Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1918-12-05
RETURN TO FRANCE
 0f CHILDREN AMI
 WOMEN IS PATHETIC
Twice Daily Were the Affecting Scenes Enacted When Trains Brought Back Repatriots to Beloy. ed Soil.

ed Soil.
 l EVlan, France, Nov. 4. (COrrespond- ence Of The Associated Press. )-The
 return to France of the women. child ren and old men who were sent out of that part of France occupied by Ger
 mans for more than four years pres ented pitiful spectacles. Many of these refugees were little tots whose fath- CTS and mothers had been taken i away by the cruel Boche to work in I Germany or behind the fighting lines. Others were orphans.
 Twice daily the affecting scenes of | their return were enacted here when the trains bringing them through Switzerland bringing 600 to 700 repat- riates back to the beloved, soil of ] France, with them were Belgians who l came from parts of Belgium then oc- I cupied by the Hun. Much was done to relieve the sufferings of these poor people by s. s. Rowland, reresenta tive of the Belgian Relief Commission stationed here, and by Mrs. .Howland his wife.
 of trainload of refugees, MT. How land writes:
 Slowly, the long line came towards us, and the old and young about equal ly divided-alas, but few of middle age, for the Germans had use for such and would not let them go. While few showed traces of actual destitu- tion, we knew that but small num- Der possessed more than the clothes they wore and what the hand bags they acrried contained.
 They were not emaniated, but their faces were worn, sometimes anemic, How could they be otherwise after the years of constant suffering and contiued horrors they had endured, with no hope of release before them but victory for the Allies, or per chance the good fortune to be enrolled in, one of these little bands of re- patries.
 "'Now and again some one would rush out from the sidewalk to greet a relative or friend recognized after years of absence But though such in- stances were rare, they served to buoy up the hopes of the rest that perhaps farther along they too would be as fortunate.
 Two short rests were made that the seemingly countless children might De able to keep up. Brave little tots they were, holding close to their moth- CTS, if they had them, or if not to those who had befriended them on the war, for many were orphans, or had their parents taken away by the Ger mans to wocKa Perhaps hundreds of miles from their homes.
 Inside the great rooms of the Cas- ino long lines fables wet for sup per filled almost the entire space "As the repatnies filed in, women showed them to their seats, while others distributed small French flags to young and old alike-the flag that once more they might wave freely.
 Bowls of soup, slices of good bread. hot well-cooked meat and glasses of red wine still further cheered the hearts of the strangers, so than when the orchestra in it's gallery began to play-WellknOwn and cherished French airs-airs that had not been heard before in all these long years tears streamed down the cheeks of many, and of lockers on as we'll, while hands and voices proclaimed their keen delight.
 ''No man did we see between fourteen and sixty unless they were palpably ill or crippled and com parativcly few women who hac not long since passed their prime. Moth CTS had been separated from sons and daughters dragged off by the Boche to work in factories and mines, even on Qualifications to be used against their own kin.
 "The feast was nearing it's end when the Sub-Prefect mounted the rostrum and began to speak. Instant ly there was silence. He Gwelt upon Frances love for her people, her sor- row for their sufferings.
 "His words had hardly ceased when the bank struck up the Marseillaise The old,' the young, the halt, the blind sprang to their feet, try ing their best to join in the refrain but fre- quently revented by sheer nervous eX- haustion. Sobs could be heard and the faces of most of the women and of many of the men were hidden in the handkerchiefs with which they wiped away their tears of joy"