Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1918-04-25
SMITH COLLEGE UNITS
PART IN THE v AR
Miss Elizabeth Dana, in Appeal
for Funds, Graphically Desert
hes Conditions in Stricken
France Where II Young
Women are Doing Relief Work

II will not say am pleased to present
Miss Dana to you," said Mrs. NJ. D. Chit
tenden Tuesday afternoon in introduce
ing Miss Elizabeth Dana Of the Smith
College Unit, who spoke to members Of
tho Klifa club on the work OF
the unit in France. II will say
1t is with pride and qualification that
introduce her, for she has done and is
doing a great work and has had an op-
portunity to study first-hand the prob
lens of the war"
After describing briefly how the unit
was started and paying tribute to It's
founder, Miss Dana said:
1.-THE reason am speaking to you Is
not only because l am trying to raise
money to start the second Smith College
Unit, which will be a campaign unit, but
wish to speak to you that you may
profit by what have to say.
1T Is almost a hopeless task for you
people here in this lovely peaceful city
to realize what the conditions are 1900
miles away. We cannot realize war until
we see II and even after we have seen 1t,
it seems when we have come away that
It was cruel nightmare instead OF
reality.
Now we must realize the war, because
It has got to be stopped and victory
must be on our side. Nobody has any
right at this time to do anything which
the majority of the people do not want
done. The trouble in America is that
the majority of people do not realize
the danger to themselves nor the appal-
ling conditions in France. France loves
liberty. In France millions of people
are dying every day. and they are not
all soldiers, either. The French people
are dying from malnutrition because they
are giving up food to send to our SOL
diers Is that fair? And here we are
in the very lap of luxury, with every
thing we want to eat. We don't realize
what liberty costs because 1t Is quite a
long time since we were charged for 1t.
As a nation we have too much luxury.
We are like the rich child who knew
nothing of sorrow and tribulation be-
cause he had always had plenty Of every
thing he wanted. Tribulation is tribu-
lation. and tie French people are still
in theirs. and we must help them.
THE English, also. are suffering, but
we know less about it. The French
open their hearts to us and confide In
us. They can express themselves more
clearly. The flower of England is dead
The English way Of fighting Is different
from the French. The English officers
go over the top with their men so many
are lost but the French, no less brave
but saving in some ways. consider their
officers too valuable to lose and so the
men only go over the top. We do not
read in the papers what England is suf-
fering. That Is not told Our debt to
England and France can never be repaid
for they have suffered and bled for three
years and more, and we have just begun
to suffer
"You do not realize the war I could
not realize it even when I saw the mutt
lated men and knew that America must
stop 1t all. Let us who are a little
better educated than the rest do more.
have a leaflet here which reads: The
God who raised up Washington and gave
you Liberty exacts from you n zeal
according to your knowledge. We are
temperamentally a jealous people when
we know about things. So. get knowledge.
Read and understand.
LAS for the work of the Smith College
unit, l can only give you glimpse here
and there of the work we have done.
There were II of us and We were not
doing reconstruction work. We were
doing general relief. We hoped to do
the former, but the latter was more i'm
portant. We found that in France there
|
filth. There were cid people and little
children sick from malnutrtion. There
| were people sick from diseases caused
by filth and they were people who were
! used to living in nice surroundings. They
were nice. refined people. For miles
there was not we'll they could use. for
they had all been poisoned by the Ger
mans. There was no food, no shelter
AS food costs so much and we wanted
| to be worth the food we ate, we started
to work In earnest
I'VE were about ten miles from st
Quentin and fifteen from Cambria and the
guns Of Cambria kept US awake for about
week. Sometimes at sunset but oftenes
at daybreak we heard the bombardine
which told us the men were going ovel
the top You may think I speak calml,
about this but We couldn't stop to thinl
about 1t or we'd all have been crazy.
have found that 1t is no use to see OF
read about thing unless you can de-
something about 1t. Several Of the girl.
went to see the wounded at one Of tn,
hospitals but didn't. stayed home ant
made shoes for crippled soldiers. That die
more good The unit it not where 1t wa,
now but it will be very soon. We lives
in three little shacks which were any
thing but warm. Nothing Is warm enough
in France. ] used to sit on the stove anc
then make dive for the middle of m,
bed at night and try to get warm.
after we had given all that was givel
to US to the people We found that the,
had a little money so we charged small
amount for the things wa had had to bu.
and that helped them to Keep their self
respect. You ought to know how wei
those women love to knit. i wish tina
every time any of you buy any yarn 70,
would buy skein for those women an,
send 1t to them SO the can knit. Even
they keep the result after they have mad
1t they will have been occupied. We had t
teach them to sew. These were countr,
women and they had always titled tn
fields and so could not sew. We laugh
them this because 1t didn't take long t
do their house work and the days wer
so long to sit and think Of the horror of /
all. We wanted to keep them occupied Blu
the reason they wanted to sew was III
most touching. They wanted to sew be
cause II they had something which be
longed to us they thought we would com
back and they wanted US to come back
II they had wanted to see us Just to b
amused wouldn't have cared. 1t Is some
thing to make those poor souls laughs.
1T Is said among those people that Ger
many did not only break up their home
and kill their sons and daughters. Ger
many killed their souls. We had to shoy
them what Christianity could do.
1--WE had many things to contend with
We had portable stove which smoked 81
that we had to take 1t down every day
That disguised us as We wanted the tim
for other things. Not much help wa
sent us as the spring drive was anticipat