The states-graphic. (Brownsville, Tenn.) 1???-1984, 1917-06-22
FRENCH CHILDREN ARE
PHYSICAL WRECKS
RESCUED FROM GERMAN LINES
IN PITIABLE CONDITION
Many Wounded, Blind, Manned or Suf-
fering from Shell-fire Shock
After Life of Months In
German Held Villages

Behlnd the BRUSH lines IN France,
June 1.-The French children found ii,
the little villages of northern France,
evacuated by the Germans under the
pressure of the British and French III.
fensives, present a picture of the saw
agery of modern warfare as chara
teristic as the Somme forest, shatter
ed and broken by months of shell fifas
Many of these children are orphans.
without home or relatives. Many haye
been grievously wounded. Mosto them
suffer from a peculiar species of she'll
shock which affiicts them generally
with sort of tremor not unlike ST.
Vitus dance. u
They have had life and death, hor,
rors, human and inhuman, revealed t5
them in guises so terrible that theb
will never be quite normal again. Al
are underfed and frail flom confnes
ment in cellars. Cut off suddenly from
relatives and friends, perhaps tvs
years ago, they have continued to live
within few yards of the front lines,
listening always to the thud of shells
and the crash of explosives until tliei
idea Of heaven is "a place that Is vary
S1iet na. ~ ~
rSfiieli who have been nvrng ssAder t6e
shadow Of the invader through these
long months aAd years has been sad
enough, but the condition of the half
starved wounded and mentally de-
ranged little children has been far
worse. All the children were collected
and shepherded by the first entente
troops in the newly occupied areas.
Everything that can be done to cure
and care for them is now being done,
constituting one Of the most important
immediate tasks of the French COM
mittees on reconstruction. The first
step was to remove them we'll behind
the font areas. Those who were or
phans were taken far away from the
sight and sound of shells, many of
them to the south Of France. The mil
itary district cases were there put un-
der the care of farm mothers. The
more serious cases must of course be
kept under close medical supervision
in special institutions.
Children who were not orphans were
not usually taken away from the dis
trict, but were placed on farms neal
by, where it is possible for the parents
to visit them frequently.
One French organization has hos.
pital with four hundred child patients
all under twelve years Of age. Most
of them are wounded. Some have lost
their legs or arms, others their sight
Others are suffering from brain fever
or puzzling anemia under which they
rapidly waste away.
/ "They are the victims of ruthless
ness Of modern warfare" said the heaC
of the hospital. "There is no better
argument against war than to Sc,
these mutilated little victims who will
never play or enjoy life as other chill
dren do, They are mere shadows o.
childhood 1t is difficult to make then
talk and they tremble and start at am
noise or sudden movement. Womel
are always gentle with children, bu
with these children we need specia
gentleness, as if we were handlin,
something more fragile than the mos
delicate china.
One Of the patients, five-year-ol,
boy, who had been rendered dumb from
shell shock, showed no improvement
until after he had been in the hospita
| for seven weeks. Then one day h
opened his eyes after long sleep an,
said with a twisted smile to the nurse
1T is--very-quiet here-I like it"
/ Cases like that encourage the nurs
les. But there are many sadder case
child patients whose wounds mus
inevitably prove fatal, patients, who
despite every effort, grow steadil,
weaker, patients who are gradual,
losing their reason and whom nothing
can save.