Evening journal., 1919-04-22
CITY QUAKERS HELP
REBUILD FRANCE.
DR.. and Mrs. Maris, M. A.
Brosius and Helen Hopes
Are Over There
BEGINNING OF
RECONSTRUCTION

ntlcd TO do the tasks WHICH lue9 arc
now performing in the famous Nerdun
area in the northern departments OF
France.
TWO OF them are Doctor and Mrs
Robert H. Maris who went 20 France
fast fall Mr.. Maris is a well-known
dentist eE this city and lived at No.
1909 Jefferson street. He was the
Friends unit dentist at the Rosedale
farm prior to sailing for France, on
December TO- His wife, Katherine
NIaris, who is now working with the
maintenance department Of the Friends
Mission In Paris went early in Novem-
Der. Maris Is travelling through the
northern part Of France, setting up his
chair for patients both for the French
population, and for the boys who are
working In the different Friendsl
equipes. At the beginning Of this
month DR.. Ma7ls was located at the
Source Hospital at Sermaize, but has
since then moved up into the Nerdun
area where he is tending TO the dental
wants OF over 800 Friends, who are
buslly at work reclaming the land,
building houses, planting crops, and
doing everything possible to make life
lvable for the French peasants. DR..
Maris Is graduate OF Westtown
Boarding school and the University Of
Pennsylvania.
Ruth Heepes, another young Friend
and a graduate OF the George School
and later Of the Homeopathic Hospital
In this city In 1916 is with the medical
unit m France She sailed for France
last September and Is now in one Of
the larger hospitals which the Friends
are operating.
Malcolm A. Brosius. son OF Lewis w.
Brosius Of No. 1902 Delaware avenue,
and a George School graduate Is now
doing fine work with the unit He went
over on the Lapland on January %
and was later stationed In Paris and
now at lers-sOus-Chatillon In build
Ing and relief work
An OF these Wilmington Quakers VIII
continue IN the work for at least year,
for they feel that they must do some
thing unselnsh, something animated by
the spirit Of service and TO give all
that they can Of their energies ana
their time to the civilian victims OF the
war
The work Of the French Friends !
unit as contemplated and completed 10 |
date. is given in the following article |
which describes the future work at |
Verdun and the way in which The Eng /
llsb and American Friends WI help |
The French people 10 return to nor
NAL state OF living.
The English Friends had been work
ing actively for the war-stricken re-
fucecs Of France since the fan Of 1914.
Gradually the work expanded until in
1917 it was felt that the Americans too,
could help with man power as well as
With money. So the ilrst Unit Of one
bundred men was trained at Haverf0rd,
psnna., In the summer Of that year.
Early IN September IL sailed for France. ,
The American Friends Service Commit {
ioa with Offices at 20 South Twelfth Z
street Philadelphia has been going \
and growing concern ever since. The
United states government has given S
specisl recognition % the work and has {
frrIouched many conscientious object a
ors from The army to perform THIS
consfnictivb service. The Red Cross b
hss on-ouerated with the Friends, in 6
fact 10 was under their auspices that n
the larger part OF the work has been
done. The Red Cross is high in its I
praise Of the Unit members loaned TO g
81 for Civilian Relief work.
]
reached France they found that their q
English cousins had made great head I
way In various lines Of relief and re- D
construction including the building and =
erecting OF portable and demountable y
houses, the repair OF dynamited and !
shell-vrecked dwellings, the devastated I
region, agricultural work in several
ceniers. medical work and nursing, as
.fI an %
less people. The Americans reinforced
the efforts of the English in the same
direction. Their activities have in
cluded the restoration Of agriculture in
districts like the Asne, S0mme and
Disc. which has been overrun by the
Germans but which were evacuated
upon their retreat. Relief work, the
buildinr OF demountable houses, as in
ne. large carpenter shops at Ornans
and Dole. the eXtention Of capital funds
TO peasants so that they could buy fur-
nifirre and other necessarles, by the Or
ganizlng end supervising OF a large
home and school for Belgian orphans
(pro tenn. while Their pa tnts lived ana
worked under German rule) the build
ing, equipping and operating OF nos
nifals and innrmares-all this together
with emergency aid to the people dur !
ing the Trying days Of evacuation,
when the Germans were advancing az q
in March 1917, were some Of the ways !
In which young Americans working !
under the auspices Of the American =
Friends Service Committee have helped ,
the French people during the dark !
hours Of trial and distress.
The Friends War Victims Relief Ex-
pedition (the name given to the com
bined activities Of the English ana
American Friends) was late in 1918 in
vited by the French government TO do
special piece Of work. To The =
Ouakers has been assigned a wide area
Of The bombarded region lying west
OF Nerdun. and covering a part Of the | z
famous battle field. They have been
given plenary power to construct-in
fact, they have begun already-the en-
tire district. including some forty VII
iaees. When this district is made
hahitahle by the reconstructionists
some two thousand 20 two thousand Z
i've hundred refugee families will de- IL
sire to return 10 them at once. There
fore 10 provide for their speedv and =
satisfactory re-settlement on their ma
tive plots will be the tremendous task
Of the Friends after they have made
the district habitable
Returning refugees will have almost
unlimited needs. In their hasty flights
OF August 1914, and September, 1911,
they left practically everything behind.
Most OF them are farmers and they ex-
pect to return TO their former occu-