AN OAMARU GIRL IN BELGIUM

New Zealand Tablet, 5 November 1914, Page 31

AN OAMARU GIRL IN BELGIUM

■ i&fi, %' AN EXCITING ESCAPE. ' V 7TF? T,./ '• }■'■. •’«•>'. ■ =-..-. V.«- » - yy. ' .-.-.a-.v^j-,:,..:-.f, Miss Christian Shir res, daughter of Mrs. Hutchison* of Kurow (then wife of the ’ late Mr ’' Shirres, -of Aviemore Station), and grand-daughter ,of Mrs ./L. L. Munro, of' Otematata, had an exciting experience at ,the outbreak of the war (says £he (Daman* Mail) : For five years Miss Shirres was in the ■; Oamaru Convent, leaving there for the Homeland and the Continent, for .the purpose of acquiring a knowledge of foreign languages. In this , she has, been most- successful, having secured diplomas in no less than five foreign languages. ; Also as music pupil of Sister Teresa* while in the Oamaru Convent, Miss Shirres learnt to play six instruments, and has since pursued her studies under Soeur Madeleine at the Institut Notre Dame. For two and a-half years she studied, languages under Soeur Nestor. At the outbreak of war Miss Shirres was at Courtrai, where she had been. for. two months in the household of a French family. She says, writing to her mother:,—, . -p 15 Bon Accord Crescent, Aberdeen. I wonder where lam to begin? I am safe, as yftji ' see.;: Strangely enough I had not been ten minutes in the-House when your cable was brought in. I had just got Auntie C. to iagree to send a cable, knowing how, anxiouslyou would be .when your cable. came. s ,: ;71 r i ' I just got but of Belgium by the skin of my teeth and only just in time. When 1 last wrote tbe you ,on Sunday week I was not afraid. The Germans were only at Liege, and we had no idea they would come up to Brussels. On. Wednesday I received a very anxious letter from Aunt C. She wrote on the 13th, and I did not get it until the 19th. Amongst other things, she thought I ought to come home; that it really was not safe for me to be in Belgium. Uncle John’s (Captain John Leslie) : opinion was the same, but he thought I should leave at once. Since I came home I learn that all my relatives were in a great state, and I have had to, write I don’t know how many letters. The day I got Uncle John’s letter the Germans were in Brussels, and then aeroplanes, one after the other, began to fly overhead, and we heard that there was to be no more correspondence between England and Belgium. Then, and then only, did I get frightened, and decide to come to Aberdeen. This was Wednesday, and I planned my departure for Saturday. On Friday morning, however, I was ■ sitting at breakfast, when M. de Zuther came down and said, / I think you had better leave by the first train to-day, for if you wait there may be no other train.’ What frightened him was that no newspapers had com© through, and he thought the Germans -must have taken the- traiiis. So I banged all my things into my trunks and was ready to‘leave by the 10 o’clock train for Ghent. . , , r i ~; At the station some, minutes before , reaching Ghent the stationmaster ordered everyone to get out, and told us we could not go any further, as the Germans were in Ghent. - I shall never forget that terrible announcement ! I, with others, got out in a dazed manner, hardly knowing what I was doing. , -Then a man who spoke -perfect English came up to me and said:// you going to Brussels, mademoiselle?’ I said; ‘No! I am going to Ostend.’ / Well, I shall take you to the platform from which the train for Ostend' is supposed to start, but I’m afraid there won’t be a train.’ lie took me there, and departed to question the stationmaster, but that worthy was in such a state that what information "could not be gathered from his waving arms was not to be got from his utterances,The friendly man_gave it up and went away. I asked several porters, but . they, only shrugged their shoulders and " said in French: ‘We know nothing:’ ' You can •hardly imagine my feelings! ' There was I alone among 400 unknown people, all ; refugees, on .the platform. All j had been waiting since the morning for.a train to '• Ostend. N fr.

A ’ l.j . .•.< .. ■ . ■ 5 / Just then I saw three priests whom I knew by their : ' dress to be English. I asked them if there was? a train going to Ostena. ‘ That’s just what we want to know, said one of them. With them were an s English lady and a littlb ~girl,' and I accepted; gratefully the lady’s offer ’ to/ join ’forces. Her little .. girl had been at school in • Belgium. v- • ///■'■’/ - f ’ v Fortunately a train wan assembled : from' different parts of the large yard. The big station at Ghent was closed by the Germans, and ? nothing was allowed to come out. Had not our inconfing train been, signalled to stop we would have been shut up in Ghent, with ", goodness 'knows what terrors - and dangers. We all bundled into the ‘scratch’ train, which was. simply crammed with terrified refugees. I shall never forget it! The train simply flew to Ostend as the drivers expected to be followed and stop •ped;/by a German train from Ghent. The Germans’ orders were to stop all communication between Ostend >nd Ghent, as they did not think Ostend people knew /so soon of their occupation of Ghent. We got safely to Ostend, though my luggage was left behind, to my great mortification, for I knew I should never see it again, and my trunks contained all I possessed. The Ostend stationmaster promised that if it arrived it should be safely sent on. ' ; /- • - I went on to the wharf to get on to a boat, but /I was stopped and told that I could not pass without a //passport, even though he could see I was British. I could have Cried with vexation. No trains were leaving 'for Eecloo, where I had friends. / Fashionable Ostend was seething with a motley crowd of fleeing people of ■t: all nations, among whom the baser sorts were busy thieving and worse, and it was no place for a girl alone. What was Ito do Just Then the British Consul for Ghent (Mr. Lethbridge) came up, and the lady with me, who knew him, explained my position to him. He ' immediately said he would give me a passport, and _ wasn’t,! delighted? If he had come a minute later the chance would not have occurred, as I should have left the wharves. At last we were safely on the - boat. Wasn’t I glad to Think we were going to England , and safety ! We were not far out at sea, however, before a man-of-war came in sight, and once more fear assailed us. We had no means, as the wireless apparatus was not used by order, of telling its nationality, and it looked so big and threatening. Again we saw ourselves prisoners of war.. , Great‘ was our joy to discern that it was an English vessel. We knew then we were safe. Later it was joined by a Belgian one that was taking war material to Ostend. Our Captain warned it that the Germans were already in Ghent and might now be in Ostend, which port it would enter at its own risk. . Passing the old fortified town of Dover, searchlights from the naval harbor were turned on us from all sides, lighting up the sea to the horizon. At last we reached Folkestone, and thanked God. Oh, how proud we ought to be to think we are British ! Never until that awful day did I realise how much I loved England and English people. .