Western Kansas world. [volume] (WaKeeney, Kan.) 1885-current, 1914-12-26
THE BABES OF BEI6IUM
By WILL IRWIN.


of the situation in stricken Belgium that
naons q such an american as Wiii r.
win This great writer describes here
messed in this neutral country upon
which The European war is imposing such
was written. free. for the American Com
fb n,,a n E9adon to n be m TN IN
story is given here-1
Two hundred refugees from starv-
ing Belgium arrived one morning in
Holland They carried four dead,
newborn babies This happened time
after time. The mothers were so re-
duced by privation that they had no
milk of their own AS for cows milk,
it was not to be had for any money.
Add another picture, brought out
by an American from Belgium. He
stood one morning by the back door
of a German cook camp, watching a
through the trash-heap piled up be-
hind the camp.
What are they doing?" he asked a
German sergeant with whom he had
struck up acquaintance
Scraping our condensed milk
cans said the sergeant. Its the
only way to get milk for their babies.
I've seen them run their fingers round
a can which looked as bright as a new
coin. and hold them into the babies
mouths to suck My company, he
added, has been getting along with
out milk in its coffee and giving it
to these women
At the concentration yards they sat
in family groups, the children huddled
about their mothers and grandmoth-
ers like chickens around hens No
child among them laughed or played;
they were too weary for that: but no
child cried. was trying to have
with in
ing them too nerveless to give any
account of their adventures when an
ambulance arrived.
nurse and a physician descended
A woman rose from a distant group
and joined them. She. carried in her
slant of her back showed that the
bundle contained a child.
The women in the nearest group fol-
lowed the pantomime with their tear
less. hopeless eyes.
What is it, askd.
For time none of the women an
swered. Then one spoke in dead
tone.
Her baby is dead she said. -She
had no milk in her"
In Brussels. one day, woman col
Iapses on a bench. In her arms is a
baby. child staggers along. cling
ing to her apron. The womans face
of starvation. The baby, surely not
over five months old, has a pale. lead
colored skin. Its mouth is open as
though set that way.
Two women pass the unhappy group.
They hurriedly exchange some words,
turn back to the woman on the bench.
( Then one stands guard while the 9TH
er hastens for some milk and bread
such as is to be found in the Brussels
of today They force a little milk be-
tween the teeth of the mother. They
let the baby drink. Unweaned though
1t is, it drinks as though it had never
drunk otherwise.
To the face of the mother comes
few patches of color. She slowly re-
covers until she is able to eat bit
of bread The baby opens its mouth,
drinks more greedily. Il has not fed
since two days" the mother whispers.
The mother tries to rise from the
bench but she can not. The older
child drinks the milk that is left. 1t
looks curiously at the piece of bread
as if it did not know what it was The
mother forces it to eat. A crowd has
gathered, murmuring- This sight is
not new. yet each time. it draws lit
tie crowd. Every one would like to
give-but no one can. Who is not
poor at this moment? Many of them
have children at home who today
weigh less than the day they were
born.
Every woman knows that = civilized
nursing mother must keep up her
strength She must have nourish-
ing food-in many cases special food
Every woman knows that certain
proportion of civilized mothers can
not feed their own babies even at that.
Nourishing food-special food The
news which filters out OF that locked,
stricken country to the American
commission for relief in Belgium
makes a sarcasm and a mockery OF
those phrases.
In many, if in not most Belgian
cities, the populace is down to one
large bakers bun a day, issued by
the municipal authorities In some
places, the authorities have been able
to supplement that ration by one bowl
of cabbage soup a day One bun and
one bowl of cabbage soup day-foT
a nursing mother,
Yet that is all they have and all
they will have this winter at the best
America can do. The American com
mission hopes at best to transmit ten
ounces of food a day to each inhabi
tant of Belgium-and to do that the
people of the United States must
strain every resource of charity How
little that is for a civilized human be
ing, and especially for nursing
mother, becomes plain when one
learns that the average inha bitant oil
Greater New York consumes forty
two ounces of food a day. The best
the mothers of Belgium can hope for