Montpelier examiner. [volume] (Montpelier, Idaho) 1895-1937, 1918-11-22
TRAGEDY OF GIRL SOLDIERS.

arrival at the Swiss frontier of the BIZ
weekly trains loaded with French
and Belgian girls who have ct last
been released by the Huns. When the
Germans captured these girls, and
carried them away. as prisoners, many
of them were scarcely more than chill
dren. At the very moment when null
titudes were just budding into wo-
manhood, or looking forward to their
marriage day. or were learning to
sing the cradle song, they were seized
in an iron grip, and made to be the
chattels OF burtish soldiers. Near Vi
my Ridge the visitor ID shown an un-
nuderground clubroom, safe from
bombs, where the Huns held, until
their defeat in the spring of 1917,
seven of the lovliest girls that were
ever the pride of husband or the 10y
OF parents. Not until many months
had passed, and the burden and sor-
row of motherhood were approach
ing, did the white slaves receive the
release from their prisons Many be-
came insane; others killed them
selves; and the rest, enduring every
pain of the fiery furnace, lived thru
the hell set up by the Huns.
About one-hah of the young wo-
men who step down from the refuge
trains into Evion. switzerland, hold
half-German babes in their arms.
Never were children so unwelcome OF
their coming so bitterly fought
against! Not infrequently, when
their train approaches the Swiss from
tier, they plan devices TO leave the
babe behind. and now and then
girl. desperate, drops the infant out
OF the window of the car, leaving II
to the care of the Hun father.
When the young men who love
them, rush forward to meet these
girls. who are broken in health, often
consumptive. with horny hands that
once were soft. whose robes of beat
ty have. become rags, bearing that
dreadful thing. a Hun babe, in their
dIhbS bhS 5pSStdSAS VI ttAS 1Bohy vi
the husband, father or lover is SO ter
rible as to beggar all decription.
Not infrequently the shock of the
meeting Stays the girl. But the shame
OF her young husband is as nothing
to the agony OF this young woman
who feels herself an outcast, who
finds that those she loved shrink from
her. and realizes that every hope Is
dead Oh, what problem is this,
that the people of France and Belgi-
um must soon confront! The com
mittee Of arbitration may coerce in
IDENTITIES, force the Huns to rebuild
the factories, stores. cathedrals
farmhouses. but where Is the divine
hand that can recover the lost ihno-
cency, the ruined health, the broken
life? One hot breath upon the frost
in the window mars its beauty.
Think of the bloom in the grape and
the peach--how one rough stroke de-
stroys that bloom forever.
In this dark hour. the women of
TdhSsi Wh0 nave A0pl lheH Delduty
and their health, have risen up iii de-
Tense Of the violated girls. They
have sent plea to the women of
America They tell us that the girl
has been wounded on the field OF
honor. as truly as the boy who has
lost his arm or leg. Generals pin
decorations to the man who has en-
dured six days and nights In trench.
What honors. therefore, should he re-
served for these girls who endured
q greater peril for weeks and
months? Is there to be a Legion Of
Honor for wounded men, but no Lee
gion of Honor for these French and
Belgian girls. who helped the allies
win their victory?
Suffering every form OF sexual out
rage. these girl soldiers struggled ON.
These are the real heroes, whom the
world calls violated women. All hon
or to brave boys, whom we would like
to see loaded with decorations. but
surely the world Is not SO poor but
thab II mas Hup6h anu uSGOEdIlOHB lot
these injured girls.
The time has come for the wOmen's
clubs in every town and city in Amer
lea to help the women's committee in
Brooklyn send an American commits
sion of noble women to Paris, to
work with their commissions there.
Going to the various ruined towns
in northern France and Belgium.
these elect women will call before
them these cruelty wounded girls
Having heard the story and tested its
truthfulness, they will, in the name
of the women OF America and OF
France. say to all the people in the
town or village: We recognize this
woman or girl as soldier Dc God,
grievously gashed with the knife of a
Hun. We pin upon her shoulder this
decoration, which represents our sym