The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-02-14
Harvie BranscOmb Tells
 of Belgian Experiences
tContinued from Page Five,

ford and be content with one servant which you share with seven other men and exchange a palace for only three rooms. q know what you are saying-'He is ruined forever I hope not, but I cer- tainly did enjoy the beauty and royal furnishings of our Antwerp home) M. Bunge has no titles so far as I know, but he is far more prominent and useful than many who possess them. He and the late King Leopold were great per- sonal friends, and made much wealth in mutual business enterprises. M. Bunge showed many courtesies to the young , Americans. We were invited to spend New Years Day at his chateau, which we did After that we had regular invita- tions to spend each weekend with his family. They are not only people Of wealth, but they have that which is much better-real character. During the frigbtful siege of Antwerp, when shells were bursting every minute in the streets and the dead were falling everywhere. when the population for the most part fled from the city, not one of this heroic family left the city. On the contrary the three girls went to the military hos pital and served as nurses. After the first few hours of firing the doctors ran away. leaving 90 wounded soldiers to be cared for by these young women and two other nurses. They carried the wounded men to the basement and con- tinued to care for them till relief came Since coming to their country residence they have been conducting a private food station for the poor of the village pre- pairing with their own hands good things for the hungry. M. Bunge behaved just as courageously in another field. I take off my hat to the whole family.
 Pitiful Scenes Witnessed
 "Of the horrors of war we have had many sights. Whole blocks of what once were homes are now but piles of b<oken brick It is not as bad in Antwerp as in some other places. Malines was bom- barded four times. The most pitiful sight is to see the peasants return to their destroyed homes. There is nothing for them to do as they cannot rebuild, but they seem to take q certain grim satis- faction in gathering up the brick of their wrecked homes and stacking them in all sorts of shapes, especially build ing them into the forms of crosses
 Freshly made graves are found all along the roadside, suggesting the de-
 spair which made the broken hearted and bereaved bury their dead by the high way as near as possible to the place where once was home. The people in the towns that have suffered so much ap- pear to have lost all hope, and they seem like they are past feeling, accept ing all that comes with a sort of stoical indifference.
 'Mr.t Hunt tells this story. Waiting at a station for train which was hours late, he found a number of Belgian peas ants crowded on the platform. poorly clad and suffering from cold, for they were without fire. Among them was Q mother. She has been holding for hours her baby on her arm, while the other hand held several bundles. MT. Hunt would walk up and down the platform, but these people who stood and waited. Noticing that this poor mother was almost ex- hausted, he walked up behind her, and reaching over her shoulder took the baby from her arms The woman never turned to see who or what had her child. As improbable as this sounds, the story Is true. Whatever comes they accept as their unfortunate lot. making no effort to better their condition. It is no use, Is the feeling. Of course, this Is not true of those sections where the suffering has not been so great, nor Is 1t true of the educated classes. But while the condi- ton Is terrible do not know that the Germans have been guilty of any greater atrocities than any other army would have committed in the enemy's country We ought not to blame the Germans 50 much as we blanc war
 But must close. I have not given