Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1918-09-20
RED CROSS AND CHILDREN.
How American Society Is Helping the
Little Ones Of France.

that appeal.
| Across France from Neslc in the
Somme. along the frontier oil Mrurthe
and Mosellc, and TO Marscilles in tn"
Mediterranean. centers have been es-
tahlshed for the medical care OF chill
drcn to assure for them the chance or
q healthy and happy childhood. men
acci as they are by the drag of war
upon the whole civilian population.
and the ovcr-intimatc experiences of
the war which hundreds Of thousands
/ of children from the frontier towns
have suffered Wherever Il demand
| has rome for aid in meeting cm"rg"n-
CITES. the children's bureau has an
swcrcd in so far as its personnel and
resources permitted. Hand in hand
with this immediate work has gone a
Ifar-rcachinS campaign OF public
health education which promises much
/ for French children Of the future. The
health of the coming generation can
not safely bc neglected. even in war
time.
| The campaign began last January,
when an automobile cannon loaded
with pamphlets and. postcards and
lantern slides prepared by the Rookie
fcllcr commission for the prevention
of tuberculosis in France and the
children's bureau of the Red Cross left
Paris and plowed through stormbound
roads to the towns and villages in the
department OF the Eure and the Loire
/ I'm the cities and large towns mass
meetings were held in the municipal
theatres or town halls, and. smaller
meetings for special groups of persons;
moving pictures. instructive as well as
amusing. were shown. and an exhibit
of panels, posters and pamphlets was
/ placed in some central building. In
the villages the programme was SIM
pier: most Of the work there was in
the schools. During January, Fcbru-
airy, March and April 41.000 persons
visited these exhibits; the applicability
to France of methods of public health
propaganda which had been success
full in America, was proved. Two such
travelling exhibits are now on their
way-onc in Brittany, one in Touraine
and a third is planned for Midi.
Lyons, the second city Of France,
was chosen for the first of a series OF
large child welfare exhibits: and
when it opened on April 9 representa-
tivcs of the ministry of the Interior
of the city of Lyons. Of the army. the
church. the medical profession and the
Allied governments joined in cclebrat-
ing the occasion.
| The exhibition opened at time
when all France was brcathless under
the strain of the German offensive:
fears were expressed that 1t would be
n failure; but during its first week
more than $4,000 persons passed
through the turnstile into the huge
pavilion which had been erected for
the automobile exhibit at the Lyon in
lustrial fair and later lent to the Red
| Cross. Franco was awake to the men
ace to her future.
How to feed, clothc and battle a
baby, how to care for children Of two
or three or four years. what rccrca-
tion a child should have. how its teeth
should bc brushed and allied subjects
were demonstrated by American spc-
ciaIists in the various booths that lined
the wall and in glass house about
which hundreds gathered thrice daily
to watch the model toilette Of a real
/ live baby, loaned for the occasion. In
three Fairgrounds outsidc-one for
boys, one for girls and one with
tempting sandboXes for children under
Icight-playground teachers played
| American games with French children.
while admiring rows OF older spccta-
/ tors lined the picket fence to watch.
Moving pictures and Punch and Judy
shows graphically illustrated health
mayims. Every morning the school
teachers brought their classes to see
the exhibit. and the afternoons were
crowded.
| In the three weeks of the exposition
the turnstilc registered $4,000 admis-
sions.
| one OF the first appeals which the
/ Rcd Cross answered after its arrival
in France was that Of Prefect Mirman.
of Nancy. to whom the care OF several
hundred children from the gas-bomb-
ed villages behind the lines was sud-
denly intrusted. The Red Cross acted
in cooperation with the prefect and
the American Fund for French Wound
ed, in establishing n refuge for these
children i'm former barracks at Toul.
From that beginning in July a center
for children's work has grown which
now reaches more than 1000 children
each week. At Toul itself hospital OF
forty beds was opened late in October:
the capacity was soon more than
doubled and n maternity ward opened,
in March within q few hours after
word was received that the maternity
ward at Nancy would have to be
closed because Of the danger from the
bombaplments, now has sixty beds,
making a total of 160. In connection
with the refuge, which has been en-
llarged to shelter about $50 children
and fifty mothers OF young babies,
there are general and dental dispen-
sarics. and a travelling dispensary goes
from Toul. Nancy, Epinal. Luneville.
Neufmaisons and Gerbervillier to VIII
lagcs where clinics are held in facto-
ries, schools. or town halls for moth
ers and children who have compare
i lively little medical aid since the ply
sicians were mobilized in 1914. Prefect
Mirman made a special report to the
general council OF his department in
April. generously appreciating the Red
Cross aid, and has asked 1t to take
charge Of founding babies who need
special care.
, THE American Red Cross Is carry
ing on a work Of special importance
from which the public health Of Meur-
the and Moselle. notably that Of wo-
\