Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1915-09-15
ISSUE REPORTS ON
RECONSTRUCTION
English Society Of Friends Doing
Work in Devastated Sections
Of France

London, Sept. :3.-Ihe reports il
sued by the English Society Of Friends
(Quakers) on their work in the devas-
tated sections Of northern France
give a vivid aocounty OF the destruc-
ton and the attempts at recorstruc-
ton. Twelve Of these reports have
new been issued, covering a wide
range Of territory. .
The society begins by sending calt
Investigators, who are usually women
who have -een trained in social work.
In accordance with their reports the
other workers fol,rw. Nurses visit
patients in t:leir own homes, builders
erect huts for the homeless peasants,
and there is q growing department c.
agricultural relief. There are four
main divisions Of activity, with ai5ou:
1875 volunteers from England and a
number from other countries.
Imagine" writes one of the work.
er,s, a village In Your own vicinity,
it may be your home-with come 70S
houses, OF which $50 nave been burn
ed to the ground, and then you will
DO able to form some idea Of w1lat
this village from which l am writing
IS like. The inhabitants left in as
founding bewilderment, hardly able to
believe that tho German army WAS 50
close, y 50 in the hurry and scram-
ble tc t eway they left everything
behind ten, inn0cently expecting tc
find thei. belongings again when they
~evurned. And SO, Wien they return
ID y p0,u, H01yc a ~ nv th1 C4~rouN ~n
treat, conceive their sorrow and cha
grin on finding their houses RACED to
the ground, and Fl trace Of their pos,
sessions gene. All their hay ant
crops, cattle. 1abbits, everything,
LtlInt or destroyed. | admire their
courage IS I seq them grabbing in the
ruins, scar~hi;.g fer SINE lost thins.
or beginuing--vhere would you be
gin?-'D clear way tie debris"
The secretary CT To- relief comndt
tee, Miss Rul Fry, writes: Il! + moi
only the material help givc1, %le
most important aspect is the courage
raised anew in these much tried SUI
forers, to whom the coming OF tn
helpers is a very impressive sign o
the reality Of CUR friendship. The ~
creme evil Of wa Ia not death, but
despair. Against such despair the
Quaker fights"
At first the -ledical side OF the
work predomirtyted. At Chalons, for
instance, {: ~~lterrity hospital was or.
ganized. rhe fc,..owiny is from the
report Of the ,."ork OF this hospital:
Although we we're foreigners and
stranger; to Madame /, che came
away with lis. IL was aer frs: baby.
Her husband, q %compositor in Rheims
before he was called to the colcrs. had
been seriously wounded four months
before, ard since then she had had
no news at all. She spoke of him dur.
ing the long ride back to the hospl
tai, and flhe told US OF the horrors Of
the bombardment and her six weeks
sojourn in the cellars. She spoke Of
the Germans in Rheims and said they
we're very polite and nice to her and
to her friends. One she had met had
been very sad and had wept over
having to fight and leave his wife and
children. She showed her husbands
| picture and he wished her good for.
tune and his safe return. Tier cour.
age was splendid. just before a little
Gar1ghter was born to her the news
came that her husband was dead. Her
couraee never failed. For my dear
girl I want to be strong she said"
In the later reports IT Is chiefly az
dculture that figures. Most Of the
farm machines had been destroyed By
firc-that, is to say, they survive, but
the iron is so so.:t that it bends to