The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1916-09-11
WOMEN WHO STRAY AWAY
'I have wandered, oh, so far,
 Thro' the, day into the night! Shine out for my guiding star, Little star so dear and bright!

Strange things are happening the world over, especially in the great cities where one scarcely knows ms next-door neighbor. In villages ana towns each person is missed if not seen about for a few days. Not so III places where thousands jostle elbows with each other daily as great crowds hurry hither and thither.
 i In most families. women are alert, but now and then in families that have just moved in from the country a dear old grandma finds it difficult to adjust herself to city ways If the aged woman has been used to a daily ramble through wooded dells and
 along bypatfs, she finds it bewi'der-
 ing to thread her way through the Icity boulevards or streets The houses
 all look alike-there's always drug store on one corner and a grocery or
 bakery on the other, no matter which way she goes.
 The farther she wanders the more
 puzzling it becomes to retrace her
 steps. She becomes dazed, confused.
 Memory, which is so slippery at best,
 fails her. A kindly policeman who has an old mother at home, finding it is useless to attempt to question her
 as to who she is or where she lives, leads her gently to the police station, leaving the sergeant in charge to fig
 ure it out if he can.
 Where there are loved ones at home
 who miss the wanderer, she is quickly restored to them. The world is full of dear old ladies who have soutlived kin and friends and are living their lives out patiently to the end. If their memory fails them-no one planes them and all clews as to their identity
 prove futile-if penniless they may find shelter in a home for the aged helpless or be buffeted about by the cruelties of misfortune.
 It should be made a practice for not only the aged, but by all persons, to carry about with them Identification cards securely fastened to their cloth ing. giving their name and address
 and also that of the person they would like communication with in case of ac- cident How many people are prepared for a ccmtretemps? Thousands of people.
 both men and women, young men and girls, stray away annually and are never heard of again. Those who love
 them are unable to trace them. A card in a lhan1bag is not enough: Handbags are usually missing after an accident and crowd has gathered. The card well sewed to an inner gar memt has been the means of keeping many a person from finding a last resting place in Potter's Fled.
 Few aged people retain their mental, faculties to the last. Fresh air they crave and should have. but when they step out of the house their loved ones should kaep an anxious eye over their going and returning. Complete for getfulness of all things is common to many who have far outlived the aIlot- ted three-score and ten. This is a matter which should arouse deep thinking among those who are cus- todians of the person and welfare and happiness of some dear aged one
 No one can afford to overlook the gravity of the situation, for each and every one must travel the path of time. There can be no loitering-each must push straight ahead to the goal. which ist old age, if their years are not cut short
 With this possibility in view, those who have an aged person to care for should do as they would be done by Sew that Identification card in the sleeve of dear old grandma and grand- pa.