The Washington times., 1914-04-25
Queen EIeonore's Personal Rep
resentative Tells of Plans to
Rear $4,000 Children Left
Fatherless by War.
Government to Provide Homes
and Education for Its Wards
in Cottages Instead of Large
Institutions.

to get aid and ideas for her peopl'
More than 100000 refugee
must be helped on the road to sell
support, $4,000 fatherless and O.
phan children must be cared fl
by the government, about 1000
cripples for life must be placed
institutions.
And, Mrs. Soritsa d. Furnajie
is here as Queen Eleonore's pc
sond representative for the speciI
work of studying child wefa'
so she may 60 back an
make plans for these mothers an
children left without aid after til
of $4,000 of Bulgaria
strongest and most stalwart men.
By ]. R. HILDEBRAND.
To play the mother to 1900 father
less and orphan children-that is the
task laid out for Mrs. Soritsa D.
Furnajieff, of Sofia, Bulgaria.
Commissioned by Queen Eleonore
Of Bulgaria to gather Information in
America regarding the care Of chill
dren in institutions, this remarkable
young woman came to the confer
ence on child welfare in Washington
as q part of her itinerary.
She is young, though aged in ex-
pertence. for she saw Bulgaria fight
ing for her downtrodden people in
Macedonia and Thrace, followed her
country's soldiers to the bloody bat
tlefelds of the Balkan war. and in
tho wake of the carnage did duty as
a member of the Red Cross Society
and of the Christian Herald relief
committee.
Now the war is over" she said.
but Bulgaria's work only has Just
begun. There are moro than 200. 600
refugees IN our country that have to
be cared for. The majority of these
are women and children. Their suf-
ferings during the past year were
intense. They slept in schoolhouses.
even in barns. and often had barely
enough food to fight starvation.
These refugees and the children
present the most pressing problems.
And our queen wishes to lose no time
In providing for the children. 5000
of them, either without fathers or
with no living parents"
Best of Care for Children.
The plan to care for these children.
as described by Mrs Furnajieff. Is
to establish small homes. housing
from twenty to thirty children. and
presided over by matrons.
In these small orphanages. Queen
Eleonore hopes to introduce the lat
est and most approved methods OF
child education and development.
That is why she has sent Mrs Fur
majieff here to study child welfare
work in America
THE real reason for Queen Eleo-
nore's coming here later" Mrs. Fur
najiefr explained, is to make per-
sonal study OF the hospital work Of
your land. You know she Is nurse.
herself, and saw active field service
during the Russian-Japanese war.
Before the war she started course
in nursing, and its graduates she
called 'Samaritans.' These .Samari-
tans' were available during the Bal
kan war and did the same service
as the Red Cross nurses.
Now we have more than 10000
crippled men. many of whom still
are in need Of medical attentionSand
for them. primarily. the queen is
making every effort to establish
adequate hospitals"
Mrs. F'urnajieff drops ALI preten-
sions to the European madam"
when she reaches American soil. She
feels at home here, she will tell
you. because her husband is a gradu-
ate of Princeton. He now is pastor
of the Congregational Church at
Sofia, and is the official representa-
tive of the Protestant Churches be-
fore the Bulgarian government.
Bulgaria is the only Balkan
country" she proudly states. where
freedom of religion is absolute and
where missionaries may work unrnol-
Tested.
"Our people are intensely patriotic,
and our men and women who are
educated abroad almost always re-
turn to apply their education to the
advance of their own people. Thus
they give valuable aid in working
out many of the problems that face
us just now.
Mrs. Furnajieff, herself, Is a gradu-
ate of the American College for Girls
at Constantinople. She is especially
proud of the equal privileges ac-
corded women in her own country.
Suffrage Not an Issue.
"Oh, yes, we know about suffrage.
We even nave suffragists. But suf-
frage is not quite the burning issue
with US it Is with you. because wom-
en- do not yet want the vote in our
municipal elections. and they already
have equal opportunities with men
in educational fields. and they hold
offices of an educational nature.
"AIl our colleges are open to wom-
en-, and women may take the same
prizes as men, II they can. Every
village now has its primary schools,
every city has its college. and at
Sofia there is the great university.
All these are government schools.
And in them our women are receiv-
ing the same sort Of education as
our men. Education. with us, Is
compulsory.
Bulgaria is making great strides.