Devils Lake inter-ocean. (Devils Lake, N.D.) 1909-1915, 1914-12-18
Two or three little pictures before
BY WILL IRWIN

Two or three little pictures before
! really begin: "a ..as :Es
It was the Pas de Calais at the end
of October-an October blessed, in
this year of dread, with clear, cool,
bracingi weather. much like our own
Indian summer Around a turn in the
road came strange, shutting multi
tude, doubly strange in that WeIi-or.5
dered landscape. - &.
At the head marched an old woman,
Q stalwart, straight-backed Flemish
woman, vigorous in spite of her sixty
years. Beside her walked boy OF
not more than; twelve. his figure al
ready settling into peasant solldlry.
he, like the old woman, carried on his
back bundle wrapped in sheet.
And between them they dragged by
the hand a. little girl, not more than
six years old-half carried ner, since
now and then she raised her feet from
the ground and let them support her.
1t was plain to see why she lifted
her feet. Her poor little shoes, heavy
though they had been in the begin
: ming, were worn clear through Her
clothes and hair were matted with
! dirt, and her face was gray with It,
save for the streaks made by her
tears. She had stopped crying now;
she was beyond that. There comes
the time with all these refugees, young
and old. when they get beyond tears.
Behind followed the rest OF the refu-
gee caravan. like these leaders except
for minor details. OF course, there
was not among them a man of vigor.
GUS years-only few grandfathers,
trudging along beside their women
| folks. Mainly, it was a collection of
young children-ail, like the little girl
: in the leading party, beyond tears
: with misery. ~.|
dozen of the women, at least, car
ried babes in arms who had somehow
survived the miseries of days and
days OF walking. These were the last
Of the Belgian refugees to pour into
France. They came, mainly from that
! thickly settled, fertile, once prosper.
Gus southwestern strip, along which
) Germans and allies, were now fighting
for the bridge-head of the User.
r. But not ALL, Some OF the1m-as /
:: learned from the few who had the en-.
: ergy to talk-lived further north A
p; month before they had fed from the
! German advance after the capture OF
!, Antwerp; and they had been tleeing
ever since-sleeping in the. fields
through and shine, eating what
bread OF charity Heaven only knows
1 The tail Of the procession. / found.
. had halted at crossroads beside
which someone had erected tent
: from blankets strung on sticks AS
(. l approached, wondering what this
might be, an automobile came whiz-
zing down the road at seventy miles
an hour-there are no speed laws for
military automobiles in time OF war.
lit stopped beside the tent; there was
"a parley and a man in Belgian uni
l form wearing a Red Cross brassard
on his arm alighted.
What is it-What is happenings" i
/ asked the first of the refugees beside
the 5tent-an odd man who crouched
In the gutter. -s@.
I'm enfant-a baby is being born, =
he said briefly. The man in uniform
was "a Belgian surgeon taking time
i from his work of repairing death to
I assist in giving life. ~ s., sG.,
Again: twas the next. day in Calais
/ Calais, once so busy and SO veneer.
able, and in spots SO pretty, but now
faded and dirty with the passage Of
4 armies. ltG Fen thousand or these refu.
gees came into Calais that day That
4 day, also, the Red Cross was bringing
In Belgian wounded blythe thousand
there had been serious fighting along
the User. III; .;s
/ 2 The refugees, .herded or escorted by
the police, streamed down the streets
4 to the concentration yards prepared
4 for them on the docks OF the French
government, which was going to trans,
port them to the Midi as soon as 1t
could get the steamers. You would
hear now and then the toot of an au-
tomobile horn; and the refugees would
! make way for the passage OF motor
car loaded to capacity with the white
i faced wounded The cariwould 60 on,
I and the refugees would close their
7 gaps and resume their weary, nerve
4 less pace II: &. sy.5 # q.
At the concentration yards they sat
/ In family groups, the children huddled
about their mothers and grandmothers
4 like chickens around hens. No child
q among them laughed or played: they
i we're too weary for that; but no child
4 cried I was trying to have speech
d with these refugees. and finding them
1 too nerveless to give any account OF
4 their adventures, when an ambulance
4 arrived. ,.s ~ ss5 iS. 3sS7
A nurse and a physician descended.
Il a woman rose from, distant group
and joined them. She carried in her
4 arms a bundle: wrapped in rags. The
\ slant Of her back showed that the bun,
I die contained a child--there is an atti-
4 tude Of motherhood which none can
i mistake
4 The women in the nearest group fol-
d lowed the pantominle with their tear
n less, hopeless eyes:
What is it'll asked. 3
For a time none of the women an
sWered. Then one. spoke in a dead tone:
d Her bab by is dead. " she said, She
FL had no milk in h er