The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1918-06-04
SHOWER BATHS
FOR CHILDREN
Low Wash Basins and Little
Shower Baths Adapted for the
Use of the Tots.
CHATEAU DIES HALLES
NOW CHlLDREN's HOSPITAL
One Of the Most Complete Es-
Establishments Of Its Kind in
France, With Jolly PIayrooms
and Toys to Amuse Patients.

Up In the mountains, where the
snow falls early and lies deep, 30 miles
from Lyons. is the little French village
of Les Halles-a story book village,
with its massive stone church standing
sentinel W. two long rows Of trim,
blue-gray plaster cottages. And a mile
farther on Is the Chateau des Halles,
where your Red Cross has established
q home for 200 sick children.
Mangini built the chateau. Man.
Igini was the man who built the rail-
road along the Riviera and many 9th.
er railroads In France. And thirty
odd years ago be built this castle up
in the mountains for his country home.
But soon after his two children died.
Then he died. and when his widow fol-
lowed him she left the chateau to the
city Of Lyons to, be used as a hospital
for children.
The Wars Wreckage.
Then came the war. A little rivulet
of the wars wreckage began to trickle
In at Evian-"repatries," elderly men
and women, children, even babies, who
had once lived in the parts Of France
engulfed by the German tides and
whom the Germans, finding them use
less, were beginning to ship back into
France by way Of Switzerland. Grad.
ually this rivulet swelled. Soon 1000
Of these unfortuiates were arriving
at Evian daily. And fully half Of
them were children undernourished,
thinly clad. dirty, sickly and. worse,
grim. spirttless, with faces that had
forgotten how to smile.
To care for these children was the
task your Red Cross at once assumed.
Working with the French authorities,
the Red Cross secured permission to
make use of the old and almost forgot
ten Chateau des Halles up there in
the mountains. For years the castle
had been closed. No effort had ever
been made to fit Ii up IS a hospital.
Your Red Cross had to begin at the
very beginning.
Rooms Big and jolly.
\ But what a wonderful task It has
Accomplishment The Chateau des
Halles, transformed into a children's
hospital and rest home In furious
haste under the terrible pressure Of
war needs, with little time to. think
twice and no time to retrieve errors.
is not only D of the most complete
establishments Of It's kind; it Is one Of
the best children's hospitals in all
France. The two rooms where the
arriving children are isolated for a
few days are big, jolly rooms-just
what Is need to efface from the little
ones minds the memories of those iron
days behind the German lines. The
big play room Is strewn with rocking
horses and wonderful smile-enticing
parrots and other toys carved by the
wounded poilus.
And SO you stray from room to room,
and everywhere you find new evil
dences Of this watchful care. And
then you reach the bathrooms. This
chateau was built by a man Of wealth.
Its plumbing vas excellent, and yet 1t
has been stripped out and replaced
with little, low wash basins and little
shower baths that the children a use
NOR comfortably.
That is how your Red Cross thinks
and cares for Frances children.