The Elk Mountain pilot., 1918-08-15


and five, and children up to the ages OF thir'
teen and fourteen. were forced to work all day
for their enslavers They We're taken Into the
fields at five In the morning and were not al
lowed come back until seven in the evening
During all that time they We're given only one
meal. Their tasks to dig potatoes co'
away the bnrbed-wire entanglements anu p'ch "p
unexpIoded shells. After the Germans Went a""y
there was milk to be got because all the c"" .
had been either killed or driven away. In one
district there were 500 children who existed FOR
months without a single drop OF milk. met ohe
little girl who had been kept for ~ days on u.'
consisting of nothing but bread and soup. 'he
latter being watery and scarcely at all houriS"
Ing.
The destruction of the schoolhouses has made
If impossible for the young children to gain any
education. 1t is no strange thing to encounter
boy or girl of eleven who can neither reiu no'
write In their hidcous thoroushness. the Ger
mans destroyed books, pencils. desks ana all. No
n thing was left. After the American relief work
ers came into the devastated regions they estac
Iished schools and built little wooden building.
In which to carry the work.
At one school they told story OF htt'<
girl who was brought In with the other children
TO learn 10 read. AS soon she discovered an
old chair IN one of the corners she immediately
got into 1t and curled up In utter enjoyment anu
relaxation. She could not be persuaded to get
ont of that chair. The teacher inquired why she
was so pleased with the chair and learned that
. the household In which the child lived had not
boosted n single chair since the first invasion OF
the Germans.
The separation of the children from their par
ents is another very tragic occurrence In the
months and years before they are reunited the
children grow and change so that they are NOT
recognizable to their parents when they meet
again. Some of them. to be sure. wear on
chain about their necks little gold bnptismnl
gifts on which their names inscribed. But
this is exceptional. 1t is one of the confessed
schemes OF the Germans to divide and scatter
families much possible.
My heart bleeds for the children of France!
Oh that they should suffer this unmerited abuse
and tribulation!
The deportation OF young girls has been sys-
tematicaily practced German officer comes
to the from: door of house and orders the entire
family to assemble outside on The door step. Then
he picks at random a number Of the younger
women of the family. II will take you and
you and you"' he says indicating the
chosen with his foretinger. At this sum-
mons they must leave their homes at once. They
are not allowed to pack their belongings nor to
carry much baggage. They permitted only
SO much as they carry wrapped in hand
kerchief.
After they taken into Germany they
put to work cultivating the fields. doing the
hardest and most menial kind of labor. They
are forced to live with the soldiers. and
rudely treuted by them They can send no word
to their families and 1t is almost though they
were dead
been tireless. Great credit Is due to the Amer
lean committee for devastated France, organized
by Miss Anne Morgan. Over 1000 children have
been turned over to this committee to be cared
for One Of Its most useful works has been in
assisting the stricken people to leave their homes
long there Is danger from the Germans in
the vicinity. Pitifu stories told of the flight
of these people One old woman refused to be
separated from her goat in transit. and would
only consent to go when she could be assured
that another goat could be got In her own
lost.
France has been hard-tred. but she is not
broken. Never has the morale Of the French
people been more mistaken than 1t is today.
France halls with joy the arrival of the Ameri-
cans. 1t is most fitting that these great sister
republics should be fighting side by side In this
hour of stress. Victory will be won; 1t is in
evitable But ah the pain, the woe and the un-
necessary degradation that have followed in the
wake of the invaders VIII the world ever for
get these? Can the bitter memory ever be
efYaced?