Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1917-03-23
FRENCH CHILDREN
ARE WILD TO GET A
HAM SANDWICH
Youngsters Liberated From
German Lines Overjoyed
at Getting Food

|
With the British Armies in France
March 23. = (From a Staff Corre-
spondent of the Associated Press. >
| The real human interest in the great
retreat of the Germans lies in the
half-ruined villages formerly occupied
by them. The joy of the people over
what they proclaim to be their liber-
alton is wonderful to see. A package
of well-buttered ham sandwiches, dis
tEabuted among the children of one
village, caused greater excitement
than the evacuation of the Germans
1T is butter!" cried several shrill
little voices at once, as the recipients
scampered away to their houses to
show their mothers, grandmothers
and grandfathers what they had re-
ceived. Through the open doors
could be heard such expressions as
praise God, there is butter again in
France" The American relief COM
mission had been able to distribute
flour, coffee, sugar, lard, limited guam
tites of rice, some cereals, soap, salt
and vinegar, but no butter
The Associated Press correspondent
to-day had a cup of American cof-
fee, sweetened with American sugar,
with French peasant family living
next door to the charred ruins of
German dugouts near the bank of the
Somme. There was a loaf of brown
bread on the table.
Never Forget America
That also is from the Americans"
said the peasant mother, who was
holding child of two years on her
lap. I'VE shall never forget the as
sistance given us by America. 1t
saved us. We have had nothing else
since soon after the beginning of the
German occupation. When the Ger
mans first began taking our goods,
our horses, our cattle, our sheep, our
vegetables and everything else we
raised on the farm, they gave us bits
of paper officially stamped by regi-
mental commanders, which they said
were bonds, telling us we should pre-
sent them to President Poincare for
payment. Here are some of the
bonds" she said, as she displayed at
least two score of scribbled acknowl-
edgments of obligations.
But in the last year or so all we
have been able to raise has been taken
without even these poor bonds" she
continued. I'VE have been encour-
aged to cultivate our farms, then
everything was taken and we were
compelled to live on American relief.
1t is terrible, sir, but you are Amer
lean. Please have another cup of
coffee. | am sorry we have no milk.
We have had none for more than a
year. all the cows having been taken
away by the Germans. We have had
no fresh meat for nine months"
Confiscated Hens
For a time, the peasants say, they
were allowed to keep hens on the con-
dition that they produce five eggs for
each hen weekly for the German au-
thorities. If the hens did not lay five
eggs the peasants had to borrow them
from their neighbors and they were
delighted when the hens at last were
lconfiscated.
In penetrating the former German
positions a lasting memory always is
one of endless chains of rusted barbed
wire. This has been a most valuable
means of defense for the Germans,
and from the amount which they may
be seen stretching away in every di-
rection as far as the eye reaches.
it would seem that all the German
Industrial plants had been turned to
wire-making. 1t is not the ordinary
barbed wire known in America, but
the barbs, long and stout are attached
to the wire at intervals of half an inch.
IF it had not been for the barbed
wire this war would have been over
long ago" a British officer declared.
Take Men and Women
In leaving the territory recently
evacuated the Germans have taken
away in addition to all strong men and
boys above sixteen, all women and
girls from 10 years upwards, who are
able to work. A French official COM
munication recently mentioned the
taking of so women and girls from
Noyon. On February II last the
Germans removed 434 from Nesle. 1t
is said that all women capable of
working in German factories or on
German farms, who have no children
dependent on them, must go.
In taking away the fit population
the Germans are replacing these per-
sons by sending back hundreds of
aged or infirm men and women from
st. Quentin and other places behind
their new lines, saying frankly that
the burden of supporting the old and
infirm is thus placed on the French
people.
The problem of feeding the liberat-
ed people, who have been suddenly
cut off from the American relief ad-
ministered from within the German
lines is being met promptly. In most
of the villages evacuated the Ger
mans left behind enough American
supplies, chiefly brown bread, to last
inhabitantss for five days. This seems
! to indicate that they do not expect to
be followed quickly, but as matter
of fact British and French patrols
entered many villages on the heels of
Td