Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1917-09-15
HOW WAR MOVES PEOPLE
DESCRIBED BY TWO WOMEN
Madame Waddington and Mildred Aldrich Have
Seen and Experienced Much in Region Where
the Battle of the Marne Was Fought

| Ambassador Herrick, her visits TO the hos.
ptals and the workshops and descriptions
of the manner of life in and out Of the
war zone She gives us pictures that draw
us close to the French in an intimate SYM
pathy with their struggles and their sur.
| ferings."
They certainly have struggled and
suffered" said the clergyman.
"She tells for instance, of the apolo.
gies for being late offered one morning by
the cashier at one OF her workshops"
went on. "The woman said she was
standing at the door of her house with
q shawl over her head looking down the
street. She saw a hearse approaching
with a child's coffin in It, A soldier was
walking alone behind It. weeping. She
did not know what impelled her TO do It,
but she ran out into the street, slipped
her arm in the soldiers and walked along
beside him. A fat old concierge next
door saw her and followed, stopping at
stand to buy some flowers before join
ing them. Other people followed, and by
the time they reached the cemetery there
were a dozen or moro in the little pro-
cession formed spontaneously in order
| that the man who was fighting for them
D., all might not feel that he was alone In
his grief"
Thank God for such women" said
Doctor McF'abre with little catch in his
voice.
| France is full of them" said I, "and
if we are ever put to the same test we
shall find that America does not lack them
either There are unpleasant things in
the book, for Madame Waddington tells
how the Germans sacked her chateau at
Mareuil before they were checked in their
! rush toward Paris. She was at the cha
| teau with her daughter.in-law and her two
young grandsons when the war broke out.
She tells how the little boys on the first
night prayed that God would bless their
father and mother, both grandmothers
and all who loved them. Then after a
pause they went on, Bon Dieu, preservez
l.. France They were less than ten years
old Later in the evening, at time when
the children should have been asleep, sol
diers marched by in the road. The family
went out to look at them, and soon two
little forms in white nightgowns were
seen running across the lawn barefooted
shouting 'Vive larmee! Vive la France!
1t was not long afterward that the chill
dren We're taken to Paris because they
| knew only too well what would happen
to them If German soldiers should have
appeared and the boys should have once
more shouted 'Vive la France! Mad
anne Washington gives a most vivid
picture of the effect of war upon the
life and temper Of the people. She does
rot generalze, but tells what happened
ir this place, how that woman acted when
her son was killed, how another kept her
smile until her husband was out of sight
on his way to the front and them burst
into tears. 1t is a most interesting vol
ume."
Her method seems to be like that of
Zola. as she piles up a mass of details
illustrating her point" said Owen.
IT would hardly say that" said 7. 1.-THE
effect is the same, but there is no con-
scious method. She is merely writing
down the story of things that she heard
and saw. in order to keep a record of
them"
'Is the other book you mentioned as
good as this one?" Doctor McFabre asked
TT is good in very different way. Mil.
dred Aldrch, who rented a house near
Meaux. not far from Madame Wadding
toms chateau, told the story of the battle
of the Marne, a part of which she saw
from her grounds. 1t was published a
year or so ago. She has now continued
the story of the war as 1t affected her life
in her house on the hilltop. The Ger
mans did not come back, but the French
soldiers were continually moving about
the country. Some of them were quar-
tered in her house for time. Others OF
them came to her for books to read. The
current of military life GIBBS and flows
about her all the time. and she describes
it in series Of letters beginning with
September 16, 1914, and ending with April
8 of the current year, after America had
entered the war. AS she is an American
who has become saturated with the feel
ing of the French, she rejoices with the
other, Allies at the action of Congress. She
says that the only thing that is important
now is that the major part Of the peoples
Of the world are standing upright on theil
feet, lifting their arms with great shou
| for Liberty, Justice and Honor, and thai
war of brute force for conquest has de
feated ITSELF You like that way o.
| putting it, don't you, Owen?"
| "Of course do. If that is the way she
feels I shall have to read her book"
| GEORGE w. DOUGLAS.
| | Ny WAR DIARY. BY Mary King Waddngton
| New York: Charles Scribners Sons. $3.50.
| ON THE EDGE OF THE WAR ZONE. From
| | the battle of the Marne to the entrance o
| the Stars and stripes; BY Mildred Aid