Newark evening star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1909-1916, 1914-09-25
english HOMES
TAKE REFUGEES
FROM BELGIUM
1 500 Peasants Find Comfort
able Quarters at Alexandra
Palace in London.

LONDON, Sept ~. - CBy mail to
New York).-Every day at o'clock
q ben rings in the great exhibition
hall of Alexandra Palace. whereupon
1900 women, children and old men,
with a scattering of youths, set up a
CHATTER Of wooden Shoes. This amuse-
ment park is now the largest camp for
Belgian refugees in the London dis
trict and makes ideal quarters for the
homeless foreigners who are being
cared for there
MOI many weeks ago tine same peo-
pie We're struggling away from their
burning villages. some for the Dutch
frontier to be herded together in
Flushing. and others for Brussels,
whence they were sent to Ostend. At
any rate, ultimately, they found them
selves in a London railway station,
bewlldered by the noise of traffic and
the strange language about them.
There they were rounded up by kind
~ people speaking their language,
and put into motor buses for the.
various camps
AT First We're ssupefied.
Attendants at Alexandra Palace say
the refugees, for the first day or two
seemed stupefed. The break in their
narrow, peaceful lives by war ana
travel overwhelmed them. Then they
began to fail into the new way of
living. For many, no doubt, after
years of frugality, ease amid plenty
was a novel experience. Now there is
nothing to do but to wander IN the
great halls, with their statuary, the
remains Of Japanese fair and bird
house in the wooded park outside, the
heights Of which conniand an extern
sive view of London.
These peasants, trained in extreme /
ly frugal living, had hitherto man
aged to do with three meals day
But in the refugee camps they found
a fourth meal at o'clock. At first
they took their tea as a duty ex-
pected of them Then they found 1t
helped to break a long interval in a |
monotonous day. Now they clamor
for tea. AS it is easier to acquire "a |
habit than to break il, they may on |
their return fix the tea habit in rural |
Belgium.
The older Belgians have not recov- |
cred from the horrors they have |
passed through They sit on benches I
sad eyed and dumb, paying no at |
tention to the children romping about |
them. One of the volunteer inter- |
prefers at the palace says their stories |
are so narrowing she no longer can. |
bear to hear them. Some of the I
women have met fresh griefs i'm the |
death of their babies from mal-nu- /
triton and exposure during the days |
of their flight. The hospital has now
about thirty-fve cases on hand, which I
are given the best of care.
Children are Happy.
The children are having the time /
of their lives. since the playground !
with its swings and merry-go rounds
Is open to them.
Cots have not yet been provided, butt
the refugees have comfortable mat
tresses and plenty of cover. There is
daily issue of second hand clothing, |
which is dealt out rather %1thfa view !
of finding persons to At the eafments /
than of finding garments to fit, the I
persons. $
Every day a group Of refugees, With |
tags giving their destination 'astened /
to buttonhole, are taken from the I
camps and sent TO various parts of I
England, where homes have ceen of |
fered. There are only about 5000 in |
the camps, and Secretary II. e. Nor I
gan, of the war refugees committee, !
which acts for the government in this !,
matter. says that he has received |
Go 900 offers of aid from persons in all |
parts of the United Kingdom, and |
10000 offers of homes.