Grand Forks herald. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1916-1955, 1918-07-08

had already burned a house In the
next street in the same manner
Knowing that she was powerless to
prevent him, and being filled with
despair, she fell on her knees before
him.
Spare mel" she enlreated of him.
Spare this house and allow me to
live here in peace. What have l ever
done to you?"
But she had hardly uttered these
words. when shame overcame her be.
cause she was abasing herself. before
a German. In another instant. she
had risen to her feet.
What am l doing?" she exclaimed.
"Je suis perdu! I I'M disgraced. I
have entreated a favor from the foe
Of my native country"
Then she crossed the room, before
the astonished officer, and took up his
gun. Placing it.in his hands, she told
him to kill her.
II deserve no less than DEATH" she
said. II have ~disgraced France by
kneeling to ask a favor Of one of her
enemies"
Probably the German officer would
have killed the woman, but at that
moment one Of his brother officers
came into the house. He must have
had a more tender heart for he took
pity on the old woman and put a
stop to the proceedings. So her house
escaped for the time being. But lat
err OF 1t was burned by other Ger
mans. When I found this woman.
she was working eighteen hours each
day, washing for the soldiers. I
asked her why she worked SO hard
and she told me that it vas because
she had nothing left to her in tho
wide world and the only way to keep
herself from heartbreak was to be
always occupied.
The conditions under which most
Of these people have been living are
horrifying. Their houses r heaps of
ruins. You can hardly believe the
systematic way in which the Germans
proceeded to destroy their dwellings.
along the line Of march. The furni-
ture was all broken up or burned,
fruit trees were cut down, and wells
polluted. Yet, when the invading
tide was swept back, these villagers
came back at once to their former
homes. This devotion Of the French
peasant to his little home is some-
thing which Americans can hardly
appreciate. He loves it ardently, it ID
almost a. part of him; he cannot bear
to leave it.
|. During the time when they were
struggling to rebuild shattered houses
these peasants had to live in cellars
and dug-outs. OF course, these
places were most unhealthy and not
fit to remain in. 1 once went down
into a cellar in which an old couple
was living. The roof of the cellar
was so low that, when I was seated
people, I had to stoop. The floor was
entirely mud and the water seeped
in through the walls and trickled
down in tiny streamlets. In the cor
ner was the straw bed which had
been furnished the old couple seven
months before. It was Nindescrtbably
filthy, md 81 damp that one could
Yet the chief desire of the old wo-
man vas for a plate to eat OFF. The
Germans had destroyed their crock
cry and household utensils and they
had only one old metal skillet in
which they cooked and from which
they ate.
In one village. I saw a mother who
shelter which she had. built for her
self in the corner formed by the only
two remaining walls of her dwelling.
Over the top of this place, she placed
planks. One side was open to the
weather. The cold, raw weather
lmade it difficult to exist in sue a
place. I myself have lived in a little
wooden building near the front, sim
liar to the barracks In which the SOL
diers live, and I know the cruel win
tere weather of these parts Of France.
The hardship has been greatest on
the little children. Oh, the poor
children! They nc longer play.
They have forgotten all their games.
They do not know what it means to
run and laugh and be gay. AS they
walk along the streets, you will see
than cfor ~~sfd6on1v and 1nok over