Norwich bulletin., 1918-08-30
TAFTvELLE HAS RAISED
 S1.31f FOR R.-A. MAR RELIEE

The contributions to the British American War Relief Fund by the Taftville branch, from it's founding up to August "A, amounting to s1.311. Of this sum s1,250 has been sent to the National headquarters in New York. With the acknowledgment of the last check came the following let ter and enclosure from Mrs. Paul Da- na, one of the vice presidents of the fund:
 Dear Sir: I feel sure that you and our Taftville branch will be interested in this letter from our president, Will jam Whitridge, who sailed for England in June. The B.-A. War Relief Fund sent some rubber goods as it's con- trfbution to Queen MarY's hospital gifts" on the anniversary of her sil- yer wedding anniversary. These gifts were all distributed among the hos pitals, many of which are caring for our own men.
 Sincerely yours,
 MARY D. BUTLER DANA.
 August 21.
 The following are extracts from Mrs. Whitridge's letter to Mrs. Dana:
 London, July 27.
 have seen MT Ehdicott and he has written a real panegyric of our work and the value of it over here ito Elliot Wadsworth, his immediate chief in Washington. We could not possibly stand better than we do in the eyes of everyone over here American and HBritish-all are full of our praises, and are really overwhelmingly complf- | mentary in what they say. I hardly know what to say or which way to look, and they count on us to go on and go ahead. So we must not dissap- i point them if we can help 1t.
 ! I am sure it will interest our l workers to hear that I was present at | the formal presentation of Hospital 1 Gifts" to the Queen on the occasion 1 of her Silver Wedding. It was op- | perfume. It was quite function and was treated with great distinction and as a president was Secorated with a l little silver badge on an old rose rib 1 bon and sent into the room in which were only presidents. All took place ] in the big rooms upstairs at St 1 James Palace. Each president wait- ed in front of her particular table piled with samples of their particular ! gifts for the Silver Wedding. It was i quite amusing and very interesting there were over 800 900 gifts and all were nice things and every place in i the world. I should say. was repre- 1 sented, that has any connection with Great Britain and more besides. was next to very nice women who
 represented the Post Office London District Employees and they have giv-
 en beautiful things. An invalid chair gramaphone and games of all sorts
 and thousands of walking sticks ant
 crutches. There were other huge
 rooms full of things and the pile O | blankets, which would nave protected l any Cathedral I should say, was st
 tremendous in weight that no one wa! allowed to finger near them in cas, the floor gave way. Lady IAwley ant
 her wonderful staff of helpers mus
 have Iahored over the placing of al
 the gifts to the best advantage A
 three o'clock the Queen and Princes
 Mary, and Princess Beatrice came il
 and mounted onto a little platform ii
 the banqueting hall and Princess Bea
 trice read a charming little sort 0
 wedding day address to the Queer wishing her and the King health an happiness from us all and begged he
 to receive the gifts sent to her fo the wounded, the suffering, etc. an
 then the Queen stepped forward an answered it and gave a very delight : full little speech of thanks and wee gratitude for all her beautiful pres ! eTis which it gave her such intens pride and pleasure to receive, etc
 which she knew would bring con1for ; and relief to many who deserved an needed all that could be given then , It was very nicely done and sh speaks well and clearly. Then sh . walked around and looked. 1t scene : to me, at everything closely attende by Lady Lawley and Lady Dawson. ' think she must have shaken hand with hundreds of people. Then whe
 she came to our room she certainl
 left no one out but thanked eac
 president most delightfully."-. Sh ) stayed and talked to me for quite long tine and said how very grate ful she and all her workers were f US, and how lovely our things wer and that rubber, and those beautifl . bags'' were treasures indeed. An ] Then Princess Beatrice came up to IT $ and talked most pleasantly. In fact m :, being there and personally thanke v was considered a great success an 0 certainly our gift was appreciated. 2 You have no idea how pouplar u s are over here. I lunched with MT s Reid yesterday and met various pleas = ant people including Mrs. Chapin an Q Lady Harcourt.
 = Please let our workers hear of ri experience at Friary- Court and fo e charming the Queen was and how fu . of gratitude to us all in America : and to is especialI think she req : ly was wonderfully nice and you fe a she knows about the work that y done.
 y They are delighted with oru SUI = gical supplies and say they gre a jc . to unpack. All are beautifully mat
 and of such good quality They wou $ like the Carrel dressings. however, ar a of the ordinary sizes, but not neces
 sarily the complicated ones.