Grand Forks herald. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1916-1955, 1917-09-04
Comfort Bags For
French Soldiers

tH&Vp
French Soldiers
American Fund for the French
wounded. Chicago branch. who is now
on q western trip, and Is expected In
Grand Forks during the latter part Of
the month. is the author OF the fol-
lowing interesting article regarding
Christmas comfort bags for French
soldiers:
when we are asked to send comfort
bags to the French soldiers-our
Allies now. Surely the response from
the whole country will be worthy of
US. This is u opportunity to send
Christmas greetings to our brothers In
arms-our braye Allies In the trench
es, and hospitals of France, who have
been struggling these three long years
TO drive the enemy from their soil.
Those Of us who were in France last
winter know but too well what these
little gifts mean to the men. l can
forget the happy faces / saw
there when We distributed the Amer
lean bags last Christmas. They be-
a to arrive in December and the
that each one might help in the dis
tribution at Christmas. The first bags
sent out were given to the American
ambulance men who came with their
cars and took away a great many to
the men in the trenches on the Somme
and at verdun. We picked out some
particularly good bags to send to
these men whom we knew were
standing in the freezing mud of the
battlefront. We wanted them to feel
that they had friends in America
whose hearts went out to them in
sympathy and gratitude for what they
were doing and suffering there.
On Christmas Eve two Of us were
given fifty bags to distribute in any
place we chose. We decided to lake
them to a Military Depot outside Of
the city. We had visited it before and
knew that 1t was a cherries spot.
It is situated outside of Paris, close to
q large railroad junction. Soldiers
who have been discharged from the
hospitals and men who have become
separated from their units are collect
ed there and dispatched in groups to
their regiments at the front. The
men often have to stay there two or
three days at a time and the arrange
ments for their comfort are very
primitive. The place was at n time
a factory; it is surrounded by a high
wall inside Of which is a stone-paved
courtyard with gloomy factory build
ings around It. One of these ts ar
ranged as q dining-room and another
as a dormitory, the men sleeping on
straw thrown on the cement floor. In
this dreary place. Miss Oracle, n OF
our American Fund Tor French
Wounded workers. with Q other wom-
en- have opened up a little canteen
where the men can get coffee or hot
soup and listen to music discoursed
all day long from a p~honosraph on
the counter.
We drove out on a winter evening
and found the ,canteen busy as usual.
room at the back in caring for the
men. Some Of them have cuts or
bruises not fully healed. some have
trouble with their feet and many have
minor complaints that can be helped
by simple remedies or dressings.
There were two hundred men in the
yard that evening; they were all
listening to the music. Soldiers in
their horizon blue. Colonials in khaki,
Arabs in wonderful turbans n flow
ing scarlet cloaks. great Senegalis in
their immaculate uniforms, chasseurs,
a%viators. etc.-men from every
branch Of the army. It was a glow
ing picture Of color which met our
eyes as we stood at the window-coun-
ter and looked down upon their up
turned faces brightly illuminated by
the canteen lamp. the only light as
yet ,inethe courtyard. We had arrived
with fifty Christmas bags to bring
greetings to two hundred men. We
were told by Miss Oracle that It would
v do to give out the bags; how
Gould they console the mi hundred
and fifty for whom there were none?
Just then the Sergeant came n said
he, was taking forty-two nen off to
the ext train. Miss Oracle whisper
ed to us to go outside the gate and
give each of them a bag: We went
out quickly and drew our load Of bags
out Of the automobile and stood
waiting e~xpectantly. Presently the
gate opened and out marched the
men-all with their heavy equipment
on their backs. and. their rifles on
their shoulders. Halt" cried the
sentry. American ladies have
brought you gifts" We hurried1y put
the bags in the outsertched hands, the
ranks were broken and the men
crowded around us with eager
thanks. crying to one another az they
put their hands into the bags to feel
what they might discover there. II
have a pipe ct have SOAP" II have
paper and pencil" etc. but the
sergeant called them back into their
ranks and we watched them swinging
down the road with their gay bags go
unexpectedly put into their hands in
the dark street. on their way back to
a Christmas day in the trenches. We
knew that when they got into the
train for their long journey back to