The Idaho Republican. [volume] (Blackfoot, Idaho) 1904-1932, 1917-11-06
Men, Women and Children Are
Stoical in Their Losses of
Loved Ores and Homes
Riddles Brave.
By CHARLES LEE RRYsoN

every grown person questioned. ~
I encountered this man in the yer,
heart of the wrecked district. He sa
on little heap of timbers. Beside hin
lay the crushed frame and wheels, o
an inexpensive baby cab. All arount
him were boards splinters bricks, bit
/ of bedding and household furniture
| grist that had gone through the mil
of the storm miller. I asked him l.
he had been in the storm-though hi!
arm in splints and the lump on hi
head were evidence that he had.
eyes, this was my house," he re
piled simply.
did you lose anyone?'
"Oh, yes. My baby and my five-year
old were killed. My wife and four 9th
ers got hurt, but they're getting bet
ter"
I expressed my sympathy ant
added:
"And yet it seems to me you're
lucky that anyone at all is left.
don't see how a cat could come alive
through such wreck as this"
"It was God watched over Them
he answered earnestly. II always
asked him to look after them, and he
did. He took the ones he wanted, anC
left the ones he didn't want yet"
Having no argument against his
philosophy, I inquired after the in
jured wife and children.
"Oh the Red Cross is caring fol
them,' he replied brightly. 'They are
surely doing good work. Doctors and
nurses and hospitals and things to eat
they're doing great things for Mat
toon."
got him to talk further ON his ex-
periences in the storm. He had not
been at home, but near Charleston, sew
eral miles to the east. He and several
other men had taken refuge in barn,
but it was carried away and all were
more or less injured. He was felled by
beam-or something, he could not be
sure what-striking him on the head.
Then he was pinned by an immense
splinter driven through his arm.
ut was Gods WILL" was his only ex-
PLANTATION.
Not far away / found woman of
sixty-two clambering over the wreck
age, picking radishes from garden
which was buried under fragments of
her and her neighbors' houses.
did you live here?"
eyes, this was my house." She
swung her arm in a comprehensive
semicircle, taking in much of the land
scape. give rooms full of the incest
furniture"
'"Were you at home? Did you get
hurt?"
ooh, yes, it broke three ribs, in
jured my spine, and hurt me all over"
was the cheerful response. -Four
hours after the storm they found me
under that pile of timbers."
There was not/a word Of complaint.
Only praise for the Red Cross, and the
hope that if she could get the bricks
and planks off her garden, she might
grow some potatoes.
That was the spirit everywhere,
Nothing to complain of, and gener-
Gus appreciation of the response of the
Red Cross with surgeons and nurses
and whatever was needed to help them
back to a normal life again.
The children actually made sort
of holiday Of 1t. I found number
of them in the Methodist Memorial
hospital in Nation, and they were
glad to have visitor who would lis
ten to their stories.
1T hurt my leg-just look" ex-
claimed a young lady of perhaps nine
years, pulling up her hospital gown
and displaying with pride bandages
from ankle to thigh. "And my arm,
too-see?"
A nurse whispered that a great deal
Of flesh had been torn from the leg,
but that she was improving nicely.
"Do you remember what happened?"
| asked her.
"Sure. The window broke in, and the
wind slammed me down in a cor
ner and the sewing machine went on
op of me, and then a whole lot Of
'ther things"
A chubby little girl in neighboring
'ot had a great secret to tell me. She
vas sitting up among her pillows, one
rm and her chest swathed in a null
itude of bandages.
'I'm going home," she confided. "The
IoctOr don't know it, and I'm not go
ng to tell him, but I'm going"
She had suffered four broken ribs
nd lacerated arm. Not complaint
ut Of her-nothing but chuckles at
he dismay the doctor would expert
nee when he should find that she had
one home.
Another was rather crestfallen that
he had no broken bones to display.
"But I'm black and blue all over"
he declared. tits just hurt me every
here"
did the sewing machine hit you,
oo?"
II don't know" she confessed. "The
ouse just went all to pieces around
le, and I didn't know anything. And
hen. I was lying In the potato patch !