er, it is true,
the meals I took in inns and private cottages were far from sumptuous,
but as I drew nearer to the Dutch frontier the amount and variety of the
food to be obtained changed in an ascending scale, until at Antwerp one
could almost forget, so far as the table was concerned, that the world
was at war.

[Sidenote: The diet at Roubaix, France.]

Let me give a few comparisons. At Roubaix, in France, at the time when I
left in the first week of this year, my daily diet was as follows:
Breakfast--coffee, bread and butter (butter was a luxury beyond the
reach of the working people, who had to be content with lard); midday
meal--vegetable soup, bread, boiled rice, and at rare intervals an egg
or a tiny piece of fresh meat; supper--boiled rice and bread. Just over
the border, in Belgium, the food conditions were a little better. The
ticket system prevailed, and the villagers were dependent on the depots
of the American Relief Commission, supplemented by local produce.

A little further, and one passed the line of demarkation between the
etape--the part of Belgium which is governed by General von Denk,
formerly commanding the troops at Valenciennes--and the governement
general, under the command of General von Bissing.

[Sidenote: The first fresh meat in weeks.]

Here a distinct change was noticeable. My first meal in this area
included fillet of beef, the first fresh meat I had tasted for weeks.
Tickets were still needed to buy bread and other things supplied by the
Relief Commission, but other foodstuffs could be bought without
restriction.

[Sidenote: A dinner at Brussels.]

At Brussels the food supply seems to be nearly normal. My Sunday dinner
there consisted of excellent soup, a generous helping of roast leg of
mutton, potatoes, haricot beans, white bread, cheese, and jam, and wine
or beer, as preferred; while for supper I had cold meat, fried potatoes,
and bread.

[Sidenote: Food conditions at Antwerp.]

At Antwerp, with two French friends who accompanied me on my journey
through Belgium, I walked into a middle-class cafe at midday. I ordered
a steak with fried potatoes and my friends ordered pork chops. Without
any question about tickets we were served. We added bread, cheese, and
butter to complete the meal and washed it down with draft light beer.
Later in the day we took supper in the same cafe--an egg omelette, fried
potatoes, bread, cheese, and butter. And the cost of both meals together
was