The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1918-01-31
NUN PAGES FIRING
 SQUADS 400 TIMES
 TO SHIELD FRENCH
Heroic Sister of Mercy Defes Invading Hun Arm ies When They Sought to Maltreat Wounded Soldiers Under Her Care Ready to Sacrifice Own Life in Defense of Her Charges.

towers of it's cathedral still proudly looking up.
 The German shells are now falling on the martyr city, and the crimson sun, behind the town, seems to cry out that 50 much has been sacrificed there that nature is surfeited with the sacrifice.
 Yet Verdun stands, every building struck, III its inmates gone like the proud sentry of our civilization glor- iously calling out to the foe:
 Desolation of Every Kind
 The houses gone, the families scat tered, the fields neglected, this is the same sad sight we see on all sides In the Mouse as in the Somme, where I was recently, are desolation and de- struction of every kind. I have al- ways loved the country, and do not know more heartrending sight than the fields once so cultivated now over grown with thistles.
 In these villages one occasionally finds some courageous women and old grandfather, dwelling under the ruins, who have worked to gather in their crops.
 MI OSlI6I, WIIO represents an 1Il- portant relief society of Toronto and is my companion on this trip, is, like myself, deeply impressed by all we see, and we feel how urgent it is to build temporary homes for these poor far mers.
 What is needed above all are dry roofs for themselves and their crops A poor woman told us her COW was l i'll because the hay she gathered had gone bad.
 At headquarters we were received by Gen. Guillaumat, and it was arranged that we are to go on to Verdun tomor- row. As we still had a few hours of daylight he advised us to see Cler- mont-Argonne. This is situated in perhaps one of the prettiest spots of the Mouse; it is partially destroyed. Its lovely church, situated on hill, classed as a National monument ow- ing to the beauty of it's gothic sculp-
 lures, is a lovely ruin. Col. Lejesute,
 who showed us this, advised us to
 call on Sister Gabrielle Rosnet, the heroine of Clermont, and hear her ex- perience with the Germans during their occupation of Clermont
 Pistol at Sisters Throat | We went to see the sister at her hos pital in Frosdos, where she is nurs- ing contagious cases. Very small and simple she is, under her white cor
 nette. On her breast rests the Croix de Guerre and the emblem of the Legion d'Honneur. We were at once
 under the spell of her honest, kind, Straightforward eyes.
 My experience with the Germans, g she said, was not pleasant one"
 She told how they arrived preceded by
 a reputation for brutality that made all fly before them. For it was the
 Army of the too notorious Kronprinz
 She would also have left had she
 not had charge of 40 old and infirm
 souls and some poor refugees, with
 children, who could not be moved. She
 received the officers in her polite and dignified manner.
 The barrel of q pistol was put al } her throat, she says, surely over 400 times during their occupation. It was their court eous way of proceeding
 each time they gave an order. Why she was not killed she does , not understand for she witnessed more | LIlou OllO 6A0CulIOh III lE0 COuElydTl
 of her hospital for much less provo. cation than she had given. I suppost they needed her and the
 two nuns who remained with her tt l tend their wounded, for that is wha f they did during those ghastly IT days 5 Learned of Atrocities F She told me of many atrocities sht
 had learned from the victims. Thes,
 I will omit out of decency, but vol t and the world must know what hap f pened to 25 wounded soldiers in thu 7 village of Clerm rmont-en-Argonne. t Among the wounded Germans on @ had a conscience. He told the siste S he knew of 25 wounded French sol , diers who were locked up in a hous in the village and were to be sho
 the next day. She asked the reason = Because they were so gangrened tha r an epidemic might result" was tn f reply.
 = In a moment Sister Gabrielle wa
 before the German colonel and charg S ed him with what she had learned v The interview must have been tragic = The revolver at her neck, yet she wa = determined and gained her point. Fi Il nally the key was given to her an ,- she rushed to the rescue of those poo l. children of France.
 For 10 days 25 wounded men ha d not drop of water pass their parch 5, ed lips, had not had their wound 2 looked at nor received any attentio
 of any sort. They all died. S. Sister Gabrielle pointed to her desl g where slips of paper were spread an e on each a flower. q have been tc 2 day to visit those graves. Pauvres pe1 t, it's! am sending these to their motf le,l CTS. May they never know what wa Id their children died!'
 a- Oppose Wooden Houses l. We left Mussey and our kind hos
 esses early in the morning to join Sire a dot, who wanted to show us mol le villages, specially one to whic S. through her efforts almost all the il st habitants, that is, the women and ol S; folk, have returned.
 1s Temporary wooden cottages ha1 ts been erected and their inhabitants al
 again courageously fighting the ba
 tie of life.
 ,e Our Secours France-American Pol is la France Devastee is doing work C
 about the same principle, but we fe at there is much to say against the! nd wooden houses. If they are to con ,d across the seas, what space they VI .ir occupy on our ships! If built her " how expensive!
 ,is So much is required by the milital an necessities that good seasoned built - ing wood is not to be had. Beautif