Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1918-05-12
Special Correspondence of The Star.
SOMEWHERE IN FRANCE,

Special Correspondence of The Star.
SOMEWHERE IN FRANCE,
April IS. 1918 (delayed)
E1HE rushing hell of the great
German offensive over the
regious which they had pre-
q viously devastated bet W n
Noyon and Ham tossed like a cyclone
all the patient work of home repairing
and field planting for the unhappy
populations done by the all-girl unit of
a great American college alumnae.
The Smith collegers (from New York.
Chicago, Boston Philadelphia, st. Louis.
Cleveland, California, New Jersey. Con-
necticut. etc, and sustained by families
of graduates in every city OF our land)
labored and triumphed, under Gotha
bombs and German long-range cannon
shells, to relieve fourteen French viii
lagos cruelty ruined by the Germans
before their famous retreat of year
ago. Just as they saw the fruit of
their labors. in patched homes, green
kitchen gardens, comforted old folks
and cleaned children, ruin. new ruin.
swift and smashing, came to wipe all
out and imperil the lives Of the girls
and their poor village friends.
The great offensive! To the sound OF
bugles. tolling bells. explosions. auto
mobile honks and cries of men and
women, all must be evacuated.
Has all our work been done in
VAIN"
Just once they asked themselves the
natural question. Then the girls rose
up and triumphed In the midst of dou-
BILE devastation.
Once. previously Git was last octo-
ber), l told how, by the kindness Of
the French authorities. I was taken in
a military auto by lieutenant of en-
gineers to visit the Smith collegers at
their ruined chateau Of Grecourt and
the fourteen crushed villages which
they had come to relieve and comfort.
They were. at that moment, as fol-
lows:
Ruth Joslin of Chicago, Millicent
Lewis of Irvington-on- Hudson, Alice
Leavens Of Boston, Ruth Gaines of New
York, DIR. Alice Tallant of Philadelphia,
DIR. Maud Kelly of St. Louis. Anne
Chaplin of Springfield. Elizabeth Bliss
and Elizabeth Dana of Worcester, Mass;
serie Carr of Cleveland, Catherine
Hooper of Montclair. N. j.; Miss l.. o.
Mather of Hartford. Conn: Marie VOLTS
of Newark. N j.. and Marie Bennett of
Boston.
Almost Immediately arrived Mrs.
Halves, 1 believe. of Pittsburgh and
Miss Ashley of New Orleans. Since
other alumnae have come. from Boston.
Philadelphia, Kansas City. Seattle and
other cities. In the present movement
and confusion of evacuation their names
cannot be Immediately learned. but all
are safe.
David Jones of Utica. N. Y, one of
their canton drivers. drove back into
holly bombarded town. to bring out the
last families. Harold Taylor of Youngs-
town. o.. drove into the same hell with
three fiat tires and broken front
spring. but carrying out six persons.
mostly wounded!
Next time, in the early part of March,
1t was along with my janitor. who Is
native of Offoy, near Ham. one OF
the Smith Collegers fourteen villages.
He went to persuade his old mother to
come with him to Neuilly-Paris. She
had refused vehemently. and refused
again.
What! l held this roof. all through,
under the Germans" exclaimed the
slender. wiry wisp of an old peasant
dame aged seventy-seven. living alone
In her damaged G4foy cottage. I'm two
years l fried 1852 eggs for those boche
brutes. and saved a bed. Il stove, three
chairs and two saucepans from their
bonf1res when they quit us. Shall I
leave my house now that I've got my
American girls coming to tea, and the
garden cultivated? They are angels of
the good Cod
She spent all her sons visit telling
him about the paragons. son. they are
VI ilcf american IhfnllleS, uefnolSelleS
OF chateaux. yet they cross the seas to
help old peasant women dig garden.
They have a store in Grecourt grounds.
and If family cannot pay. there's
credit. They make afternoon parties
for mothers to cut and fit, and all have
coffee and buttered white bread. They
gave me a yellow ulster. They cured
Pere Lamenant's swelled leg. Me. go
away tonight? Son. 60 not think of it.
My Americaines will help me plant the
10 fntI