davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1915-09-19
American Woman Leads Work Among French Soldiers

opportunity to aid in the relief work
very much to heart.
The western Pennsylvania institution
possesses a department which is e1;
girls. It is known as the model
store" and through 1t young folks who
VIII never see are taught some Of the
rudiments Of business. The pupils are
they may have in tho store II they wish
to do so.
Shortly after the Red Cross work
was begun" declares Miss Louise
Grimes, assistant superintendent Of the
school. ut became apparent that the
receipts for candy sales of the model
store were falling of. And then we
discovered that the blind boys and girls
were saving the scant sums which they
formerly expended for their own en-
joyment. and donating them to the Red
Cross fund"
OF the work done at the western
Pennsylvania institution Miss Grimes
says:
tested itself as soon as this opportunity
to help others was presented did not
wane in the slightest until all avail
able materials were worked into useful
garments and ready for shipment. Not
a moment was lost. Here and there we
would find groups of girls-all sewing
or knitting except the one who was
reading aloud the lessons to be pre-
pared. Our pupils come from all parts
of western Pennsylvania, and in going
home on short vacations quite num-
Der who had heretofore found travel
ing tiresome really enjoyed the time
thus afforded for working on the BAN
dages and scarfs uninterruptedly.
I'm the opening scene Of 'Molly's
Christmas given by our pupils last
December. where the mother is peace
fully sewing, surrounded by her happy
children, the senior who took this part
was faithful to her task-and every
one in the audience recognized the
gray bandage destined to be of service
to some faraway soldier during the
cold winter. nearing completion. which
was not the only one made by her dur
ing the long rehearsals. because her
needles flew just as cleverly as Maud
Adams did in What Every Woman
Knows
"The senior was Marjory Stewart.
author Of an alIegorical play. Wohelo
Land which was produced under her
direction last December. and later in
February, before the other camp fire
groups of Allegheny county. and a
large number of the Red Cross gar
ments were also made during these
rehearsals."
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1915-09-19

hospital supplies there were thousands
Of blind men and women. boys and girls
country who had been fitted to do pre-
cisely the kind of work by which band
age-rolls, abdominal bandages, night
shirts, socks, scarfs and towels might
peal, the blind in many of the insti-
tutions-some of them destitute save
for charity-set to work to do what
they could for the Red Cross
That their efforts often called for
only to make the jewellers in darkness
more anxious to let their light shine.
Among the institutions which are
contributing largely to the Red Cross
supply boxes are the New York city
Light House,, where great numbers
of adult sightless are sheltered and
educated, and the Western Pennsyl-
vania Institution for the Blind in Pitts
burgh, where the inmates are almost
exclusively children.
In the Light House" the seam
stresses have worked long and dill
gently upon supplies destined for the
foreign battlefield. In this institution
there are women of every nationality.
yet not once, declare the officials. has
any of those engaged in their sightless
labors for humanity uttered an unneu-
trail word, and they have been appar-
emily content that their offerings should
go to any hospital. so long as the sup
pies maze through lne louS uouIS VI
eternal darkness reached some sunerer
and contributed to his comfort.
Those in the Light House" who have
been unable to produce the supplies
needed have gotten up entertainments
devoting the proceeds to Red Cross
relief funds.
From the western Pennsylvania in
stitution. however. have come some re-
markable stories of how the blind
boys and girls have given their time
and energies to the relief of the wound
ed in war-stricken Europe. There Is
troop of Boy Scouts at this institution,
and 1t was but natural that the lads
should turn to the work Of rescue with
enthusiasm and tireless effort.
Bandage rollers were supplied to
them by Miss Anna May Hegeman of
Wa shin gton. together with the neces.
sary material. and for many months
most of the spare time of these boys
has been devoted to this task.
While the young men who will never
see again are so engaged the girls OF
the home occupy their spare time at
sewing machines or with the crochet
needles, while one of their number
reads aloud from bulky books, whose
pages do not bear the imprint OF type.
but are made up of the tiny rough
points of the alphabet for the blind.
Here and there through the daily
lives of the children of the Pennsyl,
vania institution there have cropped
out unadvertised evidences that the
blind boys and girls are taking their
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1915-09-19

Born as sound as the best Of US. Clar-
ence Hawkes., at the age of fourteen,
found himself totally blind, the victim
OF q days game hunting. An earlier
mtshap had caused the loss Of one Of
his feet. So the story is a record of
achievement through difficulties that
would have left the most Of US without
heart or will to live even. Pluck,
courage, and an unconquerable spirit
shine out from every page of this
great adventure through thirty years
Of night" With good deal Of self
accusation one reads here Of work and
accomplishment that not many whole
men surpass. But the immediate ef-
feet of the story is to stir one to the
possibilities that lie along the path
marked by dauntless soul and by a
fearless and untiring worker. The
book Is dedicated to Helen Keller, a
friend and fellow-student of the writer
himself
CASES. 184S- 1905. Edited by George
Lincoln Burr, LII. D.. Lift. D.. profess
sor of medieval history in Cornell
University. New York: Charles
Scribner's Sons. Washington: Wood
ward & Lothrop.
These are wierd stories Of the witch
panic that, coming across from the old
world to the new, seized upon the col
onies in the middle Of the seventeenth
century. Just as the reports OF these
cases were set down at the time by
one or another who was himself in the
very midst Of the witch terror, or just
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1915-09-19

fT0REIGN exchange and foreign ex-
IS change rates, usually a subject Of
q interest to a special class Of in
habitants of the business world. recently
attracted the attention of millions Of
readers who hitherto had no interest
in the matter. Exchange rates took on
such a shape that the gist of newspaper
and financial comment throughout the
United States and Great Britain was:
There Is something like demoraiiza-
ton in the international money market,
otherwise called the foreign exchange
market, and as this is the market
where international commerce is
financed the whole country ia vitality
concerned in the violent arrangement
now witnessed"
leading financial writer said: "A
new international financial crisis has
and much skillful work must be done
to overcome 1t. AS the problem has
been mistakenly described in some di-
rections. 1t is the problem Of engaging
American resources in doing their share
toward financing the war. What the
problem really Is from our side Is that
of finding and agreeing on ways and
means to finance the external trade
which will keep the country's business
and industry a-going actively and in
continuous prosperity.
The great mass of Americans are
strangers to the subject of foreign ex-
change and when brought face to face
with the subject they appear to have
little disposition to make acquaintance
with IT, but 1t is a valuable matter to
be informed upon. 1t Is not "a simple
subject on the contrary. 1t Is very COM
pick, but its underlying principles are
easily understandable. Serene g. Pratt
in his book, THE Work of Wall Street."
which was published about fifteen years
|ago. opens his chapter on Foreign Ex-
change and the Balance Of Trade" in
this way: Simple as are the basic
principles of foreign exchange. 1t be-
comes so intricate in all of dts ramifica-
lions over an area as wide as the world
itself. and involving transactions as
great as the volume of the worlds COM
merce. that comparatively few have a
complete grasp of its details. Many ex-
perienced bankers even are unable to
lcalculate. the profit of a. gold shipment.
international banking houses have
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1915-09-19

HH HE crisis Of the great war Will oe
reached when the Germanic pha-
q lanx turns its back on the east
rumbles and thunders toward the "es'
and makes its supreme effort to Smash
its way to Paris or to Calais. Thls IL
not a one-minded opinion: 1t Is not a
secret: 1t is the storm and shock for
which the French and British are pre-
pairing. Evidences of their preparation
can be read between the lines OF matter
which even the British censorship per-
mits to pass.
AS the Teutonic phalanx smashed and
crushed it's way to the east. 1t will seek
to blast its way to the west by the
employment of the Same principle-the
principle of the phalanx. It Is related
in the old books that Alexander the
Great was, IL not the discoverer OF the
phalanx principle and the designer OF
the first phalanx, the first of the great
commanders to give a practical demon
stration of the phalanx principle on the
field of battle. One writer has put 1t
thus:
The old phalanx was invented by
Philip of Macedon about 1900 years
ago. 1t consisted of a wedge OF pike
ried pixies some twenty-five feet long.
IA row of blades stuck out in front or
the ordered mass of soldiers. and when
the mass moved in disciplined motion
against the enemys line, it always
broke through. The new German pha-
lanx is just as formidable. No ordi-
nary lines of trenches, wire entangle-
ment. and ordinary artillery supports
can resist it."
The German phalanx operates on the
same principle as the Macedonian pha-
lanx. only great cannon and hoWitzers
are used instead of spears. A British
military authority, explaining the use
of German artillery, says:
Instead of long pixies, the Germans
use long-range heavy guns and howit-
GERS to throw a twelve-inch shell for
seven to ten miles. They seem to have
about two thousand of these heavy
pieces of artillery, arranged in bat
teries, one behind the other. Then, In
front OF tho heaviest batteries. are
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1915-09-19
- HERE Is an age-eaten and time
Clipped monastery in one OF
the many little villages which

HERE Is an age-eaten and time
chtpped monastery in one OF
the many little villages which
4 hang to the TANKS OF be-
,eaeuered Paris. 1t is one OF those
four-souare piles of ancient masonry
which before the coming of the great
conflict housed little company OF
sooa gray monks, ruled by kindly
faced able.
But today a strange company mas
been added to the population OF the
erstwhile quiet place. While all the
dwelling houses and churches nearby
have been turned into hospitals ana
receiving wards for the wounded from
the firing line, whose groans. torn
from shot-shattered bodies, disturb the
one-time rural quiet, the strange COM
pany in the monastery-for the most
part ablebodied men-sit in a silent
despair, for they are blind.
Yet they are being led from the
despair of darkness by an American
woman. She is winnifred Holt. some
time Keeper of the light" In New
York's institution conducted by the AS
ISOLATION for the Blind.
+ +
Perhaps nothing in all the war has
so appealed to the people Of America
as the men who, with no other physical
injury, have suffered the greatest Of
all human deprivat1ons, the loss of
sight, and that other greatly vaster
army Of the broken, the men who have
been handicapped for life through the
loss of limb.
Not only have the people of the
United States come to the front readily
for the relief of the blind of Europe.
but the blind of the United States
themselves. they who also are doomed
to sit in darkness. have done won
aa. fuI work in giving aid to the Red
Cross. and through this organization
to follow unfortunates across the seas.
Miss Holt, at the time the war en-
quilted Europe. was at the head OF The
Lighthouse" in New York, where for
studying the needs of the sightless.
1t had come to pass that she had
learned that the usual games and rec
reations in which the blind are ex-
pected to find some solace for their
handicap were totally insufficient as
means of making them feel that
their affection had not entirely placed
them beyond the pale of useful human
units in the world.
For long time in THE Lighthouse"
Miss Holt had familiarized herself with
the methods Of teaching the blind to
become productive and self-supporting
citizens. She knew that basketry and
broom making. rug weaving. cooking,
sewing and a host of other callings
could be made as an open page even to
the most hopeless of the blind. and
she also knew that in many instances
from the ranks of the blind in New
York have been developed efficient
typewriters through the touch system,
capable telephone operators, expert
masseurs and sculptors.
Therefore when a committee of New
York citizens, learning through other
Americans In Paris that even as early
as six months ago there were 1900 SOL
diers hopelessly wounded in battle. sit
ting in the hospital wards of Paris in
Respondent darkness, Miss Holt was
chosen to go to the beleaguered CAPT.
tai and do what she could toward show
ing what the United States has accom-
plished in lifting the real burden Of
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1915-09-19
PNAI. ANX PRINCIPLE i'm WAR

many hundreds of six-inch guns and
howitzers. Farther ahead are light field
guns of five army corps. with about a
hundred and ten thousand infantry and
few thousand cavalrymen. The troops
are only the servants Of the immense
mass Of artillery. They intrench
around the gun positions to protect the
artillery from sudden attack and they
rush forward at the end of the battle
and occupy the enemy's trenches pre-
paratory to another advance"
Artillery blasts its way for the ad-
vance. 1t breaches the lines of the
enemy. Germany has been able to do
this by the overwhelming weight Of
her artillery and overwhelming supply
Of artillery ammunition, especially in
the form Of high explosive shell. French
and British commanders understood
the German battle plan before the
had a glimmer of what was happening.
The allies have been building phalanxes
OF their own and preparing to meet
phalanx with phalanx., When the
will be is secret of the gods of war.
Far In the rear and under serious
handicaps because of inferior indus
trial organization and munition plants.
artillery race. Frances house was
more closely in order than England's.
and to the limit of her industrial Ca
pacity France has been building can
nun anu making smell. SIreat DFlIAlHp
slower to pull herself together than
France. has at length gotten into the
race, but the amount of progress she
has made Is not known beyond high
military circles. The relative progress
she has made may be judged when the
mighty crash of the phalanxes comes.
England's Dardanelles campaign has
called for immense quantities of am
munitfon and an untold number of
guns have been worn out by firing or
have had their accuracy impaired. But
Great Britain has been building heavy
guns and raking the world for am
munition. and a significant note in an
English publication is this:
I'VE shall need every twelve-inch naval
gun that our admiralty can spare. and
more Of their 80 naval guns, together
with a large number Of those enormous
new British howitzers about which we
have wisely done no boasting."
The genius and system Of the French
have produced results in increasing the
weight Of their artillery.
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1915-09-19

hopelessness from those who cannot
see.
little has been learned Of Miss Holt's
accomplishments since she has been In
the field, save occasional reports
brought back principally by Red Cross
officials, that society having contrib
uted to Miss Hollis venture.
Miss Holt, of course, reached Paris
even before the establishment Of the
government hospital for the blind In
Paris known as THE Friend OF the
Blind Soldier and the Transformation
of the old monastery, with the aid OF
the ancient able who ruled over 1t.
was her first work.
1t was from one of the Red Cross Of
ficials. National Director Ernest P.
Bicknell, that some of the details of
Miss Hollis first work in Paris came.
Mr.. Bicknell left the French capital
late in July. He declares that the plight
of the silghtless soldiers has not been
exaggerated.
IT learned that the home for the blind
soldiers established in the old monas-
terry was but the beginning of Miss
Hollis work." says Mr.. Bicknen. Since
then, 1 understand. she has gone on
developing it along similar lines.
'"rhe plight of the blind over there
is particularly pathetic. These men,
almost entirely. saving the one tragic
affiiction of blindness. are otherwise
ablebodied men, who, possessing their
sight. would be self-supporting, worthy
citizens. But In these days of small
caliber bullets ball entering in the
temple often passes through. leaving
the brain unscathed but the optic
nerves shattered beyond repair. This
has been the fate of many. In the days
such spot would have been instantly
killed The bursting of shrapnel, too,
has taken it's toll of the sight Of the
soldiers.
while there has been no accurate
census of the men blinded in the pres
emit conflict so far as the public knows,
it was generally accepted while I was
in Paris that there were between $500
and 1000 blind soldiers in that city
alone.
There is another pathetic group of
men there, of course, outnumbering
vastly the number of blind. They are
the men who are physically sound save
for the loss of an arm or a leg. There
are few artificial leg manufactures in
France even in times of peace, and
to At these MANNED men with artificial
means of locomotion. AS a matter of
fact, an appeal was made to the Red
Cross from Paris for 10000 artificial
limbs, but as the lowest cost Of such
an article is $40, it would have neces-
STATED an outlay in that one spot of
100000, and the society did not have
that much money.
But the work which Miss Holt is
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1915-09-19

principal accounts with the bankers
Of any one great commercial town
All their mutual transactions could
then be settled among those bankers
An approximation of such state of
things exists in the tendency to make
London the monetary headquarters of
the commercial world and the general
clearing house of international trans
actions"
London for years has had the primacy
in clearing international transactions
and New York has had the primacy in
clearing for transactions in the United
States. There has Of late years de-
veloped rivalry on the part Of New
house for world trade, and New York
has made such noteworthy gains in this
direction that there are authorities who
say that the money center" Of the
world is shifting or has shifted from
London to New York.
Il
The balance Of trade" and gold ship
ments present a number Of complica-
lions. The United States has to pay
to other countries for her importations
of their products the freight charge on
merchandise carried in foreign ships
for American account, the interest and
dividends on American securities own
ed by foreigners or Americans living
in foreign countries for securities
and by foreigners In American markets,
and for travelling expenses of tourists
Europe owes the United States the sum
paid for our agricultural and manufac-
tured products, the outlays of foreign
ships In our ports. travelling expenses
Of foreign tourists, bullion value of
coin and gold for currency brought by
immigrants, freight paid for merchan-
disc in American ships in foreign trade
and sums paid for American securities
and other Investments.
There comes q time when settlement
must be made in gold. because the
bills of exchange or the credits of the
various countries do not balance There
Is a remainder on one side or the other
to be settled in the money Of final re-
demption, which is gold. II the balance
is against us we export gold; If it is in
our favor gold is sent to us. Rates for
loans are another great factor in the
transfer of gold from country to country.
II the matter of security Is equal money
will flow to the center where it earns the
highest interest or where the demand
for 1t Is greatest, and the rates for
money have their effect on the rates Of
exchange.
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1915-09-19
FOREIGN EXCHANGE AND
ITS INTRICATE MECHANISM

difficulty in training their clerks in
this branch of their business. The
young men can be taught to do one or
two routine things; but as for any large se
comprehension of the subject, that
seems out of the question"
Foreign exchange in its simple form
and analysis means the exchange Of the
coin of one country for the coin Of another
country, but 1t involves a great many
other factors Exchange Of coin Is called
nominal exchange. The basis Of the
money systems of the United States and
England and most other governments is
gold. The UNCONVENTIONAL basis OF the
American system is the dollar and of the
English system the pound. A debt owing
to England must be paid In pounds and
a debt owing to the United States must
be paid in dollars. The value of coins in
a foreign country is not fixed by the gov
eminent stamp on them. but by their bull
lion value-the amount Of gold in them
and that amount Is determined by assay.
II the debts were paid in gold there would
be inceasant shipment and reshlpment OF
coin or bullion involving freight changes.
insurance and loss by abrasion, loss OF
interest while in transit and other ex-
penses. Mr.. Pratt has given the following
Illustration:
THE actual rate Of exchange depends
not only upon the difference in the value
Of the coin, but upon the state Of inter-
national credits. For the real exchange
is the payment Of a debt by a traveller to
ones creditor of debt due from another
person. For instance, II A In New York
owes B in London $1,000 and c. also in
London. owes A a like amount. A liqui-
dates his Indebtedness by transferring to
B his credit with C, who pays the money
to b. thus avoiding two shipments across
the Atlantic from c to A and from A to
,B. Imagine. II one can. state Of things
in which every international debt had to
be paid by the actual transfer of COIN
Half the ships would be carrying mer-
chandise. and the other half gold in pay
ment therefor. The expense and the loss
would be prodisious. Commerce, Of
course. would be impossible in the modern
sense. But by bills Of exchange this Is
obyiated."
"A bin Of exchange IL written order
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1915-09-19

the science Of statistics, IN both Of
which lines he stood as authority. The
initial chapter sketches tbs early life
Of DR.. Billings and a following ono
a surgeon In the civil war. an account
that covers wildly the campaigns of
Hooker and Grant. The study closes
with sympathetic and admiring in
depreciation of the character and per-
sonality Of this most useful citizen.
this public-spirited man. AS a force,
as a potent personal influence. this
book represents the kind of history
that will supplant, that should supplant,
the purely martial and political rec
ords that, even up to this enlightened
day. pass muster as the history of a
people.
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1915-09-19
BOOKS RECEIVED

ON TRIALs The Story Of Woman ut
Bay. By Elmer l. Reisenstein. Made
into q book from the play Of the
same name by D. Torbett. Illustrat-
cd. New York: Dodd, Mead & Co.
Warrington: Brentano's.
A DICTIONARY OF sINIPLIFIED
sPELLINGs Based on the Publica-
lions Of the United States Bufeau Of
Education and the Rules Of the
American Pk4lologfcal Association
and the SimpHhed Spelling Board.
COMPLIED from the Funk 4 Wagnalls