The Parisian. (Paris, Tenn.) 1907-1962, 1918-06-21
FEEDING REFUGE:ES
ON French TRAIN
American Red Cross In Paris
Quickly Answers Emer-
gency Call
HOMELESS LAUGH and JOKE
No Bitterness, No Complaint, No Da3
pair Among People, Many of
Whom Were Refugees for Sec.
ond and Third Time.


the east of Amiens will pass through
Acheres at seven O'Clock tonight
They will not have had any supper
some of them may not have had any
lunch. There is no food there and hc
facilities for feeding them. Can ycu
help us?"
That was the telephone message
from the French minister of the in
terror WHICH came to the American
Red Cross at noon one day during the
German drive on Amiens, and the an
swer was Eyes. Emergency mes
sages are no surprise to us these days.
warehouses and a score Of volunteer,
rounded up.
They started at six O'Clock the SAINT
evening. One five-ton truck loadet
with timed beef and condensed milk
figs, prunes, chocolate and heaps OF
huge loaveS of war bread; two car
loads of midnight volunteers, stenog
raphers, bureau chiefs, drivers ant
canteen workers set out on their wa.
to bring help to the homeless refu
gees.
They rolled out through the resi-
Dental district of Paris, out past the
Notifications, bumped through grimy
factory suburbs and on into the oper
country where the level plains stretch
off into infinite distance, broken only
by interminable rows Of slim pop.
lars.
Then suddenly without warning
there emerged from the forest into Q
black smudge of railway tracks, Gin
ders, fat-cars, passenger cars, sheds
platforms, warehouses, cranes
Acheres. II was the junction point
where the thousands of refugees were
to stop for half an hour.
saIuted With One Arm.
Lieutenant M met us there, sa'
luted stiffly with his one arm, and did
the honors of the station. A group OF
weary, muddy "permissiOnaires, mosi
of them over forty, just back from
the Champagne front, We're routed OCT
to help US establish our tables on the
cinders between the tracks, and pile
the food where 1t could conveniently
be passed into the train.
They nnloaded bread, scraped
cheese, opened tins of Gully beef, "
Knocked the tops off the boxes Of figs
and prunes and made plans to feed a
thousand people in half an hour. But
somewhere off in the silent country
the train, packed full of exiles, was
standing on a side track. 1t was after
two in the morning when the long
train with it's % carriages filed with
refugees came into Acheres.
A few windows were opened; tired
faces looked out and voices asked, I'm.
interestedly "Where are WEI" and
were surprised to be told that they
were near Parts. The train was on
its way, they said to Tulle in the Cor.
reze department, in the south OF
France.
"Will they treat us well thereT" an
old woman asked and they, in the full.
ness of their ignorance, not daring to
say otherwise, answered yes"
1t was a short half hour. They
carried them bread, they filed the old
woman's apron with figs and prunes
they gave milk to the children, meat
to the old men, cheese to everybody
They absorbed cakes of sweet choco,
late in rapid and mysterious man.
ner. Some of them were the much be.
petticoated women of Picardy and
some were grizzled old farmers. 9th.
ers were city folk, obviously not used
to third class travel. There were fam,
allies of three generations huddled to,
gether on their way-somewhere
Some clutched precious umbrellas
some carried bird cages, some alarm
clocks. Some of them had dogs, some
had cats. But the pathos of it all
was not on the surface. Some of them
quietly told that they were refugees
for the second and third time and
laughed and joked when they woke up
There was mo- bitterness, no com.
plant, no despair.
Bread Pile Fell Away.
The huge pile of bread fell away
the fig boxes were emptied, the tins
were all handed into the trains. The
engine shrieked a shrill French wills
tie and the train pulled away. The
rescuers were in the silence of the
night. One of many thousands of ref
ugees had had one dreary midnight
meal far from home-one lonely meal
out of hundreds, perhaps thousands
before them.
A train load of wounded from the
front joggled in ten minutes later. The
men nurses carried water through the
carriages swiftly and silently. Then
the Americans handed out the rem,
nants of. their stores of figs and the
train slipped away again. Behind them
could be heard the dull booming Of the
barrage guns about Paris, and the Wis.
itors knew N1at another air raid was
on. They waited until the barrage
stopped, then they headed back
through the d5fenses or the capital
There was a faint light as they rode
back through the forest. They could
see ciuInps of yellow daffodils utterly
nllIiuio7rs of war