Tensas gazette., 1917-10-12
AMERICAN WOUNDED Being CARED
FOR IN Big CHATEAU IN FRANCE
Ambulance Drivers and Aators Nsed Back to Health by Wife of
Wealthy American-ConvaIeScenS Play Colt on ChaniIy
Links-Cnateau Faces the Famous Chanly
Race Course.

ndCC
CLanuuy, Francc.-ln his biz cha
tS.u here where tor more than Two
years Lr had billeted upon hn aS
guests Il dozen French officers attached
10 the staff of General JoiIrc, Elliott
Fitch Shepard the American million
uire, has established II cOnyalc>cent
home fog siCl aud wounded American
aviatorS and American ambulance driv-
ers.
Shepard has resided at Chantilly
since the beginning OF the war. except
during the llccting visit of the Ger
mans JUS, before the battle of the
Marine. Then the Shcpards drove out
of Chan;iIy toward Paris in their big
touring car 20 minutes before the hrst
troop of Uhlans entered into Clnn-
tilly from Scnlis, which they had just
put tO the torch.
After The battle Of the Aisne, when
warfare Slagnatcd into intrcnched po-
Siti0nS. General JuiIre selected Chan
lilly as the seat of his Great Head
quarters The "G. .. G.," as the
French ubbrcviate "Grande Quarter
Generale," remained at Chantiily for
more than two years, or up 10 the time
that Jollre was made marshal and Cen
eral Nivelle took his place as coin
mundcr i'm chief of the French arnlSS
III the field.
Turned Over to Refugees.
Then came the German retreat to
the llindenburg line and refugees from
the devastated region evacuated by
the GermaIis began to pour into Creil.
Senlis and Chantilly. Shepard turned
over the rooms SO recently given up
by the officers attached to General
JOiTre's staff to the refugees and took
u under his roof the first night. Grad
ually the French authQrities shifted
the refugees to the south of France,
and then once more the Shepard home
was empticd except for the family.
Ii was then that Mrs. Eleanor
Shepard decided To open GONZALES
cent home for sick or wounded Ameri-
can youths serving with the aviation.
the Red Cross or any other branch of
the service. Since she has started her
enterprise Mrs. Shepard has had an
average of sixteen American youths
AS her guests at all times. Some lfave
been suffering from wOunds-more
and more American ambulance drivers
are being slain and maimed by shells
a,
cry arriving ship. Others have the
dread maady known as "shell shocS,"
when the nerves are literally set on end
through being under continuous bonn
bardment. In most cases the Illness
of the ambulance drivers is traceable
directly 10 nervous Indigestion, caused
by the tremendous excitement under
which the boys work.
No Preliminary Preparation.
For these youths, averaging from
seventeen to twenty-one years. come
direct from schools and colleges and
go under fire in the most terrible war
the world has ever seen, with no pre-
liminary preparation. 1t Is only neces-
sary that they be able to drive motor
cars. They have not the military train
ing and drilling and inculcatiOn Of
discipline which fits the soldier for
the life of the trenches.
Mrs. Shepard is aided In her work
by her sister. Miss Mercedes Terrudell,
formerly of Trenton, N. j., who has
been in France doing war relief work
for more than year. She gave valu
able aid to the French authorities last
March when the refugees were dumped
into Chantilly by administering first
aid to the tiny babies who formed II
considerable proportion of the motley
collection Of suffering humanity that
the Germans left in their wake.
Feeding the boys regular American
food prepared the way they have been
accustomed to having ii ut home is the
principal factor in making them well
and strong again" said Mrs. Shepard.
Americans are not used TO eating the
coarse brown war bread which the
French use, and they are not used to
living on soup and stew, either. After
boy leaves here. If he has weak
stomach. | send him packages of food
every week. | send him wheat bis
cults that he can eat instead of the
war bread, and rice and preserved
vegetables that we put up here our
selves, and occasionally, wher there is
an automobile going up to the part of
the front where they are stationed, we
can send them fresh meat and poul-
try"
Take Up Golf.
The Shepard chateau faces the Chan
lilly race course, and just behind il
are the Chantilly golf links. Shepard
has plenty of clubs and near all of the
convalescents learn something about
golf before they are considered we'll
enough To be discharged and so back
to their posts at the front.
Richard NJ. Atwater, Sd, OF Scars
dale. the youngest member of the
American field Service-he is Just six.
teen--has just left Chantilly to re-
turn To the front with his ambulance
section. james Norman Hill of Col
fax, Ia, attached To the Lafayette Is
cadrille. who was wounded by machine
gun bullets when fighting German
biplane near Lens. has just gone back
TO take up dying again after conva-
lescing nt Chantilly. Z. Wyman Steele
Of Easthampton. l.. l., has returned to
the United States after spending sew
oral mont hS with thp Shpnnr r,lS follow