The daily star-mirror. (Moscow, Idaho) 1911-1939, 1918-07-27
RABBITS HELP
HOMES|CkNESS
Play important Role in Making
Repatriates Contented in
Strange Surroundings.
RED CROSS IS CHIEF AID
Cares for FriendIess and Homeless
People Whom Germany Dumps
Back From the Captured
French HamIets.

bOuER, rTdQCe--Au TcpdtTldlcS dIO
homeless, but some have friends in
France who take them in. Those who
are friendless as well Is homeless
when Germany dumps them Jack from
the captured French hamlet are sent,
according to the plans of the minis
try of the interior, so many to this
department, so many to that; and the
departments divide them among the
villages, two families here, three there.
All over the west and south OF
France you find them, these people
imbued with a love of their own fire.
sides which the nomadic American
can never understand, torn up sudden
ly by the roots and t~ransplanted to
an utterly strange community, With
out anything In the world but a little
baggage they car carry and the franc
and a half a day allowed by the French
government. The father of the family
is dead, or missing or a prisoner, or
at the front. The daughters and the
sons who could work are still in Ger
many. Those in France were sent
back because they were too old, too
weak or too young to work-useless
mouths to the Germans. They are
the repatriate problem in which u
Red Cross is lending a hand.
Care for Repatriates.
The department of the Ain is typi-
cal. Bourg, it's principal city, lies near
enough to the Swiss border so that
when six hundred people were expect
ed, the Red Cross delegates could go
to Evian and journey back with the
conveys
When the delegates met the re-
patriates on the train, they gave then
an order which assured to each family
a little of the coal which was so
precious in France in cold weather. A
printed letter stated that the Ameri-
cans knew their sufferings and SYM
pathized with them and would help
supply them with garden tools and fur
niture and to get work for them.
Reducing housekeeping to its very
lowest terms, the American Red Cross
delegates decided thai each family
must have beds enough for everybody,
q table, a chair apiece, a stove, m
thing to hold water and something to
cook in (there is a wonderful FreRch
uleISll Cdlltu a Idit-tOdts IL NHi~
YOU can pretty nearly make every
thing, a fork apiece, a plate apiece,
and one knife for the family. These
furnishings are lent to the poorer fam
lilies. Those who can pay, buy furni-
ture on a sublimated installment plan;
S1.25 down and small payments ac-
cording to income every two weeks
two-thirds of the cost price is
reached, when the furniture becomes
their oWn
The delegates may be able to cure
the physical needs of the refugees, but
they have to contend always with the
terrible, inconsistencies of an uprOoted
More than anything else in
the world, these homeless people want.
to return to their own iresides; and
for the time being, that is ~tragically
impossible. They must be made as
contented as possible in their new
communities. Furniture offers n
means, gardens another, rabbits a
third. Many of the people have been
on a small scale so that a
few feet of ground on which to raise
soup vegetables or potatoes makes
hem Unfortunately happy. The village
the garden and the Red
Cross supplies tools and often seeds.
Importance of the Rabbit.
But rabbits are the browning glory.
They represent almost the only form
If meat these people ever have; they
be kept in very small quarters, fed
IN grass gathered by the children; and
hey multiply with pleasing rapidly.
it seems that a rabbit will be
specially appreciated, the delegate
gives money enough to buy it to the
mayor Of the village and asks him to
10 the purchasing.
So it goes. Sometimes the gifts OF
| spade or a hoe or some wool or
tockings; sometimes hundreds of kilos
# potatoes sent to a mayor to distrfb-
tie for the spring planting, dozens of
to cover the people when they
irst arrive and are housed Of neces-
ity in sc%hoolhouses or town halls
converted into temporary bar
acks.