The Press., 1918-04-04
TRAGEDY STALKS
 ABROAD IN RUINED TOWNS

It was little village in France, like hundreds of others. Its men had gone to war When the Germans were re ported as close to the town, the women and children fed.
 The Huns entered the village that night Robbing all the homes of every thing of value, they set fire to the town and prepared to march on
 Leaving the town they came upon Auntie .Marcell-eighty years old crouching by the roadside, one of the refugees who had dropped out of the fleeing procession. She had had noth. ing to eat for twenty-four hours ex- cept roots that she had dug up nearby.
 When the Germans retired soon after this, and many of the villagers returned, they found Auntie Marcelle striving to build shelter iIi the ruins of her old hOme-the only living soul in the place. The other villagers Joined her and attempted to find some refuge. Their efforts were pitiful. Each picked his own home-though the ruins next to 1t might he unoccu- pied and much more promising. Each wanted to live on his own little piece of ground, even if only a few bricks remained there.
 Food? There wasn't any, except what the Germans could not carry with them in their hurried evacuation. For days the handful of villagers lived on the rotting fruit left in nearby >Or- chards and meagre supply of vegeta- bles.
 Many Towns in Sorry Plight.
 And this story was being repeated in scores of towns throughout north ern France and Belgium. Thousands were suffering as these people were suffering, and hundreds, as in this vil- lage, died-frOm exposure and starva- ton.
 Then came the Society of English and American Friends. They set to work promptly They gave moral en- couragement to the ruined people and helped them to construct temporary shelters. They selected the blasted homes which offered the best possiblll- ties for partial reconstruction, and aided the tOwnsfolk to erect shacks between walls that still stood where a house had been, or to put a substantial roof over a cellar that could be lived in.
 At first, numbed with the sudden ness and horror of it all, the villagers accepted aid mechanically But later the old spirit of independence began to assert itself. They wanted to be co1P 1oRo inf had been swept away.
 .sS So the Friends organization opened workshops In the towns, where the women came and worked by the hour at sewing. Here corn and flour sacks were fashioned into useful articles of various kinds-table covers, mats and fancy bags. The women were taught embroidery, and many were the quaint and original designs they created. Thirty centimes (slx cents) an hour was the pay-and the women were happy and independent. - .s.s ~ :. :" When the American Red Cross or ganization reached France, and came in contact with the, work of the Friends, it immediately realized. the necessity of it's continuance and en- largement.
 So the Red Cross offered the Friends the support that would make it possI. ble to extend their activities, and 1t was accepted. Today the American Red Cross and the Friends and several other groups of workers in similar service are cooperating tremendously and effectively! to restore there the villages that have suffered so hardsa fate ." -..