The Bridgeport evening farmer. [volume] (Bridgeport, Conn.) 1866-1917, 1917-03-16
Madamss Wartime Troubles

turned into the shop of Madame
You see here comes blank.
not that 1t will make any difference
to the army or that my writings will
ever penetrate to this brave and bat
tered village, but Madame - was
the only one Of her sex met in
France who broke down and cried as
talked to her And she WAS so
ashamed OF having cried and so fear
full Of it"getting out" that will
shroud her name in mystic J. so when
hmy fellow-trippers pass this shop,
those Of them who may have stum-
b1ed across this erratic guide will not
say, Here is the woman who cried. /"
should like to tell'it to the world.
so that all might go TO her shop and
get her on her feet again, Yet she
would not care for it. LIKE the bell
inert upon the floor in the Barcy
church, her shop would not be SER
wing the purpose of a shop. which is
nosp1ace for charity, even though Its
mistress put her head down upon q
crate Of unso1d stock and wept-wept
because she was cold and underfed
and alone, her man at the front.
should have given her great deal
OF money in recognition of her services
to me. for she drew back for an in
slant the curtains of the petite bour-
geoisie behind which turks anxiety
and a necessary economy unthought
Of among our wasteful people. We
travellers rarely see behind those cur
tains, for well-stocked shop window
presents itself between the public gaze
fand that clean, darned white Noting
| ham. The boxes of clothing come
over from America, but the little
shopkeepers do not apply. The ouv-
roirs offer work. but they will not ad-
NIT the slackness Of their trade. The
munitions give to the poorer class
more money than they believed exist
| ed, but the petite bourgeoisie remains
behind the darned Nottingham. 1t was
| told me. to apply for the franc.
| This remark of hers, struck me, for
I had thought that any soldiers wife
was entitled to. the eighteen cents a
! day without shame. I had vaguely
supposed that the amount came by
letter each week and that all along
the street the housewives would be
proudly opening the envelopes and
shaking the sum out Of them. But it
1 is not asked for by the lower middle
class until 1t Is gravely needed, until
the husband comes home, perhaps, on
his short permission" and says: "It
! is your right; I must help France
cannot help you. It is your right
Then she goes to a great building and
asks for the franc, and the official
since he has become an automaton In
the asking of questions, jerks out, "Do
you need it?" And my poor lady con-
fessed to me that she was Obliged to
confess to him that she did need it
although there were neighbors about
Then he asked what her husband
earned before he had been called to
the colors, and it seemed flood OF
tears here-they had never made as
much out Of the shop as was generally
supposed. And now all the world
pointed the finger.
/ Every week when she went to draw
her dole she suffered anew. "It is like
walking naked through the Streets
tshe said. When sought to console
! her by the suggestion that all were
feeling the same pinch, she returned
| that 1t was not the case. Those who
self God and drink do we'll; toys are
still bought (Which I would have
| thought was the first economy, ant
the upholsterers she strenly included
among the prosperous. Her own trad,
was entirely gone, for the army sup