The Birmingham age-herald., 1918-12-08
PATHETIC SCENES AS REFUGEES ARE
 BROUGHT ID FRANCE
After Years of Suffering Old Men and Women and Children Are C0m-
 ing Home

| Evian, France November 7.-(Corre- spondence of the Associated Press. )-The return to France of the women, children and >old men who were sent out of that
 part of France occupied by Germans for
 more than four years presented pitiful spectacles. Many of these refugees were little tots whose fathers and mothers had been taken away by the cruel boche to work in Germany or behind the fight ing lines Others were orphans Twice daily the affecting scenes of their return were enacted here when the trains bringing them through Switzerland brought 600 to TOO repatriates back to the beloved soil or France. With them
 were Belgians who came from parts of
 Belgium then occupied by the Hun. Much
 was done to relieve the sufferings of
 the poor people by s. S. Howland rep
 resentative of the Belgian relief commis-
 sion stationed here, and by Mrs. How
 land, his wife
 Describing the scene of the return of
 a trainload of refugees, MT Howland
 writes:
 Slowly the long line came towards us,
 the old and the young about equally
 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 destitution, we knew that
 but small number possessed more than
 the clothes they wore and what the handbags and bundles they carried con- tained
 They were not emaciated, but their faces were worn sometimes anemic. How could they be otherwise after the years of constant suffering and continued hor- TOTS they had endured, with no hope of release before them but victory for the allies, or. perchance the good fortune to be enrolled in one Of these little bands of repatries
 Now ana again someone would rush out from the sidewalk to greet rela- tive or friend recognized after years of absence. But though such instances were rare, they served to buoy up the hopes of the rest that perhaps farther along they, too, would be as fortunate. A1Nsa
 Two short rests were made that the seemingly countless children might be able to keep up. Brave little tots they were. holding close to their mothers, if they had them or if not, to those who had befriended them on the way for many were orphans, or had had their parents taken away by the Germans to work. Perhaps hundreds of miles from their homes.
 Inside the great rooms of the Ca sno long lines of tables set for supper filled almost the entire space. As the re- patries 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, lot, well-cooked meat and glasses of red wine still further cheered the hearts of the stranger, so that when the or ,hestra in it's gallery began to play we'll 1nown and cherished French airs-airs hat had not been heard before in all .hese longs years-tears streamed down the cheeks of many, and of lookers-on IS well. while hands and voices pro- claimed their keen delight.
 No man did we see between 14 and Q unless they were palpably Ill or crip- 'lied, and comparatively few women who lad not long since passed their prime. Mothers had been separated from sons md daughters dragged off by the boche 0 work in factories and mines, even on 'ortifications to be used against their 'wn kin
 "The feast was hearing it's end when he sub-prefect mounted the rostrum and began to speak Instantly there was i'erce, He dwelt upon Frances love or her people, her sorrow for their suf- erinss
 His words had hardly ceased when he band struck up the Marseillaise' The i'd, the young, the halt. the blind sprang o their feet. trying their best to join | n the refrain. but frequently prevented | " sheer nervous exhaustion. Sobs could | e heard and the faces of most of the | vomen and of many of the men were | lidden in the handkerchiefs with which | hey wiped away their tears of joy"