Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1915-05-05
HIDES 10 FROM FOE
French Girl Keeps Soldiers From
German Clutches.
Ey Dint of All Sorts Of Courageous
Ruses She Feeds and ConceaIs Eng
Iishmen While Teutons
Occupy Place.

Paris.-The invaders would not
have been so charitably disposed to
French girl had they known that for
three weeks by dint of all sorts of
courageous ruses she had been feed
ing, concealing, and keeping from
their clutches ten English soldiers.
She was a servant in a girls board
ing school When the war broke out
the pupils all returned to their homes,
and she was left alone, for her only
companion was an old deaf and par
tally paralyzed woman. When the
Germans entered the town they went
through the girls school from attic
to basement, collecting all the linen
bedding they could lay their hands
on. For some reason or other they
did not install their wounded in the
main building, but in the chapter an
mex.
These wounded the girl tended with
the utmost devotion, in the first place,
because she is tender-hearted, and in
the second, because she had every rea-
Son to desire to stand we'll with the
invaders. For her conscience was
quite clear. She knew that down in
the grotto at the end of the school
gardens she had concealed ten Tom
mics" who had come, hungry, foot
sore and worn out just one hour be-
fore the Germans.
They will be here in moment"
the English officer had said, not wish
ing to put the girl in danger.
Never mind,' she said, I'll hide
you somewhere, and afterwards we
shall see." So she took them to the
gTotto. But the quarters were mar
row, damp and intensely uncomfort-
able. Her heart bled for her pro-
teges. Then she had an idea, the
very daring of which was TO insure its
success. She installed her ten Tom
mics" in the unoccupied top floor of
the school itself. Then came the
question of the commissariat. At first
she gave up her own ration to her
ten refugees-but that was not
enough among so many. So she col
Iected from her friends and relatives
in the village here a piece of bread
and there vegetable.
When the Germans, SEEN Z her sus-
piciously laden basket, asked her for
whom were all these provisions, she
would answer, For your wounded in
the chapel Better still, she ap-
pointed herself cook for the German
ambulance, and IN this capacity was
able to pick up all sorts of broken
Victuals, so that her English were in
no danger Of starving.
But English soldiers do not live by
food alone-they like their tobacco.
Now, according to the regulations of
the invaders, each inhabitant of the
place had the right to buy two sous
worth of tobacco a day. She found
a way to evade this regulation and
to keep her ten in smokableS She or
ganized an army of boys, who ten or
twenty times day would purchase at
different shops the meager penny
worth. --,ss-rH7si2sz<sr@r
But there was always the danger
that the hiding place of the ten might
be discovered by some German. For
tunately, their dormitory communi-
Gated by trap-doors with the ground
floor of the building, and precisely
with a room on that ground floor
which gave on the garden. So she
procured long rope, with which she
advised her prisoners to practice a
sort of fire-drill She was enthusiast
tic over the results.
Just imagine" she said to her in
terYiewer, that my Englishmen after
a few attempts were able, the whole
ten of them, to strap up their haver-
sacks, get ready for all eventualities,
and slide down the rope noiselessly
in less than five minutes"
But these desperate measures were
not necessary. The Germans tempo
Tarily evacuated the place, and the ten
English soldiers were able to regain
the allied lines in safety. They have
all given her their names and adj
dresses, and sworn that she must
come to England when the war is
over, where they promise her royal
welcome. One of the grateful ten IS
a nobleman, and a relative of King
GeOrge-LOrd Smith is the name
given, but never mindl The girl left
the town only when the Germans
were about to re-enter it, and after the
Town had been subjected to fierce
bombardment for many days.