in great need. They are not used to living on five cents a day. An
Italian told me the heaviest drain upon the war-relief funds came from
the families of these Italian-Americans, stranded in their own country.
He also told me his chief duty was to meet them on their arrival.

"But haven't they money when they arrive from America?" I asked.

"That's it," he said naively. "I'm at the wharf to keep their
countrymen from robbing them of it."

At present in Europe you cannot take gold out of any country that is at
war. As a result, gold is less valuable than paper, and when I exchanged
my double-eagles for paper I lost.

On the advice of the wisest young banker in France I changed, again at a
loss, the French paper into Bank of England notes. But when I arrived in
Salonika I found that with the Greeks English bank-notes were about as
popular as English troops, and that had I changed my American gold into
American notes, as was my plan, I would have been passing rich. That is
what comes of associating with bankers.

At the Italian frontier, a French gentleman had come to the door of the
compartment, raised his hat to the inmates, and asked if we had any
gold. Forewarned, we had not; and, taking our word for it, he again
raised his hat and disappeared. But, on leaving Naples, it was not like
that. In these piping times of war your baggage is examined when you
depart as well as when you arrive. You get it coming and going. But the
Greek steamer was to weigh anchor at noon, and at noon all the port
officials were at dejeuner; so, sooner than wait a week for another
boat, the passengers went on board and carried their bags with them. It
was unpardonable. It was an affront the port officials could not brook.
They had been disregarded. Their dignity had been flouted. What was
worse, they had not been tipped. Into the dining-saloon of the Greek
steamer, where we were at luncheon, they burst like Barbary pirates.
They shrieked, they yelled. Nobody knew who they were, or what they
wanted. Nor did they enlighten us. They only beat upon the tables,
clanked their swords, and spoiled our lunch. Why we were abused, or of
what we were accused, we could not determine. We vaguely recognized our
names, and stood up, and, while they continued to beat upon the tables,
a Greek steward explained they wanted our gold. I showed them my
bank-notes, and was allowed to return to my garlic and veal. But the
English cigarette king, who each week send