Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1901-08-29
COMMUNISTS TRANSFORMED.
The Denefcent Work and influence
of a Young Woman I'm the
Slurns of Paris.


1t need not take q big organization
to do a big thing. In "Chrlstlan work
| In Paris Sums Sarah A. Tooley tells
how one woman, and she but a young
and delicate girl, went down into
| very hotbed of hatred and anarchy,
| and transformed it into a place where
men and women could be induced to
| listen to reason and respond to kind
ness.
Miss De Broen, a lady of Dutch ex-
traction who made England her home,
| is well known as a worker in the Sums
of Paris. 1t was in 1871, Immediately
after the suppression of the commune,
| that she visited Paris and went to b
cemetery of Pere Lachaise. where 600
communists were shot down by the sol
diers of Versailles.
AS she stood in the cemetery she
heard at one end the wailing anu
shrieking of women. and following the
sound, found a maddened crowd of
communist women mourning their
dead. The girl was sliced with pity
for them, and laying her hand on the
arm of one of the women, she said:
"Let me comfort you / a tell you
of One above who cares for all your
SORROWS"
AS she passed from one to another a
calm fell upon the maddened crowd.
Miss De Broen's heart was stirred.
The scene was a revelation to her.
From that time she devoted herself to
the work of helping these ~outcasts OF
Belleville.
1t is impossible to describe what the
district was in those days. 1t was the
hotbed of the most virulent anarchy.
Lawlessness, disorder and the spirit OF
deadly revenge seemed to possess
every man, woman and child in the
place. Gradually Miss De Broen gained
an influence over the people, n in
duced the women to attend a sewing
class. The government recognized the
value of her labors and helped her.
How far her influence extended is
shown by the quick response to her
presence and pleading in a time ofreal
danger.
Several years age a law was passed
regulating the collection of household
refuse. The task of collecting it was
relegated to the city. and thousands
of chiffoniers in Belleville were thrown
out of employment. News came to
Miss De Broen, one Sunday afternoon,
that the people were rising. She hur-
ried to the district where the chif-
foniers lived in a tribe apart, and found
them gathered round a leader who was
melting them to deeds of violence.
"If we have nj weapons we have
stonesi" he was saying when Miss De
Broen came up.
"What is the matter?" she asked.
"We have lost our work and are
starving" was the reply.
She asked them if they would sepa-
rate peaceably if she undertook to pro-
vide them with food and work; and to
prove her sincerity she dispatched a
messenger to the neares bakers shop
with orders to send at one all the
bread on the premises. When the cart
arrived, she had the loaves cut up and
distributed to the crowd.
The hungry people, trusting to their
benefactress, dispersed quietly to
their homes, and Miss De Broen pre-
scented herself a the Elysee and asked
to see President Grevy.
"The president is dining" was the
reply, land cannot be disturbed"
"TellhimI came from those who have
no dinner" she replied.
She saw the president, and he
learned that there were some thou
sands of desperate characters in Belle
vile on the verge of revolution. That
visit setthe cumbrous machinery of the
government at work, and help came;
but in the meantime, while minis-ers
considered and officials investigated,
Miss De Broen, by her undaunted eff
forts fed some 1000 people and pre-
vented an outbreak that would have
been lamentable in its consequences.