Richmond times-dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1914-current, 1917-05-20
SERBIAN YOUTH
BEING EDUCATED
Driven From Their Homes, They
Find Welcome in Eng
lish Schools.
SURVIVE NATIONAL TRAGEDY
Of 10000 Young Refugees, 1900
Perish Miserably in Wake
of Army.


refugees arc being educated in Eng
land is related here by Sir Arthur
| Evans In the course OF an appeal for
contributions to the Serbian Relief
| Fund. In part. he says:
Among the many-sided activities
Of the fund none makes moro direct
! appeal TO public sympathy than the
'"crk of the subcommittee which has
in view the education OF Serbian boys
OF English soil.
"Of all the tragedies OF the great
wa, none was more pitiful than that
of the Serbian boys sent forth from
their homes to follow the disastrous
retreat Of tho Serbian army. It was
thought. and experience has only
| proved the correctness of the fore
cast. that, whether as slaves or host
ages. they would otherwise swell the
numbers OF those deported. often to a
lingering death. by absolutely un-
scrupulous foes.
The word went round among the
villages that the hope of Serbia should
| as far as possible be saved from their
| clutches. The Serbian mothers stcelcd
Nthcir hearts, and tho boys some of
fthcm students from the highest schools.
but largo proportion of them mere
children, were hurried away with what
| money could be spared. but in most
cases quite inadequate clothing and
provisions. TO exile and the unknown.
SIXTY THOUSAND
LEAVE THEIR HOMES
About sixty thousand left their
homes. All hope of exit southwark
down the Nardar Valley was cut off h.
the Bulgarian irruption and the ina
hiiity OF the allies to dispatch any ade-
Tuate relief force from Saloniki. About
half the number of the boys themselves
fell out and cndcavored to regain their
villages Few indeed OF these have
been since traced, though some are
known to be alive in intcrnmcnt camps.
The others. to the number OF some
1900. followed what vas now little
more than struggling human herd
"estward over the crags and SHOWS
OF The Albanian mountains. sinking
with exhaustion. helped by the retreat
ing soldiers TO struggle on, even beaten
on with the iron ramrods of old mus
kets, But about $4,000 had TO be lief;
where they FELL starved and frozen,
among the rocks and snow.
| TO those who reached the Albanian
coast relief ultimately came, and.
thanks largely TO the Serbian relief
fund. with the cooperation of the
French government. these boys were
ultimately distributed among the va
rious refugee colonies in Corsica and
various French centers. Their educa-
ton was there seen to in various local
schools and lycees, but about 300 boys
or young students were ultimately
taken over by the Serbian Relief Fund.
IN agreement with the French govern
'nent. for education in this country.
rms work, organized by the edu-
casionai committee of the Serbian Re-
lief Fund, under Mrs Carrinston
Wilde. and carried out under the care
ful direction of j. l.. Bellows. has been
an unqualified success. The original
headquarters of boys at Wycliffe Hall.
oNtord, has given place 10 a series of
centers at Oxford itself. at Cambridge.
at Sheffield. at Leeds. at Sicily Oak, at
birmingham. at Reading (for agricul-
tural Instruction.. and at Edinburgh.
| Glasgow. Aberdeen, Dundee and else
where in Scotland
GENEROUS WELCOME
GIVEN TO REFUGEES
~ MOST encrouS welcome has been
offered TO the boys at n series of
schools both public and private, in
ihese various ceniers. and the Serbian
ooys' once the barrier of the English
language surmounted. have shown
themselves keenly DESTROYS of making
progress in their various studies. In
one school a prize for English compo-
sition was actually carried Off by a
Serbian lad
The Serbian boys are popular with
'heir English classmates, and in the
Berkshire district. where I write this.
and elsewhere the experiment WAS s,,c.
cessfully carried out in the HOLIDAYS of
attaching Serbian members to troops
of Boy Scouts in their summer encann
ment
The question of giving a university
education to the senior students has
now come into prominence. 1t has been
wen taken up at the French and Swiss
universities, and both at Oxford and
NJ Cambridge certain number of
serbian students have been received.
with the best results, into colleges on
most liberal terms, and are pursuing
university courses
AT Manchester an encouraging start
has been made at Hulme Hall, and II
is satisfactory to know that several Of
the new universities arc now taking
up the work. since In some ways they
are even better qualified TO give the
help that the young Serbians most re-
quire Practical requirements are in
deed OF urgent need TO them TO enable
them to take part in the material
restoration of their methodically ruined
country. Tho promise there indeed, is
great The undevelopcd or imperfectly
developed wealth OF the Serbian lands
Is enormous. including some of the
richest deposits OF silver and copper
in Europe"
Drops Letter to Prisoner'a Wife.
LONDON, May 19.-Just after Lieu
tenant c. y. r. Shum, OF the Royal
British Elyinp Courns ,uau tal.ar, x,.ia