The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1916-03-10
SIXTEEN MONTHS IN
THE WAR ZONE
From Tuesdays Daily.

From Tuesdays Daily.
| Miss Lillian Blaisdell delivered a
very interesting lecture last evening
at the First Baptist church under the
auspices of the second division of st.
! Johns Episcopal church for the bene-
| fit of war orphans of the European
| countries, and was introduced by
Rev. Charles Shut. Her subject was
! Sixteen Months in the War Zone"
and she described the difficulties
which she encountered in endeavor-
ing to reach her sister in Belgium and
secure her passage from that coun-
try. The conditions in Paris just be-
fore war was declared, while Austria
was fighting Servia, were wildly
pictured. The news of the call to
arms in Russia the fact that Ger
| many had sent an ultimatum to Rus
| STA to demobolize, the fighting of
| Austria and Servia did not cause
more than ripple upon perfect July
| day in Paris, France. Miss Blaisdell,
in company with party of students
| under the guidance of French
sculptor, started on a sight seeing
trip into Normandy. She noticed that
the party seemed to be divided, and
| that the German and Austrian mem
bers seemed sad and some were cry
ing. Upon inquiry she found that all
Germans and Austrians in France
had been advised to start for their
| homes, and returning from the trip to
Normandy many left hurriedly, the
out going trains being filled with
those who were leaving France as
rapidly as they could. Miss Blaisdell
described the street scenes when the
| order came for all men in France to
| report for military duty, the amaze
ment of the people that war was so
near, the quietness of the streets, aft
| er the men had gone, and the thou
| sands and thousands of busses in
Paris had gone to the front, carrying
ammunition and supplies.
| Trains Used BY Soldiers.
In response to letter from her
sister in Liege, Miss Blaisdell wished
to go to her, but all trains were being
| used for the transportation of SOL
| diers, except special trains upon
which it was practically impossible to
| obtain passage as the number wish
| ing to leave was so great. The week
| following proclamation was put up
| stating that within certain number
| OF hours passports would be fur
nished to those wishing to leave the
city. Paris was declared under mill
! tary rule and in a state of seige.
People who wished to buy supplies
were forced to stand in line waiting
for hours, while the big stores were
so packed with people that the doors
had to be locked until they were
waited upon, when more people were
| allowed to come in. And each one
was allowed but a small quantity of
the provisions they desired, yet all
day long there were from two to
three hundred people in line:
The forming of the Foreign
Legion" composed of those in France
of other nationalities who desired to
| fight in her defense was, described by
Miss Blaisdell, who stated that those
of the legion who had not already
been killed were still fighting in the
trenches. The clubs of the big city
were soon all closed, but one that re-.
manned open was the Young Womens
Christian association, which con-
tlnued to do good work for the war
J sufferers.
| Brother Offered Services.
| Miss Blaisdell's brother law ar
rived from Belgium as he was a
| Frenchman, and came to offer his
! services. Soon the refugees began 60
arrive and were taken care of by the
government. The newspapers with
held all startling information, and
made light of serious situations in
order not to alarm the people. The
war stories were severely censored,
and blank spaces in the newspaper
columns would show when at the last
moment some interesting bit of news
had been suppressed.
German aeroplanes began to make
scouting trips over France, and
] dropped bombs, doing much, damage
When the last day came for people
who wished to leave Paris there was
great excitement. Exhorbitant prices