The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1919-11-11
SOCIETY WOMEN TO WORK ABANDONED
 FARMS

Franklin, N. H.. Nov. 11-1magine
 a trim figure in puttees, an olive drab shirt, and, what in army parlance are termed ''breeches, O. D. l (one) pairs" and you have an eye flash of Miss Carita Spencer, New York so- ciety leader and chairman of the Food for France Fund, who is re claiming an abandoned 2O0-year-old farm skirting Webster Lake, just immortal orator.
 Miss Spencer is a doughboy every inch. Even her hat is a close approx ination to a regular service hat. It is olive drab in hue and a bit batter
 LII e1!uY QlBeqs V 'eoUBLBeddB LII pa her belt adds the necessary warlike touch.
 The brooches are the real thing. Her brother was lover there'' and wore 'em through the Argonne and Chateau Thierry engag agements. ''They have certainly seen service,' '' she smiled as she met a reporter. i Miss Spencer wears the garb mas culine with a definite, serious pur- pose. During the war she worked necessarily; night and day she was directing drives. After the armistice | the pressure became even tenser as l the needs of the French peasantry 1 became known. As a result two 1 months ago she began an extended 1 motor trip to recuperate. Accom- | panying her was Mrs. Frank W. Gar | win, secretary of the relief work Miss 1 Spencer tells what led to the 1 brooches.
 l "We were motoring through New 1 Hampshire when we saw on the bank ! of Webster Lake a beauty spot-an
 almost ruined farm house, at least l 200 years old-broken windows, 1 leaking roofs, gaping holes, massed
 rubbish-but a glorious view and a giant elm to stand as guardian senti- | nel
 ] "We are working for the starving, l homeless peasants of France Let's 1 live here and see what 1t is to ap- l proximate beginning life all over again on nothing at all,'' I exclaimed | to Mrs. Garvin. f'She assented at : once.''
 i "Oh, how French it was, for the 1 French peasant keeps his measure of 1 farm wealth-his manure pile-in his | front yard. We found ours, dried and not unhealthy, in what was once the 1 farmers par1or. A broken chair, a | table, two army cots and 10-cent
 store stockedf us. Feminine ingenuity l and perseverance have made 1t home 1 for two months.
 | ''The sheath knife? I use that to | open milk bottles. We draw water, l tend fires make furniture out of l packing boxes and wear hired mans clothes.
 z 'The fund? No it has not been ! neglected. We have done a large business through the Franklin post office. Our adventure will be over soon. We are awaiting the arrival
 of Mrs. Armstrong Whitney, director of the Paris committee. She is
 bringing slides specially prepared by
 the French government, showing
 actual conditions today in northeast
 ern France. She will tour the coun-
 try and speak for the fund
 Americans are extremely intelH
 gent, but unless one has actually
 seen it. one cannot have even a glim-
 mering of the true misery of the
 French peasant. Alexander J. Hemp
 hill of the Guaranty Trust Company
 of New York has written me that the
 public is responding generously, but
 he added that much more is needed.
 shall use my experience as
 peasant on an abandoned farm in my
 work this winter. I shall be very
 busy, because we must carry on until the next harvest. Then. perhaps.