Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1918-08-02

pose there is no harm now In say
ing that they did not come back in
a very neutral frame OF mind.
They had seen such sufferings in
Belgium and northern France as
made them weep, and they urged
that the work Of the commission be
extended at least 10 that little strip
OF northern France which thrusts
itself up into Belgium there by Gil
vet and Phillippeville. where people
were actually starving.
We were already having appeals
from other lands that lay outside
Belgium. Ny colleague. Count
d'Ansembourg. charge d'affaires of
Luxembourg. was asking us to eS-
tend the work of ravitaillement to
the little duchy. and one morning
the mayor of Maubeege and one of
his echevins came in TO ask us to
help them revictual that city.
And then Mr.. Hoover, to our re-
lief, came back. He had had diff
ficuIties IN London; there were
folks there. as elsewhere. who took
the view that the ravitaillement In
Belgium was an unneutral act that
IL was indirectly an aid to the Ger
mans, and some OF them had even
made the cynical statement that II
The Belgians were to be left to
starve il would require more Ger
man troops to subdue the revolu-
tions that would break out as a re-
suit of hunger, and thereby so much
weaken the German forces. But he
had surmounted this obstacle, as he
had so many others, and he remain
ed long enough in Brussels to in
stall the c. r B. in its new offices
and get in motion the machinery
that had been functioning with so
many habits and so much creak-
ing. He had Mr.. A. n. Connect
coming from America to act as
manager and in the meantime Cap
tain J. NJ. Lucey, who had been d.
rectinC the Rotterdam office. came
to relieve Mr.. Heineman, who had
so unselfishly sacrificed his own
affairs to this cause.
And so, as the short December
days were declining with the year,
the great work was set in motion,
with infinite toll and pain, with
many a psychological problem, with
much delicate mana cement and
humoring of human feelings, jeal-
ousies, susceptibilities, and, what
is worst of all in this world to en-
dure, the irritations OF "grands fails
eurs de petites chooses" ("Great
doors of little things.D
The FIRST War Christmas.
We came at last to Christmas
Eve, the eve of the saddest Christ
mas. in some ways, 1 had ever
known. The Germans had forbid
den the sale of the little buttons
bearing the pictures of the king and
queen, and the throngs that moved
through the streets were depress-
ed. There, from Montague de la
Cour, where 1 used to love to look
out over the lower city, its roots
touched by the soft glow of the set
ting sun, the spire of the Hotel de
Vile floated in the mist like a bit
Of old lace and was beautiful as
ever, and yet over the whole city
there brooded a sadness. In the
Pare Royale that Christmas Eve
there was an enormous tree, blazing
with thousands of electric lights in
colored bulbs, like the one in Madi-
son Square at that season, and
German soldiers gathered around it
and sang their choruses. There
the blazing windows of the minis
terees in the rue de la Loi; there
were celebrations for the soldiers
everywhere. and at the Kings pal
ace at Laeken a great dinner for the
officers. For weeks they had been
cutting down the fir trees to be used
as Christmas trees for the German
soldiers. l do not know how many
were required for the Germans at
Brussels, in order that they might
fittingly celebrate the coming to
this earth of the lowly Nazarene,
the advent of peace on earth and
the impulse. of good will toward
men, but each company had to have
one, and at Liege alone several
hundred trees were required.
But our work was organized at
last and on the Christmas Eve at
the Legation the Marquis of Villa
lObar and Mr.. Hoover and Baron
Lambert and NJ. Francqui and 1
were agreed at last on the last, or
what seemed then the last, of the
troubled details, and when we had
agreed N. Frncqui leaped up, cry
ing:
VIA, via. Via, v'lar' and bending
his stout form over the table wrote
1t down before any of us could
change his mind again.
Mr.. and Mrs. Hoover, DR.. Rose.
Mr.. James, Mr.. Bicknell, Mr.. Fred
erick Palmer and Gibson, were there
TO dinner that night. After dinner
DR.. Rose drew me aside, with many
expressions of appreciation and
kindness, saying that the Rookie
Teller Foundation was prepared to
aid the revitaillement to the full
extent of it's resources, that he and
his colleagues had been everywhere
in Belgium. had seen everything.
had taken no mans word for any,
thing, had been in the homes of the
poorest, and he spoke with tears
in his eyes Of their sufferings, their
patience, their forbearance and their
chastity. Not a whimper anywhere,
no unkindness. only that superb
fortitude, that splendid faith and
unwearied resistance that marked
the Belgian nation then as IL marks
ii still this night, four years later.
was moved and grateful, and we
were all relieved by the thought
that the ravitaillement was assured
until the first of September.
Christmas day was singing cold
and sharp, the trees all white with
boar frost, and there was some
thing of the traditional spirit of the
festival in the air, because the
young Americans who had come to
work for the G. r. B. tried to make
the day happy for the children. Mr..
Lewis Richards, who lived in Brus-
sells, had a Christmas tree in his
home at Forest for the children of
the commune. They came, six hun
dred of them, Gathering along in
wooden shoes, while the orchestra
played the Star SpangIed Banner"
a tune that all Brussels musicians