The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1915-08-07
so LITTLE WAR REFUGEES
HERE TO REJOINP PARENTS
searched Out by Priest After a Year Amid the Perils of
the Fighting in Flanders, Children
Start for Detroit.

Just about 2 o'clock this afternoon
when a certain train rolls into Detroit
there's going to be the gra..dest, giaddest
shout raised that was ever heard in the
State Of Michigan.
Flemish fathers and mothers who lef,
Belgium before the war started and
VINO went to Detroit and small towns
a by to become good American citi.
zens will find their children on that
train-children left behind in Flanders
because Of the necessity Of making a
home for them elsewhere.
For a year these fathers and mothers
had had no news Of their babies, did
not know for certain whether they were
dead or alive and feared the worst.
They had read of the ruin Of the very
villages In the devastated district from
Newport. on the North Sea. to Ypres,
and all along the User Canal, In which
their children had been left with rela-
tives. but as to whether or not these
children had been killed by shell fire
or starved in the general misery OF
~ ~ uot tStfs
Therefore when the Rev. Father, Henry
Syoen of the Church of Our Lady Of
Sorrows, n Flemish congregation who
has been hard at work since last March
In locating and removing from the
F1anders war zone the little people left
ehind by their parents when Belgium
was a happy land. steps from the train
this afternoon at the head Of his CON-
pany Of pink and plump checked. yell
low haired. bright faced, altogether Joy
tul children there is sure to be a mighty
happy celebration. Father Syoen took
them from Ellis Island yesterday after
loon at ) o'cloc aboard the Immi-
grafton Department steamboat Thomas
G.. Millard and placed item on the 6 =.
NJ. train CT the Lehigh Valley Railroad
from Jersey City. He brought them to
this country last Thursday on the Hol-
land America liner Ryndam-eighty
children and twenty-eight grownups.
wild at sight Of New Land.
1t was a pretty miserable sort Of
day around Ellis Island. so far as the
weather went. yesterday afternoon. It
was rainy and damp and drippy and the
skyline OF Manhattan showed only
vaguely through the leaden haze. but
nothing could detract from the merri-
ment of Father Syoen's westward u
party. SO much excitement Is seldom
seen. Consider that these Belgian
babies tthe greater part OF them are
4, s or 8 years ODD had never been
anywhere before they undertook the
wonderful adventure which brought
them to America under the care of the
good priest. Their eyes were too small
to take in all of the sights, and much
Of what they saw will remain mys-
teries until they learn enough English
TO ask all OF the questions that were
shining In their eyes yesterday.
II Was not difficult for Father Syoen
to arrange the removal OF his flock from
detention AT Ellis Island. All that I'm
Gle Sam wanted to be sure OF was that
none of the children would have to be
taken care of by charity. Father Syoen
was able to show that all have parents
either in Detroit or In the country round
about and that the process Of con-
verting them into industrious American
citizens will be very simple and natu-
raj. His troubles really came when all
Of the formalities mad been attended
to, when every child had pinned to
her or his frock or Jacket the immigra-
ton ticket bearing the number and name
of the small immigrant and the initials
OF the railroad over which II was to
travel. Then ii was necessary to shep-
herd and guide them through a laby-
rinth OF offices to the dock where the
railroad boat. the Millard. was wait
ing for them.
No Joke to Keep Track Of Them.
Shooting a few hundred chickens into
a coop or herding robins would have
been an easy task compared to the diff
Guilty OF getting all Of these children
safely aboard the Willard. They would
stray to one side or the other and
make sudden dashes here and there
as their eager eyes ~iscovered another
marvel. And when they were snugly
aboard the Willard they were immedi-
ately all over the boat-in the engine
room, staring with round blue eyes at
the placid, good natured engineer man
and his polished brasses In the pilot
house, where even stern discipline re-
Taxed at the sight of their faces. and
| along the guard rails, where they leaned
over perilOusly, so anxious were they
not TO miss anything going on out upon
the broad waters. Finally Father Syoen.
inst to make sure that no child was
missing. hustled along the decks call