The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1915-07-23
BEL CLAN ExILES
 DEFER PATHETIC
 FIGURES IN WAR
Middle Aged Refugees At The Hague Lead Most
 Sorrowful Existence.


 The Hague. July 2s.-The Belgian Axiles are the tragic figures of the
 European war. The state of Siege +Elssezas has been declared in most of SA provinces near the frontier has @sven them to North-Hoi1and and ess>1th-Holland, the two provinces. along the North Sea where they can move at liberty There in the small towns, but by preference in 4Aae Hague, they have established them selves according to their means. Most of them are well past the fifties, while their wives may be few years younger. The men of middle age have eitheH enlisted in the Belgium army or have been obliged to return to their own country to save what of their business. The older people however. by general consent remain away from their own land. For, as they explain they could do no good, they would be in the way and they would not benefit their country in where they are and wait for the ulti- mate end Almost invariably they belong to the middle classes for the rich people have gone to England or to the south of France. They have established themselves in some Of the ! smaller boarding houses and their great aim in life seems to be how to get rid of the 24 hours which conn pose fhe day. In the morning they are seen in the parks, dressed prop erlv and neatly but often enough the coat is old and shiny. for funds from their fatherland can not easily reach them and their small deposits in the bank has to last perhaps for many years. Almost invariably husband. and wife walk together and judging by the few words heard in passing. the conversation Is always and w4th- put exception of the war
 When they reach a comfortable bench they sit down and prepare Ear the mornings labor That con- uers printed in Holland one the Echo Beige. printed in French, the other De vlaannseAe Stem printed in Flemish. These little sheets do not bring much that is very new The frontier IS carefully sealed against the transmissIoh Of all valuable news to make up for important items of in ternatfola1 importance. these two pa-1 pafs pFfst the rsIrnors which nys- xeriously float through this colony of ezEiles and which fill the lives of many of them. ever eptinnfsttc, with the hope of speedy change of the situ-s ation- Nlnety-nine times out of a hundred these rurnors. have to be contradicted the next day on the same page. Then the community of patient wanderers, exclaim .shetter luck touorrows' and lose not a parti- cle of their faith in the ultimate vic- tory of their sscause.', Af1srta ay, sts1ss perusal Of their native papers printed. upom s6Fefgn soil fi1ls the entire morning and when luncheon comes ire couples drift back to their Board-i ing houses
 After luncheon there Is another visit of the parks and perhaps a walk fo the nearby seaside where upon certain days (when there is a particn- lar combination of atmospheric phe- potnena the booming of the guns in far away Flanders can be heard. Then the discussion Of the war, it's causes and propable effects waxes hot to the aeccmp panfment of the deepIy-vibrat- ing boorn @boom- boom which tells the tale of further destruction Tn the Belgian Ian dss
 This brings the day pp to the even Ing hours when the principal Dutch papers appear and then these are; studied aId praised or condemned ac- ecrding tp the side which they are of ever weaker tea Ca custom of IIol- land and F'Ianders5 the last delivery fof the mail, which takes place at ten o'clock, is awaited in the vague hope for news from home, news which can not come unless it possesses wings wit not come unless 1t possesses wings with mole with which to burrow under the strictly guarded barber wire fences wEIfich separate Belgium from Holland.
 m this routine Of useless tasks and aimless promenades the days of the Belgian exiIes pass. Most of them are too old to. become an integral part ef the foreign society into which they have baen suddenly cast. When they speak with strangers. and this they do very readily, they all tell the same story: We shall wait here patiently until the day of our de1iverance- We are too old to help OUT country. We wait a1s hope. for the cause of our. land Is right and the day of victory must come..' They have how ever one griexanees That is the, Sunday For. upon that day of rest there is but one .lrewspaper and the patient routine of he exiIess ezzfstence is upset for swenty-fo11f hours.