The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1915-01-18
THE BABES OF BELGIUM
BY WILL IRWIN.

Two or three little pictures befor,
really begin:
1t was the Pas de Calais at the enc
o1 october--an October blessed, Ii
,nls year or dread. with clear, cool
pracinE weather, much like our owr
indian Summer. Around a turn in tn,
road came a strange. shutting mui
titude, doubly strange in that well
ordered landscape.
At the head marched an old wo
man, a stalwart straight -ba ok &c
Flemish woman. vigorous in spite Of
her sixty years. Beside her walket
boy OF not more than twelve. hi,
soltdity. He. like the old woman. car.
RED on his back a bundle wrapped ir
a sheet. And between them tixs,
dragged by the hand little girl. moi
more than ak years oid--half carried
ner, since now and then she raised he,
Feet from the ground and let them
support her.
1t was plain to see why she lifted
her feet. Her poor littie shoes, heavy
though they had been in the begin,
ming, were worn clear through. Hell
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
! past that. There comes the time with
all these refugees, young and odd
when they get beyond tears
Behind followed the rest of the
refugee caravan. like these leaders
l'except for minor details. OF course
there was not among them a man OF
vigorous years--only few grand
fathers, trudging along beside their
women folks. Mainly. 1t was a col
lection of young children--all like
the little girl in the leading party, be-
yond tears with misery
| A dozen OF the women, at least
carried babies in arms who had some
what survived the miseries of days
and days of walking. These were
the last OF the Belgian refugees "a
pour into France. They came mainly
from that thickly-settled, fertile, 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--ax |
learned from the few who had the
energy to taik---lived further North.
month before, they had fled from
the German advance after the capture
of Antwerp: and they had been rlee
ing ever since--siecping In the fields
through the rain and shine. eating
what bread OF charity heaven only
knows.
The tail of the procession. 7 found.
mad hated at a crossroads beside
which someone had erected tent
from blankets strunr on sticks. As
II approached. wondering what this
might be. an automobile came whiz-
zing down the road at sevent, miles
an hour--there are no speed laws for
military automobiles in time OF war.
1t stopped beside the tent; there was
parley: and man in Belgium uni
form. wearing a Red Cross brassard
on his arm, aIighted.
What IL tt-~what In happertrr>.,
/ asked the first of the refugees be-
side the tent--an 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 giving life.
Again II was the next day In Calais
Calais. once SO busy and SO veneer
able and in spots 10 pretty, but now
faded and dirty with the passage OF
armies. Ten thousand of these ref
ugees came into Calais that day. That
day also, the Red Cross was bring
ing in Belgian wounded by the thou
sands--shere had been serious fight
ing along the User.
bF iEidsNtHs heToGl OF escorted hY
the police. streamed down the streets
to the concentration wards prepared
Tor them on the docks by the French
Government, which was going to trans-
port them to the Midi an soon as il
could get the steamers. You would
hear now and then the foot of an au-
tomobile horn, and the refugees would
make way for the passage of a motor
car loaded to capacity with the white
IaI
on. and the refugees would close their
gaps and resume their weary, nerve
less pace.
Al the concentration yards they sat
In family groups. the children huddled
about their mothers and grandm other
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 speech
with these refugees. and finding them
too nerveless to give any account OF
their adventures when an ambulance
arrived.
A nurse and q physician descended.
A woman rose from a distant group
and Joined them. She carried In her
arms bundle wrapped In rags. The
slant of her back showed that the bun
die contained a child--there is an at
titude of motherhood which none can
mistake
The woman in the nearest group
followed the pantomime with their
fearless, hopeless eyes.
What Is it," / asked
For 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.
] could multiply instances from the
observation of others. There was,
for example, the group of two hun
tdred refugees who arrived In Holland
early iii November. They carried with
them i@ur dead, newborn Lnbies
II was the same story which one
hears everywhere. The mftherr were
reduced by privation that they had no
milk OF their own. As for cows milk.
1t was not to be had for any money,
Add another picture, hr ,ught on
by an American from Belgium. He
stood one morning by the hack door
OF a German cook camp, watching
a group OF Belgian women grubbing
through the trash heap piled up be-
hind the camp. All these women car
ried babies.
What are they doing?" he asked
German servant with whom he had
af r~1rr 41y- fsxt -