New Britain herald., 1918-06-24
GALLANT SERBIA,
 A NATION AT BAY
Woman Soldier Depicts Suffer-
 ingS Of the People in Balkans

Serbia, a Nation at Bay" was the topic of an interesting wartime lec- ture delivered in the Methodist church last evening by Sergeant Ruth Farnam, recently returned from the Balkans. where she has been working for the relief of suffering Serbians. Sergeant Farnam has the distinction of being the only woman officer in the allied armies and she holds the rank of sergeant in a crack regiment of Serbian cavalry. She has been in the front line trenches she has seen the Austrian shells bursting round about her. she has seen the Serbian shells scatter death and destruction in the Austrian trenches, she has seen the wounded Serbian soldiers literally jolted to death they were brought back from the front over rough reads strapped upon the ba cks of slow going mules she has seen women and chil- dren starving to death by the road side; in fact, she has seen war at it's worst. and after hearing her deScrip- ton and listening to- the tale of the patient suffering of the noble Serbians, her audience could not but think that General Sherman was modest in his description
 o6!OOul mas the MelhOQlS1 CnuTtIl, or any other local auditorium. housed such a vast audience as thronged it last evening to hear this wonderful woman soldier. The main auditorium of the church was filled shortly after : o'clock and it was then necessary to open up the chapel. In a few min utes the chapel and gallery were filled and even then it was necessary to turn away many who wanted to hear the talk. Rev Henry ". Maier pastor of the First Congregational church, pre- sided at the meeting, and, as usual, Wovc an intensely inspiring patriotic story into his talk. He then intro- duced Mayor George A. Quigley. The mayor spoke with feeling upon the war situation and struck a respon- sive chord in the minds Of the audi ence when. in referring to the Kaiser, he mentioned that diabolical monster as Wilhelm the Damned" Enlarging upon this later Sergeant Farnam said that the Allies are going to win this war and when all is over and the Kaiser is finally dead he will be bur jed face downward so that if by chance he should gain revive he would only be able to claw down the deeper. Praise for Serbia.
 S and it's people in the most laudatory terms. She declared that any stories that have gained circulation which may be derogatOry to the nation. either as to it's sanitary conditions the morale of it's people, are absolutely false. She said that the people are Christians they are clean and they are big hearted. She first visited Serbia before the Balkan Wars, she said, when she went there as a guest of a friend in Belgrade. Later, when the Serbian Bulgarian war broke out she visited this country again. It was during this visit that it was so forci- bly, impressed upon her how clean the people were and how patient they were in their great trials and suffer ings During the Balkan War she her. self assisted in nursing some of the wounded and she told of one particu- lar event which ever remains fresh in her memory and which later gave her the strength for the duties which ul- tim ately became hers. She said she was easing a soldier who was badly wounded in the head, and as the doc- tor worked over the unfortunate man she gazed at the ugly wound and sud- denly remem beTed that she was a woman and apt to be sick. Thinking only of herself. she left, but imm edi- ately there flashed across her brain the sight of this poor soldier, whose very life blood was ebbing away. She then thought only of the suffering of the poor people, crowded her own thoughts into the background and went back to her tasks of relieving the suffering.
 Stabbed in the Back
 Speaking of the present war, Ser seant tarnam said that twice the valiant little Serbian army beat off the mighty Austrian forces until at last she was stabbed in the back by Bulgaria, Serbia was then truly a nation at bay. She was in even worst plight than Belgium. the speak said. for when Belgium was in- vaded by the Germans the soldiers and people could retreat into France Not so with the hapless Serbans In front of them were the bloodthirsty Austrians and behind them were the equally bloody Bulgarians. She could only stand her ground and fight to the last man. Sergeant Farnam told an intensely interesting and exciting story of her visits to the battletields away up in the Balkan mountains. She told of visiting the front line trenches and also told of visit to a Serbian mountain battery which directed against the Austrians. As she arrived the commander or dered the battery to cease firing and in the temporary lull she heard the big Austrian shells whizz over her head and saw many of them burst among the Serbian defenders, rending life and limb apart. It then became her privilege. granted by the Ser bian commander, to give the order which again started the Serbian bat terV into action sh qaNe