The Appeal. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. ;) 1889-19??, 1918-01-12
DOING MUCH TO
RESTORE France
80
Americans Are Doing Wonderful
Reconstruction in Devas-
tated Section.
live IN RUDE BARRACKS
Miss Anne Morgan and Her co-Work.
ers Share In Primitive Life While
Carrying on Labors Among
Destitute People.
New York.-Miss Margaret Steven

New York.-Miss Margaret Steven
( son, co-Worker Of Miss Anne Morgan in
devastated France, has just arrived in
this country with the first direct news
OF the reconstruction work already &C.
complished by this American Fund for
french Wounded unit composed Of ten
American women. Miss Stevenson told
OF the q villages they have partly re-
$habilitated, Of the 5000 acres Of land
hey have had cultivated, the hundreds
refugee families they have clothed,
I'd and installed in houses they have
furnished; the classes they are running
for children who have run wild since
the beginning Of the German occupa-
ton, and of the community center they
have established at Blerancourt, in the
heart of the ravaged region.
80 Live In Rude Barracks.
I'VE are living in rude wooden bar
racks built on the ruins Of the old
Chateau Of Blerancourt," said Miss
r Stevenson. "Our barracks are fur
nished with the same implanted fur
niture and plain iron beds that we
| give to the peasants. The heads Of
] our unit, Miss Anne Morgan and Miss
Anne Drake, share with us in this
primitive life. They are up at seven
o'clock in the morning, tidy up their
huts, help with the dishes, and then
are off about their duties, visiting the
refugees, finding out their wants and
helping install them in temporary
Ishelters. Both Miss Morgan and Miss
. Dixie speak French as we'll as they do
! English, and they have entered deeply
Into the lives Of the people. Some
thing approaching normal village life
Fas been restored to the communities
fnder the care Of the American Fund
Unit" Miss Stevenson says. 1.-THE
french government has placed this
( git in charge Of the Aisne and Som
4 MP districts, both Of which were sys-
teAnatically' devastated by the Ger.
3lmAns.
y four unit is militarized and works
| dir ectly under the French army"
Miss Stevenson explained. Through
the military authorities, Miss Morgan
has obtained valuable aid. Soldiers
on eight-day leave from the trenches
are put, under her direction, to help
rebuild shattered homes and pillow the
neglected fields. There are no able
bodied men or women left in this part
Of France. When the Germans re-
treated they swept the civilians before
them. All who were able to work for
them they kept behind their lines; the
noliproducers is, the feeble old
people and the small children-they
have allowed to return. These are the
refugees, the people we have to help
make homes for and make self-support.
ing.
Wonderful People.
"They are wonderful too, these old
people," Miss Stevenson went on.
'They return to their destroyed homes
worn out with suffering and hardships,
but no sooner are they on their beloved
soil again than they seem revitalized,
filled with energy, and the desire to re-
store all that has been destroyed. They
build One-roOm shelters for themselves
from the ruins Of their once comfort
able homes or else their government
puts up small demountable wooden
houses for them. These we furnish
with everything they need to start
home life anew-beds, bedding, chairs,
kitchen utensils, and we supply them
with clothing and foodstuffs. Every
thing that is sent to us from America
I'VE give them without cost, but the
stoves and kitchen utensils that we
buy in Paris we sell for two-thirds the
Nost. They prefer to have it so, and
N--ey pay any way they choose-in
work or vegetables. The first thing
they do when they reach their homes
is to start garden, and many Of them
have been able to support themselves
this way. Others make their living by
washing for the soldiers. These are
all very old people, remember, aged
men and women Of seventy-fve and
even eighty. They walk from villages
miles away to get help from US, and
they wheel great loads Of supplies on
wheelbarrows some eight or ten miles
over cobble roads.
These old people who have worked
hard and denied themselves all their
lives so they would have a competency
In their old age have to begin life again
with nothing but their stiff old hands
and their courageous hearts. They all
regret now that they didn't have lit
tie more fun out of life when they
were younger, that they had not put
off ease and comfort until their old
age. But they do not complain; they
just dig in and work harder than ever
to make a home for the sons and
daughters who may come back at the
end Of the war, or at least for the
grandchild
Shot Into Her Foot. - ~ !
Mic, Mich.-Miss Lottie Pertres
woke at 2 a. m. recently in cold