The Washington herald., 1914-12-23
Eighty Thousand Innocents Born
in Wsr-MOthers Scrape Empty
Tin Cans Thrown from German
Camp Kitchens.


of October-an October blessed. in this
year OF dread. with clear, cool, bracing
weather, much like our own Indian sum-
mer. Around a turn in the road came
strange, shufiiing multitude, donbly
strange in that well-ordered landscape.
At the head marched an old woman
a stalwart, straight-backed Flemish
woman-vigorous in spite Of her sixty
years. Beside her walked boy of not
more than twelve, his figure already set
Ting into a peasant solidity. He, like
the old woman, carried on his back a
bundle wrapped in a sheet. And between
them they dragged by theshand q little
girl, not more than six years old-half
carried her, since now and then she
raised her feet from the ground and let
them support her.
beyond Tears.
1t was plain to see why she lifted her
feet. Her poor little shoes, heavy though
they had been in the beginning, were
hair were matted with dirt, and her face
was gray with II, save for the streaks
made by her tears. She had stopped cry
ing 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 re-
fugee caravan, like these leaders. ex-
| cept for minor details OF course. there
was not among them a man of vigorous
years-only a few grandwomen folk
| Mainly. it- was a collection of young
children-all. like the little girl in the
leading party, beyond tears and misery.
A Month of Flight.
A dozen of the women, at least, carried
babes in arms who had somehow sur
vived the miseries OF days and days OF
walking These were the last OF the Bel
gian refugees to pour into France. They
came mainly from that thickly-settled.
fertile, I once prosperous southwestern
strip along which Germans and allies
were now fighting for the bridge-head
OF the User.
But not all. Some Of them as
| learned from the few who had the energy
| to talk-lived further north. A month
! before they had fed from the German
advance after the capture of Antwerp;
and they had been fleeing ever since
sleeping in the fields through rain and
shine. eating what bread Of charity Heav-
en- only knows.
Babe Born in Tent.
The tail of the procession, found,
had halted at a crossroads beside which
some one had erected a tent from blank
cts strung on sticks. As I APPROACHED,
mobile came whizzing down the road at
seventy miles an hour-there are no speed
laws for military automobiles In time OF
war. 1t stopped beside the tent: there
was a parley and a man In Belgian uni
form wearing q Red Cross brassard on
his arm alighted.
What is it-what Is happening?" I
asked the first OF the refugees beside
the tent-ar old man who crouched in
the gutter.
I'm enfant-a baby is being born" he
said briefly. The man in uniform was a
Belgian surgeon taking time from his
work Of repairing death to assist in Civ
ing life.
Again: It was the next day in Calais
Calais, once SO busy and so venerable
and In spots so pretty. but now faded
and dirty with the passage of armies. Ten
thousand of these refugees came into
Calais that day. That day. also, the Red
Cross was bringing in Belgian wounded
by the thousand-there had been serious
fighting along the User.
Herded on the Piers.
The refugees, herded or escorted by
the police, streamed down the streets
to the concentration yards prepared for
them on the docks Of the French gov
ernment, which was going to transport
them to the Midi as soon as it could get
the steamers. You would hear now and
then the toot Of an automobile horn, and
the refugees would make way for the
passage Of a motor-car loaded to capac-
ity with the white-faced wounded. The
car would go on, and the refugees would
close their gaps and resume their weary,
nerveless pace.
At the concentration yards they sat
in family groups, the children huddled
about their mothers and grandmothers
like chickens around hens. No child
among them laughed or played; they
were too weary for that; but no child |
cried. was trying to haze speech with |
these refugees, and finding them too |
nerveless to give any account of their ad-
ventures when an ambulance arrived.
No MIIkg Babies Die.
A nurse and a physician descended. A |
woman rose from a distant group and
Joined them. She carried in her arms a |
bundle wrapped in rags. The slant of |
her back showed that the bundle con-
tained a child-there is an attitude of |
motherhood which none can mistake.
The women in the nearest group fol-
lowed the pantomime with their fearless,
hopeless eyes.
What is it," I asked.
For a time none Of the women an
swered. Then one spoke in a dead tone.
Her baby is dead she said "She
had no milk in her."
All that happened on the fringe of
Belgium. to the refugees who had made
their way out and were nearing safety,
and enough comfort to keep soul and
body together.
1 could multiply instances from the
observation OF others. There was, for
example, the group Of 200 refugees who
arrived in Holland early in November
They carried with them four dead, new
born babies.
1t was the same story which one heafs
everywhere. The mothers were SO re-
duced by privation that they had no
was not to be had for any money.
Milk from Garbage.
Add another picture, brought out by
an American from Belgium. He stood
one morning by the back door of a Ger
man cook camp, watching a group Of
Belgian women grubbing through the
trash-hesp piled up behind the camp.
All these women carried babies.
What are they dong?" he asked a
German sergeant with whom he had
struck up acquaintance
'Scraping our condensed milk cans
said the sergeant Its the only way
10 get milk for their babies I've seen
them run their fingers round a can which
ooked as bright as a new coin, and
hold them into the babies mouths to-
suck. My company" he added, has
been getting along without milk in its
,offee and giving 10 to these women.
We've received no orders to- the con-
rary-and we're mostly family men.