay tribute to the noble men and women 
 of England, France and America who volunteered 
 to work among those unhappy people. Men and 
 women who served unfalteringly amidst the most 
 deadly dangers and who, in many cases, laid down 
 their lives while aiding those Serbian heroes who 
 themselves counted life as naught when sacrificed
 
 xii PREFACE 
 
 for flag and country. Because my whole heart 
 is in this book I offer ic to a generous Public 
 with the hope that it may increase the awakening 
 interest in our spendidly brave and devoted ally, 
 Serbia.
 
 ACKNOWLEDGMENT 
 
 I am indebted to the works of Voislav Savic, 
 Chedomille Myatovitch and R. W. Seton Watson 
 for historical data. I also wish to gratefully 
 acknowledge the kindness of Richard Wainwright, 
 Esq., in loaning me many of the photographs with 
 which this volume is illustrated. 
 
 THE AUTHOR.
 
 A NATION AT BAY
 
 A NATION AT BAY 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 A BACKWARD GLANCE 
 
 WE Americans as a nation have never exhibited 
 a great deal of interest in European affairs. One 
 might say that we were almost provincial in this 
 regard, isolated, as we are, by the vast expanse 
 of ocean. To many of us Europe has been re- 
 garded merely as a place to visit for pleasure or 
 business. 
 
 Such places as Serbia and the other Balkan 
 States were of no more interest to us than Siberia 
 or Arabia. We heard of them seldom, except 
 when they were at war. And the impression pre- 
 vailed that these "half-civilized" countries spent 
 most of their time fighting with one another. 
 
 We were so wrapped up in our own affairs that
 
 2 A NATION AT BAY 
 
 we had no place in our thoughts for those distant 
 lands. But we forgot that our horizon was rapidly 
 enlarging. The fast ocean steamers, the cables, 
 the expansion of our foreign trade all these 
 things were quickly bringing the far-off peoples 
 closer to us. And the time came almost before we 
 knew it when the internal affairs of almost every 
 country in the world affected us in some vital way. 
 
 Yet even after the outbreak of the European 
 War we still felt that we had no national interest 
 in it that we were not affected that it was none 
 of our affair. In fact it was only after repeated 
 insults and actual acts of war committed against 
 us that we reluctantly consented to enter the con- 
 flict. Perhaps the bungling German intrigue in 
 Mexico and Japan did more toward awakening us 
 to our peril than anything else. 
 
 When Austria declared war on Serbia on July 
 28, 1914, it was at Germany's bidding and Ger- 
 many reckoned on a great world conflagration as 
 the outcome. She had played the game of political 
 chess over and over again in secret, with Austria, 
 Turkey and Bulgaria as the pawns, and she had
 
 A BACKWARD GLANCE \3 
 
 proved to her satisfaction that she could win the 
 game when the time came to play it in public. 
 
 The United States was taken into consideration 
 just as surely as was France, Russia and Eng- 
 land before the ultimatum was delivered to Ser- 
 bia. And yet we went about our affairs entirely 
 unaware of any plan to include us in the great 
 game of world domination. Who in America in 
 July, 1914 could foresee that the result of the 
 first shot fired on Serbia would be the sending of 
 millions of our own boys to Europe even to 
 Serbia to save civilization? 
 
 And now that we are in it to a successful con- 
 clusion, having joined hands with all the other 
 countries fighting Germany and her accomplices, 
 we are becoming intimately acquainted with all of 
 our Allies. We are meeting even the less-known 
 ones in their own homes, so to speak, and are be- 
 ginning to feel that they are real human beings 
 like ourselves, whose acquaintanceship we are 
 sorry we had not cultivated long ago. 
 
 Serbia, who we may have at one time charged 
 with starting the war, now appears to us in a dif-
 
 4 A NATION AT BAY 
 
 / 
 
 ferent light altogether. By a backward glance at 
 Serbia we may learn for ourselves a little about 
 the peculiar sequence of events which culminated 
 in this war and get a few new glimpses of a 
 history which has been to us hitherto either utterly 
 unknown or merely a half-told tale. 
 
 Many years have elapsed since the Austro- 
 Hungarian Government began to trade upon the 
 innate loyalty of the Serb. When Turkey rolled 
 her hordes over the famous Field of Kossovo in 
 1389, and overwhelmed the Serbian Armies, tak- 
 ing possession of the land and crushing Christian- 
 ity under her iron rule, the Serbs looked to Aus- 
 tria as a nation of fellow-Christians for aid. This 
 aid Austria pretended she would give while she 
 was for centuries really fostering ill feeling be- 
 tween the Balkan Slavs and Russia, thinking thus 
 to increase her own influence and bring under her 
 Empire all of the Serbians, many of whom had 
 already settled in Austria-Hungary. 
 
 Jealousy of Russia and greed of extended 
 power were her motives for assuming a friendly 
 mask toward the Serbs. But she did not hesitate
 
 A BACKWARD GLANCE 5 
 
 to cast this mask aside as soon as it suited her 
 to do so. After many yc&rs of oppression of her 
 own Slav subjects, she began an active policy of 
 annexation and one after another Bosnia, Croatia, 
 Herzegovina and Dalmatia were obliged to bow to 
 her rule. Having a secret understanding with 
 King Milan of Serbia, she plotted to destroy Rus- 
 sia's influence in the Balkans and soon succeeded 
 in rousing Bulgaria to defy her great protector, 
 Russia, whom the only half-educated Bulgarian 
 politicians suspected of wishing to hold their 
 country as a Province. 
 
 Prince Alexander of Battenberg, who had been 
 placed on the throne of the new Kingdom of Bul- 
 garia, began to plan for the union of divided Bul- 
 garia, whereupon the Serbian King, Milan, im- 
 mediately declared war upon him. Thus Austria's 
 well laid plot had succeeded. She was able to play 
 off one country against the other to her own ad- 
 vantage; her ambition being to gain more terri- 
 tory in the direction of Salonika, or even perhaps 
 to possess that part of Macedonia in its entirety. 
 As this war resulted disastrously for King
 
 6 A NATION AT BAY 
 
 Milan, he appealed to Austria, who intervened and 
 exacted a fearful price. This price was a secret 
 allegiance whereby King Alexander, Milan's son 
 and successor, became entirely a tool of Austria. 
 
 The Serbians now found their ancient Constitu- 
 tion set aside and Teutonic influence rampant in 
 the land for we must not forget that in recent 
 years Prussia has always been behind the central 
 European intrigues. The people murmured, and 
 struggled to disengage themselves from the Octo- 
 pus-like tentacles which were strangling them. 
 Their effort at last culminated in the terrible 
 tragedy at Belgrade in June, 1903, when the un- 
 happy Alexander and his wife, Draga, met their 
 doom at the hands of a few stern and uncom- 
 promising men, who had been driven to despera- 
 tion by the sight of their country's impending 
 ruin. 
 
 Under the rule of the new King, Peter Kara- 
 georgevitch, who was placed on the throne after 
 the death of Alexander, Serbia began to recover 
 herself, and her devoted people to know once more 
 the advantages of liberty and the blessings of at
 
 A BACKWARD GLANCE 7 
 
 least some measure of peace. Schools began to 
 spring up in the villages, and manufactures of 
 many kinds flourished; but jealous Austria, ma- 
 lignant Turkey and treacherous Bulgaria lay 
 ever in wait at her gates. 
 
 Then in 1912 came the war with Turkey. After 
 this Austria prepared to attack Serbia, and only 
 postponed doing so because of her inability to 
 secure the consent and co-operation of Italy. 
 But Bulgaria, thirsting for revenge because she 
 had not received what she considered her share 
 of the spoils in Macedonia and secretly abetted 
 by Austria-Hungary, attacked the little nation 
 and, it is needless to say, was well thrashed for 
 her pains. 
 
 By this time Serbia was fully awake to her 
 danger. She sharpened her sword, she filled her 
 munition depots, collected stores and equipped 
 her armies. She could see looming before her a 
 great war, waged by the three countries which 
 were bent on her extermination. Dauntless and 
 ready, facing these enemies, many times her own 
 size, brave Serbia stood a Nation at Bay.
 
 8 A NATION AT BAY 
 
 In July 1914 the expected attack came. How 
 she fought in this war, which since then has em- 
 broiled practically the entire world; how she 
 fought and won again, then for a time lay helpless 
 under the lash of a pestilence, shunned in that 
 dark hour by her enemies, then rose to her feet 
 weak and tottering again gallantly to face the foe ; 
 how the traitor, Bulgaria, came slinking to share 
 the spoils, and how devoted Serbia fought and 
 strove, calling vainly for the western Allies to 
 come to her aid; how at last these friends pre- 
 vailed upon her army to evacuate the beloved 
 country that it could no longer hold to take 
 refuge under the wings of these Allies until its 
 awful wounds could be bound up and its starving 
 soldiers fed, rearmed and reclothed that they 
 might return by a new route and fight again for 
 the freedom and honor of Serbia this story of 
 courage and sacrifice, of suffering and devotion, 
 will fill many pages of history for future genera- 
 tions. 
 
 My own country is now at war with Germany 
 and Austria and though I am a member of the
 
 A BACKWARD GLANCE 9 
 
 Royal Serbian Army I am also a true American. 
 I know what our boys will have to face and I 
 know, too, that they are as brave as any other 
 soldiers of the Allied Nations and now they have 
 the opportunity to prove it. They will face a 
 cruel, cunning, desperate foe and they will con- 
 quer and drive him back yes, back to Berlin. 
 Worthy of our highest traditions will our Army 
 prove itself. Worthy of that flag which we all 
 love the Flag on which the stripes represent our 
 National Honor, which has never yet been 
 stained. Those crimson bands which were dyed 
 a deeper red by our fathers' blood on the battle- 
 field: while that field of midnight blue not so 
 dark, alas! as the night of pain which now pre- 
 vails in Europe holds the shining stars of our 
 National Ideals. 
 
 Today there can be no such word as "pacifist." 
 We are at war. Men and women w r ho live under 
 the protection of the American Flag and claim 
 the privileges of American citizenship can be only 
 one of two things Patriot or Traitor ! That we 
 should uphold our Government in its effort to
 
 10 A NATION AT BAY 
 
 bring this war to a speedy and successful con- 
 clusion, that we should each one of us do our 
 share cheerfully and gladly to that end: that we 
 should avoid destructive criticism, placing our- 
 selves at the disposal of our great Chief Executive 
 as the indispensable cogs of the great machine of 
 State this is our clear and bounden duty. 
 
 If we Americans, each and all, do our duty soon 
 it will be no longer heroic Serbia who is "The 
 Nation at Bay" but "Germany at Bay!" May 
 we so wage this, our war, as to prove by sword 
 and Right that as our fathers fought for our 
 freedom so shall we fight until the Blonde Beast 
 Prussia is finally crushed and the World set free 
 
 forever. 
 
 * * * 
 
 In bhis little book I have tried to tell something 
 of the small part I played in this great fight ; how 
 I, a stranger, knowing little of the country and 
 less of its people, was impressed by its heroism 
 and devotion and was finally caught up in the 
 whirl of its magnificent struggle against the evils 
 which my own country now is prepared to attack.
 
 CHAPTER II 
 
 MY FIEST INTRODUCTION TO WAR IN SERBIA 
 
 "!T reminds me," I said, "a little of Naples with 
 the beggars lying about in the sunshine." 
 
 "There are no beggars here," replied Madame 
 Grouitch. "These are sick soldiers, just back 
 from the war, and there is no place in the city 
 where they can be taken in." 
 
 On leaving the station in Belgrade, I saw num- 
 bers of men in their dust-colored rags, sitting on 
 the steps or lying on the ground under the trees. 
 In my ignorance I had mistaken them for beggars. 
 A broiling sun poured its rays down on them, and 
 sometimes a man would moan and feebly roll over 
 to gain the welcome shade of a stunted tree. I 
 was told that at night the carts would go around 
 and gather up the dead. Every hospital was full 
 to overflowing and nearly every house had as its 
 honored guests, sick and wounded soldiers. 
 
 11
 
 12 A NATION AT BAY 
 
 This was in August, 1913. I had been in Serbia 
 before, during the Turkish war, and when I 
 received an invitation at this time to come to Bel- 
 grade to see the return of the victorious Serbian 
 Army after defeating Bulgaria in the Second Bal- 
 kan War, I went gladly. 
 
 Madame Grouitch, who is a charming American 
 woman from Virginia and the wife of a Serbian 
 diplomat, was doing marvelous work for her 
 adopted country. Unable to bear the thought of 
 these heroic men exposed to such suffering, after 
 their splendid campaign, she went to the Govern- 
 ment and demanded that one of the school build- 
 ings be turned over to her during the vacation. 
 In this large school she founded an auxiliary hos- 
 pital, which was called "The 22d Reserve Hos- 
 pital." She went to the merchants and towns- 
 people and asked for beds and other furnishings. 
 Then she had the sick and dying men gathered 
 up and laid on these beds, under a roof for the 
 first time in many months. 
 
 Because the people of Belgrade had previously 
 given nearly all they had, the fitting out of this
 
 Photograph used by the author on passports
 
 INTRODUCTION TO WAR IS 
 
 hospital was of the crudest description. The beds 
 on which the fevered soldiers lay were simply the 
 iron frames with three pieces of board laid across. 
 On this comfortless foundation were placed large 
 sacks filled with straw. Smaller sacks formed the 
 hard pillows. 
 
 There was no bed linen and no clean cloth- 
 ing. In the city there was a college, in which 
 young orphan girls from every part of Serbia 
 were being trained as teachers. So we sent 
 up there and to the extent of our funds, we got 
 sheets and pillow cases, of coarse cotton, and 
 shirts and drawers for the men. 
 
 These garments served a double purpose since 
 they could be used first as hospital clothing and 
 later when a man left the hospital he had only to 
 add the heavy socks and untanned leather sandals, 
 a home-spun waistcoat and wide girdle to be com- 
 pletely clad in the peasant manner. 
 
 One day a large bag was brought into the 
 "Gymnasium," one of the wards, and its contents 
 dumped on the floor. There were about a dozen 
 garments in the heap and it was hard to tell which
 
 14 A NATION AT BAY 
 
 were coats and which trousers, they were so 
 ragged and worn. All were stiff with dirt and 
 great blackish stains of blood. Clean-edged cuts 
 of bayonet thrusts were there and jagged holes 
 told of more terrible wounds. Not a garment was 
 fit for use. 
 
 One boy of twenty looked at a particularly 
 shapeless rag and said cheerfully, "Yes, that was 
 my coat. Luckily I will only need two-thirds of 
 it anyway, now." His right arm was gone ! 
 
 It was very hot and there was a glare of light 
 from the high uncurtained windows and the flies 
 were so awful that the men could only sleep by 
 burying their faces in the hard, hot pillows. 
 Most of the younger men, however, Avere appa- 
 rently as cheerful as if they had no care in the 
 world; but some of the older ones lay patiently, 
 day after da}', looking at us with great hopeless 
 eyes that pierced our hearts. Many had lost an 
 arm or a leg and their minds could only ponder 
 on how their wives and families were to live and 
 bear this extra burden. Serbian families are as 
 a rule very large and the people are very poor,
 
 INTRODUCTION TO WAR 15 
 
 and all must work hard, so a maimed man knows 
 himself to be a sad drag. 
 
 But no man uttered one word of complaint and 
 none regretted his sacrifice for Mother Serbia. 
 Their gratitude for anything we could do for 
 them was touching, though they were absolutely 
 frank in their comments. 
 
 One day, under the tuition of a young Serbian 
 orderly, I made Turkish coffee for the men. They 
 are very fond of it and will drink large quantities 
 of the syrupy stuff. When the little cups had 
 been drained, I proudly asked, "Was it good?" 
 thinking to be commended. 
 
 "Not very," came the reply. It was several 
 days before a chorus of "Dobro," (Good) re- 
 warded my efforts and they seemed really pleased 
 for my sake that they could at last approve. 
 
 We had only the coarsest food, in most cases 
 only rather dry bread, and occasionally a 
 vegetable stew, but as long as we could supply 
 them with cigarettes, almost the breath of life to 
 the Serbian soldier, they were contented. 
 
 When I had been in Belgrade two days, the Red
 
 16 
 
 Cross unit which had been serving in the hospital, 
 was withdrawn and shortly after sailed for Eng- 
 land. This left Madame Grouitch with two 
 trained nurses, Dr. Shuler, a young English sur- 
 geon who had gone to the Balkans to gain experi- 
 ence before settling down to practice, two Serbian 
 medical students, and a number of ladies and young 
 girls, belonging to Belgrade society, but with little 
 training (as we understand it), to care for one 
 hundred and sixty-eight men, most of them suffer- 
 ing from neglected and gangrenous wounds. Mad- 
 ame Grouitch was herself so worn out with her 
 unremitting efforts in the hospital that she nearly 
 broke down. 
 
 However, she was not the kind to give in, so in 
 a little while she began to arrange the duties 
 among her small group of workers. But try as 
 she would, her insufficient but willing staff could 
 not quite cover even the absolutely necessary 
 work. 
 
 I listened and wanted to help, but as I had 
 no training at all, had never even been with sick 
 people and had practically never seen blood, I did
 
 INTRODUCTION TO WAR 17 
 
 not feel very competent. Still, I was only too 
 willing to do what I could, and offered to run 
 errands, or "hand things," or obey any orders 
 from any one. Madame Grouitch looked at me 
 critically. 
 
 "Where we really must have help is in the oper- 
 ating room," was her tentative suggestion. "Some 
 one must be there to wait on the surgeon." 
 
 The thought made me feel rather queer, but 
 I said, "Let me try." She did. 
 
 The first case was a pretty bad one, but I made 
 up my mind to do the best I could, and I got 
 through without much trouble. 
 
 But the next case proved too much for me. 
 We had a man whose head had been broken by a 
 piece of shell and he was, in consequence, com- 
 pletely paralyzed. There was some growth on his 
 back, just by the shoulder, which had to be 
 removed and I had to hold him in my arms to keep 
 him in the proper position during the operation. 
 
 We had no anaesthetics. There was no money 
 with which to buy them. The poor fellow was
 
 18 A NATION AT BAY 
 
 in a fearful state of nerves as he lay in my 
 arms, screaming, but unable to move a muscle. 
 
 The feeling of his bare body on my bare arms, 
 his screams, his breath, the odor of blood and the 
 sound of the knife softly passing through the 
 flesh were at last too much for me. I managed 
 to stand it until the operation was over and then 
 I went into the open air and was deathly sick. 
 Five minutes later I apologized to Dr. Shuler and 
 said I would be braver next time; and though it 
 was a struggle sometimes, I was able to go on from 
 that time without further mishap. 
 
 At the end of two days I was allowed to dress 
 amputations. I would take off the dressings. 
 Dr. Shuler would look over from his patient on 
 the table and say, "Swab that with number two." 
 I'd do it. Then I would rebandage the stump. 
 The soldier would murmur, "Fala, sestro," 
 (thanks, sister) and hobble off on his crude 
 crutches. Sometimes the tortured nerves of the 
 patient would be too much for him, and he would 
 lay his poor head on my arm and plead, "Polako, 
 sestro," (gently, sister) while great beads of
 
 INTRODUCTION TO WAR 19 
 
 sweat would stand out on his forehead. But usu- 
 ally they were so brave that it makes me proud to 
 think that I was allowed to do what I could to 
 help them. No one who has worked with the 
 Serbian soldiers has anything but the warmest 
 praise for them. They are patient, gentle, proud 
 and brave. 
 
 There was in that hospital many a boy of 
 twenty with a gangrened wound for each year of 
 his life. They would lie on their stretchers out- 
 side the door of the operating room, awaiting 
 their turn, with their great eyes clouded with pain 
 and misery. They would go upon that rude 
 plank operating table with their thin hands 
 clenched to help them bear the ordeal. We would 
 put a lighted cigarette into their mouths and they 
 would undergo the awful probing and draining of 
 their sickening wounds without one murmur or 
 moan though I sometimes would put my hand 
 over their eyes because I could not bear the look 
 of agony in them. 
 
 The courage and marvelous endurance of the 
 Serbian soldier is a memory that will often, I be-
 
 20 
 
 lieve, uphold me and many, many others who 
 have worked among them, when things seem too 
 hard to bear. 
 
 Madame Grouitch was wonderful during these 
 days. Not over strong herself, she was never too 
 tired to soothe and comfort a feverish or suffering 
 man. One day, just as she had declared she 
 could not hold up her head another minute, some 
 one came in from the street and asked if she could 
 manage to give a very sick man a bed in which 
 to die. He was brought in a piteous sight, 
 ragged, filthy, his beard and mustache matted 
 together over his mouth and his dark skin gray 
 with a deathly pallor. 
 
 "Then there is no hope for him?" asked 
 Madame Grouitch. 
 
 "He cannot have eaten or drunk for days and 
 there is not one chance in a hundred," was the 
 reply. 
 
 "We shall see," she said, and took scissors 
 r."d ripped away the ragged garments, the matted 
 hair was cut from his face and with warm water 
 she bathed the wasted body, then sat down beside
 
 INTRODUCTION TO WAR 21 
 
 him to fight with death. From time to time she 
 forced drops of beef tea or brandy through the 
 blue lips and hour after hour she sat waving a fan 
 over his face to stir the sultry air and drive away 
 the swarming flics. Her own fatigue forgotten, 
 she waited, and many hours later had the joy of 
 knowing that the man would live. 
 
 On returning to my hotel one day, after finish- 
 ing my duties at the hospital, I noticed a small 
 group of people standing about a shop window. 
 I stopped to see what was exhibited, and found 
 that it was not the window that was attracting 
 attention but a broad shouldered 3 7 oung man who 
 stood before it. 
 
 He was obviously a soldier. But when I got 
 a full view of him I realized afresh that war, 
 indeed, is hell. He had been captured by the Bul- 
 garians during a fight on the Eastern front and 
 afterward had been liberated and sent back to his 
 regiment with hands bound. His ears, nose, lips 
 and eyelids had been cut off. He had been scalped 
 in such a manner that only a strip of hair, running
 
 22 A NATION AT BAY 
 
 from the middle of his head to the nape of his 
 neck, in parody of a parting, remained. 
 
 Sick and trembling, I turned into the door of 
 the hotel and the impression I had received made 
 it impossible for me to sleep with any degree of 
 comfort for many nights to come. 
 
 In talking with a Serbian officer some days later 
 I happened to speak of this case and found that 
 he was thoroughly familiar with it. Indeed he 
 showed me a photograph of the young man, a 
 handsome fellow, taken for his sweetheart before 
 he left for the front. 
 
 It is not my intention to fill these pages with 
 such horrible stories, but there were dozens and 
 dozens of such cases as those described that came 
 under my personal observation during my work 
 in the hospital. Bulgaria was certainly a fitting 
 Ally for the Hun to select in this World's War. 
 
 You must remember that up to this time I had 
 lived a calm and peaceful life, such as most Amer- 
 ican women live. Horrors, bloodshed, atrocities 
 had never before entered my life or my mind. I 
 question whether I could even have read of them
 
 INTRODUCTION TO WAR 23 
 
 in the papers, and, if I had done so, I should have 
 hesitated to believe that such things were possible. 
 
 But here, in war torn Serbia, ray education in 
 the grimness of war began. 
 
 On my return to England, where I was then liv- 
 ing, after my work in Belgrade was completed, 
 I felt that I was a different woman. Above all, 
 there had come over me a feeling of the highest 
 regard for that brave little nation, Serbia, and 
 its gallant and heroic people.
 
 CHAPTER in 
 
 A GLANCE AT THE COUNTRY OF OUB GAME LITTLE 
 ALLY 
 
 BELGRADE, the capital, before the war was full 
 of curious contrasts : handsome, modern buildings 
 and the rudely cobbled streets ; peasants in gayly 
 embroidered clothing and ladies in Parisian 
 frocks ; smart officers on beautiful horses and farm 
 cart drawn by great creamy oxen. 
 
 The town stands high above the junction of the 
 Danube and Save Rivers, and from Scmlin, the 
 Austrian frontier town, it looks like a hanging 
 garden. After the flat plains of the approach to 
 Hungary, the thick trees crowning the old fortifi- 
 cations are most grateful to the eye, and the gray 
 walls of the prison-like fortress, with the white 
 towers of the city, make an unforgettable picture. 
 
 On the principal streets are many fine shops, 
 24
 
 A GLANCE AT THE COUNTRY 25 
 
 banks and business houses. The Konak or Royal 
 Palace is a beautiful cream-colored building, set 
 among trees and grassy terraces, while in the side 
 streets are handsome residences, side by side with 
 white cottage-like buildings, rather dark and ill- 
 ventilated, in which the large families of the less 
 progressive people live. 
 
 The sons and daughters of the well-to-do Serbs 
 are usually given the advantage of a year or two 
 of study in Vienna or Paris, and are particularly 
 adept in learning foreign languages. The well 
 educated Serb speaks German, of course, since the 
 country adjoins Austria, and generally Russian, 
 which the Serbian tongue strongly resembles. To 
 these he adds French, and often English. Even 
 the peasant, given the opportunity to educate 
 himself, will frequently become a lawyer, doctor, 
 scientist or writer, and it is little exaggeration to 
 say that all Serbs are poets. 
 
 They are very proud and independent, and in 
 spite of the fact that they live under a monarchy, 
 they are the most democratic people I know. 
 The Constitution of Serbia proclaims that "the
 
 26 A NATION AT BAY 
 
 King is to reign by the will of the people." In 
 other words, if he displeases the people they may 
 choose another in his stead. His eldest son does 
 not of necessity reign after him. 
 
 By the Constitution of Serbia every man was 
 entitled to five acres of land, two draught oxen, a 
 certain number of pigs, fowls and some household 
 furnishings, and these are his by inalienable right 
 and cannot be taken from him even for debt. On 
 this land and with these goods he must raise 
 everything that he and his family eat, drink, use 
 or wear. 
 
 There is very little money in circulation in 
 the country districts, and when the family needs 
 a cooking pot or other utensil it is acquired at the 
 weekly market in the town by the barter of a 
 fowl, some eggs, or a flitch of home-cured bacon. 
 The women spin and weave the flax and wool, and 
 make the beautiful, simple clothing worn by the 
 family. They embroider these garments with 
 silk and worsted, and many of them are real 
 works of art and are handed down from one gen- 
 eration to another.
 
 A GLANCE AT THE COUNTRY 27 
 
 Serbia is now entirely an agricultural country, 
 eighty per cent of the population living on and by 
 their farms. Prizes are given to the farmers by 
 a well organized agricultural society and the pay- 
 ment of taxes is usually made in produce. Every 
 farmer gives annually a few days' labor to the 
 State. 
 
 The farmers have all the sturdy qualities and 
 virtues which come from close contact with 
 Mother Earth. They are frugal, intelligent and 
 industrious ; all have poetry in their very souls. 
 They are a peaceable, domestic people, devoted to 
 their children and their homes, but they do not 
 hesitate a moment to fight when those homes are 
 threatened. 
 
 An odd custom has survived from the long 
 Turkish occupation. When a peasant is obliged 
 to introduce his wife to a foreigner he does 
 it after this fashion: "This, may your honor 
 forgive me, is my wife." But this attitude toward 
 her is only for the outside world, for their family 
 life is full of affection. 
 
 The peasant house is a low, white-walled, red-
 
 28 A NATION AT BAY 
 
 tiled structure with its windows and doors on one 
 side. These being the only inlets for light and 
 air, the houses are usually dark and stuffy, but 
 each house is whitewashed inside and out fre- 
 quently. 
 
 The Serbian family often pools its resources 
 and forms a sort of community dwelling, 
 called a "Zadruga." This consists of a large cen- 
 tral house in which the heads of the family and 
 the unmarried members live. Surrounding this 
 are smaller cottages, called "Vayat," in which the 
 married sons and their families live. The ruling 
 member, or "Stareshina," of the house apportions 
 the work each day and settles all disputes. Thus, 
 if there were few very wealthy families in Serbia, 
 before the invasion, there was no utter want and 
 no beggars. 
 
 The country is very beautiful, with rolling hills 
 and fertile valleys, and in no place in the world 
 have I seen such a profusion of wild flowers; 
 while the cloud-flecked sky which is characteristic 
 of Serbia, the fleeting shadows over the glowing 
 meadows, the broad plains with their golden crops
 
 A GLANCE AT THE COUNTRY 29 
 
 and the myriads of bending fruit trees, make up 
 a picture that can never be forgotten. 
 
 The climate resembles that of New England, 
 even to the "Indian Summer," with its bright 
 warm days and keen nipping nights. There are 
 frequent heavy rains and thunder-storms during 
 the summer months. The rough Serbian roads 
 are full of deep holes into which, as almost the 
 only attempt at repair, large boulders are thrown 
 with touching confidence that the next storm will 
 settle them into place. 
 
 All the hauling is done by big oxen, or by 
 uncouth-looking water buffalo, who draw the 
 crude carts at the rate of about a mile an hour. 
 While it is a pretty sight to see these oxen decked 
 with wild flowers by their peasant owners, yet it 
 isn't so pleasant to find them lying by the road- 
 side suffering from sunstroke, to which they are 
 curiously liable. 
 
 Of late years the principal industries have been 
 the canning of vegetables, the raising of pork, and 
 the drying of prunes, of which Serbia has put 
 forth a great proportion of the world's supply.
 
 30 A NATION AT BAY 
 
 Austria, desiring to swell her own commerce by 
 the control of the Serbian market, has been able 
 to deny this country an outlet to the sea. This 
 has naturally hampered the progress of industries 
 and Serbia has, therefore, remained poor but 
 not humble. 
 
 I have seen much of misery and want in that 
 sad country during these last two years, but never 
 have I heard a Serb, man, woman or child, beg. 
 They have always worked hard and lived poorly, 
 but they were utterly content, since what they had 
 was their own and their feeling of proud inde- 
 pendence outweighed hunger and cold and even 
 death itself. The peasant will bow before you 
 and perhaps even kiss your hand, but then he will 
 stand upright and talk as easily and freely as if 
 to his own brother. 
 
 The hills of Serbia are full of iron, silver, gold 
 and copper. In fact, in old Roman times the 
 world's greatest supply of silver came from Ser- 
 bia, and her copper mines are perhaps the richest 
 in the world. But jealous neighbors and lack of
 
 A GLANCE AT THE COUNTRY 31 
 
 seaports have kept her from developing these rich 
 resources. 
 
 Today Serbia is absolutely devastated, as the 
 Germans and Austrians cut down every fruit tree 
 when they entered the country. It will take years 
 and years of unremitting toil to give back to the 
 world the supply of those delicious fruits and 
 vegetables which the Serbian people formerly 
 raised. This war will not be over when peace is 
 declared. Years of reconstruction, of planting 
 and patient upbuilding of ruined farms must in- 
 tervene before Serbia is restored. 
 
 The Serb prides himself on his simple origin. 
 King Peter says he is "of the people," and by his 
 nobility during these years of woe and suffering 
 he has proved himself a brother indeed. 
 
 The people were once light-hearted and merry, 
 loving to sing and dance after the day's work was 
 done, and, though for five hundred years the coun- 
 try lay under the heel of the Turk and the people 
 were denied education, the splendid spirit of 
 patriotism has been kept alive by song and story. 
 Dearer than wife or mother is Serbia to the Serb,
 
 32 A NATION AT BAY 
 
 though he is a good husband and a tender son. 
 To him his beloved country comes first. 
 
 The religion of Serbia is that form known as 
 Greek Orthodox, but the peasant is naive in his 
 belief that "God helps those who help themselves." 
 He is fond of telling the story of the man who fell 
 into the river and called upon God to save him. 
 So the Creator looked from Heaven and said, 
 "Yes, of course, I will save you, but do move your 
 arms and legs a little and try to swim out." 
 
 The men are splendid, handsome fellows, and 
 even among the old men of eighty and ninety are 
 some of the finest specimens I ever have seen. 
 The women, owing no doubt to the lack of light 
 and ventilation in their houses, are rather sallow. 
 
 The typical Serbian has dark hair and gray 
 eyes, rather high cheekbones and strongly marked 
 features ; he has a tall and wiry body and is capa- 
 ble of withstanding extraordinary hardships. Al- 
 ways the battlefield of Europe, always holding 
 the gate between East and West, and always loyal 
 to her ideals, not even the Turk in his five hundred
 
 A GLANCE AT THE COUNTRY 33 
 
 years of oppression could crush the religion or 
 taint the blood of Serbia. 
 
 Serbia, like Switzerland, is entirely cut off from 
 the sea, bounded as it is on the north by Austria, 
 on the east by Bulgaria, on the south by Greece, 
 and on the west by Albania. It was settled in the 
 seventh century by wandering shepherd tribes of 
 Serbs and Croats, who entered the western half 
 of the Balkan Peninsula and there made their 
 home. At the end of the eleventh century they 
 had already formed a powerful State and were 
 engaged in acquiring the culture of Byzantium 
 and Rome. 
 
 Their greatest king, Stephen Dushan, was 
 soldier, law-giver, builder of churches and 
 patron of art and literature. In 1354, Dushan 
 gave to the people the Zakonik, or Code of Law, 
 which ranks high among medieval codes. Jugo- 
 Slav literature, rich and glowing with tales of 
 heroism, was born toward the end of the ninth 
 century, and the earliest fragments preserved date 
 from the tenth century. 
 
 The first Serbian novel, "Vladimir and Kos-
 
 34 A NATION AT BAY 
 
 sara," was published in the thirteenth century. 
 Among the first poetic writers were Marko, 
 Maroulitch and Hannibal Luchitch (fourteenth 
 and fifteenth centuries). 
 
 Serbia has always had the gift of song and 
 sometimes her ballads are sung to the accompani- 
 ment of the gusle, an instrument shaped some- 
 what like a guitar but having only one string. It 
 is rested on the knee and played with a high 
 arched bow, and it is surprising what wailing, 
 minor melodies can be drawn from it. 
 
 The Serbian language is very beautiful and 
 lends itself admirabh* to splendid songs of valor, 
 glory and hope. There is no part-singing, but all 
 sing in unison. Sometimes two will start a song 
 story in duet and when they cease two more will 
 take up the theme and go on from that point, and 
 so on until the story is done. 
 
 Owing to the depression caused by the con- 
 tinual wars for several years I had not heard 
 the Serbians sing until in the autumn of 1916 be- 
 fore the recapture of Monastir by Allied armies 
 I found myself in a camp just behind the Serbian
 
 A GLANCE AT THE COUNTRY 35 
 
 lines. It was a glorious moonlight night and the 
 soldiers were filled with joy that they were again 
 in their beloved land, so, after the frugal supper, 
 a group of young men began to sing the songs of 
 their country. The guns were booming near at 
 hand and we could hear the rattling crackle of 
 the machine guns, but through it all came the 
 triumphant refrain of "Givela Serbia." 
 
 In earlier days, when, for Serbians, education 
 was difficult and culture rare, we find the burning 
 names of Czar Lazar and his Empress, Militza, 
 educators and protectors of their people ; 
 Stephen Dushan, patriot and law-giver; Marko 
 Kralyvitch, soldier and champion of the weak and 
 lowly. Then after a long, dark time, during 
 which the people were so oppressed that few 
 names emerge from the murk, we see the Serbian 
 brilliancy still undimmed, shining forth in the 
 name of Vuk Stephanovitch Karagich. 
 
 Still nearer our time the names best known to 
 us here in America are those of Father Nicholas 
 Velimirovitch, the monk; the great portrait 
 painter, Paul Yovanovitch ; sculptor of historic
 
 36 A NATION AT BAY 
 
 figures, George Yovanovitch, and most marvelous 
 sculptor, second to none in his genius, Mestro- 
 vitch. Also there are Rista Voucanovitch, native 
 of Hertzegovina, and Murat from Dalmatia, but 
 both Serbs and, before the present war, exhibitors 
 in Belgrade. 
 
 We must not forget Stoyan Novacovitch, who 
 was leader of the Conservative party, Prime Min- 
 ister and Diplomat, nor Dr. Voya Velikovitch, 
 prominent in the Liberal party and a well-known 
 member of Parliament. In medicine there are 
 Subotich, Wilts chetitch, Roman Sondermayer. 
 Among the later poets the names of Rakitch, the 
 writer of epic verse, and Jean Douchitch, called 
 the "Byron of Serbia," stand forth conspicuously. 
 
 America owes a debt to Serbia for the genius 
 of that famous scientist, Michael Idvorski Pupin, 
 American citizen but of Serbian blood and devoted 
 Serbophil, who holds a chair in Columbia Uni- 
 versity and through whose efforts many influential 
 Americans have been aroused to a warm interest 
 in Serbia. 
 
 Less well-known in this country, perhaps,
 
 A GLANCE AT THE COUNTRY 37 
 
 are the names of Prime Minister Pashitch, 
 the splendid statesman ; George Simitch, for many 
 years a leading diplomat ; Chedomille Myatovitch 
 and Dr. Vladan Georgevitch, statesmen and 
 writers ; as well as Milenko Vesnitch, who was the 
 head of the Serbian War Mission that visited this 
 country a short time ago, and Professor Sima 
 Losanitch, who accompanied him, together with 
 General Rashitch, all men who shed honor on the 
 name of their country. Kernel Stankovitch, 
 musician, and Marianovitch an author, famous at 
 least in his native land, and Illarion Ruvarats, the 
 historian. All of these later men of genius look 
 back to their forerunner, St. Sava, who in the 
 fourteenth century devoted his life to spreading 
 education and a love of art among his countrymen. 
 The greatest hero in Serbian history, Marko 
 Kralyvitch, called "Marko, the King's Son," was 
 said to be the offspring of a "Dragon" and a 
 Vila, or mountain fairy. "Dragon" in Serbian 
 poetry is used to designate a fearless soldier and 
 constantly recurs in tales of warriors and great 
 men.
 
 38 A NATION AT BAY 
 
 There have been many legends written of 
 Marko, who is popularly supposed never to have 
 died but to sleep in a cave near the Castle of 
 Prilip. He is said to awaken at intervals and 
 come forth to see if his sword, which he had thrust 
 to its hilt in the rock, has fallen out. When this 
 shall occur he will return to restore the empire 
 which was destroyed at Kossovo in 1389. 
 
 The Serbian ideals are high and spiritual. For 
 example, when there was a dispute between Marko's 
 father and his uncle and "Probatim," (adopted 
 brother) as to which should inherit the throne and 
 Marko was called upon to decide the question, 
 Jevrossima, his mother, counseled him. The 
 mother's wisdom has been preserved in a national 
 folk poem: 
 
 "Greatly as Marko himself loved justice 
 
 Greatly his mother thereto advise him; 
 'Marko, thou only son of thy mother 
 
 Let not my milk in thee be accursed, 
 Do not utter an unjust judgment, 
 
 Speak not in favor of father of kinsman 
 But speak for the justice of the God of Truth, 
 
 It were better to lose thy life 
 Than to lose thy soul by sinning;.' '
 
 A GLANCE AT THE COUNTRY 39 
 
 The world heard an echo of these words three 
 years ago when, in reply to the proposals of 
 Austria that Serbia should make a separate peace, 
 deserting her allies, and so to save her population 
 from terrible suffering, Mr. Pashitch, the great 
 Serbian Prime Minister, said : "It is better to die 
 in beauty than to live in shame." 
 
 Many of the Serbian proverbs are closely akin 
 to our own and all show a deep appreciation of 
 honesty and often a keen sense of humor. A few 
 of the best known are as follows : 
 
 It is better to know how to behave than to Iiavs 
 gold. 
 
 Woe to the legs under a foolish head. 
 
 Keep white money for black days. 
 
 It is easier to earn than to keep. 
 
 Without health is no wealth. 
 
 A cheerful heart spins the flax. 
 
 A kind word opens the iron door. 
 
 An earnest work is never lost. 
 
 Who does good will receive better. 
 
 Debt is a bad companion. 
 
 What is taken unjustly or by force is accursedt 
 
 As the master is so are the servants. 
 
 Mend the hole while it is small. 
 
 Who judges hastily will repent quickly.
 
 40 A NATION AT BAY 
 
 He who works has much; he who saves has more. 
 
 If you would know a man place him in authority. 
 
 It is better to suffer injustice than to commit it. 
 
 Boast to a stranger; complain only to a friend. 
 
 The lie has short legs. 
 
 F~e who mixes with refuse will be devoured by 
 swiue. 
 
 God sometimes shuts one door to open a hundred 
 otl ers. 
 
 God does not settle his accounts with men every 
 Saturday but in his own good time. 
 
 The devil never sleeps. 
 
 More men die of eating and drinking than of hunger 
 and thirst. 
 
 The Home does not stand upon the soil but on the 
 wife. 
 
 Better a body in rags and a soul in silk than a soul 
 in rags and a body in silk. 
 
 Do not ask how a man crosses himself but whose 
 the blood that warms his heart and whose the milk 
 that nourished him. 
 
 Victory is not won by shining arms but by brave 
 hearts. 
 
 The heroic sentiments of men and women alike 
 inflame the imagination and give an insight into 
 the character of the people as nothing else can 
 do. General Stephanovitch said to his soldiers 
 when, on an occasion, they were depressed and
 
 A GLANCE AT THE COUNTRY 41 
 
 seemed spiritless, "Brothers, it is to your valor 
 and achievements that I owe my honors. Unless 
 you are again worthy of your past, I will tear 
 these epaulettes from my shoulders and fling them 
 at your feet." 
 
 A Dalmatian Slav said to R. W. Seton Watson, 
 "We have regained our belief in the future of our 
 race." 
 
 A foreign doctor told him, in one of the hos- 
 pitals, "If you hear a man complaining be cer- 
 tain that man is not a Serb." 
 
 A Serbian lady said to one who would condole 
 with her, "I gave my son to Serbia and now my 
 prayers dwell with me in his stead." 
 
 When Serbian soldiers were commended on some 
 splendid feat in this war, they remarked simply, 
 "With Marko Kralyvitch to help us it was easy 
 enough." They believed that they had seen that 
 hero of old days riding on his gray charger before 
 them. 
 
 The Maiden of Kossovo weeping over her dead 
 on the fatal Field of Blackbirds cried, "Ah me ! I 
 that am so wretched that were I to touch the
 
 42 A NATION AT BAY 
 
 green oak tree my grief would straightway wither 
 all its freshness." 
 
 Said the victims of a former invasion, "Grass 
 never grows where the hoofs of Turkish horses 
 pass." 
 
 Volko the Outlaw was a true Socialist when he 
 declared, "If I possess anything any man may 
 share it with me; but if I have nothing then woe 
 to the man who will not share with me what he 
 has." 
 
 When the Austrian Landsturm, elderly men, 
 were called to the colors, some waggish Slav hung 
 this notice on a tomb in the cemetery at Spalato. 
 "Arise ye dead, ye, too, must fight for Francis 
 Joseph." 
 
 A Serbian divine, preaching in Serbia's darkest 
 hour, uttered these solemn w r ords, "The land of 
 Serbia is an altar and your brother's blood is the 
 sacrifice." And of the Serbs who had fallen in 
 the defense of their country a native poet wrote: 
 "From their blood shall flowers spring 
 For some far off generation." 
 
 The spirit of the people is shown by the stories
 
 General Michael Rashitch, Leader of Serbian Army in 
 Retreat over Albanian Mountains 
 
 
 * f f*~?Y 
 ' *) -J~* 
 
 /;//
 
 A. GLANCE AT THE COUNTRY 43 
 
 of how the old parents advised their children. A 
 mother to whom an only son had returned asked 
 him why he was there. "Why, I am on leave," 
 replied the young man. 
 
 "But suppose there should be fighting while 
 you are away," said the mother. "You must go 
 back at once to your regiment where your duty 
 lies." 
 
 A Serbian regiment holding a position sent 
 several times to ask for reinforcements but none 
 came and the regiment lost heavily. Finally a 
 corporal was sent back to headquarters and his 
 message ran, "There are seven of us left, sir. Shall 
 we go on holding the position?" 
 
 An old man found in an attitude of utter 
 despair was asked his trouble. "You would not 
 understand," he said. "But I had three sons. One 
 was killed in the Turkish war; one I lost in the 
 Balkan war and my last son I buried today." 
 
 "But they fell upon the field of honor which 
 should be a consolation to you," was the answer. 
 
 "I knew you would not understand," growled 
 the old man. "That is not what troubles me : but
 
 44 A NATION AT BAY 
 
 they have left five little boys behind and it will 
 be so long before they are old enough to fight for 
 Serbia !" 
 
 There are endless stories showing the devotion 
 of the people and many pathetic ones showing how 
 even the women resign themselves to all loss if it 
 is for their country's sake. In Macedonia I saw 
 a woman, accompanied by two little children, who 
 I had seen, surrounded by her large family, gath- 
 ering the crops in the fields near Vrgntze. In a 
 moment of forgetfulness, I asked, "Where are the 
 others?" Inclining her head toward the Albanian 
 mountains, she said: 
 
 "They are over there with God." 
 
 "Serbia still lives in the hearts of her people."
 
 CHAPTER IV 
 
 THE PLOT 
 
 AUSTRIA'S attack upon Serbia in 1914 was most 
 cleverly engineered, since the excuse was the mur- 
 der of the Austrian Crown Prince Ferdinand by 
 a Serb. But behind this we see the hand of Ger- 
 many, who was plotting to gain control of the 
 route to Egypt and India. Her idea of 
 world domination began with the hoped-for 
 Berlin-to-Bagdad Railway, and she went about 
 entangling the other Central European Powers 
 that they might work for her ends and pull her 
 chestnuts out of the fire. 
 
 Austria wished only to bully little Serbia and 
 did not desire to enter upon a World War, iw 
 which she might have clearly seen that Germany 
 would take everything worth having. She wanted 
 to continue her policy of repression and extortion 
 against the Slavs and to succeed perhaps in annex- 
 
 45
 
 46 A NATION AT BAY 
 
 ing more Serbian provinces, as during the years 
 since Serbia had thrown off the Turkish yoke, she 
 had already taken the richest of Serbia's northern 
 territory by force and by crafty statesmanship. 
 Her bitterness against Serbia perhaps was aug- 
 mented by a realization of her own injustice and 
 by the proud courage and resistance of the Serbian 
 people. 
 
 Austria knew that Serbia would never yield 
 to her dominance, so she plotted even in the blood 
 of her own Royal House. The youth who mur- 
 dered the Archduke Ferdinand was a Serb, but he 
 was a Serb of Austria one of those unhappy 
 expatriates who had been brought up to hold 
 allegiance to the enemy of his own country and in 
 whose brain whirled confused and perverted ideals 
 of loyalty and honor. 
 
 So by way of making all the world see that she 
 was not to be trifled with and hoping that the 
 world would believe that she was injured and justi- 
 fied, Austria prepared to invade Serbia. When she 
 was thrown out of the country the first time her 
 surprise was great. When a second time she
 
 THE PLOT 47 
 
 found that the small but gallant nation, which 
 she had expected to find an easy victim, was again 
 too much for her, her fury knew no bounds. The 
 spectacle of her army fleeing before a foe much 
 less than half its size fleeing in panic, throwing 
 its equipment away and screaming for mercy when 
 overtaken, was not an edifying sight. 
 
 But Austria tried hard to "save her face" and 
 again deceive a world which was now beginning to 
 understand her game. Drawing her mantle of 
 dignity about her as best she might, she announced 
 that "our punitive expedition against Serbia is 
 now concluded," and a derisive world rocked with 
 laughter. 
 
 It Avas Germany who, acting behind the scenes 
 in 1914, pushed Austria again and again into the 
 fray, and who, in 1915, when Serbia was nearly 
 exhausted, egged on treacherous Bulgaria to 
 strike for revenge against Serbia and to defy her 
 parent Russia. It was Germany who bribed and 
 coerced Turkey into joining the attack and it is 
 German guile that has Austria, Bulgaria and 
 Turkey fighting for their very lives today.
 
 48 A NATION AT BAY 
 
 Germany's dream is to rule the world, and these 
 dishonored accomplices may be very sure she 
 does not intend that they should share her throne. 
 They are to fight for her, smooth her way and be 
 her humble vassals; her slave-drivers, but not 
 the Princes of her House. A poor reward for 
 treachery, outrage, child-murder, and all the hor- 
 rors of blood and infamy in which these deluded 
 countries have sunk themselves ! A mean wage 
 this, for which they have bartered their national 
 souls ! 
 
 What Germany has done on the west to Belgium 
 the infamy of her invasion, the stealing of 
 maidenhood for shameful purposes of alien mater- 
 nity, the looting, burning and enslaving her 
 partners have done in little Serbia on the East. 
 And even more, for Germany has committed her 
 crimes coldly and under the cloak of "military 
 necessity," while Austria and Bulgaria, filled with 
 hatred of the people whom the one had robbed 
 and the other betrayed, these two, I say, have 
 run like ravening wolves through the fertile valleys
 
 THE PLOT 49 
 
 and over the blue hills of heroic Serbia, and in 
 their wake lies utter desolation. 
 
 When the accounting comes of murdered babes, 
 outraged and mutilated women, young girls sold 
 into shame in Turkish cities, massacred old men 
 and crucified children, cities razed and riches 
 stolen, orchards destroyed and fair lands devas- 
 tated when this accounting comes, God in His 
 Heaven shall judge these criminals and His thun- 
 der-tones shall pronounce their doom.
 
 CHAPTER V 
 
 THE DEBACLE 
 
 WHEN Austria decided, late in 1915, that the 
 time was ripe for her final attempt to crush Ser- 
 bia, she massed her troops along the Danube and 
 the Save Rivers, bringing up her heavy artillery 
 and providing for the attack enormous stores of 
 shells and munitions. Knowing how gallant and 
 determined was their opponent, they made sure 
 of having sufficient force with which finally to 
 overwhelm her. 
 
 But they had no easy task. All the 
 world now knows how Serbia met this attack, 
 how bitterly she contested every rod of ground 
 and how only by the terrific out-numbering of her 
 devoted men and the immensely superior strength 
 of her enemy's ordnance was she at last subdued 
 not conquered, for Serbia's Army still is fighting. 
 
 50
 
 THE DEBACLE 51 
 
 In October, Austria had prepared to cross the 
 river at Belgrade by an irresistibly heavy bom- 
 bardment, during which they fired fifty thousand 
 shells into the town, their avowed object being 
 to kill as many people as possible and thus create 
 a reign of terror. 
 
 They also had laid a curtain of shell-fire on 
 the roads leading from the town, and hundreds of 
 poor fugitives were killed. Men and women, little 
 children, wounded soldiers who were taken from 
 hospital beds ; the gently-nurtured wives and 
 daughters of diplomats, bankers and college pro- 
 fessors ; shopkeepers, Austrian prisoners, servants 
 and all the varied population of a great city fell 
 victims to this merciless fire and lay in heaps upon 
 that Road of Death. 
 
 The Serbian troops had not replied to this fire, 
 hoping that by refraining the civil population 
 might be spared, and later on, after most strenu- 
 ously resisting the enemy's advance, had. with- 
 drawn from the town. But nothing availed to 
 restrain the implacable enemy, and so he looted, 
 burned and killed as his nature prompted him.
 
 52 A NATION AT BAY 
 
 Gallows were set up in the public places upon his 
 entrance into the town and wholesale executions 
 followed. 
 
 By the intervention of Americans, who had 
 been doing hospital work in the city, these 
 gallows were later removed to less conspicuous 
 spots. The Americans protested to the Austrian 
 military authorities and were able for a time to 
 relieve the appalled and suffering people from the 
 awful sight of their nearest and dearest hanging 
 shamefully before their very windows. 
 
 In the attack at the frontier and on the town 
 poison gas was used. And this new and diabolical 
 weapon new at least to the Serbians was more 
 fatal than all the other methods of warfare com- 
 bined. 
 
 The open avowals of Austria, Germany and 
 Bulgaria that they intend to exterminate the 
 natives is one of the tragic phases of the situation 
 in the Balkans. The wholesale hanging of prom- 
 inent citizens, the turning of machine guns on 
 innocent inhabitants, the exportation of thous- 
 ands of young girls to Turkey, where they are
 
 THE DEBACLE 53 
 
 sold into the harems, the young boys taken into 
 enemy countries to be brought up in military 
 schools, the removal of the scanty crops and the 
 awful treatment of Serbian prisoners, are some of 
 the terrible methods by which this extermination 
 is being accomplished. 
 
 Yet a great shriek had gone up in Austria 
 during the previous evacuation of Serbia by the 
 Serbian army over the rumor that the Austrian 
 prisoners were dying in thousands as they were 
 driven through the mountains by the Serbian 
 troops. Undoubtedly many did die, as did also 
 thousands of Serbian soldiers ; but so many, many 
 thousands were freed afterwards, or interned in 
 Italy, that it is probable the mortality was far 
 less than might seem likely in the circumstances. 
 
 Also, and this is admitted by both Berlin and 
 Vienna, after the typhus epidemic the Serbs of- 
 fered to exchange all their prisoners but received 
 no reply to their message. Therefore, the Aus- 
 trians have no cause for complaint, nor can we 
 believe that their protests were seriously made, as 
 a very large proportion of these men were their
 
 54 A NATION AT BAY 
 
 own Slav subjects whom, tliey themselves sacri- 
 ficed, on occasion, lightly and remorselessly. 
 
 In the final successful invasion the Austrian 
 troops were in every way inferior to the Germans 
 who stiffened Austrian ranks, but the Serbs were 
 outnumbered at least four to one, while each 
 enemy division had double the number of guns 
 that the Serbs possessed. The asphyxiating gases 
 used by the enemy were of great advantage, but 
 in spite of all this he had to fight for every foot 
 of ground. 
 
 Even the Austrian and German newspapers paid 
 tribute to the desperate courage of the Serbian 
 troops. The loss of Serbian officers alone great 
 numbers of whom were killed in holding positions 
 which while hopeless yet would give the Serbian 
 Army time to get further away and perhaps to 
 consolidate some more valuable strategic points 
 and the heroism of the Serbians, men and officers 
 alike, form an example for the world to wonder 
 at and to follow if they can. During this terrible 
 fighting the Serbs actually took over a thousand
 
 THE DEBACLE 55 
 
 prisoners including many officers. Then the Bul- 
 garians came in. 
 
 They attacked Serbia on October llth, 1915, 
 though their declaration of war was not handed 
 to the Serbian Government until late in the day 
 on October 12th. 
 
 Germany had gained a worthy ally ! 
 
 This new blow meant that Serbia now had to 
 defend about one hundred and sixty miles on the 
 Save and Danube, one hundred miles on the Bos- 
 nian front and two hundred and eighty miles on 
 the Bulgarian frontier. The enormous task did 
 not dismay the Serbians, however, for they con- 
 tinued to fight heroically though they well knew 
 that this time their enemies meant to finish the 
 job of annihilation. Here indeed was a gallant 
 Nation at Bay. 
 
 Serbia's only hope lay in the prompt arrival of 
 Entente aid, which had been promised and was 
 daily expected but which did not come. So at 
 last, when nearly surrounded and threatened with 
 total extinction at the hands of its merciless ene-
 
 56 A NATION AT BAY 
 
 mies, the gallant army withdrew to the trackless 
 wilds of the Albanian mountains. 
 
 All the stores and munitions, the guns and 
 motors, in fact everything that could not be car- 
 ried on pack animals, had to be destroyed, while 
 the remnants of that gallant army stood by filled 
 with bitter grief and despair. DesDairing they 
 vanished from their beloved land, only love for 
 which kept them from self-destruction They 
 had too little hope in those black days, but it was 
 their duty to Serbia to do what they could to 
 survive so that, perchance, if the Entente did not 
 again fail them they might by some miracle return 
 to fight once more to restore to freedom the Serbia 
 who must now lie for a time groaning under the 
 cruel yoke of a ruthless oppressor.
 
 CHAPTER VI 
 
 HELLS ON EARTH 
 
 WHEN the French and English retreated to the 
 Marne, the resistless waves of German troops 
 rolled after them and engulfed thousands of gal- 
 lant hearts in their overwhelming flood. Mars 
 rode upon the storm of horror and drank his fill 
 of pain and blood. 
 
 When the Serbian Army retreated before the 
 foe, four times its own strength, it went backward 
 facing the enemy and fighting every step of the 
 way. When the great arsenal of Kraguevatz fell, 
 in November, 1915, the friends of Serbia wrung 
 their hands and prayed that aid might reach her 
 before it was too late. 
 
 The King, in the midst of his soldiers, said to 
 them: "My children, you have taken an oath to 
 me your King. From this I release you. From 
 your oath to your country, I cannot release you, 
 
 57
 
 58 A NATION AT BAY 
 
 but if you win, or if you lose, I and my sons stay 
 with you here." 
 
 Old and feeble, suffering with neuritis and 
 other infirmities, riding on a jolting ox-cart 
 over the atrocious roads and with despair 
 in his heart but still true to his ideals and the 
 high courage of his race, his was a fitting spirit 
 to guide such an army as the Serbians had proved 
 theirs to be. And the soldiers, tired, hungry, 
 worn and yet not overcome answered him with a 
 shout of "Givela, Serbia." No shirking here. 
 These were men who would be faithful unto death. 
 
 The Crown Prince Alexander, stricken and 
 forced to undergo an operation at Skutari, would 
 not seek safety until all arrangements had been 
 made to carry the last poor refugee away to 
 strange islands and foreign lands where he might 
 await in safety the coming of a brighter day. 
 
 When the civil population of Serbia went forth 
 from their homes, fleeing from those remembered 
 horrors of invasion, they took with them only 
 what they could carry on their backs, the clothing 
 they wore and the bread which was to sustain
 
 HELLS ON EARTH 59 
 
 them for a little such a little time. Some ox- 
 carts there were, to be sure, but these moved 
 slowly and had to be abandoned for lack of roads 
 when the mountains were reached. Here there 
 were only rough tracks made by goats or mules 
 and even these were soon lost under the pitiless 
 snow. The animals were first turned loose and 
 later, as the distress and hunger of the people 
 grew more acute, they were struck down and their 
 flesh eaten by the starving wanderers. Famished 
 dogs went wild and made common cause with the 
 wolves and bears which roamed the mountain 
 slopes. Then woe to any poor soul who might 
 become separated from his group. 
 
 The Government formed all boys between the 
 ages of seven and seventeen into companies so 
 that youth might not be hampered by age in the 
 flight. Over thirty thousand of these lads entered 
 the snowy passes and what they braved, suffered 
 and endured beggars imagination. Only six 
 thousand survive today. 
 
 Had they fallen into the hands of the enemy 
 various fates might have overtaken them. Any boy
 
 60 A NATION AT BAY 
 
 over twelve years of age was liable to be called 
 a "soldier" and interned, then starved as all Ser- 
 bian prisoners are starving today. Or he might 
 be termed a spy and shot or infamously hanged 
 as so many thousand Serbians have been within 
 these past two years. Or, if still young enough 
 to forget, he might be taken into strange lands 
 and there trained in arms, eventually to fight 
 against his own country. 
 
 So they went forth on their pilgrimage of mar- 
 tyrdom. Their doom has moved a warring world 
 to futile tears. 
 
 Those awful roads in November were filled with 
 a procession of women, children, old men and 
 maimed soldiers striving to get away from the 
 sound of guns while behind them fought the 
 little groups of devoted men, fought till their 
 weapons fell from their hands, fought still when, 
 wounded, they sank upon the blood-soaked soil of 
 Beloved Serbia, fought to give time for those poor 
 refugees to get a little farther away that per- 
 chance they might somewhere find safety. 
 
 Away in the icy roads leading to Albania.,
 
 . 
 K
 
 HELLS ON EARTH 61 
 
 the poor ones struggled on. Mothers with their 
 little ones around them; blinded soldiers led by 
 the gentle hands of young girls, and carrying in 
 their arms sick or half -frozen children; old men, 
 tottering, stumbling, falling at last to rise no 
 more ; strong and handsome women, haggard 
 now with bitter fear, their danger greater than 
 any other. 
 
 A child would moan in its mother's arms, and 
 its little life would flicker out. The mother, 
 kneeling beside the tiny form, would take off her 
 great homespun apron that she might leave the 
 loved body decently covered. But the other suf- 
 fering children, crying at her side, needed the 
 meagre warmth of the ragged garment, so the 
 heartbroken mother with a piteous prayer must 
 gather her little brood about her and, leaving her 
 baby uncovered, go on again. 
 
 One by one the children would fall by the road- 
 side, prey to every cruel chance of misery, until 
 at last the poor mother, more able to stand hard- 
 ship than the little ones, would be left alone. 
 Death would have been very sweet to her to the
 
 62 A NATION AT BAY 
 
 thousands like her who made that awful journey, 
 but she was of mettle too stern to accept this 
 compromise with Fate. She knew just three shin- 
 ing words, Love, Home, Duty. It was her duty to 
 go on and keep life in her starved and freezing 
 body as long as she could so that if, by some 
 unimagined chance she might come back again; 
 come Home and raise up other children to live in 
 the Beautiful Serbia of her love. 
 
 Oh, these were soldiers too. Not theirs the reek 
 and riot, the heat and joy of battle. They fought 
 the bitter fight with cold and hunger. Their tired 
 and bleeding feet trod the ways of Gethscmane; 
 the rich and tenderly nurtured side by side with 
 the poor and lowly. 
 
 Sometimes a terrible blizzard would sweep 
 down upon th^m and they could not crouch 
 down seeking shelter under the rocks by the rough 
 trail but must needs struggle on since to falter 
 then meant death by freezing. 
 
 Alas ! for the many tiny hands and little feet 
 which today bear terrible proof of the power of 
 those icy blasts, and alas for the desolate mothers
 
 HELLS ON EARTH 63 
 
 whose babes knew no other winding-sheet than the 
 spotless snow and whose little bodies lie thickly 
 on the road to a nation's Calvary. 
 
 On Corfu and Corsica, whither the Allies trans- 
 ferred the refugees when at last they arrived at 
 the coast of Albania, so many died from the effects 
 of that piteous evacuation that the islands could 
 not accommodate all the wasted bodies within 
 their soil, and they had to be loaded on barges by 
 hundreds, taken away from the shore and com- 
 mitted to the keeping of the sea ; that sea which 
 in life had been denied them but which must now 
 forever be hallowed to Serbia by the devoted 
 hearts that have found rest beneath its waves. 
 
 Thousands of Serbian soldiers were taken 
 prisoners in those terrible days of fighting. And 
 what was their lot? 
 
 The treatment of prisoners in Austria proud, 
 aristocratic Austria! is awful beyond words. 
 Forced to work at the hardest and vilest tasks, fed 
 upon so-called "turnip soup," which is little more 
 than unclean water, and foul scraps of unspeak- 
 able black bread too little of either even to dull
 
 64 A NATION AT BAY 
 
 the edge of appetite, they are herded in draughty 
 sheds without blankets and with only an occa- 
 sional ragged sack to cover their wasted bodies. 
 Sick and well are crowded together, without medi- 
 cal attention, and when a man grows too weak to 
 work he is thrust into a wooden cage and there 
 kept until merciful death lays its hand on him, and 
 he can carry his sorrows into an unmarked grave. 
 Beaten with the butts of rifles, savagely smashed 
 into their faces, kicked, spat upon and cursed, 
 these men still cling to life hoping they may yet, 
 by some miracle, be freed to strike again for the 
 Serbia of their dreams. 
 
 Looking backward and comparing the de- 
 meanor of the prisoners of different nationalities, 
 the thing that impressed me most when I was in 
 Serbia in 1915 was the air of utter and serene con- 
 tentment on the faces of the Austrian prisoners; 
 and in 1916, the suspicious, but relieved, air of 
 the Bulgarians, when they found that they were 
 still alive and unharmed after being taken by the 
 Serbians. 
 
 The Austrians sang and joked at their
 
 HELLS ON EARTH 65 
 
 work and, except for an occasional home- 
 sick boy, seemed to be thoroughly enjoying them- 
 selves. But the Bulgarians could not believe that 
 their captors who had seen the mutilated bodies 
 of their brothers rescued from the enemies' bloody 
 hands would not take revenge upon them in kind. 
 Serbian soldiers know only too well what it 
 means to fall alive into the hands of the Bulga- 
 rians, for the Bulgarian is a Tartar with all the 
 cruel instincts of the race. He kills his enemy as 
 he lies wounded or shoots his prisoners in batches. 
 Happy are these if death alone awaits them after 
 capture. 
 
 In Belgrade I have seen pitiful remnants 
 of men who have been rescued from the hands 
 of the foe, whose favorite trick is to mutilate 
 in some horrible manner that will either make 
 those who look upon his victim shudder with hor- 
 ror, or rouse one to sorry laughter, as in the case 
 of the wretched man of whom I spoke in a previous 
 chapter. In either case the man is barbarously 
 
 marked for life. 
 
 *****
 
 CHAPTER VII 
 
 THE CALL 
 
 FROM the time that I returned to England, 
 where I was then living for a while, after 
 the close of my hospital work in Belgrade, life 
 had been smooth and pleasant. My home in 
 lovely Hampshire seemed dearer than ever, with 
 its great trees and its green lawns. The days 
 slipped by so peacefully that the suffering 
 I had seen seemed almost like a dream 
 yet not quite a dream, for always there 
 was work to do, money to be raised, clothing to 
 be collected and sent off to Serbia, letters from 
 the friends I had made in Belgrade and replies to 
 be sent. And always in my heart grew and 
 flourished the love and admiration which had been 
 implanted there by the courage of those splendid 
 soldiers and by the patience and suffering of those 
 brave and gentle women. 
 
 66
 
 THE CALL 67 
 
 Early in 1915, a meeting was held in the Man- 
 sion House in London, by the Serbian Relief Fund, 
 at which Herbert Samuel, T. P. O'Connor and 
 other prominent speakers told of the terrible con- 
 ditions in Serbia. The horrors of the typhus 
 epidemic were so vividly presented that more than 
 one person in the audience was moved to volunteer 
 to go out and minister unto agonized Serbia. 
 
 I was one of those to offer my services. My for- 
 mer experience among the soldiers in the hospitals 
 gave me reason to believe that I could again be 
 of help, but on application to the Serbian Relief 
 Fund I discovered that the fact that I was not 
 "trained" and had no certificates rendered me un- 
 acceptable ; my knowledge of the people, their cus- 
 toms and the practical experience I had gained 
 among them, being apparently of littl^ value. 
 
 However, a week later, Princess Alexis Kara- 
 georgevitch, the American wife of Prince Alexis 
 of Serbia, cousin of King Peter, wrote to me, say- 
 ing, "I hear the Serbian Relief Fund would not 
 take you, but if you will go out with us, Alexis 
 and I will be only too glad to have you. We
 
 68 A NATION AT BAY 
 
 know how much every pair of willing hands is 
 needed." 
 
 Then followed a hectic week of preparation. 
 Vaccination, inoculation against typhoid, proper 
 clothing in which to do any work that might be 
 required of me, settling up all my affairs in case 
 I did not return, and dozens of other things, in- 
 cluding passports, all of which I had to attend to 
 myself. 
 
 Prince and Princess Alexis had been col- 
 lecting medical supplies and money for the 
 stricken people. Mrs. Leggett, an American liv- 
 ing in London, had given a splendid ambulance, 
 and many committees in England and America 
 had collected clothing, dressings and drugs, all of 
 which were sent direct from England to Salonika, 
 there to await our arrival. 
 
 Captain Nicholas Georgcvitch was acting as 
 Aide to the Prince, and it was splendid to sec how 
 he worked. He would trust no one to mark the 
 many bales and cases containing the precious 
 stores, and I was much impressed to find this 
 immaculate vounrj man kneeling on dustv ware-
 
 THE CALL 69 
 
 house floors with a stencil in one hand and a brush 
 dripping with black paint in the other, solemnly 
 putting on the addresses. I asked him why he 
 did not have it done by the packers. 
 
 "If these things go astray, it is my fault !" was 
 his answer. 
 
 We crossed from Folkstone to Boulogne and 
 went through endless examinations though, owing 
 to the high rank of the Prince, I was told these 
 formalities were less severe than ordinarily is the 
 case. Prince Alexis having lived many years in 
 Paris and being well known there, the authorities 
 were very considerate on our arrival at the station, 
 and we were able to set off with little delay for the 
 hotel. The streets were filled with black-robed wo- 
 men and children and with blue-gray clad soldiers. 
 On every face was a look of grave determination. 
 I seemed to see written there those heroic words 
 of the French commander: "THEY SHALL NOT 
 PASS." 
 
 I was hurrying one day along the Champs 
 Elysees when I saw a sad little group of soldiers, 
 real "poilus," brown and bearded but with the
 
 70 A NATION AT BAY 
 
 hospital pallor showing through the tan, wander- 
 ing aimlessly under the trees. One was on crutches 
 his right leg missing ; another had only one arm, 
 while the third, with a green shade over his eyes, 
 had his head swathed in bandages. They were 
 evidently strangers in Paris, perhaps from the 
 Northern invaded provinces, and certainly home- 
 sick and lonely. 
 
 As I looked, suddenly a gorgeous, glittering 
 automobile came purring smoothly down the 
 road driven by an immaculately-groomed man 
 of middle-age and this was an unusual sight, 
 for few private cars were in use in Paris. 
 With a gentle swerve the beautiful car drew up 
 at the curb and the owner leaned out and said 
 something to the three soldiers of which I caught 
 only the words "Mes freres " (my brothers). 
 
 The invalids stared in uncomprehending wonder, 
 but the gentleman spoke again and waved his arm 
 hospitably toward the tonneau. Slowly the 
 soldiers smiled! Then they feebly lifted them- 
 selves, their sticks and crutches into the lux- 
 urious vehicle (with many injunctions to each
 
 , THE CALL 71 
 
 other to be careful), and the last I saw of the 
 party they were whirling gayly away amid the 
 blessings and cheers of a little crowd which, like 
 myself, had watched the pretty episode. 
 
 After dinner the first evening, Prince George 
 of Serbia, eldest son of King Peter, came in and I 
 was able to observe, without seeming to do so, this 
 interesting personage. Very tall, almost gaunt, 
 with broad shoulders held in a slightly stooping 
 position and with hands always buried in his 
 trouser pockets, he reminded me strongly of his 
 father the King. Abrupt and restless, utterly 
 careless of the conventions, said to be kind, but 
 never tender, a passionate hater and an ardent 
 patriot, Prince George has much of the charm of 
 a high-spirited and undisciplined boy. 
 
 Surprised to see him in Paris at this time, some 
 one asked, "And were you in this campaign, your 
 Highness?" Instantly, his eyes blazing, he opened 
 his tunic and shirt to expose his lean, brown body 
 with a fresh and flaming scar. Then, turning, 
 he showed a corresponding one at the back where 
 the bullet has passed out.
 
 72 A NATION AT BAY 
 
 "You think I do not love my country," he ex- 
 claimed. "Well, there's my proof." 
 
 Then I was told the story how, in the midst 
 of a fierce battle, he had come upon a group of 
 Serbian soldiers, dazed and idle. 
 
 "What are you doing?" he demanded. 
 
 "Prince, our officers are all killed and we do 
 not know what to do." 
 
 "Follow me," roared George, and he dashed into 
 the Austrians' front rank. The men did follow 
 and when the enemy had been driven back they 
 returned bringing the Prince helpless and bleed- 
 ing profusely but still full of fight. 
 
 After a few days in Paris, we started for Mar- 
 seilles. Our party formed a fairly imposing 
 spectacle. There were the Prince and Princess 
 Alexis, Captain Georgevitch, myself, the Princess' 
 English maid, her French chef, the French chauf- 
 feur, (who was to keep the ambulance and the 
 touring car in order, driving them whenever re- 
 quired) the chauffeur's wife, who was to be cham- 
 bermaid, a pair of bulldogs, an Italian dog, deli- 
 cate and beautiful, called Roma, a?nl a tiny Pekin-
 
 THE CALL 73 
 
 ese. There were thirty-eight trunks, some of them 
 filled with household linens, curtains and silver; 
 for the Prince and Princess intended taking up 
 their permanent residence in Serbia. How little 
 we then thought of the further terrible events so 
 soon to overwhelm the country. 
 
 Our first stop was at Malta, where we went 
 ashore. The streets were hot and glaring with 
 sunshine which was most cheering after the cold 
 raw bleakness of London and even Paris. The 
 Governor sent a launch to take us on a trip in the 
 harbor and we were much interested to see the 
 battleships, destroyers and other vessels, and the 
 enormous piles of shells and cases of various mu- 
 nitions lying on the quays ready for trans-ship- 
 ping. 
 
 England was preparing for war at last on 
 a large scale. Hospital ships were arriving from 
 Salonika and even farther East, filled with sick or 
 wounded, large numbers of whom came from Gal- 
 lipoli. The streets of Malta were full of troops 
 and staff officers, while convalescents, and soldiers
 
 74 A NATION AT BAY 
 
 returning from India on their way to the front, 
 chatted at every corner. 
 
 A few days later we arrived at Athens, where 
 we were met by Count Mercati, Court Chamberlain 
 to Queen Sophia of Greece, and son-in-law of 
 Princess Alexis. We had a delightful day and 
 were sorry to leave when our ship sailed. The 
 three little grandchildren of Princess Alexis saw 
 us off with assurances that they would soon come 
 to see us in Serbia, "As soon as you have got 
 every one well," said eight-year-old Daria. 
 
 We had on board several French officers who 
 were going to join their forces at Lemnos, two 
 infantry officers in the beautiful blue-gray cordu- 
 roy field uniform, an aviation hero, handsome and 
 bashful as a girl but the holder of two of the 
 highest French decorations for valor, and a dozen 
 other interesting personalities, including an Eng- 
 lish officer on a mission for the Admiralty. 
 
 We touched at Dedcagatch, the Bulgarian port 
 (then neutral) where all stores and supplies for 
 the allied troops at the Dardanelles were landed, 
 and we could hear the thunder of the big guns as
 
 THE CALL 75 
 
 the warships waged their fruitless fight to pass 
 the Narrows. 
 
 We watched the supply ships lying at 
 anchor, with the sailors' washing whipping in 
 the wind. We saw the bare, gray warehouses on 
 the shore and pyramids of cases with pigmy fig- 
 ures of soldiers swarming over them, building them 
 up or carrying them piecemeal away. Over all 
 hung a heavy dim-colored haze brought by the 
 wind from beyond the sheltering hills. This was 
 the smoke of battle ! Over us the lowering clouds 
 and below a sullen, choppy gray sea fit setting 
 for the tragedy that was soon to follow the Allies' 
 expedition against Constantinople. 
 
 From Dedeagatch to Salonika is but a short 
 journey, and I am happy to say we arrived during 
 a brief interval of fine weather, so that my first 
 view of the ancient Macedonian city was a highly 
 satisfactory one. My previous two trips to 
 Serbia had been made overland. The beautiful 
 curving harbor encircled us, its shores jeweled 
 with blue and pink and milk-white villas in an 
 emerald setting of trees ; before us the quays and
 
 76 A NATION AT BAY 
 
 modern houses of the town with the famous White 
 Tower at one end and the small dark Custom 
 House at the other. Climbing up the hill was the 
 Old Town, with its quaint tumble-down houses and 
 mosques with their delicate minarets, all sur- 
 rounded by the wall which has been its protection 
 for many centuries. Across the harbor sat 
 Mount Olympus crowned with snow. 
 
 All the hotels are on the quay side, or near it. 
 We went directly to the "Olympos Palace" and 
 were so fortunate as to find excellent rooms. 
 Our arrival caused some excitement. The Prince 
 and Princess were overwhelmed by callers and 
 deluged with invitations, most of w T hich were 
 evaded. 
 
 We found that our mountain of stores had ar- 
 rived but the boxes were scattered and buried in 
 the dilapidated, untidy storehouses on the quay. 
 It seemed an almost hopeless task to reclaim them, 
 but the Prince and Captain Georgevitch, working 
 day after day, with their own hands, dug through 
 tons of freight and at last managed to get all 
 our bales and cases together in one place. What
 
 THE CALL 77 
 
 their opinion of Greek porters was I dare not 
 state ! 
 
 This took ten days, but finally we started on 
 the last lap of our journe}' over the plains of 
 northern Macedonia where symmetrical little hills 
 rose suddenly from the flat earth ; past miles of 
 swamps filled with rank weeds ; sometimes, between 
 clumps of tall marsh grass, catching a glimpse of 
 lily-ponds where blue-gray herons dozed among the 
 flowers, and occasionally meeting to our amaze- 
 ment a shepherd so primitive in dress and appear- 
 ance that he seemed as though translated directly 
 from the days when the gods dwelt on Olympus. 
 Then, in the distance, blue hills and our train 
 puffed slowly around a long bend and into Serbia.
 
 CHAPTER VIII 
 
 THROUGH BEAUTIFUL SERBIA 
 
 GHEVGHELIA is the frontier town of Serbia, and 
 it was there we saw the first concrete signs of war. 
 Just over the hills which here form the boundary 
 between Serbia and Bulgaria a comitadji (brigand 
 band) of two thousand Bulgarians was lying in 
 wait to sweep down on the town to loot and 
 burn and destroy. 
 
 But near the station Serbia's guns were trained 
 on these same hills and her tall gaunt soldiers 
 were alert and ready to repel the invaders. Up 
 the hillsides clung the tents and grass huts of the 
 troops, while along the railway line low gray 
 wooden crosses marked the graves of those al- 
 ready fallen in defense of their country. 
 
 The old men and young boys who were strong 
 enough to carry guns, but who could not stand 
 the rigors of campaigning, were everywhere 
 guarding the railway lines. It sometimes hap- 
 
 78
 
 THROUGH BEAUTIFUL SERBIA 79 
 
 pened that roving bands of Bulgarians would 
 creep down the hillside and surprise them. Then 
 fresh graves and new crosses would appear along 
 the line. 
 
 It was no uncommon sight to see boys of four- 
 teen and men of eighty standing by the track, or 
 sitting by their huts of cornstalks close by, and 
 always with their guns held in their brown hands 
 or coddled in the crook of their arms. Always 
 ready, weak or old though they might be, yet were 
 they strong enough to give the signal when danger 
 threatened and, if need be, to lay down their lives 
 for the country which they loved. 
 
 At this time Bulgaria was not officially at war 
 with Serbia, but there is no doubt whatever that 
 these bands of brigands were employed by Austria 
 to harass the Serbians in the south and east, so as 
 to keep as many soldiers as possible engaged there. 
 
 The last time that Austria's army was driven 
 out the retreating forces left an enormous number 
 of sick and wounded behind them and among the 
 sufferers were many with typhus. The infection 
 quickly spread and soon the deaths were so numcr-
 
 80 A NATION AT BAY 
 
 ous that in the smaller villages the dead could 
 not be buried. The only way the bodies could 
 be disposed of was by piling rubbish in the door- 
 ways of the houses where such deaths had occurred 
 and setting fire to it. In this way the contents 
 were burned, and with them the various vermin, 
 which were the chief factors in spreading the 
 disease, were destroyed. 
 
 From Ghevghelia, we traveled north, through 
 Uskub where Claude and Alice Askew, English 
 novelists (who had been doing splendid work in 
 Serbia and who have since lost their lives on a 
 torpedoed vessel) came to the station to greet 
 the Prince and Princess and to bring the latest 
 news of how the work was progressing. We 
 learned of the death of many of the doctors, 
 nurses and other relief workers who had gone out 
 from England, France and America as soon as 
 the typhus epidemic made its appearance. But 
 in no case was any worker willing to leave Serbia. 
 From the time the great need of help was made 
 known, volunteers came in large numbers, fearless 
 and ready.
 
 THROUGH BEAUTIFUL SERBIA 81 
 
 There are graves in Serbia today of foreign 
 men and women whose names are imperishably en- 
 graved on Serbian hearts. Among these martyrs 
 to the cause of mercy were Madge Neil Fraser, 
 Scotland's girl golf-champion, who died during 
 the typhus epidemic, martyr to love and duty; 
 Richard Chichester, heir to a great British 
 title, worker and philanthropist; Mrs. Hadley, 
 sister of General French, who was killed by a 
 bursting shell a few months ago in the presence 
 of her daughter, while on duty at Monastir; the 
 American Dr. Cooke, typhus victim, and Emily 
 Louisa Simmonds, an American Red Cross nurse 
 who offered her all and suffered much for Serbia. 
 There were many others also, heroes all, who gave 
 their lives for a country not their own who died 
 nobly for the sake of a suffering people. 
 
 When we arrived at Nish, we found that the 
 train for Vrgntze, our destination, had gone. The 
 station master made up a "special" for us and we 
 started out in pursuit of the "local." On over- 
 taking it, we found it crowded with sick and 
 wounded, who were being sent to the hospitals at
 
 82 A NATION AT BAY 
 
 Vrgntze, and with other workers like ourselves. 
 Space was made for us however, and we went rat- 
 tling away over the beautiful rolling valley of the 
 Morava. 
 
 The single track railway wound in and out 
 among the hills and through little towns and vil- 
 lages, whose white houses with glowing, red-tiled 
 roofs were set in small gardens that later on would 
 be gay with roses, lilies and pink oleanders. Some- 
 times we could see the larger house of a Zadruga, 
 surrounded by its cultivated fields and by the 
 smaller cottages clustering like white chickens 
 around a mother hen. The trees of the fruit or- 
 chards sheltering the little homesteads would soon 
 be bursting into leaf. In the muddy ditches 
 ducks quacked and paddled, while long lines of 
 solemn geese raised their heads inquiringly toward 
 the passer-by. 
 
 Often in the towns, we would see the domes and 
 minaret of a Moslim Mosque (rising side by side 
 with the tower and Cross of the Orthodox 
 Church), reminding us of the long Turkish reign. 
 We happened to pass along the route from Nish
 
 THROUGH BEAUTIFUL SERBIA 83 
 
 to Vrgntze on a market day, so the roads were full 
 of gayly clad peasants leading their small donkeys 
 or driving the slow moving, dreamy oxen. 
 
 Sometimes a detachment of cavalry would dash 
 from a gap in the hills and for a time gallop be- 
 sides our not-too-swiftly-moving train, or a col- 
 umn of Austrian prisoners in their stained and 
 ragged uniforms would pass, unarmed and almost 
 unguarded, to their work of road-making or re- 
 construction. They did not look sullen or un- 
 happy. I was told that many were Austrian Slavs 
 who were only too glad not to fight against those 
 whom they look upon as their own countrymen. 
 
 After some hours we saw through the pour- 
 ing rain, which suddenly swept round the shoulder 
 of a hill, the dense grove of trees that shelters 
 beautiful Vrgntze, and in a few moments our loco- 
 motive puffed wearily into the station, which is 
 two miles from the town. All the notables of the 
 district were at the station to meet their High- 
 nesses, and there was a long and rather damp re- 
 ception. 
 
 We found the Princess' automobile, which had
 
 84 A NATION AT BAY 
 
 preceded us from Salonika, waiting, and were soon 
 on our way to town. The road was so bad we had 
 grave fears for the springs, but we arrived with- 
 out accident and were soon eating a good hot 
 lunch in the Villa Agnes, which was to be our home. 
 This Villa was the only available house suitable 
 for the good-sized establishment of Prince Alexis. 
 The owner moved out shortly after our arrival 
 and the whole place was turned over to him. 
 
 In spite of the rain, which continued to fall in 
 torrents, I thought I had never seen a more beau- 
 tiful place than Vrgntze. Imagine a little L shaped 
 valley between blue hills thickly clad with trees 
 and starred with white villas. Through the valley 
 runs a tiny river only about ten feet wide but 
 making enough noise for a stream three times its 
 size. On either bank are graveled walks which 
 spread and wind away under great acacia and 
 lime trees, and beyond the lovely park stand the 
 villas of the townspeople, the shops, restaurants 
 and cafes. 
 
 In the park near the river is a large open 
 pavilion in which sometimes a band played.
 
 THROUGH BEAUTIFUL SERBIA 85 
 
 Nearby are the medicinal bath houses and mineral 
 springs, for Vrgntzc is a well known health resort, 
 and the waters have all the virtues of those of 
 Carlsbad or Ems. 
 
 But everywhere in the pretty town were evi- 
 dences of the suffering that comes in war's train. 
 
 At the edge of the town is a large new hotel, 
 the Therapia, which had been converted to a hos- 
 pital by Professor Berry and his wife, Dr. Berry. 
 Still further out, where the river spread in rip- 
 pling shallows over a wide stony bed, was a long, 
 low building the Isolation Hospital. On the hill- 
 side above the town was a hospital run by an 
 English Military Medical Officer, Major Banks, 
 and near it a Convalescent Hospital under Mr. 
 Gwin of California. 
 
 Many of the cafes and restaurants had been 
 taken over and made into hospitals by the Ser- 
 bians. In one I found Greek surgeons and a French 
 matron, while among the nurses were Americans, 
 English and Russians. The streets were full of 
 convalescent officers and men, while the hospitals 
 disclosed ghastly sights. Men lacking both legs
 
 86 A NATION AT BAY 
 
 and an arm, others with one leg and no arms, 
 men whose heads had been broken by shrapnel or 
 shell splinters lying paralyzed, their tragic eyes 
 following us as we passed. Young boys with 
 minds unbalanced, sound of body but equally help- 
 less, watched us stupidly, or shouted the mirth- 
 less laugh of sheer madness. 
 
 There was not room enough in the hospitals nor 
 sufficient medical supplies for all the soldiers, 
 so little or nothing could be done for the civil 
 population. 
 
 Mrs. St. Clair Stobart, a fine English woman, 
 did establish roadside dispensaries where women 
 and children could receive treatment. But, valu- 
 able as her work was, it was only a drop in the 
 bucket of the awful need. Only for typhus could 
 aid be given elsewhere, for of course it was impera- 
 tive that this disease be utterly stamped out. 
 
 One day a woman staggered up to Major 
 Banks' hospital and, falling on the door-step, died. 
 With her were two little children, both within a 
 few hours of death. A corner of a crowded ward 
 was cleared for them and I saw them just before
 
 Ilvia
 
 o
 
 THROUGH BEAUTIFUL SERBIA 87 
 
 the merciful end. In the same ward lay two strong 
 men struggling for breath. They also died that 
 day of pneumonia. Round them, the cots nearly 
 touching so cramped was the space, lay their com- 
 rades who wished to get well only that they might 
 go out again and fight the implacable enemy. 
 
 On that day I went sadly back to my store- 
 room at the Villa Agnes and began unpacking a 
 great wooden case which had come from America. 
 In it I found several parcels of body belts, "cholera 
 belts" we call them out there, and in the corner 
 of each was sewn a tiny American flag. A sudden 
 rush of tears blinded me and I pressed the little 
 flag to my lips and broke down completely. The 
 thought of my own countrywomen giving their 
 time and devotion to help us do our work, so far 
 away in that little known part of Europe filled 
 me with appreciative emotion.
 
 CHAPTER IX 
 
 AT WORK 
 
 WHEX I offered myself for work in Serbia in 
 the typhus epidemic, I thought I would be obliged 
 to nurse the victims of that dread disease, but my 
 orders were to take charge of the medical stores 
 which we had brought and the further supplies 
 which were to follow from various English and 
 American sources. 
 
 My duties at Vrgntze began at 6:30 in the 
 morning, when I was usually found in the store- 
 room opening up for the day. The round of the 
 hospitals followed, and when I had secured lists of 
 their needs, I returned to the store-room, unpacked 
 and stored the contents of the large cases of sup- 
 plies of various sorts which were arriving fre- 
 quently from English and American sj-mpathiz- 
 ers. Then I made duplicate lists of the require- 
 ments of each hospital, packed the goods on 
 stretchers, which were brought up to the Villa each 
 
 88
 
 AT WORK 89 
 
 day by the prisoner-orderlies, and received and 
 filed the receipts from the matrons, or storekeepers 
 of the hospitals. 
 
 Some of the hospitals, notably that of Profes- 
 sor Berry, had their own direct sources of supply, 
 but the drugs, instruments, dressings and clothing 
 which had been collected by the Prince and Prin- 
 cess Alexis did an infinite amount of good. 
 By their great devotion and their thoughtful 
 kindness to everyone around them, they endeared 
 themselves to us all. They were called by the sol- 
 diers "Our Prince" and "Our Princess," and no 
 man was too ill or too sad to cheer, however feeble 
 his voice, when the Prince looked back from the 
 door after hours of friendly conversation with the 
 invalids and called out bravely, "Till tomorrow, 
 comrades !" 
 
 The Princess has a beautifully trained voice, 
 and is a most accomplished musician. There was 
 a good piano in the Villa Agnes and each evening 
 she would play and sing, to the comfort of us all 
 after the often harrowing scenes of the day. 
 
 Sometimes we would motor over to nearby
 
 90 A NATION AT BAY 
 
 towns on market-day, and come back with our 
 car loaded with rude pottery, or native rugs and 
 osier mats for the stone floors of the Villa. 
 
 About twice a week Princess Alexis would hale 
 me forth from the store-room for a walk. We 
 would go through the park and strike off into 
 lanes where the fringy-petaled clematis made close 
 fragrant curtains over the high, unkempt hedges 
 on either side. 
 
 These rambles were a great treat after the 
 strain of the sights in the hospitals and the hard, 
 often manual, labor in the store-room. We would 
 return with our arms filled with the gorgeous wild 
 flowers for which Serbia is famous, and these 
 would be massed in the great earthen jars by the 
 doors of the Villa Agnes and in the little salon. 
 With books, photographs and beautiful pieces of 
 old brocade from the inexhaustible trunks, the 
 bare, rectangular rooms took on a comforting 
 look of Home. 
 
 The food was sparse and poor, but it was ex- 
 quisitely cooked and daintily served. Now I hap- 
 pened to be possessed of robust health and a
 
 AT WORK 91 
 
 splendid appetite beyond what the others seemed 
 to have, so these delicate meals did not satisfy 
 me. However, I soon discovered a remedy. 
 
 Before leaving Salonika, I had been romantically 
 attracted by a sign advertising "Honey of Hymet- 
 tus." Shades of the ancient Olympians it was 
 irresistible ! So when I started north I purchased 
 a large wooden box (which got in everyone's way 
 and was an absolute nuisance) containing four 
 kilo jars of the famous honey. During the jour- 
 ney I often regretted my sentimental lapse, for I 
 am not at all fond of sweets of any kind, but at 
 Vrgntze that honey was truly a god-send. 
 
 So there might be no danger of my springing to 
 the table and greedily devouring all the beautifully 
 prepared but woefully skinny chicken which was 
 to be "dinner" for four, all the small dish cf salad, 
 which had been painfully procured at great ex- 
 pense, and all the airy vanilla wafers which usu- 
 ally formed our dessert, I would retire to my own 
 room before the meal was served and, locking the 
 door, swallow three or four spoonfuls of rich, 
 cloying honey and then take my place at the
 
 92 A NATION AT BAY 
 
 table with a politely dulled appetite. I never 
 want to taste honey again! 
 
 As there was no plumbing in the Villa, all water 
 had to be brought from the public fountains in 
 big tins hung on a pole across the shoulders of a 
 servant. Our water-carrier was an Austrian pris- 
 oner named Basil. It was particularly difficult to 
 converse with him because, curiously enough, his 
 only language was Russian s and that of such a 
 poor quality that even the Serbs could hardly un- 
 derstand him. For days he hung around the store- 
 room door and tried to tell me something. 
 
 From his contortions of face and body I was 
 not quite sure whether he had a bad pain and 
 wanted medicine or whether he desired me to get 
 him a job as an acrobat. But at last I began to 
 understand and to sympathize. He wished me to 
 give him some clothes to replace the stained, old 
 Austrian uniform he was wearing. When I had 
 found him an outfit, he was the happiest man in 
 Serbia, and the first time he appeared before the 
 household we sat down on the door-step and 
 laughed until we were weak.
 
 AT WORK 93 
 
 Now Basil had a queer shape, broad and heavy, 
 with short sturdy legs, long arms and a round, 
 bullet head. His face, at the first glance, looked 
 like that of a thorough-going ruffian with its 
 squinting eyes, thick, blubber lips and flat, broken 
 nose. But when he smiled, you saw that he was 
 just a battered, kindly, simple soul with the heart 
 of a faithful dog. 
 
 Imagine him then, in a pair of old dress 
 trousers, heavily braided and six inches too long, 
 a black calico shirt with large white stars 
 and crescents printed on it, no collar but a 
 big button at the neck of the shirt, evidently made 
 of sealing wax, an excellent tweed shooting jacket 
 with leather buttons and a belt which, not meet- 
 ing, hung down his back below his knees. On his 
 feet was a pair of glistening new "Arctics" and. 
 coming down to his ears, which were forced out 
 at an angle of 4*5 degrees, a flat-brimmed high- 
 crowned derby hat of most ancient vintage. 
 
 As long as he was in uniform, Basil had saluted 
 us in approved military fashion, but from the 
 moment when he burst upon the family's astounded
 
 94 A NATION AT BAY 
 
 gaze in civilian clothing, his salutation consisted 
 in depressing the brim of his great hat until it 
 stood up straight in the air, then releasing it and 
 letting it fall again upon his ears with a loud 
 "plop." 
 
 At our first view of the transformation the 
 Prince roared, the Princess shrieked, the maids 
 giggled hysterically; the chef, looking out of 
 his kitchen window, chuckled until we thought 
 he would have apoplexy. But Basil stood grinning 
 with pride before us. Later, he beckoned me to 
 the back gate with mysterious gestures and showed 
 me a grayish bundle which he raised carefully in 
 the air and then kicked violently into the road. 
 As it fell apart in the ditch, I saw that it was his 
 discarded Austrian uniform. 
 
 Another interesting member of the establish- 
 ment was a Serbian gendarme, or soldier guard, 
 named Ilyia, who had spent some time in the 
 United States and spoke English quite well. He 
 was a fine built fellow about six feet three inches 
 tall, and broad in proportion and, though recently 
 convalescent from a serious wound, was still quite
 
 AT WORK 95 
 
 the strongest man I have ever seen. He would 
 take the big Red Cross cases, which two men 
 could hardly move, from the ox-carts at the gate 
 and carry them up the steep five hundred yards of 
 garden-path with apparent ease. 
 
 He had made money in America and had opened 
 a "cafe" in Pittsburg, where he was doing well, 
 when the war began in the Balkans. His J .'ty 
 to Mother Serbia had brought him back to fight. 
 One day, Prince Alexis asked him, "Ilyia, if you 
 were so prosperous in the United States, why did 
 you return to Serbia and leave it all?" 
 
 "Well, Highness," was his reply, "you see I 
 felt I just had to kill some of Serbia's enemies 
 and I've done it." 
 
 When Ilyia was dressed in his dark blue uni- 
 form with its scarlet pipings, the white, blue and 
 scarlet enamel "Cocarde" on his smart cap and 
 high, well-fitting, patent leather boots, he was a 
 handsome and an imposing figure.
 
 CHAPTER X 
 
 AUSTRIAN PRISONERS 
 
 DURING the epidemic the Austrians, fearing in- 
 fection, kept away from any possibility of contact 
 with the Serbians. No fighting took place for 
 many months and we were able to go about our 
 work systematically without distraction. 
 
 The Austrian prisoners at Vrgntze were a 
 strong, healthy-looking lot of men, and though 
 their uniforms were somewhat ragged and stained 
 they were quite sufficient for comfort and decency. 
 In the Park near the Springs was a stone and 
 brick building which was used as a fumigating 
 station, while farther away, near the Post Office 
 was the prisoners' wash house where the steaming 
 tubs were always full of linen, and even cloth 
 garments. 
 
 The men moved about their work joking and 
 whistling, seemingly well content to be busy and 
 far from the battlefields. On the roads we would 
 
 9G
 
 AUSTRIAN PRISONERS 97 
 
 meet squads of them marching to or from their 
 work, and the discipline was admirable as they 
 swung along staring curiously at the Princess 
 who, with her golden hair and beautiful Paris 
 gowns, naturally attracted attention. I may say 
 here that, despite her dainty, fragile appearance, 
 she did her full slmre of the hard and often dis- 
 tasteful work that demanded so many pairs of 
 willing hands. 
 
 One day a group of prisoners stood at atten- 
 tion as we passed, and among them I recognized a 
 waiter who had often served me in a London res- 
 taurant. They were alwa3's most respectful and 
 never, I believe, gave any trouble to the authori- 
 ties. The only cause for complaint I ever 
 had against the prisoners was that when Arctics 
 were requisitioned by the hospitals and I sent them 
 on the stretchers with other stores, one or two 
 pairs would always disappear en route. However, 
 one could hardly blame the men, since footgear was 
 so scarce that half the time their bare feet were on 
 the ground. What with the sharp, coarse gravel 
 of the paths this was no joke.
 
 98 A NATION AT BAY 
 
 They were always most obliging and would 
 move heavy cases for me, open boxes, or do any- 
 thing else I might want done. Occasionally I 
 would give them a few cigarettes, for which they 
 seemed most grateful. The Serbian soldiers did 
 not mingle with them, but I never heard any rough 
 words addressed to them nor saw them treated 
 otherwise than kindly. 
 
 In the hospitals, of course, sick or wounded 
 prisoners were given the same consideration as 
 the Serbs themselves. I saw one man lying at the 
 inside end of the ward one day and apparently suf- 
 fering greatly from the close heat of the place and 
 a Serb, who was being carried in from the baths, 
 had his carriers put him into that bed, giving up 
 his own place by the window to the Austrian. 
 
 The prisoners lived in barracks at the edge of 
 the town and were employed only for government 
 work, but after Prince Alexis arrived one or two 
 were allowed, as a reward for good conduct, to 
 enter his personal service. This was very conve- 
 nient, as few Serbs will take a menial position and 
 servants are very difficult to get. The Prince was
 
 AUSTRIAN PRISONERS 99 
 
 lucky in finding a tall, handsome fellow, who had 
 been an upper waiter in one of the best London 
 hotels, and who made an excellent butler. With 
 the chauffeur's wife and the lady's maid he did 
 most of the house work, while the chef and Basil 
 took care of the kitchen and the servants' quar- 
 ters, which formed a separate building near the 
 house. 
 
 The original dining room of the Villa was also 
 an independent building, about sixty feet long by 
 eighteen feet wide. This we used as our store- 
 room. Along one side I ranged packing cases, 
 one on the other to the height of nine feet, and 
 thus formed a series of very convenient cupboards 
 in which I could keep the various kinds of stores, 
 well sorted, and within easy reach. In an alcove at 
 the end of the room, under a great window which 
 opened on a terrace planted with fragrant stand- 
 ard roses, Prince Alexis had his desk, and here he 
 and Captain Georgevitch worked faithfully day 
 after day. 
 
 Among other things sent us from England, were 
 thousands of pairs of knitted woolen wristlets that
 
 100 A NATION AT BAY 
 
 had been made for the Indian troops, who were 
 transferred from the Western front to Eg} r pt be- 
 fore these comforts were ready. As the Serbian 
 soldiers needed socks more than wristlets, we rav- 
 eled them out and had the wool reknitted by Ser- 
 bian ladies who volunteered for the work. We also 
 had several thousand yards of flannel and a simi- 
 lar quantity of heavy cotton material which they 
 made up into shirts. Even then we could not give 
 Ihe men a change of anything as there were not 
 enough garments for all of them to be fully clad 
 once. 
 
 In the center of the long store-room was 
 a row of stout tables for the workers, and all along 
 the opposite side and down one end of the 
 room were heaps of army blankets, cases of drugs, 
 instruments, tinned milks, foods for invalids, and 
 great, gray-painted chests of Red Cross supplies. 
 
 One day we received a large box with a black 
 edged card tacked on it. Within were quantities of 
 dainty baby clothes. These were soon sorted into 
 sets and supplied to several poor, young mothers, 
 widows of Serbian officers. These were the hard-
 
 AUSTRIAN PRISONERS 101 
 
 est of all to help, for they concealed their poverty 
 so proudly that it took infinite tact to get them 
 to accept anything at all. 
 
 Shortly after this Sir Thomas Lipton came 
 to call on Prince Alexis. He was much impressed 
 by our work and said that our store-room was 
 the best organized and best arranged he had seen 
 out there. I was much pleased, as he had seen 
 them all, but, being an Irishman, it is probable the 
 "Blarney" entered into his commendations. 
 
 In spite of the scarcity of many things sugar 
 being often unobtainable, and candles costing 
 sometimes two francs each we got on fairly com- 
 fortably, and came to realize how easily one can 
 do without things that have heretofore been con- 
 sidered indispensable. 
 
 We all felt so remarkably well and strong that 
 we began to look around for the probable cause. 
 We thought we found it in the excellent water 
 which was brought from the fountains and of 
 which we drank large quantities, it being our only 
 beverage. Wherever the Turk has been you will 
 find fine wells since owing to his religion, which for-
 
 102 A NATION AT BAY 
 
 bids wine or spirits, he will dig to any depth to 
 gain an unfailing supply of pure water. For 
 many who, like myself, will be unwilling in the 
 future to patronize the German and Austrian 
 "cure" places, I can strongly recommend Vryny- 
 atchka Banya ("The Baths of Vrgntze").
 
 CHAPTER XI 
 
 THE RETURN 
 
 WHEN the typhus epidemic was at its height 
 very early in 1915, the proportion of deaths 
 among those attacked was over eighty per cent. 
 It seemed as if the whole population was dying. 
 When a stranger in a town fell ill his one desire 
 was to return to his home, and no matter how far 
 away he might be, he immediately set out on his 
 journey. Of course he spread the infection right 
 and left, so that the disease seemed to fly on wings 
 among the simple and highly gregarious people. 
 
 When we found out a method of segregating the 
 awful malady in our district, the improvement was 
 immediate and within a very short time the mor- 
 tality was reduced from eighty to twenty per 
 cent. Each suspected case was placed in a special 
 receiving room, where he was shaved from head to 
 foot, even the eyebrows being removed. He was 
 103
 
 104 A NATION AT BAY 
 
 then bathed with paraffine or some such insecti- 
 cide and placed in an observation ward. The 
 vermin, which was the principal cause of the 
 spread of the disease, now being eliminated, 
 it was comparatively easy not only to cure 
 the patient but to prevent any further spread 
 of infection. 
 
 Many nurses and doctors died before the in- 
 vention of a special costume which rendered them 
 immune. This consisted of a long tunic girdled 
 closely ; a pair of "Turkish" trousers bound tightly 
 round the ankles ; the head covered by a cap which 
 completely concealed the neck; rubber gloves on 
 the hands ; the face and the insteps above the shoes 
 were smeared with some ointment to repel the at- 
 tacks of vermin. From the first week that these 
 precautions were adopted, not a nurse or doctor 
 who strictly observed them, was attacked. By dint 
 of hard work, and rigorous attention to the many 
 necessary details of sanitation, by mid-summer, 
 1915, the typhus epidemic had been practically 
 stamped out.
 
 THE RETURN 105 
 
 Then we found that, for some unknown cause, 
 our supplies were falling off in quantity, besides 
 arriving with great irregularity, so I was sent 
 back to England to see what could be done to 
 insure a steady and unfailing flow. 
 
 As the train service was extremely poor, the 
 Prince offered to take me over to Stalac where I 
 could get a fairly good train to Nish. The Prin- 
 cess also decided to accompany me on this first 
 stage of my journey and we started at four 
 o'clock in a cool, gray dawn. The mist clung 
 round the hill tops and a damp wind blew in our 
 faces. 
 
 At Stalac we had a long wait, as the train 
 was very late, but at last I was helped up the 
 high steps of an incongruously luxurious rail- 
 way car and, with kindly farewells, sent on my 
 journey. As my command of the Serbian 
 language extends only to a very limited number 
 of words, Ilyia was sent with me to interpret 
 and to look after me generally. I was to do 
 many commissions, both in Nish and Salon-
 
 106 A NATION AT BAY 
 
 ika, for their Highnesses, and Ilyia was to be also 
 my messenger and burden bearer. 
 
 At Nish I was met by a Professor Derocco, 
 resident there, who had received a telegram from 
 Prince Alexis to aid me as much as possible. By 
 this time the rain was coming down in streams and 
 we took a carriage, (which I am firmly convinced 
 was the original One Hoss Shay), and started out 
 to seek Banks and Consulates wherein my business 
 lay. As I was to pass through Greece, Italy and 
 France to England, it was necessary to have my 
 passports viseed by the Consuls representing those 
 countries. The offices were full of people who also 
 had important business to transact, and I had 
 several long waits. However, as all things come 
 to an end, at last I was free to seek food and rest, 
 my mission accomplished. 
 
 Professor Derocco had found a place which he 
 assured me I would prefer to the hotels, as these 
 latter were all so uncomfortably crowded, and he 
 took me to a large private house away from the 
 center of the town. We entered through a gate 
 in a hiffh stuccoed wall and found ourselves on a
 
 .THE RETURN 107 
 
 flagged path in a rain-drenched garden. Around 
 the corner of the house we went up a short flight 
 of steps and knocked at a glass paneled door. 
 It instantly was opened by a quaint and charming 
 old lady whose absolute replica hovered in the 
 background. The large hall was lined with big 
 wooden coffers and presses. Through the cur- 
 tained doors of these furnishings I saw piles of 
 the heavy hand-woven sheets and pillow cases, 
 embroidered bed covers, and other linens that 
 are the pride of a Serbian household. The shelves 
 of another revealed row upon row of glass jars of 
 fruit and syrups of which the people are very 
 fond. 
 
 I was ushered into a pleasant room with great 
 shuttered windows opening on the street. The 
 walls of the room were ornamented with bright- 
 hued native tapestries and the table cover was a 
 brilliant specimen of hand-woven silk and linen 
 threads finely embroidered. Coffee was brought 
 in on a beautifully carved tray and that invari- 
 able adjunct to Serbian hospitality, a large carafe 
 of sparkling cold water. I was told that this was
 
 108 A NATION AT BAY 
 
 the apartment used by Prince Paul, a nephew of 
 the King, on his visits to Nish. 
 
 Professor Derocco left me to rest and went 
 out to attend to some business for me, as 
 the rain made it extremely disagreeable to get 
 about the awful streets, and he was determined 
 to save me all the effort possible. 
 
 At four o'clock he returned and, bidding my kind 
 hostesses adieu, we drove over the yawning gaps in 
 the rough cobble stones to the station. On the 
 way I saw little groups of thin, ragged people 
 crouching in the doorways, spattered by the pelt- 
 ing rain and by the mud from the wheels of our 
 rickety, furiously-bounding cab. These, I was in- 
 formed, were refugees from the North and East 
 whose villages had been devastated by the Aus- 
 trians and Bulgarians. Hungry, wet, uncom- 
 plaining, the}- sat there believing that soon all 
 would be well and they would be able to return, 
 rebuild their homes and begin again to culti- 
 vate their little farms in peace and security. 
 
 At the station we found a fairly dry table in 
 the cafe on the platform and here we dined on
 
 THE RETURN 109 
 
 cabbage soup, coarse brown bread, goat's cheese, 
 dry prunes and beer. Ilyia appeared when it was 
 time to entrain. As Professor Derocco had ar- 
 ranged to pay a visit to his young daughter, who 
 was living with his aunt at Uskub, he accom- 
 panied me. For hours in the train we talked of 
 Serbia and her prospects. The Professor, who 
 is one of the government's cartographers, pro- 
 duced one of his maps and I learned far more of 
 Serbian geography than I had ever known before. 
 So engrossed in this study was I that if was 
 after midnight before I remembered the full day I 
 had had and my need of sleep. 
 
 My escort bade me goodnight and sent the 
 porter to make my bed, and I was soon in a log- 
 like slumber. This would have lasted, I feel sure, 
 well into the next afternoon, had I not been sud- 
 denly roused by a loud and persistent rapping on 
 the door. When I opened it there stood Professor 
 Derocco, looking irritatingly fresh and immacu- 
 late, bidding me good-by and begging me to let 
 him know if he could serve me in any way either 
 then or in the future. I did appreciate his kind-
 
 110 A NATION AT BAY 
 
 ness but, oh, how I regretted my interrupted 
 sleep. 
 
 Arriving at Ghevghelia I was entertained 
 by the officials who provided a light repast 
 with a graceful and kindly hospitality that made 
 it as acceptable as a banquet. Then again, the 
 dull, swampy plains of Macedonia and, just 
 as dusk began to deepen, Salonika. 
 
 A telegram had been sent to the Olympos Palace 
 Hotel, but the courier who met me said that every 
 room was taken and people were even sleeping 
 in the reception rooms, while the writing-room had 
 been turned into a dormitory for officers. How- 
 ever, he said he would take care of me or die in 
 the attempt. So, with gigantic Ilyia on the box 
 and the courier leaning out the door of the cab 
 and shouting to clear the way, we rattled over 
 the stones and around the corners until we pulled 
 up before the Hotel d'Amerique. 
 
 The old reception clerk showed me into a large 
 room with three great four-post beds, all made 
 up and with mosquito curtains snugly tucked in. 
 I asked how much lie wanted for it, and with an
 
 /THE RETURN 111 
 
 air of great surprise, he inquired if I meant "all of 
 it." I said I certainly did, and he mumbled that 
 the place was crowded and it would be very ex- 
 pensive. After a good deal of grumbling and sly 
 calculation he assured me he could not let me have 
 it under eight francs ! I sent him for as much 
 water as he could bring me about four pails full 
 had a good refreshing wash and slept. 
 
 The next day was a busy one, and though my 
 boat did not sail until midnight, there was none 
 too much time. Ilyia was invaluable, and I kept 
 him going from early morning until I bade him 
 good-by at the dock. When I tried to give him 
 a gold piece for good luck he refused it, saying he 
 was honored in serving me since I was a friend of 
 his country. I was deeply touched and we shook 
 hands. I got to bed at twelve o'clock and stayed 
 there until noon the next day.
 
 CHAPTER XII 
 DOING MY BIT IN ENGLAND AND AMERICA 
 
 THE journey to Naples was uneventful. There 
 were some interesting people on board, mostly 
 Italian Reservists returning to join their regi- 
 ments. Among them was an "air-man," who had 
 been training Bulgarian aviators (how he must 
 regret it now). There was also an Italian editor 
 from Constantinople and two Roman ladies, sis- 
 ters, returning from Jerusalem. On this boat I 
 made the acquaintance of Mr. Francis Markoe, 
 who had been working with Lady Paget's unit in 
 Serbia all through the typhms epidemic and who 
 is now a member of the Serbian Relief Committee 
 of America and still working faithfully for 
 Serbia. 
 
 We went overland from Naples to Paris and 
 when, passing along the Riviera, I saw men and 
 women beautifully dressed, care-free, over-fed, I 
 wondered which was the dream, the suffering, 
 hungry, ragged, courageous and devoted people
 
 DOING MY BIT 113 
 
 I had just left, or this frivolous, perfumed, laugh- 
 ing crowd of pleasure seekers. The contrast was 
 astounding. 
 
 On my arrival in London, I found the Serbian 
 Relief Fund was packing and sending out large 
 cases every week. Mrs. Carrington Wilde told 
 me the organization was receiving splendid 
 response to its appeals, and after I had seen the 
 fine corps of volunteer workers packing and label- 
 ing the bales of clothing and the great boxes of 
 other much needed supplies, I felt happier. 
 
 Soon after my return, Captain Georgevitch ar- 
 rived with a collection of war trophies consisting 
 of Austrian war rifles, knapsacks, shells, hand 
 grenades, swords, drums and many other interest- 
 ing trophies collected on Serbian battlefields. 
 These he placed on exhibition in some of the large 
 stores in London and in other towns as well. Win- 
 chester among them, where I was able to arrange 
 for a show of them at the Guild Hall. We charged 
 a small admission fee and afterwards auctioned off 
 the things. The affair was a great success and 
 we made a good sum to be sent back to
 
 114 A NATION AT BAY 
 
 Serbia in the form of drugs and other necessaries. 
 
 In October, having finished my work in Eng- 
 land, I wished to get my passports to return to 
 Serbia, but the situation was by this time so grave, 
 owing to the strong Austrian offensive before Bel- 
 grade, that the American Ambassador refused to 
 let me go It was not long before we heard the 
 terrible news of the steady advance of the enemy 
 forces, the capture of Kraguevatz and then the 
 retreat of the Serbian army fighting every 
 inch of the way and the awful tragedy of the 
 evacuation. 
 
 I thought of my many friends in Belgrade, of 
 the invalids, the maimed and the old who had to be 
 left behind, and my heart was torn with fear and 
 sorrow over their inevitable doom. 
 
 I knew that none but the very strongest could 
 survive, that the weak and the ill would die of 
 privation and that a deliberate policy of exter- 
 mination would be carried on by the invaders. We 
 know now that one-quarter of the population has 
 already been destroyed and we fear that this is a 
 too-conservative estimate.
 
 DOING MY BIT 115 
 
 Unless this war ends favorably for us, Serbia 
 will be but a memory and her brave and splendid 
 people will die out, butchered by the cruelest and 
 most vindictive enemy the world has ever known. 
 Serbia who held the gates on the East, as Belgium 
 did on the West until the armies of England and 
 France could take their stand; Serbia who, like 
 Belgium, has been crucified and to-day is gasping 
 out her life under the tortures of our enemies ! 
 
 After taking part in the dreadful retreat over 
 the Albanian mountains, Princess Alexis wrote 
 me imploring my help. She and the Prince had 
 started with their household in the automobile and 
 the ambulance, she said, but on reaching the 
 mountains had to abandon these vehicles. 
 
 The Princess wrote: "We burned them so that 
 they should not benefit the enemy." She and her 
 husband had passed through the awful ordeal, suf- 
 fering from cold and hunger as did the poorest 
 peasant in that fearful march, and those who 
 saw her say she worthily upheld the reputation of 
 our American women for courage and endurance. 
 
 After her arrival in Rome, she wrote a restrained
 
 116 A NATION AT BAY 
 
 and unsensational account of the horrible journey 
 which was published in the New York papers. In 
 it she nowhere speaks of her own personal mis- 
 eries, but I have testimony of eye witnesses that 
 she and Prince Alexis endured cheerfully with the 
 others all the suffering and hardships. 
 
 After receiving her letter, I came home to 
 America, knowing that if I could only tell the 
 people of the terrible need of Serbia their generous 
 hearts would prompt them to give. Nor was I 
 mistaken. I myself joined the Serbian Relief 
 Committee of America and undertook to deliver a 
 series of lectures on Serbia. In that way I soon 
 raised a substantial sum for relief work among 
 the refugees on the Island of Corsica. 
 
 My object was to get as much help as possible 
 to the destitute people, with the utmost speed, 
 since every hour and every day counted tragically 
 against them in suffering and death. 
 
 So as the Serbian Relief Committee of America 
 had at that time no suitable organization in the 
 Balkans with which to administer relief to the 
 refugees, I requested them to allow all funds
 
 DOING MY BIT 117 
 
 which might be raised at joint meetings by Miss 
 Burke, an Englishwoman who had now joined 
 me, and myself to be turned over to the Scottish 
 Womens' Hospitals (whose representative Miss 
 Burke was). They had a relief station already 
 established on Corsica and could give help without 
 delay. As we cabled the amount in hand, the 
 Scottish Women's Hospitals would draw upon 
 their own funds pending the arrival of our 
 money to replace the sums. 
 
 The most successful meeting held during the two 
 months that we worked together took place at 
 the Breakers at Palm Beach, and at this one meet- 
 ing we raised enough money to establish a tent 
 hospital of two hundred beds on Corsica which 
 was to be known as "The American Unit of the 
 Scottish Womens' Hospital." 
 
 This meeting was held under the patronage of 
 some of the most prominent citizens from all over 
 America, and our two most generous subscribers 
 were Mrs. Alexander Hamilton Rice and A. 
 Kingsley Macomber, Esq. In consequence of our 
 arrangement with the Scottish Womens' Hospital,
 
 118 A NATION AT BAY 
 
 hundreds of lives were saved which otherwise 
 would have been lost for lack of immediate aid. 
 
 Since then we have been able to send really good 
 sums to carry on the work of feeding, clothing and 
 restoring to health those destitute and unhappy 
 people. The Serbian Relief Committee was so 
 fortunate as to interest Dr. Edward Ryan of the 
 American Red Cross in its work, and the last train 
 loads of food sent into Serbia from Roumania by 
 him were largely contributed to from our fund. 
 
 America was neutral then, the greatest and the 
 richest country in the world. Her people pro- 
 vided with every comfort, every luxury. She was 
 so fat and well fed it was difficult to realize that 
 actual starvation stalked throughout so many 
 unhappy cities in Europe. America did not real- 
 ize that this war so intimately concerned her and 
 that she would inevitably be drawn in. For a time 
 there seemed to be something of the spirit which 
 prompted the man of old to say, "Am I my broth- 
 er's keeper," and to us, who had seen the trend 
 of events, it was tragic that our country should 
 be so blind.
 
 CHAPTER XIH 
 
 THROUGH THE WAR ZONE 
 
 IN August, 1916, we of the Serbian Relief Com- 
 mittee began to feel a touch of impatience in let- 
 ters from our American Consuls at Athens and 
 Salonika and, as personal business called me to 
 England, I offered to extend my journey to the 
 near East to see what could have happened. 
 
 We were now a world at war, and sea travel 
 having become more and more dangerous, I had 
 been warned that it was most difficult to get per- 
 mission to cross, but owing to the good offices of 
 Mr. Arthur Lee and Mr. John Barrett, both of 
 Washington, I was soon supplied with a passport 
 and with a letter from the Secretary of State, 
 recommending me to the courtesies of the Ameri- 
 can Ambassadors, Ministers and Consuls in the 
 allied and neutral countries through which I must 
 
 pass. 
 
 119
 
 120 A NATION AT BAY 
 
 It was the third week in August when I sailed. 
 There were no trippers, no gamblers, no "little 
 actresses" and few New York dressmakers or mil- 
 liners on board. Everyone was going on serious 
 business, mostly connected with the war, which 
 was nearly the sole topic of conversation. Many 
 people then, as they are today, were perfectly 
 certain that "Germany cannot last out another 
 six months." There were several alarms of sub- 
 marines and one man Avas so depressed by the 
 sense of danger that he jumped overboard and was 
 lost. 
 
 On our arrival at the mouth of the Mersey, 
 we found ourselves enveloped in a dense fog and 
 were obliged to wait several hours before we could 
 go up to Liverpool. Just behind us, when we at 
 last did berth, was a large ship filled with Ger- 
 man prisoners that had arrived that day from the 
 Cameroons. They lined the rail and stared at us 
 curiously, and when two other New York women 
 and I passed near them, one of the younger ones 
 shouted something about "Amerikanerin" and 
 spat viciously in our direction. I saw an English
 
 L THROUGH THE WAR ZONE 121 
 
 sailor grab him by the collar and there was trouble 
 for a few minutes. 
 
 Arriving at the Carlton Hotel in London, I was 
 informed that I must report as an "alien" at the 
 nearest police station within twenty-four hours. 
 So the next morning I went to Vine Street, and 
 had a pleasant interview with a nice old police 
 sergeant, who said I must let him know the day 
 before I wished to leave London. 
 
 As soon as he had given me my papers, I 
 began to inquire about permission to go to 
 France. The French authorities were very strict 
 about allowing civilians to enter the country and 
 the English were nearly as obdurate about let- 
 ting them out of England. But on appealing to 
 Colonel Walker, at the Home Office, my way was 
 made smooth by a letter from him to the officer 
 in command at the French Consulate-General. 
 
 As there had been submarines in the English 
 Channel lately, the boats often did not sail for 
 several days together and when they did go, of 
 course, they were very crowded. Armed with my 
 passports, credentials, letters and a stack of pho-
 
 122 A NATION AT BAY 
 
 tographs, I went to the Consulate very early in 
 the day and obtained, with little delay, a French 
 passport, which was warranted to get me into 
 France but not to get me out. Then back to Vine 
 Street to tell the Man in Blue of my intention to 
 leave. 
 
 As a former employee of mine was lying 
 wounded in a Red Cross hospital at Southampton, 
 I applied for an "identity card" to enable me to 
 visit him, but the old sergeant said, "Oh, you won't 
 need that as you are to sail from Southampton. 
 Just report at the police station when you get 
 there and they won't 'urt you." 
 
 When I saw poor Mursell, my faithful gardener 
 of happier days, on crutches and heard that he 
 had been wounded in the legs, he seemed to think 
 that I ought to have an explanation. As he is 
 only five feet four inches in height he was, for a 
 time, ineligible for military service, but after a 
 while "Bantam Regiments" were formed and he 
 was among the first to join and was the tallest 
 man in his regiment ! 
 
 "Yes, madam," he said, "I caught a shell-
 
 Bringing in sick civilians at Vrynatchka Banya
 
 Prince (k-orgc of Serbia, Admiral Troub ridge and the 
 author
 
 THROUGH THE WAR ZONE 123 
 
 splinter in my legs. Why a man six foot four 
 could have been wounded there." He was quite 
 cheerful and happy, in spite of the pain which 
 he was suffering, to have "done his bit" in the 
 great war. 
 
 On my way to dinner in the town, I remembered 
 that my presence at the police station was re- 
 quired, so I went there. The sergeant on duty 
 asked my business. 
 
 "I'm an alien and am here without an identity 
 card," I said. "Are you going to arrest me?" 
 
 "What for, madam?" he asked. 
 
 "Oh, I just thought you might want to," I re- 
 plied. 
 
 "Wouldn't think of such a thing. And I didn't 
 know you was a h'alien, madam." This cour- 
 teously. 
 
 I looked surprised and he laughed and said 
 he remembered often having seen my husband 
 drive with me down the High Street when we lived 
 near Southampton and he 'ad h'always supposed 
 that I was H'english though he knew that Mr. 
 Farnam was a H'american.
 
 124 A NATION AT BAY 
 
 At eleven o'clock the following night I went 
 on board the crowded Channel steamer, but we did 
 not leave the dock until six o'clock, broad day- 
 light, and then simply scooted across. The cross- 
 ing was really dangerous and every one of the 
 several hundred passengers kept as sharp a look- 
 out as if he were personally responsible for the 
 safety of the ship. However, we landed at Le 
 Havre unharmed, and after endless formalities 
 were allowed to proceed to Paris. Such a long 
 journey! We seemed to stop at every barn and 
 cottage on the route and arrived at dead of night, 
 as hungry and cross as if our troubles and dis- 
 comforts were all important. 
 
 But just as we finished the short examination 
 at the station gates, a train-load of wounded 
 French soldiers came in and the first men were 
 carried past us on their stretchers to the waiting 
 ambulances. We stood ashamed of our peevish- 
 ness when we saw the glowing eyes shining in the 
 dim light and heard the feeble voices shout "Vive 
 la France." 
 
 The men about me took off their hats and
 
 THROUGH THE WAR ZONE 125 
 
 the Grossest, most cantankerous woman of us 
 all, who had made tha journey even more 
 uncomfortable than need be by her constant 
 grumbling, ran forward weeping and tried to kiss 
 one pathetic lad whose blanket lay hideously flat 
 where his legs should have been. 
 
 The streets of Paris were dark and the chauf- 
 feurs seemed to drive more recklessly than ever. 
 I was glad to reach my hotel and find a cool, clean 
 bed ready for me. 
 
 My first visit was to Dr. Milenko Vesnitch, 
 Serbian Minister to France. We had an hour of 
 discussion on the situation in Serbia and as to 
 what was advisable for the Serbian Relief Com- 
 mittee of America to concentrate on in future. 
 He said that the needs of the population still in 
 Serbia were most piteous and urgent, also 
 that we should form a fund to supply seeds and 
 farming implements to help to restore the people 
 when the war is over. He also suggested that 
 America should take up the hospital and medical 
 work among the Serbian troops as this was sadly 
 needed.
 
 126 A NATION AT BAY 
 
 Dr. Vesnitch thought it unnecessary for me 
 to go to Corfu as Miss Helen Losanitch was 
 already on the spot and could report on condi- 
 tions there and Corsica. But he said I should 
 go to Salonika and talk with Serbs there to get 
 a full idea of what was required. Also, he thought 
 it advisable for me to go to Geneva and see M. 
 Navelle who represents Serbian Relief there. 
 
 The French authorities were most kind and 
 gave me the necessary papers to leave Paris with- 
 out delay. At eight o'clock my train, packed 
 with convalescent soldiers, who would never be 
 able to fight again, on their way to their homes 
 and many pale, emaciated civilians who were seek- 
 ing health among the Swiss mountains, pulled out 
 for the frontier. 
 
 In my compartment there was a young girl, 
 clinging frantically to a tall handsome Serb- 
 ian officer who, when the train was about to 
 start, placed her, fainting, in my arms and 
 begged me in a broken voice to take care of her. 
 Later I learned that she had been a governess in 
 a well-to-do family in Belgrade and had fled before
 
 THROUGH THE WAR ZONE 127 
 
 the enemy, with her employers. The officer was 
 her fiance whom she had met again unexpectedly 
 at Corfu, and who had been sent to Paris with 
 important papers, and was thus able to take care 
 of her on her long journey. 
 
 The poor girl was very ill as the result 
 of the hardships she had undergone and passed 
 from one fainting fit into another until I was 
 nearly distracted. However, on reaching the 
 Swiss border I found a party of English nurses 
 who said they would take charge of her, as they 
 were remaining there for some days and she was 
 clearly not fit to go on. We sent a telegram to 
 her father who, I heard afterward, came and took 
 her home. 
 
 On my arrival in Geneva I went to the Ameri- 
 can Consulate for information as to what must 
 be done before attempting to enter Italy. The 
 Consul-General told me that it would be necessary 
 for me to see the Italian Minister in Berne, and 
 it would be at least ten days before I would 
 be allowed to go, if at all, since instructions re-
 
 128 A NATION AT BAY 
 
 garding me must come from Rome. This was a 
 blow. 
 
 As soon as M. Navelle's office was open, I went 
 to him. He reported that Dr. Ryan, of the Ameri- 
 can Red Cross, who was, or lately had been, in 
 Vienna, was hopeful over the condition of the 
 country but we feared, on reading more recent 
 statements of other observers, that possibly the 
 Doctor was unduly optimistic. Since then these 
 fears have been tragically realized. 
 
 The reports as to the conditions of the Serbian 
 prisoners in Austrian prison camps were heart- 
 rending and we agreed that aid to these starving 
 men must be rushed at once by the Swiss Com- 
 mittee. As many of the English and French pris- 
 oners had so often said they could not have sur- 
 vived had it not been for the parcels of food sent 
 them by their families and friends, we could well 
 imagine the awful needs of these Serbian soldiers 
 with no one to help them, their country being com- 
 pletely at the mercy of a cruel and vindictive enemy 
 and their families destitute and living in abject 
 misery. M. Navclle promised to send a full report
 
 THROUGH THE WAR ZONE 129 
 
 at once to our American Committee so that no 
 time should be lost and money and supplies might 
 be forwarded to such an extent as our funds would 
 allow. 
 
 At one o'clock the following morning, in a pour- 
 ing rain storm, I left for Berne. I arrived at 
 four-thirty and had a few hours' sleep before the 
 Legations opened.
 
 CHAPTER XIV 
 
 EASTWARD Ho! 
 
 OUR Minister to Switzerland, Mr. Stovall, was 
 very kind but held out no hope that the Italian 
 Minister would let me go into Italy until he had 
 received advices from Rome. However, he gave 
 me a note to the Minister and I took a cab to the 
 Legation. The driver stopped at an iron gate in 
 a high wall and as I entered a great "police" dog 
 came swiftly around the corner of the house but 
 calmed down when I spoke to him. While we 
 were making friends, the Minister appeared in the 
 garden and seemed surprised that the dog was so 
 amiable as he was usually not at all friendly to 
 strangers. 
 
 Then I was sent over the Chancellerie, which 
 was next door, and was told to state my busi- 
 ness to the Secretary. By the time the Minister 
 came in, about ten minutes later, my passport had 
 
 130
 
 EASTWARD HO! 131 
 
 been examined and all my papers were in order. 
 He shook hands and wished me good luck and I 
 asked, "When may I hope to go, Your Excel- 
 lency?" 
 
 "Why you can catch the 12:50 if you make 
 haste," he said, smiling. I fled. 
 
 Back to the hotel ordered my bill as I rushed 
 to the elevator grabbed my bags, paid my ac- 
 count on my way to a waiting cab, and hopped 
 into the train three minutes before it pulled out! 
 
 At Iselle, on the Italian frontier, the examina- 
 tion of travelers was very strict and for some 
 reason I was left to the last. When I went before 
 the examiners, the Chief, a dapper-looking young 
 man, rose and bowed, asked me a few questions, 
 waved my papers aside, stamped my passport 
 "Iselle" and "Entrata" and handed it to n?.e with 
 another smile and bow; I thanked him thinking,, 
 "how kind everybody is," and started out. 
 
 But the man snapped "Nella camerata" and I 
 was taken into a little room, stripped and searched. 
 When I returned I found a group of men plunging 
 their hands into my dressing bag and suitcase and
 
 132 A NATION AT BAY 
 
 turning the contents upside down. Every scrap of 
 paper was scrutinized and discussed and every 
 garment shaken out and held up before this crowd 
 of men. The person who had examined me was 
 the only other woman in the place. 
 
 A soldier found a pack of worn playing cards 
 in one of the bags and told me these were forbid- 
 den. He said, "I must destroy them." I was so 
 angry by this time, I could hardly contain myself 
 but I said smiling, "Do what you like with them. 
 Give them to your friends, or your children, if 
 you wish." He turned very red and tore them 
 in bits. 
 
 Into this heated scene strode the Chief and de- 
 manded every paper I had with me. His ques- 
 tions were searching and peculiarly insulting 
 while his manner was that of one who was dealing 
 with a particularly vicious criminal. I handed 
 over my credentials, my notes, card case, letters 
 and even the newspaper I had been reading when 
 I left the train. The latter he threw on the floor 
 and in a very few minutes I saw that he had little 
 or no knowledge of English. An elderly gentle-
 
 EASTWARD HO! 133 
 
 man who seemed quite ashamed of the treatment 
 given me, offered to read the various papers, 
 which he did with some difficulty. 
 
 Then followed a long and very noisy argument. 
 I gathered the first man had decided the minute 
 he saw me that I was a spy, and his manner made 
 me believe that my ultimate (Latin) destination 
 would be the rock-hewn, undersea dungeons of 
 some noisome Italian jail! His disappointment, 
 when he found there could be no charge made 
 against me, was a positive pleasure for me to 
 witness. 
 
 My letters from the Secretary of State and 
 from the American Ambassador in London (writ- 
 ten for an earlier journey but equally good on 
 this one) were too much for him. So at last I 
 was allowed to go after he had flung my papers 
 down so that half of them fell on the floor and I 
 had to pick them up. 
 
 Thinking it wise to show how dignified I 
 could be under adverse circumstances, I sailed 
 out with head high, smiling but with a hot, 
 red spot on either cheek, only to be followed
 
 134 A NATION AT BAY 
 
 by a roar of laughter. On reaching my com- 
 partment I found that the desired effect had 
 been rather dashed by a yard or two f pink r&>- 
 bon from a forgotten bow that trailed btkmd me, 
 and had in some way become entangled with 
 a greasy paper bag so that my haughty progress 
 must have resembled that of an indignant kite ! 
 
 At Milan I found that the train for Rome 
 had been gone an hour, so, lugging my bags which 
 grew heavier and heavier, I went out into the 
 rainy streets, discovered a small but comfortable 
 hotel near the station, and had another all too- 
 short night's rest. 
 
 At six-twenty, in a violent downpour, my 
 train left for Rome and there I was lucky 
 in catching the Naples Express. In the 
 dining-car my seat happened to be opposite that 
 of an Italian naval officer who glared at me 
 ferociously all through dinner. When the coffee 
 was served he could bear it no longer and pointing 
 to the large enameled Red Cross, which I always 
 wore when traveling in the war zone, he demanded, 
 "What is that you are wearing, signora?"
 
 EASTWARD HO! 135 
 
 When I told him that it was the Royal Order of 
 the Serbian Red Cross, he looked rather flat and 
 said that seeing the two-headed eagle on it he 
 could not think it anything but Hunnish. 
 
 At midnight the train crawled into Naples and 
 my bed soon claimed me. In the morning I had 
 developed such a cold that my voice had nearly 
 gone. I asked when the next boat was to leave 
 for Athens and the clerk said at noon that day, 
 but I would have to apply for permission and 
 then wait ten days for advices from Rome. I 
 simply sighed "That's an old story," and sought 
 the American Consul. 
 
 Mr. White, the Consul, was most sympathetic 
 but he did not know what he could do except 
 to send his secretary with me to the Prefectura, 
 which he did. Mr. Garguilo first got my 
 passport viseed by the Greek Consul then took 
 me to the Italian authorities. We found our man 
 in a big dingy room which was packed to suffoca- 
 tion with Greek, Corsican and Sicilian seamen and 
 I suspected that they each and all lived exclusively 
 on garlic.
 
 136 A NATION AT BAY 
 
 Mr. Garguilo forced his way to the desk 
 and talked a few minutes. The official looked over 
 at me, stamped my passport, shook hands with 
 Mr. Garguilo and turned again to his seamen. We 
 got in Mr. White's car, which had been waiting, 
 called at the hotel for my bags and went on board 
 the steamer. Just as easy as that! 
 
 The boat was an awful tub and the accommoda- 
 tions were most primitive. The cabins were in 
 pairs opening, one on each side, on tiny corridors 
 which ran at intervals from the dining salon. In 
 the cabins were two berths on the inner wall and 
 one under the port hole. That was all. Not a 
 chair or a wash basin or any other thing but 
 just those three extremely uninviting berths. At 
 the end of each corridor was a basin with two 
 tall taps standing so high above it that they 
 splashed all over the place whenever they were 
 turned on. One day a beautiful little eel, about 
 five inches long, came merrily through into my 
 tooth-wash glass. 
 
 One could secure a little privacy by locking 
 the door into the dining salon, but there was no
 
 EASTWARD HO! 137 
 
 guarantee that one's opposite neighbors would not 
 want to wash and pounce out at inopportune mo- 
 ments. In the morning I managed by rising very 
 early, and during the day I would watch until 
 my neighbors were on deck, then lock the corridor 
 door until I had had a soul-satisfying scrub. 
 
 The food was horrible and the service worse. 
 We had terrific storms and there were frequent 
 rumors of submarines though how anyone could 
 have detected their presence in such rough seas 
 passes my comprehension. 
 
 At Patras we got the news of the flight of Mr. 
 Venizelos to Crete and immediately the young 
 Greeks on board were aflame with patriotism. 
 
 As has been often told, King Constantine of 
 Greece had been more than suspected of playing 
 a double game with the Allies. His former Prime 
 Minister, Eleutherios Venizelos, great patriot and 
 true friend of the Allies, had protested in vain 
 against the secret pro-Germanism of the King's 
 policy but in vain. The Queen, a sister of the 
 Kaiser, had a most malign influence over her hus- 
 band and he was as wax in her hands. While
 
 138 A NATION AT BAY 
 
 King Constantine was assuring the Allies of his 
 friendly neutrality, he was secretly corresponding 
 with Wilhelm of Germany and assuring him that 
 it was only fear of Allied pressure that restrained 
 him from openly declaring his sympathy with the 
 Central Powers. 
 
 Nearly every one of the Greek patriots on our 
 ship left us to go by a vessel just about to leave 
 the harbor, which would arrive in Athens a few 
 hours before we should. They declared their in- 
 tention of defjdng the King and aiding Mr. Veni- 
 zelos in setting up a Government which would in- 
 sure the integrity of Greece and balk the Pro- 
 German plot of the Court. Many of these young 
 men I afterwards saw in Salonika with the forces 
 of the Provisional Government. 
 
 On arrival at Athens, we found the whole town 
 humming with excitement. The guards around 
 the palace were doubled and at all hours of the 
 day and night small groups of cavalry would dash 
 past the hotel or we would hear the shuffle and 
 tramp of hoofs. Squads of French marines 
 were marching through the principal streets
 
 EASTWARD HO! 139 
 
 and one night a mob threatened to stone the 
 French Legation. No one was allowed to walk 
 on the Legation side of the street after that. 
 
 The first morning I was in Athens a friend said 
 that if I would ask I could have an audience with 
 the Queen, but my cold was so bad that it seemed 
 unwise to do so since I did not wish to court 
 influenza. In the afternoon a similar suggestion 
 was made with regard to an interview with Prin- 
 cess Andrew, sister-in-law of the King, to which 
 I gave the same excuse. 
 
 I hoped to see Mr. Venizelos and hear from his 
 own lips the true state of affairs, if I could get to 
 Salonika (I believe that it was well known in the 
 Greek Court that I had no desire to see the Queen 
 before I did know the truth). The American Min- 
 ister, Dr. Garrett-Droppers, assured me that this 
 was impossible as Salonika was a "port of war" 
 and entirely under military control. No person 
 who was not actually engaged in some way in the 
 conduct of the war, was supposed to be allowed to 
 go there and the restrictions were very severe.
 
 140 A NATION AT BAY 
 
 However, he offered to introduce me to Sir Fran- 
 cis Elliott, the British Minister. 
 
 The interview was very short. Sir Francis 
 seemed in a very nervous state, which was small 
 wonder considering the heavy responsibilities de- 
 volving upon him. So after Dr. Droppers had 
 told him my aims and wishes, I spoke up: 
 
 "Sir Francis, I know how busy you are 
 and so I will not waste your time. If you can 
 let me go say so, and if you cannot I'll just go 
 away and try to be satisfied." The Minister 
 looked at me sharply a moment. 
 
 "We'll see what we can do," he replied. 
 
 Calling his secretary, he sent us down stairs to 
 the Bureau des Allies. Here I filled in the usual 
 application form and produced the perpetually 
 required photographs. Then I was ushered out 
 into the garden where a thick-set, youngish-look- 
 ing man in a bowler hat, looked into my very 
 soul and asked a few more questions. Then he 
 asked Dr. Droppers something which I did not 
 hear, and turning to me, said, "This passport 
 must be visecd by the French, English, Italian and
 
 EASTWARD HO! 141 
 
 American Consuls here. That will take time but 
 when it is done you may go to Salonika." 
 
 "I'll start on it now so as to sail tomorrow," 
 I answered. Everybody laughed at my hurry 
 and the official said: 
 
 "Well, if you are in such haste, I will attend to 
 it for you. It will probably cost about fifteen 
 francs in Consular fees and I will send the pass- 
 port around to you, in order, this evening." 
 
 I was amazed at his kindness, for everybody 
 was rushed to death in Athens at that time owing 
 to the unsettled state of Greek affairs and the 
 very real danger to the Legation from Anti- 
 Venizelist mobs. 
 
 During my short stay in Athens I was much 
 surprised at the very outspoken way in which the 
 Greek situation was discussed by the public. In 
 restaurants, cafes, shops and hotels no one mod- 
 erated his voice in commending Mr. Venizelos and 
 criticising the King. I heard officers in uniform 
 openly say that if Constantine did not come out 
 plainly on the side of the Allies at once they 
 would join the ex-Premier in Salonika on his
 
 142 A NATION AT BAY 
 
 arrival there, which was expected to take place 
 about ten days later. 
 
 The hairdresser at the hotel told me gravely 
 that Mr. Venizelos was "divine" and that his every 
 word was "inspired by God." The man was in- 
 telligent and fairly well educated and said 
 thousands of Athenians felt and believed as he 
 did. I was much interested as I had heard both 
 foreign residents and Greek officers say this was 
 the popular feeling. 
 
 In the evening a messenger arrived with my 
 passports. The next morning I spent at New 
 Phaleron where I inspected the Frothingham In- 
 stitute, an establishment where Serbian orphans 
 were being cared for by the great generosity of 
 John Frothingham of New York. 
 
 These children had been gathered from refugee 
 camps where they were wandering forlorn and in 
 terrible condition, having become separated from 
 their parents. I was told that all had been in 
 an extremely bad state when taken in charge by 
 the institute. Then they were starved and ill,
 
 EASTWARD HO! 143 
 
 suffering from skin diseases, frost bites and vari- 
 ous injuries. 
 
 But when I saw them they were well and 
 looked happy, though on many of the little 
 faces there were the ineffaceable traces of the suf- 
 fering they had undergone. They filed before 
 me, shaking hands solemnly, and saying in Eng- 
 lish, "How do you do." I had come prepared with 
 a large box of sugared almonds, one of which I 
 popped into each little mouth to the surprise and 
 joy of the recipients. 
 
 Then the boys and girls stood in a group and 
 sang the Serbian National Anthem and "Yankee 
 Doodle came to town, riding in a ponee." Even 
 the tiniest tot put up his little head, opened his 
 wee mouth wide and sang out lustily. 
 
 While I was talking to the children one was 
 referred to as "Our bad boy." The boy 
 evidently understood what was said for he 
 hung his head and looked very sheepish. Then 
 they told me that one of his exploits within the 
 past twenty-four hours had been to climb a tele- 
 graph pole in front of the institute and encourage
 
 144 A NATION AT BAY 
 
 the little boys to do the same until the poles from 
 end to end of the road were draped with cheering 
 Serbian orphans. And another of his pranks was 
 to turn the tap of the big water reservoir to see 
 the water splash and run away down the dusty 
 garden. As all the water had to be brought by 
 hand, this was quite a serious piece of mischief. 
 However, I looked at him and said: 
 
 "I like bad boys for I believe that if a child 
 knows he is bad he generally tries very hard to 
 be good, and, if he tries hard enough he generally 
 succeeds in laying the foundation of a good 
 character and becomes a fine man so I do like 
 bad boys." This seemed a surprising point of 
 view and all the children said they would try to be 
 good! When I went away the children all stood 
 on the steps and cheered lustily, "Hurrah for 
 America." 
 
 At noon, Miss Simmonds, an American Red 
 Cross nurse who has done wonderful work for the 
 Serbians, joined me on board one of the small 
 steamers and after many formalities we sailed. 
 
 There were three separate alarms of submarines
 
 EASTWARD HO! 145 
 
 the first day out. At every port we touched there 
 were Venizelist demonstrations by the five hundred 
 or more volunteers who sailed with us. At Volo 
 feeling between our fellow-passengers and the 
 townspeople ran high and shouts of "Zito, Venize- 
 los" by those on board and the yells of opprobrium 
 from the shore were deafening. 
 
 On deck the people were packed like sardines 
 both day and night because few of the men took 
 berths owing to the warm weather. My canvas 
 deck-chair reeked with garlic after the first night, 
 so I knew that some would-be warrior had slept in 
 it. Miss Simmonds and I had been lucky enough 
 to get a tiny cabin to ourselves, so tiny that we 
 had to dress in our bunks much as one does in a 
 sleeping car. The food was very good and the 
 boat scrupulously clean, which was explained by 
 the fact that the owners are Scotch. These boats, 
 and those of the Italian line by which I returned, 
 were very enjoyable exceptions to the usual run 
 of boats out there. The Greek vessels are simply 
 abominable in every detail, of food, service and 
 accommodation.
 
 146 A NATION AT BAY 
 
 Miss Simmonds (or "Emmy Lou" as she was 
 called by her intimates), Mr. Herbert Corey, the 
 war correspondent, and Mr. Petchar, a Serbian 
 Government official who had been charged to look 
 after me by Mr. Balougditch, Serbian Minister to 
 Greece, and I formed the party of four which gen- 
 erally managed to occupy the whole platform, and 
 here we argued and gossiped and settled the 
 Affairs of Nations to our heart's content. 
 
 Approaching Salonika, we had to wait some 
 time for the examining officials to come on board 
 and were much interested in watching life on a 
 cruiser which lay close by. It was near sunset 
 and t^e fishing boats were coming in. They were 
 a lovely sight with their patched sails shining like 
 gold in the orange glow from the West and their 
 hulls painted rosy pink, vivid green or deep ma- 
 roon. Before us lay the curving line of buoys 
 marking the guarded entrance to the harbor, and, 
 rising across the bay, Eternal Olympus watching 
 over all. 
 
 At the last moment we were allowed to enter 
 the entrance is closed at sunset and I saw a
 
 Eniilv Louisa Simmons
 
 EASTWARD HO! 147 
 
 different harbor from the one of a year earlier. 
 It was now filled with war vessels, great battle- 
 ships, cruisers, destroyers; tiny launches darted 
 in and out ; bugle calls floated over the water and 
 the circling aeroplanes came slowly down the sky. 
 A huge hydro-aeroplane swooped down to the 
 surface of the bay like a monstrous dragon-fly, 
 while, stately and beautiful in their pure white 
 paint with the green band around their hulls and 
 the great red cross painted on each side, lay the 
 splendid ships, with their loads of sick and 
 wounded men the Hospital Ships. Two or three 
 of these cleared daily for Malta, or France, or 
 England, so great was the burden of sickness and 
 wounds laid upon the "Armies of the Orient." 
 Some of these vessels were attacked by submarines 
 and, as AVC know, in several instances the Hun sat- 
 isfied his blood-lust with the lives of these broken 
 and suffering men and the nurses and doctors who 
 tended them.
 
 CHAPTER 
 
 SALONIKA 
 
 THE harbor of Salonika when I arrived from 
 Athens was crowded with Allied troops and all 
 the paraphernalia of war. 
 
 A new Custom House and large, clean ware- 
 houses had been built since my last visit and ships 
 were unloading stores, provisions, munitions, guns, 
 ambulances, troops, hospital units and kicking 
 mules in a seemingly inextricable jam. Mountains 
 of baled hay were neatly stacked near the shore- 
 end of the docks and bags of oats were piled up 
 beside them. Lumber and mysterious cases filled 
 another enormous space while winding in and out 
 among the press came columns of troops looking 
 fit for any work or play ! 
 
 The whole town was aflutter with the Allied 
 flags now settling slowly down as night fell. My 
 old room at the Olympos Palace was ready and 
 
 148
 
 SALONIKA 149 
 
 friends came to call as a preceding boat had 
 brought word that I hoped to come. 
 
 The town was clamorous with troops of a dozen 
 nationalities and every shade of color English, 
 French, Russians, Italians, Serbians, Annamese, 
 Senegalese, Congolese, and American war corre- 
 spondents bravely clad in tweed or khaki. There 
 were nurses in white and blue and gray, doctors, 
 surgeons and orderlies ; Greeks, Jews, Serbians 
 and Macedonian refugees. Every known language 
 seemed to be spoken and every tint of the rainbow 
 worn. It was like a tapestry of color woven on 
 a background of khaki and hung against the 
 white walls of the old Thessalonian city. 
 
 I have been told that "women who ask ques- 
 tions" were particularly unwelcome to the author- 
 ities, so I set about my business very silently. 
 The only questions I ever asked were absolutely 
 concerned with my own work and I soon found 
 plenty of that to occupy me. 
 
 First there were the American and Serbian 
 Consuls to be seen. Mr. Kehl, the American Con- 
 sul, was far from cordial when I first saw him,
 
 150 A NATION AT BAY 
 
 and after a short conversation I could not blame 
 him. 
 
 It appeared that various relief organizations 
 in America, our own among them, had been send- 
 ing goods out to Salonika "in care of the Ameri- 
 can Consul" with a calm request that these large 
 boxes and bales should be forwarded to Nish or 
 Monastir, or be distributed among the camps 
 there in Salonika, but omitting to send funds for 
 the freight or portage. 
 
 This, therefore, had to be paid out of the Con- 
 sul's own pocket, as the associations had no repre- 
 sentatives on the spot to whom he could apply, 
 and naturally the Consul felt the imposition. 
 It was, of course, merely lack of thought on 
 the part of those who had sent the goods, 
 but when I promised to see that the matter 
 should be corrected Mr. Kelil, who is only 
 too glad to help in the good work, forgave us all 
 and both he and Mrs. Kehl were very kind to me 
 during my stay in Salonika. Then, accompanied 
 by Mies Simmonds, I began the round of the hos- 
 pitals and camps.
 
 SALON KA 151 
 
 There were many pitiful sights and many more 
 heart-breaking stories, but, on the whole, the poor 
 refugees were comfortably housed in tents and 
 wooden barracks and a school had been started 
 for the children. Many of these had lost their 
 parents or, in some cases, the parents were so 
 dazed with the misery they had endured that the 
 little ones were almost as badly off as if they were 
 actually orphaned. Miss Simmonds was to take 
 some of these children back to New Phaleron to 
 be cared for by the Frothingham Institute. 
 
 In the tent wards of the Scottish Women's Hos- 
 pitals I saw many Serbian soldiers and among them 
 three old friends, soldiers who had been in Madam 
 Grouitch's hospital in Belgrade three years be- 
 fore. They remembered me and called out feebly 
 "Sestro, Vinchestare !" They had not forgotten 
 that I had told them I had lived in Winchester 
 and that the people there would send aid to the 
 sick and suffering of Serbia. 
 
 In several other hospitals the Serbians were be- 
 ing cared for by the English and French and one 
 day in the Place Liberte, I came face to face with
 
 152 A NATION AT BAY 
 
 that splendid woman, Dr. Rosalie Slaughter Mor- 
 ton. She had been warmly welcomed at Salonika 
 and was invited to work with the French surgeons 
 among the Serbian wounded. 
 
 My work in Salonika was to inspect the con- 
 dition of the refugees in the camps and hospitals ; 
 to find out just what form of effort on the part of 
 my Committee in America would be most accept- 
 able; to straighten out the questions of the for- 
 warding of freight to different points by the kind- 
 ness of the American Consuls and of funds for 
 such forwarding, porterage, etc. ; these last not 
 the least important items since we were sending 
 large quantities of foodstuffs and clothing as well 
 as medical supplies. This took time for every- 
 body was so busy that I often had to go several 
 times to get a ten-minute interview with some man 
 who really had not ten seconds to spare. 
 
 But I had not taken this long, dangerous and 
 fearfully expensive trip to be balked by volumes of 
 detail. So I inspected, investigated, questioned 
 and worried everybody and everything that con- 
 cerned Serbian Relief until mv note-book was full
 
 SALONIKA 153 
 
 and every vexed point had been covered and thor- 
 
 ouglily cleared up. 
 
 When I started back to face my Com- 
 mittee, if there was anything that I did not 
 know about refugees or hospitals for Serbians 
 or general relief in refugee camps, that thing was 
 not worth discussing! My work was done. 
 
 Miss Simmonds, Mr. Corey and I used to desert 
 the hotels and dine at the "Restaurant of the 
 White Tower," where the food was excellent and 
 the service passable. Here we would often invite 
 one or two of the youthful British officers to join 
 us for coffee and it was really touching to see how 
 glad these lonely, home-sick boys were to talk with 
 people of their "own kind." The nurses and doc- 
 tors are, as a rule, too busy to talk to them unless 
 they are ill and, though there was a large amount 
 of feminine society to be found in the restaurants 
 and concert halls, it was of a particularly undesir- 
 able type. On my return to England, I carried 
 many messages to the parents of these young men 
 and they were most appreciative of such "uncen-
 
 154 A NATION AT BAY 
 
 sored" news as I could give. I do not mean that 
 I carried forbidden letters but oral messages which, 
 brought by one who had talked recently with their 
 dear sons, were very precious.
 
 CHAPTER XVI 
 OFF TO THE FRONT 
 
 AFTER I had completed my work in Serbia and 
 was preparing to depart for England and Amer- 
 ica to continue the solicitation of funds for the 
 Serbian cause, I was invited to call on Colonel 
 Dr. Sondermayer, head of the Military Medical 
 Service of the Serbian Army. In spite of his 
 Teutonic sounding name the Colonel is a true and 
 patriotic Serb, but he speaks only Serbian and 
 German. During my visit at his office, he hap- 
 pened to mention that he was going up to Ostrovo 
 on the following day. 
 
 At this I started forward and said, "I'd give 
 a year of my life for such an opportunity." 
 
 My work in Serbia prior to this time had been 
 
 confined to hospital and administration work, 
 
 both in the Bulgarian War and during the typhus 
 
 epidemic at the beginning of the European War. 
 
 155
 
 156 A NATION AT BAY 
 
 And at this time I was about to return to the 
 United States to continue the War Relief work 
 on the lecture platform, which I had started the 
 year before. 
 
 I had been at the front before in former years, 
 and I had seen the war in all its severity but 
 things had now changed. Serbia was for the mo- 
 ment not at bay. With the Allied aid she was 
 actually driving the enemy back, back over the 
 tortured country. Here was the chance to see 
 Serbia regenerated, doggedly contesting every 
 inch of the advance to her capital at Belgrade. 
 
 So when Colonel Sondermayer said he would 
 take me with him on his next trip, I was quite un- 
 able to eat or sleep for excitement. It wasn't mor- 
 bid curiosity. Heaven knows I had seen enough 
 that was morbid in the three previous years. I 
 wanted to see the Allied soldiers winning driving 
 back the enemy victorious. 
 
 It was not until five days later, however, that 
 Colonel Sondermayer dashed into the hotel with 
 the demand "Can you be ready in half an hour?" 
 
 "Of course," I replied. In ten minutes Miss
 
 OFF TO THE FRONT 157 
 
 Simmonds had lent me a soldier's cap and other 
 military paraphernalia. A Red Cross brassard 
 was pinned on my arm and with a tooth brush, 
 soap and not much else in a knitting bag, I was 
 ready to go to the Front. 
 
 This was the inauspicious and particularly un- 
 impressive way in which I started on my career 
 as a soldier. 
 
 The town was jammed with people, as Mr. 
 Venizclos was to arrive that day. The streets 
 and houses were decorated with flags and wreaths 
 of flowers ; brilliant draperies flaunted from the 
 windows and all wheel-traffic in the main streets 
 was halted. We crept out of town through the 
 narrowest back streets one ever imagined. Every 
 soul in Macedonia seemed to be coming into town 
 and it is little exaggeration to say that we were 
 the only ones going out. 
 
 Our rattling Ford seemed to eat up the miles 
 as we flashed past the English and French camps 
 and over the level plains, with now and then a 
 stone hut or a ruined cottage, an occasional shep- 
 herd or goat-herd with their flocks and now and
 
 158 A NATION AT BAY 
 
 again a dead horse with a pack of wild dogs tear- 
 ing and fighting over his thin carcass. There 
 were little groups of gaunt unhappy-looking peas- 
 ants squatting by the roadside or wearily plod- 
 ding on toward the city. Some were Greeks, some 
 were Macedonians, but many were obviously Ser- 
 bians. 
 
 Just at sunset we came to a long ridge of low 
 hills and on their slopes, blending with the earth 
 and rocks in such a way as to be nearly invisible 
 from a little distance, were the tents of the Ser- 
 bian Escadrille. Colonel Sondermayer's son was 
 stationed here. We stopped just long enough to 
 wish him good-luck and went on our way. 
 
 Around the turn of the ridge we glimpsed a 
 great tent hospital capable of holding a thousand 
 men. Above it pegged, out on the slope and visible 
 to aeroplanes for miles, was an enormous white 
 expanse of canvas with a huge red cross in the 
 middle. This hospital has been bombed by enemy 
 airmen several times and a number of patients and 
 others have been killed. Kultur is practised on 
 the Eastern front as well as in France !
 
 -' ' /"*" 
 
 tKWm*> 
 
 Colonel Doctor Sondermaver
 
 -. 
 
 !
 
 OFF TO THE FRONT 159 
 
 The moon came up and we started climbing. 
 Trees and bushes began to stand out sharply in 
 the silvery light and the sound of water rushing 
 down the rocky crevices by the roadside told us 
 that we were approaching Vodena, ("The 
 Waters") a hill-town of great antiquity. The 
 wall of rock rose higher on our right and on the 
 left we could now see the flash of a waterfall. 
 Suddenly a turn in the road plunged us into a 
 street but such a street! 
 
 It was narrow and paved with rough stones 
 over which we bounced and swayed perilously. On 
 either side were low, open shops like those in any 
 Eastern bazaar, trees often growing up through 
 the overhanging eaves, the sides and counter hung 
 and piled with bright-hued wares. For some 
 reason there was a great quantity of vivid red 
 cotton goods everywhere displayed, though I never 
 saw any of it in use, except as forming the great 
 red crosses invariably pegged out on the ground 
 near tent hospitals. Frequently in the middle of 
 the street, which widened to allow traffic to pass,
 
 160 A NATION AT BAY 
 
 were great trees and an occasional public fountain 
 with a rude drinking-trough for the animals. 
 
 Coming out into a broader street, we saw before 
 us a dimly-lighted white building much more pre- 
 tentious than any we had seen since leaving 
 Salonika and here we got out of the car (to the 
 great relief of our stiffened limbs) and entered a 
 large room with a few tables scattered about and 
 a long counter, or bar, at one side. There were 
 several Serbian officers and a few civilians drink- 
 ing coffee and talking excitedly and they told us 
 that an enemy airplane had been detected ap- 
 proaching the town about an hour before, but it 
 had veered away to the east without doing any 
 damage. Everyone was wondering if it would 
 return. A supper of coarse bread, rather "musty" 
 fried eggs and beer was placed before us and we 
 had, of course, the inevitable coffee, hot and 
 syrupy as it is always served in the Balkans. 
 
 Then a grimy man, who seemed to be the pro- 
 prietor, showed me up to a small room containing 
 two beds of particularly uninviting aspect, a 
 washstand with a very small jug and basin, no
 
 OFF TO THE FRONT 161 
 
 water, and a rickety chest of drawers with a mir- 
 ror over it which distorted one's face into a most 
 hideous grimace. On my demand for water, the 
 man brought me a tin mug full (perhaps a 
 quart), and a towel as thin as paper about eight- 
 een inches square and with a very large hole in 
 the middle of it! 
 
 With these facilities having somewhat removed 
 the stains of travel, I prepared to retire. 
 
 At the earliest peep of day I was outside the 
 hotel and glad to be there. Going around 
 the corner where the Colonel's window was, 
 I whistled and in a moment there was a 
 head out of every window except his. Just at 
 that minute he appeared around the corner and 
 seeing me he clapped his hand to his head and 
 exclaimed, "Heavens, what a night !" and I gath- 
 ered that he, too, had had his troubles. 
 
 As I absolutely refused to enter the place again 
 we got the car and went up to the railroad station 
 where some Serbian military map-makers had a 
 camp; here we were most cordially received and had 
 breakfast. Seated on soap-boxes we were served
 
 162 A NATION AT BAY 
 
 with bread, Scotch short-bread, goat's cheese and 
 copiously-sweetened tea served in glasses. 
 
 It was all done so kindly and with such exquisite 
 courtesy that the odd fare seemed to be the best 
 one could possibly have and I shall long remember 
 that hour spent at the camp at Vodena station 
 while the sun cast a rosy glow on the distant 
 mountains, and birds began to sing just as if 
 there was no such thing as sorrow or mortal 
 agony, nor half our world bathed in blood.
 
 CHAPTER XVII 
 
 "THE AMERICAN UNIT" 
 
 AFTER breakfast Colonel Sondermayer had to 
 inspect a train-load of sick and wounded men who 
 were on their way down to Salonika from the 
 front. I went with him. Two Serbian ladies were 
 distributing cigarettes and chocolate to the men 
 who packed the train. The sick men sat on the 
 seats with the worst cases lying across their knees 
 or on the floor. 
 
 They were a pitiful sight. Even the longed- 
 for cigarettes could not bring a smile just 
 a languid half salute and a murmured "Fala." 
 There was a constant stream of fever-stricken 
 men being sent down at that time, though 
 the Serbians stood the climate infinitely better 
 than the French and English. 
 
 Just before the sun rose we packed ourselves 
 into the Ford and started for Ostrovo. Passing
 
 164 A NATION AT BAY 
 
 again through the town, we stopped at a tobacco 
 shop and bought out the stock of cigarettes, as 
 AVC had heard that the wounded near the Front 
 had been three days without them. 
 
 All the little shops were open and peasants were 
 coming in with ox-wagons filled with straw and 
 vegetables. An officer on horseback dashed up to 
 the car, asked a question or two, saluted and gal- 
 loped away. Sentries stepped forward, saw the 
 uniform and red crosses, saluted and stepped 
 back into their doorways. Rattling, bumping and 
 skidding, we crept out of town and began our 
 descent from Vodena. 
 
 The dust was deep and came up in clouds while 
 the air before us was dim with it. A French sol- 
 dier, in the gray-blue uniform, and with his steel 
 helmet painted the same shade, sat panting by the 
 roadside and ten yards further on we passed two 
 more. Then rounding a rocky corner we came 
 upon the rear guard of a column of French and 
 Senegalese troops on their way to the Front. 
 
 We had to enter at the rear of this column and 
 work our way carefully through. It was exceed-
 
 THE AMERICAN UNIT 165 
 
 ingly dangerous, both for us and for the soldiers, 
 since the dust made it impossible to see anything 
 more than ten feet ahead. We would crawl through 
 the masses of men and dash past a huge "camion," 
 only to pull up with a jerk to avoid an officer on 
 a sweating, plunging horse, or a mule laden with 
 bulging mysterious burdens closely covered with 
 canvas and roped to the high pack-saddle. 
 
 The Colonel was nearly strangled by the dust. 
 He kept his handkerchief over mouth and nose, 
 only removing it to shout to the men to make way. 
 As he knew they would not understand Serbian 
 he fell into the common error of thinking that his 
 only foreign language would be more intelligible 
 so used German! 
 
 Of course, the French soldiers, seeing our uni- 
 forms and brassards, and the red cross on the 
 car, knew that we were all right, but the big 
 Senegalese, hearing the "hated language," brought 
 their rifles forward with a threatening ges- 
 ture which made it necessary for me hastily to 
 lean out and, in my very best French, beg them 
 to please make way for "M. le Docteur Serb."
 
 166 A NATION AT BAY 
 
 These Senegalese were fine fellows and in their 
 horizon-blue French uniform, with the "soup 
 basin" steel helmet, were very formidable in ap- 
 pearance. They were a cheerful lot, jok- 
 ing and singing, in spite of the heat and dust 
 which made their brown faces look like wet choco- 
 late and their eyelashes and woolly hair resemble 
 jute. 
 
 Their white teeth and eyeballs gleaming, 
 they roared and rollicked along. I saw one 
 jet-black, bullet-headed youth sitting by the road- 
 side addressing a merry ditty to his big, blistered 
 black foot while two others, roaring with laughter, 
 prepared to soap the inside of his boot. The 
 Frenchmen appeared full of nervous energy, 
 though they did not sing or laugh. Often they 
 saluted our cross and once or twice they gave us a 
 hearty cheer, crying "Vive la Serbia," as we 
 passed. 
 
 At last we gained the head of the column and 
 here a fine-looking French officer rode beside us 
 for a time, asking questions. Everybody seemed to 
 have the question habit except me ! At last he left
 
 THE AMERICAN UNIT 167 
 
 us with many good wishes and compliments on 
 both sides. The country was now very beautiful 
 and fine military roads were in process of being 
 made. We often turned off on to the level turf to 
 avoid a long stretch of newly-dumped road Ma- 
 terial, or places where the road bed had been ex- 
 cavated in preparation for it. 
 
 On our left were the long slopes of rolling hills 
 and on the right a calm river with willows over- 
 hanging the water whence occasionally a few wild 
 ducks, or a big blue heron would rise and fly away 
 as we dashed by. If I often refer to our mode 
 of progress as "dashing" it is because that ex- 
 actly describes it. We would "dash" along at a 
 good speed, hit a rock or a big hole, slow down a 
 minute to make sure that our engine was still in 
 its place, then "dash" on until we struck another 
 obstacle ! 
 
 After a couple of hours' ride, we halted before 
 a gap in the low hills, which now lay on our right, 
 and between them I saw a lovely sight. Imagine 
 a group of white tents, with neat walks bordered 
 by stones running before and between them, and
 
 168 A NATION AT BAY 
 
 ,1 
 
 in a large open space great trees spreading their 
 branches over an altar before another, much larger 
 tent; among them busy women in gray, or 
 whJte, or khaki. Small ambulances stood in front 
 of v. white tent in the immediate foreground and 
 nearby gossiped a little group of men who, I 
 found, were convalescent Serbian soldiers acting 
 as stretcher-bearers. 
 
 This was the American Unit of the Scottish 
 Women's Hospitals which had been established 
 in Corsica with money raised by Miss Burke 
 and myself in America in the spring. It had 
 been removed from Corsica and set up at Ostrovo 
 when the Serbian troops pushed northward and 
 into their own country again. 
 
 The doctors, surgeons, nurses and ambulance 
 drivers were all women and these latter were often 
 young girls who had been brought up in the 
 utmost luxury. But here they were, in khaki skirt, 
 flannel shirt, heavy boots and with hair "bobbed" 
 to save the trouble of dressing it, driving their 
 cars up to the dressing station or to the railway, 
 in sun, wind, or rain, by day or night, hopping
 
 THE AMERICAN UNIT 169 
 
 down to do their own repairs or to "doctor" a 
 balky engine. And all these devoted women had 
 only one word of complaint that they were not 
 allowed to establish themselves nearer the firing 
 line. 
 
 Their head was Dr. Bennett, a most efficient and 
 capable person, a strict disciplinarian and pos- 
 sessing a particularly "British" personality. She 
 came, I believe, from New Zealand, and the con- 
 duct of her hospital proved the highly executive 
 ability of a voting woman! If American women 
 only prove themselves as able in this war as the 
 British women have done, the American men will 
 have to look to their laurels at the polls or all the 
 offices will soon be held by the newly-made "citi- 
 zens." 
 
 I was shown through the immaculate wards of 
 the hospital and distributed the cigarettes which 
 we had bought at Vodena. It was touching to see 
 how eagerly the men watched our approach. In 
 many cases it was necessary for me to put the 
 cigarette into the wounded man's mouth and 
 light it for him. Then a box would be l,eft be-
 
 170 A NATION AT BAY 
 
 tween each two men to be shared by them. As 
 we looked back from the door of each tent a 
 feeble cheer of "Givela Amerika" followed us. At 
 the entrance of one tent lay a dying man who, 
 when he saw my basket, gasped, "Sestro, cigar- 
 ette." I put one in his mouth, lighted it ; he drew 
 a deep breath and died the happier because he 
 had tobacco. 
 
 In another ward lay a young man not of the 
 Serbian type. As I paused to put the cigarette 
 into his mouth the nurse said, "He is a Bulgarian 
 officer who was taken prisoner last night." The 
 man, hearing the word, "Bulgarian," shrank from 
 me and a look of defiance came into his eyes. But 
 to any woman who has nursed wounded men, any 
 injured man is only a poor boy, so I laid my hand 
 on his forehead and smoothed back his hair. The 
 tears came into his eyes and rolled down his pale 
 cheeks. Then with his left hand he raised the 
 coverlet and showed me the stump of his right 
 arm. The nurse said that his right leg, too, was 
 so mangled that they did not know whether they 
 could save it.
 
 Major Doctor Gelibert at Salonika and Surgeons of Scottish 
 Woman's Hospital
 
 THE AMERICAN UNIT 171 
 
 Later in the day, the Prince-Regent, Alexan- 
 der, made a tour of inspection through the hos- 
 pital and when he came to this bed he asked the 
 man if he was well treated there : 
 
 "Yes, Prince," said the Bulgar. 
 
 "Did you think you would receive kindness at 
 our hands?" asked Prince Alexander: 
 
 "No, Prince," was the reply. 
 
 "Why not?" No answer. 
 
 "Is it because you treat our wounded and pris- 
 oners so cruelly?" demanded the Prince. The 
 man's face turned slowly crimson as he replied 
 in a low voice, "Yes, Prince." 
 
 A Mass was held under the trees for the souls 
 of the men who had died in that hospital. 
 Prince Alexander, Prince George, Admiral Trou- 
 bridge and a number of other distinguished offi- 
 cers, Serbian, French and English were present. 
 The medical staff of the hospital stood facing the 
 Royal party, at right angles to the nurses and 
 visitors. The tents made a background for the 
 altar and the gorgeously vestmented priest, and a 
 convalescent Serbian soldier served as acolyte.
 
 172 A NATION AT BAY 
 
 It was an unforgettable scene, this little nook 
 between the hills only visible from the road directly 
 before it or from the sky overhead, in which lay 
 pain and sacrifice, death and life, fearless men and 
 devoted women. Over us the red cross and the 
 blue sky, in the soft air the smell of incense and 
 solemn murmured words of prayer. 
 
 It was the first time Prince Alexander had 
 visited this hospital and a luncheon had been pre- 
 pared. The mess tent was decorated with flags in 
 his honor and long white tables were placed along 
 the sides. The Prince-Regent sat at the middle 
 one with Dr. Bennett on his right and myself on 
 his left. Beyond Dr. Bennett was Prince George 
 and at my left sat Admiral Troubridge, a hand- 
 some white-haired Englishman who had distin- 
 guished himself by suddenly appearing by some 
 mysterious route, on the Danube early in the 
 war with a British gun boat, and who is now 
 attached to Prince Alexander's Staff. Opposite 
 was General Vassitch, Chief of Staff and Colonel 
 Dr. Sondermayer. 
 
 The Prince was most interested in hearing of
 
 THE AMERICAN UNIT 173 
 
 my work in America and asked many questions as 
 to America's attitude toward the war and espec- 
 ially toward Serbia. He urged me to tell my 
 friends in America how deeply he appreciated 
 what America had done, and was doing, for his 
 suffering people and said he wished to see 
 me in Salonika before I returned home that we 
 might have a further talk. 
 
 "But, Madame, you must have seen many hos- 
 pitals," he added. "If you want to see real war 
 and conditions out here, why do you not go up 
 nearer to the front?" 
 
 "Your Highness, I would like to go as far as 
 possible," I replied. He spoke across the table to 
 General Vassitch, who saluted, then turned to me. 
 
 "How far do you want to go?" he asked. 
 
 "Just as far as you will allow me," was my 
 quick answer. They all laughed and Colonel 
 Sondermayer got his instructions, which were to 
 take me up to Old Vrbeni, the headquarters of 
 Voivode Mishitch, Commander-in-Chief of the 
 Serbian Army. 
 
 So my wildest hopes were realized. I was to see 
 the battle front !
 
 CHAPTER XVIII 
 
 APPROACHING THE BATTLE LINE 
 
 AT this time the Serbians, French and English 
 had succeeded in driving the enemy back as far 
 as a place called Brtid on a very recent offensive, 
 flere both sides had "dug in." The Serbian 
 lines were just outside Brod, while the enemy lines 
 ran through the streets of this Serbian town. 
 Thither we directed our course the day following 
 my official permission. 
 
 The afternoon of my last day at the hospital 
 K'as spent in climbing the hills around the 
 hospital whence we could get glimpses of the 
 town of Ostrovo and of the road leading 
 away to the Front. Occasionally an ambulance 
 Tould crawl out of the far hills and come down 
 the winding road to the hospital. Now and 
 again an aeroplane would float into view and 
 circle about, reflected in the glassy mirror of the 
 174
 
 APPROACHING THE BATTLE LINE 175 
 
 Lake of Ostrovo and then suddenly dart away 
 in the direction of Fiorina. 
 
 That evening Dr. Bennett, Colonel Sonder- 
 mayer and I dined with General Vassitch in an 
 upper room of a stone house in the ruined and 
 almost deserted village nearby. The entrance 
 was through a gap in a rough wall, then through a 
 cobbled courtyard which had once evidently been a 
 cow-byre, and up a flight of dangerously uneven 
 stone steps. The room was roughly plastered 
 but dazzlingly bright with fresh whitewash and 
 around the rude table, which stretched from end 
 to end of the place, were a most splendid lot of 
 keen-eyed, bronzed, broad-shouldered Serbian offi- 
 cers. 
 
 The General sat at the head of the table. He 
 was studying English and improved his oppor- 
 tunity by practicing it on us. He was reading 
 Dickens, he told us, and he was most enthusiastic 
 over it. Nearly all these officers spoke either 
 French or German and conversation was as gen- 
 eral as the long table would permit. Toasts were 
 drunk in the light native wines, songs were sung
 
 176 A NATION AT BAY 
 
 and old campaigns fought over. It was 
 a most exhilarating evening and I at last left 
 the hospitable gathering and went out into the 
 brilliant October night feeling that "Life is full 
 of a number of things" and that it was given to 
 me to share most fully in it. 
 
 I slept at the hospital that night, and having 
 been assigned to the tent of an absent member of 
 the Unit, I was soon in bed but, alas, I could not 
 sleep. 
 
 A camp cot is a length of canvas on a 
 frame, and if you know how to manage you can 
 sleep on it with great comfort, but I did not have 
 the necessary knowledge. There were plenty of 
 warm covers that had been placed on the cot by 
 kindly hands, but I felt nearly frozen. It was 
 a very cold night and my coat and dress 
 and a mackintosh which was in the tent were all 
 piled on top of me by morning and still I shiv- 
 ered. No one had thought to tell me and I did 
 not discover until too late to profit by it that 
 one must put something warm under one in a camp 
 bed, else there is nothing between one and the chilly
 
 APPROACHING THE BATTLE LINE 177 
 
 air but a sheet and one thickness of cold, hard 
 canvas. 
 
 This was the second night of wakefulness, but 
 dawn found me eager and ready for another long 
 day of adventurous effort. After a hasty break- 
 fast we bade the splendid women of the hospital 
 good-by and started again toward the sound of 
 the guns. 
 
 Along the shores of the beautiful lake, with 
 its tiny islands bathed in the rosy light of 
 just-bef ore-sunrise, through a valley of deep clog- 
 ging sand and then a long ascent into the rocky 
 hills over which our gallant Ford struggled and 
 coughed and rattled and tugged. Sometimes we 
 would have to wait, turned sidewise on some 
 almost precipitous slope while the engine gathered 
 itself together for some supreme effort to get us 
 to the top. Once there, we slid and bounded and 
 almost tumbled down over big stones and holes, 
 only to begin another toilsome climb worse than 
 the last. 
 
 We overtook and passed the French troops of 
 our yesterday's meeting, but now they were seated
 
 178 A NATION AT BAY 
 
 by the roadside, having their morning meal, and 
 they waved their steel helmets and cheered as we 
 joggled by. 
 
 At the edge of a level plain the road 
 branched away to the left to the French base at 
 Fiorina, but we kept to the right until the road 
 curved into a little ruined village Old Vrbeni. 
 From the moment we took the road at the fork 
 the flat country had shown signs of the heavy 
 fighting which had so recently taken place over all 
 this territory. 
 
 Everywhere were rolls of cruel barbed-wire, 
 neatly stacked shell cases and the baskets 
 in which they arc handled, broken rifles, 
 scraps of metal and all the various debris of 
 battle. The earth looked like rudely plowed land, 
 so pitted and torn with shell holes was it, and 
 everywhere were the rude earthworks which had 
 been thrown up by Serb and Bulgar. Sometimes 
 these were a long line of mud embankments behind 
 which many men could shelter ; but more often the 
 earth was scooped out in a tiny nest like a hare's 
 ""form." Some of these faced North and some
 
 APPROACHING THE BATTLE LINE 179 
 
 South. There were many into which the earth 
 had been roughly shoveled back and we knew that 
 these held Bulgarian dead. 
 
 The Serbians were buried in plots of ground 
 carefully marked off by rows of field stones; 
 over the graves were small wooden crosses, new 
 and shining yellow like gold. When we passed 
 one of these, my companions crossed themselves 
 and I think we all offered up a silent prayer for 
 brave men living who are fighting for all that is 
 true and just on earth, for liberty and for peace; 
 and for brave men dead, who had fallen for these 
 glorious ideals. 
 
 Our car was turned through a gap in the hedge 
 and we rolled into a level field. Before us we saw 
 a tent into which stretchers holding motionless 
 forms were being carried. This was the dress- 
 ing station nearest to the Serbian line. Within 
 the tent soldiers with their wounds dressed 
 lay upon the bare ground, at best with only a 
 handful of straw under them and still in their 
 ragged and soiled uniforms. 
 
 There were no ambulances up there and the
 
 180 A NATION AT BAY 
 
 wounded were brought in from the battlefield on 
 stretchers carried by two men. We saw also a 
 curious contrivance of two large wheels with a sort 
 of stretcher hung from the axles. This could be 
 managed by one man, though as it jolted over 
 the stony ground the wounded man would groan 
 in agony. Every time a man would cry out 
 Colonel Sondermayer would flinch and his eyes 
 grow dark with pain. When he spoke to or ex- 
 amined men in the tents he was like a tender father. 
 The soldiers adored him. 
 
 After half an hour we went on to an inn on the 
 other side of the village, and here I was presented 
 to the Commander-in-Chief of the Serbian Army, 
 Voivode Mishitch. Not tall, rather lightly built, 
 this wonderful soldier does not impress a stranger 
 with a sense of power until one meets the full, 
 direct look of his eyes. Then one sees that here 
 is a man. Calm, impersonal, his look bores into 
 one's inmost being, and I should not care to see 
 him angry with me at any rate. 
 
 He was much interested in hearing of my work 
 and asked if I wanted to go yet nearer to the
 
 APPROACHING THE BATTLE LINE 181 
 
 battle line. To my emphatic affirmative he said, 
 "We will see what can be done," and after we had 
 had coffee, Major Todorovitch, his aide-de-camp, 
 was sent for, given his instructions, and we bade 
 the Voivode "au revoir," climbed into our faithful 
 car and started again toward the roaring guns. 
 
 Just outside the village stood a group of cap- 
 tive Bulgarian officers, whose guards saluted us, 
 grinning with triumph as we passed. About a 
 mile further on we saw eight hundred or more 
 Bulgarian prisoners in their earth-brown uni- 
 forms standing in groups by the roadside or 
 bathing their feet in the ditch. The Serbian 
 guards were sharing their scanty store of tobacco 
 with these men and, remembering the horrors of 
 the Bulgarians' treatment of Serbian prisoners 
 and wounded upon the battle-field, I could only 
 wonder at their charity. 
 
 In the almost demolished villages we saw rag- 
 ged, haggard women winnowing corn, tossing it 
 in the air with weary gestures, while near them sat 
 the pale, emaciated children who had forgotten 
 how to romp and play, whose only thought now
 
 182 A NATION AT BAY 
 
 seemed to be "when shall we get something to 
 eat?" I picked up a little child and tried to 
 fondle her, but she shrank away and began to wail 
 in a feeble, frightened way and I had to turn her 
 over to her mother for comfort. Further along 
 the road a little girl lying on the low bank smiled 
 at me, but her yellow skin drawn over the sharp 
 bones told a tragic story. I stopped the car and 
 went back to see if I could do anything, but when 
 I spoke to her she did not answer. I took her in 
 my arms but she was already dead. "What was 
 the trouble?" I asked. 
 
 "She was my child. She had great hunger," the 
 mother replied simply. I gave the mother some 
 cakes of chocolate, which was all I had with me, 
 and some money, but the low voiced "Fala" of 
 these wretched people was so hopeless that the 
 tears ran down my face and I felt that my heart 
 would break. 
 
 Now the road was over rough undulations of 
 ground, brown and sterile in appearance and with 
 low mountains rising before me. Suddenly Major 
 Todorovitch turning, cried, "Look !' and far up
 
 APPROACHING THE BATTLE LINE 183 
 
 in the blue sky I saw a flash of silver as the sun 
 glinted on a wire or a wing. Behind it in the 
 clear air grew suddenly three tiny, fleecy puffs of 
 cloud then three more and three more. The 
 plane must have been "burning the wind," as it 
 was not visible to us for more than five minutes 
 altogether, and we had seen it as soon as it 
 lifted over the mountains before us. It was a 
 Serbian machine and the lovely, soft cloudlets 
 were the deadly, exploding shrapnel with which 
 the enemy batteries were pursuing it. 
 
 Down the hillside came a string of mules, each 
 laden with a sort of pack-saddle holding two rude 
 chair-shaped structures and in one of these on 
 either side sat a wounded man. Other wounded 
 men began to meet us, some with roughly bound- 
 up heads and with streaks of dried blood on their 
 faces ; some with arms in improvised slings and one 
 boy who limped by with a bandage around one leg 
 and blood dripping from it to the dust. 
 
 Where two stones, rudely set in the earth, 
 marked a boundary, Major Todorovitch saluted. 
 
 "Madame," he said, "I have the honor to in-
 
 184 A NATION AT BAY 
 
 form you that you are the first woman of any 
 nationality to enter reconquered Serbian terri- 
 tory." All this time the thunder of guns had been 
 growing louder and louder and at last we halted 
 on a little plateau on which were a number of 
 small tents and a line of fine cavalry chargers. 
 Half a dozen officers, French and Serbian, came 
 out to meet us and were surprised to see a woman 
 and above all, a foreign woman, there.
 
 CHAPTER XIX 
 
 THE BATTLE 
 
 WHEN we came in sight of the front line 
 trenches, the officers pointed out a hill on No- 
 Man's-Land, situated between the opposing lines. 
 This hill had been selected as the Serbian Head- 
 quarters' Observation Post for the coming battle. 
 I call it a hill, but it was really a small mountain, 
 and the guns from both sides were considerably 
 elevated to send their shells over it into the oppos- 
 ing lines. 
 
 I cannot say it was the safest place in the 
 world to visit because a shell now and then does 
 fall short. But this hill was "as far as possible," 
 where I had wanted to go and I went. 
 
 I was actually "over the top," though not just 
 as one who has not been there imagines it. But 
 there I was between the enemy and our own front 
 line trenches, with shot and shell screaming over 
 
 185
 
 186 A NATION AT BAY 
 
 my head, with men dying just below and behind 
 me, and only chance and a four-foot-high rock 
 between me and death. 
 
 There were no barbed-wire entanglements 
 erected before the trenches ; in fact, they had only 
 been recently occupied and the line consolidated. 
 Cavalry had taken part in the war on the French 
 Front lately only in the Cambrai attack, but in 
 the Eastern Front cavalry was quite commonly 
 used in conjunction with the artillery at all times. 
 
 At this time it was the intention of our party 
 to go across a sheltered section of No-Man's-Land 
 and up that steep hill on horses but unfortu- 
 nately I was not dressed for riding war-horses, so 
 we all made the trip on foot. I don't know 
 whether there is more glory in getting killed going 
 "over the top" on horseback than on one's own 
 feet but we left the horses behind. 
 
 The officers wore obliged to toil up in riding 
 boots with spurs and with the stiff, high collar 
 of the trim Serbian uniform closely hooked up to 
 their chins. Up the steep, rocky mountain side 
 Major Todorovitch was most gallant, trying to
 
 THE BATTLE 187 
 
 help me over the roughest places, but as the path 
 was exceedingly narrow, I soon found it easier for 
 both when we walked in single file. 
 
 The sun poured down upon us and a sultry 
 Indian Summer haze spread over the valley below 
 us. In the tiny village of Bee far down on our 
 left the enemy shells were falling and the thunder 
 of hidden guns near us was almost deafening. 
 Some one handed me a big wad of cotton wool 
 with which I stuffed my ears just in time, for 
 we suddenly rounded a corner and came upon a 
 group ef great guns in full action. They were 
 shooting, with a high trajectory, over the crest 
 of the mountain and their shells were falling in 
 the village of Brod, just opposite. 
 
 We were not yet at our destination, however, 
 and after another fifteen minutes of strenuous 
 climbing on the twisted path, we scrambled over a 
 final stretch of slippery turf and found ourselves 
 surrounded by a group of officers who had arrived 
 there shortly before we did, and were shel- 
 tered under a great rock on the summit. Colonel 
 Milovanovitch, commanding the Morava Division,
 
 188 A NATION AT BAY 
 
 Colonel Vemitch, commanding the First Cavalry 
 Regiment, and a number of others were just about 
 to take lunch and I was at once given a place at 
 the table. 
 
 It was a curious experience. The thunder 
 of the group of guns near us had now ceased, 
 but the battle still raged on the plain below. 
 After we were a little rested and refreshed, 
 Colonel Milovanovitch said, "Would you like to 
 see what is going on?" 
 
 "Yes," I replied, "let me see all there is to be 
 seen." 
 
 The Commander of the Serbians said, "Will 
 you go further into Serbia than we have yet been, 
 Madame?" And I, wondering, said "Yes." "Give 
 me your hands," he said, "and lean out." So, 
 bending out over the valley from the brow of the 
 precipice, I went, by the length of my own bod}-, 
 further into Beautiful Serbia than the soldiers had 
 gone. 
 
 From the beginning of the war we have been 
 told that this war is not spectacular: that the 
 soldiers sit in their trenches and see nothing but
 
 THE BATTLE 189 
 
 the barbed wire in "No-Man's-Land" and an oc- 
 casional bursting shell, or have to dodge a 
 shower of "whiz-bangs" from an invisible enemy 
 when the opposing trenches are not too far away. 
 Interspersed with this not-too-exciting mode of 
 warfare are the terrific artillery duels, the rolling 
 clouds of poison gas, the fiendish jets of liquid 
 fire and then, mercifully, "over the top," and 
 vengeance wreaked upon the enemy with the cold 
 steel. Therefore, when we approached the line 
 of battle, I did not in the least know which phase 
 I would see I hoped to see it all! 
 
 Under shelter of the rock they led me to the 
 brink of a precipice and here I was able to stand 
 between two great out-cropping leaves of stone, 
 while I gazed at a battlefield spread in relief 
 below. Level with the face of the precipice, and 
 of course far below my eyrie, were the Serbian 
 trenches with the big guns some distance behind 
 them and the village, of which mention already has 
 been made, some distance away on their left. 
 
 Every now and then a Bulgarian shell would 
 fall among the little red-tiled houses and a cloud
 
 190 A NATION AT BAY 
 
 of dust and whirling leaves would rise, circle about 
 and slowly settle. Once a riderless horse galloped 
 out and then a stretcher was carried slowly away 
 toward the dressing station then another and 
 another. From the mountains still further to the 
 left, which run like a great spine from Fiorina 
 to Monastir and sweep round beyond in a rocky 
 curve, came the great shells from the French guns 
 and the white and dun clouds of vapor from the 
 explosions formed constantly drifting veils over 
 the tortured valley. 
 
 On our right the Czerna River emerged from 
 the mountains and flowed gently away into the 
 hills again, and just in the elbow of the stream 
 the famous Czerna Bend lay the village of Brod. 
 In it Bulgarians swarmed, while their artillery 
 roared spitefully just behind a low, rounded hill 
 near the town. With the binoculars I could make 
 out the earth-brown figures of the soldiers and the 
 line of a trench. Before us in the distance, like 
 a cluster of pearls against the dark mountains, 
 lay Monastir, nine miles and in the milling pro- 
 gress of the Allies., five weeks awa}- !
 
 THE BATTLE 191 
 
 The view from the Observation Post was more 
 thrilling than anything I had anticipated. First 
 of all there were few clouds of smoke to obscure 
 our view and we were high enough above the bat- 
 tlefield to see all of it at once. Even the Bul- 
 garian trenches across the river lay open to our 
 view, and with the glasses I could see their guns 
 slide forward, smoke belching from their mouths, 
 and then settle back, while a moment later the 
 boom-m of the explosion would come dully to my 
 ears. Then the shell would burst over, or near, 
 the trenches below me and I would turn my eyes 
 away from the welter of maimed and bloody forms 
 below. 
 
 Once I saw a group of men, perhaps eight of 
 them, mashed to a gory pulp by three shells which 
 fell close together in the Serbian line, and a man 
 close by who had apparently been untouched, 
 but suffered a temporary derangement due pos- 
 sibly to tortured nerves, sprang out of the trench 
 and, shaking his fists in the direction of the enemy, 
 rushed blindly forward toward the river, into 
 which he plunged and was lost to view.
 
 192 A NATION AT BAY 
 
 Still dazed and gasping, I heard Colonel Milo- 
 vanovitch ask, "Would you like to give the signal 
 for our guns to recommence firing?" and, shaking 
 with emotion, I nodded assent. 
 
 So, in the name of American Womanhood, I 
 gave the signal which sent shells roaring over the 
 valley to fall in the Bulgarian trenches. And the 
 men behind me shouted "Givela Amerika!" 
 
 I was shaking from head to foot with excite- 
 ment and the lust of battle. Major Todorovitch 
 spoke, 
 
 "Calm yourself, Madame; they have not just 
 got our range up here yet. When it grows too 
 dangerous we will take you away." 
 
 "Do you think I am afraid?" I cried. "I never 
 
 lived before!" 
 
 * * * * *
 
 CHAPTER XX 
 
 How I BECAME A SOLDIER 
 
 THEY may not have had our range on that hill 
 that is, the snipers did not ; but it doesn't take 
 heavy artillery long to get the range of the top 
 of a hill in No Man's Land. The shells were 
 constantly coming closer those shells which I 
 had just seen blow to pieces dozens of our brave 
 allies. Yet, I can truthfully say, I was not afraid. 
 
 It has been said that "Fools rush in where 
 angels fear to tread." Perhaps this was my case, 
 but it was all too thrilling a wonderful experi- 
 ence and I could not tear myself away. 
 
 The Commander-in-Chief stepped up to me 
 while the battle was at its height. 
 
 "Haven't you had enough of it yet?" he asked. 
 
 "No, Excellency," was my reply. 
 
 "Well you should have been a soldier," he said. 
 193
 
 194 A NATION AT BAY 
 
 "Make me one," I promptly responded. The 
 Colonel of the First Cavalry Regiment instantly 
 put in his word. 
 
 "I want her to be made a member of my regi- 
 ment," said he. And so, with the shells screaming 
 over our heads at the most exciting moment of 
 my life on that famous battlefield of Brod, in 
 October, 1916, I was made a member of the First 
 Cavalry Regiment of the Royal Serbian Army. 
 
 I was no longer a woman helper. I was now a 
 soldier, and, as I write this, the only American 
 woman soldier in this great war. 
 
 After my return to America, a large parcel 
 containing the peculiar cloth of the uniform of 
 the Serbian officer arrived, with the beautiful 
 enamel "Cocarde" which is worn on the cap of 
 every Serbian officer. No honor which Serbia 
 could bestow upon me could make me so proud as 
 the right to wear this uniform, which has been 
 rendered glorious by those heroic men who so 
 long and so bravely have fought, and continue to 
 fight, against such fearful odds and whose gentle- 
 ness and patience under suffering have won the
 
 .2 . S 
 
 M O 3Q
 
 HOW I BECAME A SOLDIER 195 
 
 affection and admiration of every person who has 
 worked among them. 
 
 I was allowed to remain in my rocky nook until 
 night began to fall and then was told to return 
 to the dressing station and wait. 
 
 "For what?" I asked, and the Commander said 
 that he believed that I had brought them luck and 
 they would try to cross the Czerna that night. 
 
 "You will let me know when you make the ad- 
 vance," I begged. 
 
 There was a certain grim humor in my 
 companion's eye as he said, "You'll hear us." 
 And then I had to go. Down the mountain and 
 over the plains, passing stretchers on which lay 
 shattered bodies and from which, often, bright 
 blood trickled down into the dust. An unlucky 
 stumble by a stretcher-bearer would cause a 
 quickly stifled moan from pale lips, and occasion- 
 ally a brown hand would be lifted to a bandaged 
 head in salute as we passed. 
 
 Arriving again at Old Vrbeni, the hospital staff 
 greeted us cordially and gave a cheer when they 
 were told where I had been.
 
 196 A NATION AT BAY 
 
 "We hoped that you would be with us at 
 luncheon and arranged to give you a real 
 American dish but as you did not come we will 
 have it prepared for your dinner," said the Chief 
 Surgeon. 
 
 Now these brave men were living on the coarsest 
 and scantiest of food and the country was denuded 
 of everything, practicallj T , so I wondered what 
 they could have found for me. After a sketchy 
 wash-up we sat down, with me at the head of the 
 table were the higher officers, within the mess tent, 
 and the younger ones at the other end, which ex- 
 tended outside. The lights were dim, flaring oil 
 lamps and the tables were rough boards on trestles. 
 There was a heavy hand-woven linen cloth at our 
 end and clean paper spread over the places of 
 the lesser officers at the other. We had two 
 Frenchmen with us, one a great doctor and the 
 other a young officer, just convalescent, who sat 
 silent and brooding all through dinner. 
 
 Such a dinner! In cur cars sounded the crash 
 and roar of battle, and the moans of dying 
 men. Sometimes a man in the hospital tent be-
 
 HOW I BECAME A SOLDIER 197 
 
 hind us would break into awful, hopeless sobbing 
 and this would be checked by the choking cough, 
 or horrid rattle, which told its own story of a soul 
 passing into Eternity. Around our dimly lit 
 table were surgeons, kindly-eyed doctors, bronzed 
 officers with gleaming orders on their breasts ; and 
 I felt my high privilege to be sitting there with 
 men who had given all, dared all, and were pre- 
 pared to suffer all for their country and her 
 honor. 
 
 The "American dish" was served with much 
 ceremony a beautifully prepared platter of ham 
 and eggs! Can you imagine how I felt? to sit 
 there and eat this savory food when the gallant 
 gentlemen who entertained me for weeks past had 
 tasted nothing better than coarse bread and 
 stringy goafs-flesh ! My throat rebelled at every 
 delicious morsel, but to refuse would have been not 
 only to give pain but to offer a deadly insult to 
 these proud men who hold nothing to be too good 
 for their guests and no sacrifice too great for 
 any who befriend them. 
 
 After dinner the younger men played on guitars
 
 198 A NATION AT BAY 
 
 and sang haunting melodies and stirring war- 
 songs. A peasant soldier who was brought in 
 read three poems of his own composition. At 
 ease, and without a trace of embarrassment, he 
 took the seat placed for him near the least smoky 
 lamp and in a clear, musical voice, he recited a 
 wonderful epic poem, which told how the Crown 
 Prince Alexander, when stricken by illness on the 
 awful march through the snow-filled passes of the 
 Albanian mountains, refused to leave his men in 
 order to gain comfort and safety more quickly. 
 
 "No," he replied to their entreaties, "I belong 
 to you and my place is here." 
 
 The pride of the King in his noble son and the 
 love of the suffering people for them both were 
 eulogized. Next he read a stirring battle 
 
 o c* 
 
 song and finished with an exquisite Song of 
 Home, telling of the love of the soldier for his 
 little white-walled dwelling with its fields of grain, 
 its fruit trees, flocks and flowers; the courage of 
 the chaste, deep-bosomed women and the laughing, 
 fiery-spirited children. When he had finished each 
 officer shook his hand and then he turned to me,
 
 HOW I BECAME A SOLDIER 199 
 
 with a true poet's look in his blue eyes, and said, 
 "I kiss the lady's hand for our kincl sister Amer- 
 ica." He raised my hand to his lips and, saluting, 
 went out to join the reserves who were on their 
 way to the trenches. 
 
 Just as the singers began another plaintive 
 melody, there came a sudden lull in the sound of 
 the fighting. Then, sounding surprisingly near 
 in the keen autumn night air, came an outburst 
 of cheering when with a renewed thunder of the big 
 guns doubling their fury, the cracking of machine 
 guns and the occasional bursting crash of bombs, 
 the Serbian heroes left their trenches, dashed 
 across the stretch of open plain and crossed the 
 Czerna River for the first time in their advance 
 to Monastir. They drove the Bulgarians out, 
 captured or killed hundreds and occupied the vil- 
 lage of Brod; while we, back there in the ruined 
 village of Old Vrbeni, cheered and sang and prayed 
 for those who fought and won and those who 
 suffered and died in the moonlight on the soil of 
 their loved Serbia. 
 
 As the stretchers came in with their piteous
 
 200 A NATION AT BAY 
 
 burdens they were greeted with triumphant songs 
 of victory, and even men whose life blood was 
 staining the shriveled grass at our feet, found 
 strength to mutter "Givela Serbia" before their 
 eyes closed forever. My own soul was filled with 
 an amazing sense of glory and my own country 
 seemed more dear than ever before, seeing what 
 men could do for their native land, and I sang 
 "America" in a broken and sadly unmusical voice, 
 but with all my heart in the words, while all those 
 blessed, blessed men took up the air and at the 
 end shouted again and again, "Givela, Givela, 
 Amerika." Whatever the years may bring to us, 
 never again can I feel that Life has cheated me, 
 for in these moments I lived and the memory will 
 be mine forever. 
 
 At last the doctor insisted that I must get some 
 rest, so I was put into a tiny tent in which a 
 great bunch of belated marigolds had been placed, 
 but there was not room for the flowers and me, 
 and so they had to be put under the bed until I 
 was in it, when I brought them out and propped 
 them again against the canvas wall. When at
 
 HOW I BECAME A SOLDIER 201 
 
 last sleep came, it was only in fitful snatches, for 
 the sound of the fighting, mingled with the low 
 murmurs of the wounded men in their wards near 
 me, kept my mind full of the excitement and exul- 
 tation which had marked the day. 
 
 For the next five weeks there was continual 
 fighting and gradually the Allied troops pushed 
 the enemy back with fearful losses on both sides. 
 Finally Monastir was recaptured and our troops 
 entered the city amid the happy tears and rejoic- 
 ing of the people. But the story of that advance, 
 with its wake of blood, is not a pleasant thing to 
 describe. It was war in all its horror, all its 
 brutality, all its glory. Serbia's troops are only a 
 little beyond Monastir today. The battle-lines 
 are still drawn there. There is a dead-lock on 
 the Eastern Front. 
 
 Perhaps the Teutons will make another attempt 
 to push us out of Serbia. They will not succeed. 
 The Allied Armies must hold that Eastern gate 
 against all odds. 
 
 I might have gone back this Spring, but General 
 Rashitch, when he was here with the Serbian Mis-
 
 202 A NATION AT BAY 
 
 sion in January, said to me, "My Sergeant, your 
 duty to Serbia is here, pleading her Cause. You 
 can do so much good here that I assign you to 
 this work until further orders."
 
 CHAPTER XXI 
 
 THE RETURN 
 
 WHEN I started back again to America from 
 the battle front to help the Serbian cause it was 
 with mixed feelings since every atom of my being 
 was crying out to remain with the Serbian troops. 
 I met Colonel Sondermaycr again at the little 
 town of Old Vrbeni, whence I had previously 
 started for the scene of battle. 
 
 We planned to get under way on our return to 
 Salonika at dawn. After my night's sleep 
 in the hospital tent, as the first glimmer of day- 
 break appeared, I was ready. 
 
 And here arose a difficulty. The orderly who 
 the night before had laced the flaps of the tent 
 first the inner and then the outer one had done 
 it so securely that I was unable to get at the knots 
 which were, of course, on the outside and there 
 was nothing in the tent with which I could cut the 
 203
 
 204 A NATION AT BAY 
 
 cords. Outside Colonel Sondermayer stamped up 
 and down, growling about women being always 
 late, and there was I, ready even to my gloves, 
 trying to make him hear so that he might let me 
 out ! He was making so much noise himself that 
 it was some time before my despairing cries could 
 be heard, but at last he did hear and I was soon 
 free. 
 
 We had a hasty cup of coffee and a slice of 
 toasted bread and started back to Ostrovo. 
 Along the road we met troops marching up to 
 their bases, but were so fortunate as not to get 
 caught in another column. There were little 
 groups of ragged refugees straggling up the road 
 and on one rocky stretch of break-neck descent 
 we passed a recklessly bounding car from which 
 the long arm of Prince George waved us enthusi- 
 astic greeting. The car flashed past us with such 
 speed that all we could hear of his vociferous 
 shouts was, "A la bonheur," and he was gone. An 
 American nurse in Salonika told me that the nick- 
 name of His Highness' chauffeur was "The Light- 
 ning Conductor," because of his invariably
 
 THE RETURN 205 
 
 speedy progress. Remembering his uproarious 
 passing, I suggested that his car might be called 
 "The Stormy Petrol." 
 
 Again the beautiful Lake of Ostrovo and thc- 
 ruined stone village where we had dined how long 
 ago was it? Counting by days only two; count- 
 ing by emotions, experiences, feelings, at least a 
 year ! We drew up at the gap in the hills before 
 the Scottish Women's Hospital and soon were 
 talking "fourteen to the dozen" to Dr. Bennett, 
 who left her work to greet us. Our time was so 
 short and we had so much to discuss that it was 
 only after I was again in the car and Joko had 
 cranked up that I remembered the most personal 
 thing of all and shouted above the din of the car, 
 "I was the very first woman of any nationality 
 to enter re-conquered Serbian territor}'." She 
 waved a friendly hand and called "Bravo" as we 
 turned into the road and began our journey to 
 Salonika. 
 
 Through the long, lovely valleys again, lunch- 
 eon of bread and goat's-cheese on a rock by the 
 smooth flowing river which furnished our only
 
 206 A NATION AT BAY 
 
 drink, then around the foot of the hill on which 
 stood Vodena of uneasy memories. Again, we 
 pulled up before the low stone huts and dun- 
 colored tents of the Serbian Escadrille. Tadoya, 
 Colonel Sonderinayer's son, came to escort us to 
 the mess tent. 
 
 Oh, the heat under that canvas top, "camou- 
 flaged" though it was with green boughs ! And 
 the young enthusiasm of the youthful aviators 
 for their perilous work ! They laughed and 
 sang and joked and called me "Mon colleague" 
 until, middle-aged as I am, I began to feel 
 that perhaps the thin red wine which we were 
 drinking might actually be "the Elixir of Life"; 
 and when I found myself singing "Tit Willow" 
 for them, I just knew it! After this cheerful 
 interlude we started again toward Salonika and 
 at sunset our Ford rolled along the quay beside 
 a Russian regiment which had just disembarked. 
 
 Mr. Venizelos had arrived, amid great rejoicing, 
 and was comfortably installed in a fine villa about 
 two miles from the center of the town, where he 
 was, I suppose, the very busiest man in Salonika.
 
 THE RETURN 207 
 
 With him had come Captain George Melas, an old 
 friend of mine with whom Miss Simmonds and I 
 dined that evening. A formal dinner was being 
 given to Mr. Venizelos in the "Concert Room" of 
 the White Tower restaurant and the lobbies were 
 full of Cretan guards, in their funny trousers and 
 "pill-box" caps ; eagle-eyed detectives and friends 
 of the great man were in attendance too. 
 
 After dinner Captain Melas asked if I would 
 like to see Mr. Venizelos, and I eagerly assented. 
 So, with all the frock-coated and uniformed 
 guards bowing and saluting at sight of our escort, 
 we passed into the room behind a line of palms and 
 up a tiny staircase to the boxes. But, alas, the 
 only unlocked door was that of the box directly 
 over the places of honor and we could only see 
 most of the, to us, uninteresting three or four 
 hundred other men. Some of them jauntily 
 raised their glasses when they saw us appear, but 
 this failed to amuse us and we descended to our 
 little alley behind the palms on our way out. Just 
 as we got half-way to the door, a gentleman with 
 glasses and a short white beard turned from the
 
 208 A NATION AT BAY 
 
 table and looked directly at me. In an instant I 
 recognized Mr. Venizelos, but then, a trifle panic- 
 stricken at being caught staring, I scuttled out. 
 
 At eight o'clock the next morning Captain 
 Melas came and told me that Mr. Venizelos would 
 be pleased to see me at nine. In a flurry of 
 anxiety as to whether he would give the order of 
 "Off with her head," I set out with Miss Sim- 
 monds. It was a lovely autumn morning and the 
 white villa, set in its garden of palms and 
 late flowers, looked very beautiful but hardly 
 peaceful, as the Cretan guards, armed to the 
 teeth, stood at the gate and among the trees 
 while detectives prowled in the streets and around 
 all the corners. We went up the broad marble 
 steps and in the hall found groups of earnest and 
 solemn personages waiting their turn with the 
 distinguished man. Everybody made way respect- 
 fully for Captain Melas and we were received by 
 General d'Anglis and the Greek naval hero, 
 Admiral Conduriotos. 
 
 After a few minutes the people who were with 
 Mr. Venizelos came out and we were at once
 
 Eleutherios Venizelos, Greek Premier
 
 Yodcna
 
 THE RETURN 209 
 
 shown into the room. This room was open to 
 observation from the hall, one side being com- 
 pletely glazed, so fearful were his friends that he 
 might be attacked and injured. He greeted us 
 most cordially. 
 
 "Madame, I find Ingleesh veery deeficult if 
 you permit me French?" was his apology at meet- 
 ing. Then for over an hour this, the busiest man 
 in Greece at that time, talked with me of his plans 
 and aspirations ! He spoke of the King and said 
 he hoped Constantine would see his way to come 
 out openly on the side of the Allies "even now," 
 and that in any case his own duty was clear. He 
 gave messages for the Greeks in America, saying 
 that it was their duty to return and fight with 
 their Balkan Ally. 
 
 "We Greeks and the Serbians are ratural 
 friends and we must stand together," he 
 said. "Tell them that they must help now for 
 the honor of Greece and for her safety." In 
 America I have given this message repeatedly in 
 my lectures but have had no means of knowing if 
 these noble words have borne fruit.
 
 210 A NATION AT BAY 
 
 Mr. Venizelos is a.man of middle height, neither 
 stout nor thin. His fine forehead is surmounted 
 by nearly snow-white hair and a well-kept mus- 
 tache and short beard shade his always smiling 
 mouth and firm chin, but it is the clear blue eyes 
 with their direct and honest gaze which hold one's 
 attention from the first moment one meets him. 
 One feels that here is a man, clean, sincere and 
 strong. Before we parted he smilingly said, with 
 a twinkle in his eye, "But, Madame, I am sure 
 that I have seen you before." 
 
 "Yes, Excellency," was my reply. "Miss Sim- 
 monds and I were the only ladies present at your 
 banquet last night and when you turned your 
 head I lost mine." He seemed greatly amused. 
 Then he signed two photographs which he gave 
 to Miss Simmonds and myself and, despite the 
 evident agitation of his friends and body-guards, 
 came out to the top of the steps with us to say 
 good-by. It was dangerous, too, for any mis- 
 creant waiting an opportunity could have shot 
 him from the street as he stood there calmly 
 talking.
 
 THE RETURN 211 
 
 "How warm the beautiful sunshine is today," 
 he remarked. 
 
 "Excellency," I answered, "may you stand 
 always in the sunshine." 
 
 "Ah, Madame," he said, "who can tell. But, 
 sun or shadow, I know my way." 
 
 We went away feeling that we had seen history 
 in the making as indeed we had, and I do believe 
 that while the affairs of Greece are in the hands 
 of this splendid patriot, she will go far toward 
 regaining some measure of her old glory. 
 
 The next day my ship was due to sail, so I went 
 to the Provost Marshal to get permission to leave 
 as this would save the endless round of the Allied 
 Consulates, which is usually required. The Pro- 
 vost Marshal proved to be an old acquaint- 
 ance whom I had not seen for many years, so we 
 had a good talk. When I rose to go, he said, 
 "Do you know we all know you here as the 
 'Woman Who Asks No Question and Attends to 
 Her Own Business.' ' I laughed, gathered up my 
 documents and went away feeling that my extreme 
 self-restraint had not been in vain!
 
 12 A NATION AT BAY 
 
 A visit to Mrs. Kehl that afternoon, a farewell 
 dinner at the White Tower and, later in the even- 
 ing, Colonel Joannu, famous Greek soldier and 
 Venizelist supporter, came in and, when several 
 Serbian officers joined us, we had an international 
 "conversazione" in which the affairs of many na- 
 tions were discussed and settled to our own com- 
 plete satisfaction. 
 
 On the day set for my departure, the French 
 officers and doctors at "Aviation" again in- 
 vited me to lunch and Colonel Sondermaycr 
 arranged to call for me just in time for the 
 boat. When he came he was so flurried that I 
 was sure I had missed it, but when we turned off 
 the main road into the Grande Quartier Serbc 
 I said, "Well, if we ramble all over town of course 
 we will be late." The Colonel just sputtered and 
 exclaimed fiercely, "Don't you know that Prince 
 Alexander has been waiting hours to see you?" 
 It was the first I had heard of it, but naturally 
 I was pleased with the prospect of seeing the 
 Prince before leaving. 
 
 We arrived at the "Palace," a great rambling
 
 THE RETURN 213 
 
 villa in a garden with a tall fence and with pic- 
 turesque Serbian guards at the gates and along 
 the paths. An immaculate officer greeted us at 
 the door and at the top of the marble staircase 
 a frock-coated major-domo, bowing, met us. In 
 a small irregularly shaped room, paneled in bro- 
 cade and filled with French furniture, we waited 
 and in a few moments Prince Alexander came to 
 us. He is of medium height, well-built and erect, 
 with a warm olive complexion and handsome dark 
 eyes behind powerful glasses, a direct earnest gaze 
 and a resolute manner. He seems older than his 
 actual years and will, we all believe, be a splendid 
 King when the time comes for him to take his 
 place upon the throne of that Greater Serbia 
 which the future will bring to stand as a strong 
 sentinel in Eastern Europe. 
 
 For an hour we talked of Serbia and what 
 America has tried to do for her and of what the 
 Serbian Relief Committees are trying to do. The 
 Prince expressed his deep appreciation and said 
 he had hoped the seeds and farming imple- 
 ments might be sent into the country the moment
 
 214 A NATION AT BAY 
 
 the war is over so that the people may plant and 
 reap a good harvest. 
 
 "And," he added, "when the people have gath- 
 ered their first crops they will ask aid of no one." 
 But zc-'tf, who have seen, know how much there 
 must be done in sanitary and other matters 
 though the people will not ask. 
 
 "You wear two of our decorations, I see. I 
 want you to wear a third in token of our grati- 
 tude for all your devotion to our cause," said 
 the Prince, leaning toward me. He held toward 
 me the little blue and gold box which contains the 
 coveted Order of St. Sava ! I was surprised and 
 could only stammer, "Does Your Highness think 
 I merit it?" 
 
 Then Prince Alexander pinned the Order on 
 my coat saying, "I know no better friend of 
 Serbia than Ruth Farnam." After a few 
 moments, he said, "You will return soon to 
 help us in Monastir, will you not, Madame?" I 
 explained that my services would probably be 
 much more valuable in raising funds in America
 
 THE RETURN 215 
 
 which would enable the trained workers to do their 
 work out there. 
 
 "But, I will come back to go with the Array 
 into Belgrade!" I promised, and the Prince 
 replied that he should hold that as a promise. 
 We shook hands, and I fled for the steamer. 
 
 The steamer was waiting for me and there was 
 a brilliant gathering of officers and officials on 
 board. Some were former office holders, under 
 King Constantine, now displaced by the Pro- 
 visional Government of Mr. Venizelos ; and several 
 were people who had come to see me off. There 
 Avas a great deal of congratulation over my new 
 Order and many messages given for friends in 
 Athens and Paris, London and New York, all of 
 which I tried to store into a head which was 
 fairly whirling with excitement. 
 
 Soon the whistle blew and our friends left us, 
 remaining on the water in the little boats until 
 our ship was well away from the anchorage, and 
 even then their shouts came faintly over the water 
 as we moved out past the war vessels; past the 
 great white hospital ships and toward the barrier
 
 216 A NATION AT BAY 
 
 of nets and mines guarding the mouth of the har- 
 bor. Many of our passengers were happily on 
 their way to France or England on leave, but 7 
 regretted every mile which took me away from the 
 white city and the wonderful men and women who 
 were striving there to win freedom and to soothe 
 the wounds of a tortured world. 
 
 If in these pages I have said little of the splen- 
 did women-nurses, doctors and surgeons who were 
 devotedly working in Salonika and nearer the 
 Front, it is not because I did not see them and 
 their superb accomplishment but because no words 
 of mine could do justice to them all. 
 
 There was our famous Dr. Rosalie Slaughter 
 Morton, who chose to spend her hard earned holi- 
 day out there helping to restore Serbian heroes 
 to life and hope. She made many an American 
 heart beat faster with pride in American woman- 
 hood. Another hard working person was the 
 Princess Demidov. There were Madame de Rei- 
 nach-Foussemagne, Dr. Honoria Kcer, surgeon in 
 the Scottish Women's Hospital, great little Dr. 
 Alice Hutchinson, Mrs. Harlcy, the sister of
 
 THE RETURN 217 
 
 General French, and who recently was killed by 
 an exploding shell in Monastir ; Dr. Bennett, and 
 a hundred more, every one of whose names will be 
 written in letters of gold in the memories of men 
 for their heroic service and splendid devotion. 
 
 But of all these, we Americans must remember 
 with pride the name of Emily Louisa Simmonds, 
 an American Red Cross nurse, of British birth. 
 She was one of the most devoted of the noble and 
 gallant band who suffered and toiled untiringly 
 and ungrudgingly for Serbia. 
 
 Arriving again at Athens, I found the city in a 
 turmoil, with Allied troops but mostly French 
 marines marching continually in the streets. 
 There would be a sharp bugle-call and from every 
 direction little Greek soldiers would run across 
 the park before the hotel and line up under the 
 trees. Officers with their clanking swords bang- 
 ing on their horses' sides would gallop back and 
 forth and one lived in momentary expectation of 
 an international explosion. Many of the officers 
 with whom I had talked during my last visit had 
 gone to Salonika, and every boat clearing from
 
 218 A NATION AT BAY 
 
 Piraeus took dozens of recruits. I remembered 
 Mr. Yenizelos' words to me, "We are the natural 
 friends of Serbia. Her sorrows concern us and 
 we must take our stand beside her now and 
 always."' 
 
 There were still Greeks who were loyal to the 
 Janus-faced King, but even they were complaining 
 of conditions in the country. Princess Andrew 
 sent for me and I went to the Palace. Before 
 her marriage she was beautiful Princess Alice of 
 Battcnberg and her spouse was the brother of 
 the King. 
 
 She certainly was not pro-German but was en- 
 tirely pro-Greek, and since her sympathies were 
 all with Constantine, one can only conclude that 
 she did not in the least understand the true state 
 of aiiairs. She was anxious to get me to work 
 in America for the Queen ? s Refugee and Hospital 
 funds. This I readily promised to do, if it would 
 not clash with my work for Serbia, but was told 
 later that these affairs were run in a rather hap- 
 hazard way, Her Majesty not being quite as 
 efficient as her Go mi MI training would indicate.
 
 THE RETURN 219 
 
 On my return to America I spoke to several peo- 
 ple about giving such time as I could to this work 
 but met with little response. 
 
 My calls upon the Legations, American, 
 French, English and Serbian, took up some time, 
 but on the second day I left for Marseilles and, 
 arriving in Paris early one morning, left the same 
 day for Boulogne and London. The journey was 
 long and extremely tedious, but as there was a 
 convalescent French officer in our crowded com- 
 partment who grew paler and paler and at last 
 asked permission to lie on the floor (among our 
 feet!), no one felt like complaining over his own 
 little troubles. Two men and myself then stood 
 in the corridor, in spite of the Frenchman's pro- 
 testations, so he had room to rest in comparative 
 comfort. At the "town" station an Englishman 
 met him, helped him carefully into a cab and they 
 drove quickly off into the darkness. 
 
 The Channel boat was packed with travelers 
 and we made the trip iu utter darkness, as subma- 
 rines were prowling about. Occasionally we 
 would see a white gleam in the distance which must
 
 220 A NATION AT BAY 
 
 have been, we all believed, the "wash" of our 
 guardian, an English destroyer, but the night 
 passed without any untoward happening and just 
 as the sun rose we landed on English shores. 
 
 A few days later I set sail for America to con- 
 tinue my work on the lecture platform and other- 
 wise to help the Allied cause. 
 
 THE END
 
 APPEAL OF THE SERBIAN WOMEN TO 
 ALL SOCIETIES OF WOMEN
 
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 APPEAL OF THE SERBIAN WOMEN TO ALL 
 SOCIETIES OF WOMEN 
 
 As representatives of the National League of 
 Serbian Women, we some time ago addressed to 
 all Societies of women in the Allied and neutral 
 countries an appeal begging them to raise their 
 voice against the attacks on the honor of Serbian 
 women and 3 r oung girls. 
 
 We consider it our most sacred duty, as pa- 
 triots as well as women, to draw once more the 
 attention of all feminist societies to the frightful 
 proceedings to which the Serbian women and 
 young girls who have remained in Serbia are 
 exposed. We base our appeal on the formal 
 declarations of the Serbian Government, and also 
 on extracts from articles which have appeared in 
 the press ori this subject, and we appeal to your 
 sentiments in the hope that you will not remain 
 223
 
 224 APPEAL OF THE SERBIAN WOMEN 
 
 indifferent to these shameful proceedings against 
 the Serbian women and girls, in which Germans, 
 Austro-Hungarians, Bulgarians and Turks are 
 taking part. 
 
 We denounce not only the facts which prove 
 the systematic extermination of the Serbian male 
 population, but also the dishonoring and dis- 
 graceful acts to which the enemy occupants of 
 Serbia have had recourse in delivering up young 
 Serbian girls to the Turks to be shut up in the 
 harems of Constantinople. 
 
 Here is authentic testimony on the subject: 
 M. Pachitch, the Serbian Prime Minister, de- 
 clared in London that the Austro-Germans and 
 Turks have deported eight thousand young Ser- 
 bian girls, aged from 10 to 14 years, and have 
 shut them up in the harems of Constantinople. 
 
 La Suisse, August 6th, 1917. 
 
 ****** 
 
 Young girls of Serbia, this time the victims are 
 not far-off Armenians, or Greek women of Asia, 
 already accustomed to oriental seclusion, brought 
 up under the whip of the Turk, trembling slaves
 
 APPEAL OF THE SERBIAN WOMEN 225 
 
 from their infancy. These little girls of Bel- 
 grad, I saw them in their families before the war. 
 They were Europeans, dressed like you, refined 
 like you, who read books from Paris, and were 
 preparing themselves perhaps to finish their edu- 
 cation in a boarding-school in France or in Eng- 
 land. 
 
 But the "brave German Army" came, charged 
 with "kultur" and chanting the pious hymn of 
 Luther. It killed or drove out the men of Serbia 
 and set itself to administer a country where there 
 were left only women. 
 
 There, for a true German hero was the occasion 
 to show his chivalry ! War is war, "Krieg ist 
 Krieg," but women and young girls are not so 
 very dangerous ! That is what the noble defender 
 of the German fatherland thought. He collected 
 eight thousand of them, the prettiest, and patting 
 them paternally on the cheek, with a big laugh, 
 he sold them to the Turk to be put in a cage and 
 to serve for the relaxation of the Pashas of the 
 Committee of "Union and Progress," who will 
 hand them on no doubt later on to some Kurdish
 
 226 APPEAL OF THE SERBIAN WOMEN 
 
 soldier of the Guards. That is the gift of Wil- 
 helm II to his friends at Constantinople. "Gott 
 mit uns !" God is with the honest German people, 
 chosen by Him to bring about the reign of mo- 
 rality on earth. 
 
 Do you feel, before this crime, the irony of our 
 formula of peace? Reparations? There are out- 
 rages that one cannot repair. Guarantees? Wil- 
 helm is playing safe : he knows very well that, 
 if we enter Germany, we shall not take eight thou- 
 sand little German girls of ten to fourteen years 
 old and distribute them among our Senegalese. 
 Maurice de Waleft'e in Le Journal. 
 
 It is reported from Belgrad that the Austrian 
 military authorities, on instructions from Ger- 
 many, have proceeded to a general rape of 
 women and young girls from ten to fourteen years 
 of age, without distinction of situation or of 
 family responsibility. Trains crowded with these 
 unfortunates, whose protests and supplications 
 are stifled by blows, have been passing without 
 interruption for four days, going no one knows 
 whither.
 
 APPEAL OF THE SERBIAN WOMEN 227 
 
 Atrocious scenes have taken place in the towns 
 and villages when the soldiers came to drag away 
 young girls from their families and mothers from 
 their children. Women have gone mad, young 
 girls have killed themselves to escape the fate 
 
 which awaited them. Le Temps, July 15th, 1917. 
 
 ****** 
 
 Le Temps of August 8th published a letter 
 from one of those unhappy Serbian men who were 
 obliged by the exactions and the tortures in- 
 flicted by the Bulgarian authorities in occupied 
 Serbia, to take up arms and attempt to deliver 
 their country and to seek in death an end to their 
 sufferings. The letter reads as follows: 
 
 May, 1917. 
 
 Here I am in the mountains, my wretched habi- 
 tation at this time. I escaped on April 25th from 
 the Bulgarian dungeons, where I was incarcerated 
 with twenty comrades, after having been captured 
 in the revolt near . There were 25,000 of 
 us insurgents; we fought first against a German 
 division, which we defeated and put to flight ; 
 then we were attacked by two Bulgarian divisions,
 
 with many cannon and machine guns. I was 
 taken, put in prison and condemned to be hanged ; 
 
 but at night my friend made his way in 
 
 with a band into Prokouplie, killed the sentinels 
 and released me. I was thus able to escape to the 
 mountains. 
 
 The Bulgarians have called up all the male 
 population from sixteen to sixty-five years, to in- 
 corporate them in the Army and send them imme- 
 diately to the front. At the same time they col- 
 lected all the young people of thirteen to sixt ?n 
 years and sent them to Constantinople. It was 
 this vandal act on the part of these monstrous 
 Mongols which provoked the revolt. The unhappy 
 mothers, exasperated by the cries of their children 
 carried off by force, attacked the Bulgarians with 
 stones. It was a regular revolt, to which the 
 Bulgarians responded by gibbets on which they 
 hanged women and children. 
 
 Here I am now in the mountains of . 
 
 It may be that by the time you read these lines 
 I shall be no longer among the living, but the 
 insurrection cannot be stifled so easily, for the
 
 APPEAL OF THE SERBIAN WOMEN 229 
 
 Bulgarians are proceeding to the systematic ex- 
 termination of our nation. On the 25th April 
 they embarked on the trains at Belotintze 8000 
 children of twelve to fifteen years ; destination ; 
 Constantinople. Many of the children jumped 
 from the cars while the trains were moving, and 
 thus found death. The Bulgarians called up 
 the whole population to be vaccinated. But, in- 
 stead of serum against cholera or smallpox, they 
 inoculated them with contagious diseases. One 
 of the doctors made this known to the people, 
 who fled to the mountains with the children. 
 
 From La Serble, August 19th, 1917. 
 Yours very truly, 
 
 ( signed) 
 
 First Vice-President of the National 
 League of Serbian Women. 
 
 / / 
 
 e\tWl.i>, 
 
 Member^f the Central Committee.
 
 UC SOUTHERN REGIONAL LIBRARY FACILITY 
 
 A 001 400 583 9