Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1909-02-19
diers to keep them alive.

diers to keep them alive.
Within "a hours from the time the
news reached the king he had landed at
Messina. and was working as hard as the
humblest soldier. The king personally res
cued three men who were pinned in the
cellar OF a hotel, and was drenched as
wet as any man at his side. Neither
king nor queen took the lead in the work,
but worked as any other volunteer would
The queen tainted time after time from
the tsench and gruesome sights in Mes
sina. but this did not stop her. And In
less than three hours after she landed
she was like all the other rescuers, be-
fouled with the debris. Her work was
chiefly among the children, and once
while prying with her own hands q beam
OF of q three-year-old child a gas main
exploded within three feet OF her She
superintendent the breaking open Of a res
taurant that had escaped demoliation, and
proceeded to cook a meal for the crowds
Of children she had gathered about her.
There have been all sorts of reports of
the effect Of those days of horror and
privation on this angel" as her people
call her. But it seems that her splendid
constitution has rallied. She was So years
old just the day before this calamity
fell on her people. and she was celebrat-
ing IL in her palace near Naples. the
same that now houses so many victims of
the calamity.
One of the presents she received on her
birthday was an engrossed tablet from the
Calabrians thanking her for her heroism
of few years ago. when in the garb of
trained nurse she. ministered to their
sick and took charge of a temporary hos
pital in one of their many wrecked viii
lagos On many occasions, long before
this the queen of Italy has picked wound
ed babes from their ruined homes and
sat by the road to share a meal with her
famished fellow creatures.
All official etiquette and everything in
the way OF form and ceremony is put
aside when this sanity woman goes
among her people to help them.
Many European papers have instituted
a comparison between her and the hero
ines Of the Bible.
One, a Berlin paper says: ''She has
Esther's greatness, and like Esther she
is not so much the bold heroine as the
silent and reserved one. Queen Helene is
the reincamation Of Queen Esther in her
surprising beauty, and in her irrisistable
grace. Like Esther, Helene has the soft
ness of the zephyr. the gentleness of the
dove. the radiance of the star. the mod
esty OF the lily and the piety of the holy
ones of old. 1t is not as the queen. but
as the heroine that she is accorded the
home Of the Cicilians as they look upon
her strange beauty her symmetrical form
her classically chiseled face where high
intellectually and still higher moral
purity blend"
She has lifted crying children when
they chung to her skirts and soothed them
with the soft tones of her voice in their
own local dialects. Among the many
touching Incidents while at Ferruzzano
was one of her fasting two days and
nights. grief made such inroads on her
beauty that her husbands eyes were dim.
her lips grew parehed and dry. and she
tainted while giving milk TO a baby
found creeping out OF some ruins.
wish l could tell you more Of this
heroine. but space forbids. Let US thank
God that there are such women I'm the
world, and pray that her precious life
may be spared many a year, and that
her own dear children. three girls. and
boy. may rise up TO call her blessed,
and that the bread of love and charity
that she has cast so bounteously ION the
waters" may return TO her own dear
ones even a hundred fold.
Faithfully yours.
LIZZIE o. THOMAS.