Evening journal., 1914-10-31
RED CROSS Dance
TO AID sufferers
ArmOry Function to be
Charity Dance in
Every Sense
LETTER TELLS OF
WAR HORRORS

The Red Cross Military Ball is
given in the hope of raising a goodly
fund to relieve terrible conditions In
Europe caused by the war. It is
freely open to every member of the
public, being a charity ball in the
widest sense. Everyone is urged to
buy a ticket and visit the Armory on
the evening of November 5, where
the Committee hopes to give every
one a good time. Many who cannot
help the Red Cross at any other time
OF the day can do so by coming in
the evening to this ball.
The Committee in charge Of the
military ball for the benefit of the
Red Cross War Relief has requested
the publication of the following Let
ter from France" reprinted from
Life, which gives conditions as seen
by an eyewitness:
A Letter From France.
AS an American woman who has
spent nine happy summers with many
other of her compatriots in this
beautiful corner of France, I feel
that we all owe It debt in this hour
of adversely.
Day after day / see hundreds of
refugees pour in from Belgium and
France, starving, ragged, despairing,
from scenes Of carnage and murder,
bereft of homes, relatives and re-
sources. They are largely peasants,
but many from Louvain and Char
leroi are cultivated, finely bred men,
women and children of all ages. They
are thrown like bits OF wreckage by
the storm raging over Europe up
to this isolated corner of Brittany,
where even the rich find money
scarce. and where, in a few weeks,
coal and wood will be scarce also.
This disaster is far worse than that
of Messina, for now there is no other
land to fly to; no other people to
aid We Americans and English,
having laid aside fine raiment and
social pleasures, are at work at the
once smart Hotel Royal, now a hos
pital for the wounded, which arrive
daily by hundreds, two deep on
straw. But the Croix Rouge has
them In their care. These refugees
are adrift, like leaves in a storm.
shorn Of everything which makes life
possible. They sleep also on straw,
in garages, cafes, and villas, whose
ohatelaines succor them. Listen TO
tales which / have heard, and sights
which my eyes have seen, and which
Monsieur Crolard, Mayor of Dinard,
will vouch for, and let your hearts
leap to aid them:
Last night, in the garage Of the
Grand Hotel, slept seven little girls,
all under seven, whose ragged dainti-
ness proved former love and luxury.
They have lost all, parents and home
and do not even know the names OF
their villages. Their feet are bleed
ing from tramping fields; their tear
stained faces pinched from starya-
ton. Four others, more fortunate
came seventy miles In a Belgian
bread cart. pulled by a dog. I have
talked with a young mother whose
baby we buried last night. A Ger
man musket battered in It's chest
when its mother tried to push aside
the barrel which shot her husband
A child of seven has one hand
gone, cut from his mothers CLASP
because he detained her flight from
a home the Germans were in haste
to burn. An old man is living and
here, because he was so clever as "a
lie down as though dead when Ger
mans, who had locked forty such In
a room, told them TO dance for
their lives" while they shot at them
through the shutters from the street
This story is corroborated by -four
witnesses. A baker of Mons was
ordered 70 bake by Germans. He
complied until -four was exhausted
and was shot, before his wife, be-
cause they claimed he refused To
tell where more -four was hidden
Then his wife was hidden to divulge
and 70 punish her "obstinacy," hel
husband, before her eyes, was thrust
into the furnace She is quite de.
mented and sits gazing silently al
unknown horrors. These people, e
earn food, are being placed on farms
TO work in fields, and many will
work as peasants who we're profes
sors and gentlewomen Of refinement
There is not enough fine work to 81
Vcund. All are innocent victims o.
an unrighteous war, and for many
nights slept in fields dug for carrots
with bare hands, drank from mud
died pools, with the flames Of burn
ing homes on the sky behind them
end despair ahead. Their clothing
IS in tatters, their shoes in pieces
clothe these hundreds, who increasi
daily. Troops at the front send foi
food. Our horses and motors havl
all been requisitioned by the army
and this formerly bright little tow
Of luxury and gaiety is now Just
shelter for the hunted who are a
bay against misfortune. What viii
become Of them?
I beg you In happy, safe Americi
10 deny yourself a cigar, a theatr
seat and an extra hat and help us Il
help them. Ten cents will buy
child ten rolls of bread. Fifty cent
will cover little feet which neve
again will be caressed by a mother
A dollar will buy a shawl for
widow. Give, give, l beg of you
generous hearts. America has le
the world in charity for less worth
causes. Compassion knows no ma
tionality. Pity blesses the giver an
the poor. You mothers, when yo
tuck your children safely into be-
at night, remember these little be
ings, reared in no less care and lux
ury, who are adrift In a world whic
has used them i'll. The aged toe
like older children, having lived, hav
earned rest before death, and they
too, are cast out from homes, know
ing nothing of where dear ones ar,
their sons at the front fighting tn
enemy which has destroyed them
for honor's sake.
All Europe is one great slaughte
house. Paris no longer can send u
money from our bank accounts, an