The daily telegram. [volume] (Clarksburg, W. Va.) 1901-1926, 1916-12-04
FARM DIPLOMAS
IN FRENCH HOMES
As the Result of the Crop Rails
ing Done by Women. Girls
and Boys.
~ Asan1lArrn rnrrnl

NOR -SUIt-I3OINCf. Seine ct
Marine, France, Dec. Among the
war recon penses that Will be hand
ed down with grentest pride from
generation to generation In French
families are the diplomas now
framed ana hanging on the walls Of
many Il farm house, uttestlng how
the peasant women and farmers
wives, widows and daughters over
come war difficulties The SOIL has
we'll repaid the effort and, thanks to
them, France is sureof another year.
Of ample living
The actual cash returns will equal
| a record year d time Or peace though.
Iexcepting oats md potatoes. the yield
was below the average
This country Of the Brie, which is
generally second only 10 the Buuce
in wheat production and first or all
| for oats, stands Mt tho head Of both,
| vet this crop was sown almost nntIre-
| " by women, girls. and boys too
I young or women too old to shoulder
rifle. There is n good example az
what was done on a little farm just
outside the shade OF the forest Of
Mountainebleau Mt illemer. where In
a modest farm house hang tile framed
Diplomas accorded by the Syndicate
I Central des AEriculteurs dc France
I5(Central Union Of French Farmera)
in the name or Madame Beaupouan
and her daughters, Raymonde. aged
~. and Jeanne, aged 1 4.
Beaujouan was modified while the
grain was still standing in 1914
Madame BeaujOuun and her daugh-I
tiers have harvested three crops from
best Of tile three for they lacked
the twist Of the wrist" as Jeanne
Beaujouan puts it, until they had
had the experience OF two crops.
They are proud OF the crop for the
crops sake, but they d on'tasee1n to be
aware OF the remarkable effort 1t re-
#uuired OF them to do the fertilizlng,
blowing, narrowing seeding and har-
Vestlng. When one talks to them
about it, they tell him to go and see
the crop that Madam oiselle Martha
Bon Feve got from a seventy-acre
farm at Serrigny-en-Bresse which
promises to constitute the record for
girl farming during the war when tho
yield is finally measured. Like the
soldiers or France. these herotnes OF
the rear take no praise individually;#I
there are 80 many. they say, who have
done as well.
Red tape the paralyzing force that
even the reaWaltening OF this epic
period has not vet vnnqulshed. with [
held from the farms the aid the gov-5N
eminent wished to supply. excepting
in rare cases, in the seeding OF the.l
farm.
German prisoners Of war, rolun-l
teers from the camps OF interned civ
@i1ian Austrians and Germans, Anna
mites imported from Indo China, Ka
byles brought from the mountains OF
Algeria, Sengalese from the West At
rIcan coast, q few teTTitorialB on.I
leave, a good many Partisan school,
boys and last, but not least. the.
American self binder helped the har-
vest: but with the exception OF the
self binder. the help was available on
ly 81 scattered spots
IA majestic German porter OF
Riviera palace hotel. who In time of
peace wore more gold braid than any
mead walters OF the best known res
taurants IN Paris, bound wheat side
by side on a farm In Beauce. In
stead OF the gold braided uniform. the
porte with his fellow prisoner wore al
suit OF blue overalls with the letters
I.C. (standing for interned civtltan)A
on their backs to identify them as
Teutons IN case OF disposition to-
escape. They earned the equivalent
of forty-fve cents q day and we're.
clothed, lodged and fed By the farm
er. Their fare was exactly the same
as that Of the farmers hiring them
and or the soldiers guarding them
That they wete Isatis3 ed appears from
the fact that out or several thousand.
only three of them tried to get away
The several thousand German sol
diers emp loyed In, the harvest gave
no trouble at all. To the great ma
iorlty of them French farm life was
a revelation md u satisfaction that
found expression in equent Inquiries
as to whether there was any prospect
that they might be allowed to estab
i#Ifsh themselves In France after the