The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1915-01-17
America S Part In the War
BY May SINCLAIR.

lance from the last week In September
to the middle OF October. The mis-
cry was intense even then: by this
time II must be appalling.
If anything could make It sadder,
1t was the extreme beauty OF the conu-
try and the towns we passed through.
open towns and country formed for
the very expression of peace. Behind
us to the West, along the high road
from Client through Bruges to o.
tend, the villages and towns were as
yet untouched. the fields. the plots
of Covers lay stlll and vivid. soaked
In the rich autumn sunlight. But be-
fore US to the East and South, and
northwards round Antwerp. was ruin
and war. Wherever our ambulance
cars went they met endless process
sions of refugees; endless. for the
straight, fiae Flemish roads are end
less, and as far as your eyes could
broken; endless because the misery
of belgium is endless: the mind can
not grasp 1t or take II In.
Anthor Cannot Believe What Her
Eyes Saw.
You cannot meet 1t with grief hard
ly with conscious pity; you have 10
tears for it: IL is a sorrow that tran
scends everything that you have
known of sorrow These people have
been left only their eyes TO weep
with"
p,,t +ba, an no. 1900
than vou a. ,rhs, ~. 49,.
Tor themselves or for each other or
all the thousands and thousands OF
refugees whom ] have. seen. I have
only seen three yyaen and the,, uycra
three out If six hundred who had
just disefnbarked at the prince OF
Wa;c's Pier. at Dover But in BEL
GUM not one tear That was the
terrible thing-that and the manner
OF their flight 1t was not flight. IL
was the vast unhasteninr and mend
ing movement of n people crushed
down by grief and xvea r4ness nushas
on by it's own weight. bv the ceas~
less impact az It's ruin And thar was
before the .elge Of Antwerp
,,. ~. -. 80,
e,,a., ga -" - tug ssrsain me-. me-
,inn ~. '"in dnes
s"a' ~aa ~. IN the streams
isu 10 row il''o onele- Even pc
~ .Sa 81, 1raos s,a sp"s on straw
t - . .,s s res fe.es paskeu SO
- n ~ 'io"' VI ."e '''nshse
1870. ,'int 'i''Le was no scanning fooiu
90, er ~ "ns 80 =" ~, .ue1 =. AN o".s
~ .,1' SIS" 'iat ~ ~ worse 10
,,,, t',Tn VIZ 10 see. iou
1o"'" ny noasFc "has you saw. soa
- uSl'eA "rto Hoii1eo III 1He Same
80 ''.S.D. ohIs low hhu .Hsh
- =" '"i me- s"' gang out oi 'f.at II"
cfe0ipie "ci'cr or races and forms
sfaate You Win pity, and You felt
as u you had received iaeeratins
wound In sleep
The Feeding of the Muititndcs.
From six till nine In the morning
this population streamed Into the great
inner hall to he fed They were mar
shalled first Into the seats of the vas
orchestra aad auditorium. where they
sat like the spectators OF some mon
strous festival ard Wanted for their
turn at the tables
/ helped to serae these meals for
two nights. until in fact, We were
forbidden TO 80 into the Paiais des
FetSs lest W. should bring back fever
INTO the military hospital where our
ambulance was CHARTERED The first
night We fed 10000. The ration was
two slices OF white bread and bowl
or black coffee Meat for soup had,
been gwen for the midday meal NJ
first. but by this time the army had
Communicated all the meat.
This vac the state OF things In
Client before the German occupation.
Heaven knows what 1T is now'.. Ard
the state OF Client must be nothing
10 the state of BRUSSELS OF Iouvain,
" 4'i'f0st W bhS SlItalt toNue anu
villages all over Belgium.
The figures as revealed by the
Commission for Relief ara appalling.
1t takes over 1888 tons of foodstuffs.
at n cost OF slSo,a0p. to feed for one
day the 100000 OF people who are
starving in Belgium. This allowing
only ten onrces of food day per
head Thirty-one thousand of this
multitude are babies in brussels alone.
who must have milk The supply Of
cereals alone for a month 10 esti-
mated at 10000 tons, an da cost Of
from four to five million dollars.
IN the beginning of November
10000 meals a day were distributed
IN Brussels alone by the end Of thA
month they increased to 100000. Mr.
Hoover. the chairman OF the commits
sion. on his return from Brussels in
the first week of December, stated
THAI there were only s.0eo sacks a.
flour 4 nthe city when he left It.
Fifteen thousand sounds a very large
quantity OF sacks OF f1our. hut II Is
only provision for five days: and the
report adds that 1iege. Louvain. Char
leroi, Namur, Luxembourg and other
cities are only provisioned for two or
three days.
And these are the large towns.
where the relief work ia uerossnri tv