The Bemidji daily pioneer. [volume] (Bemidji, Minn.) 1904-1971, 1919-11-13
Living In Duqouts.

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left by the Germans called Neissen
huts. These dugouts are like a barrel
cut lengthwise and bombproof; also
these iron shelters are sweltering hot
: In summer and bitter cold in winter.
They were meant to be placed under
ground, not used as surface buildings,
but any shelter in the devastated re-
gion Is acceptable, and this salvage
can replace the school buildings.
Inside these improvised schoolhouses
there is nothing. An enterprisfng
schoolmaster will find planks in the
nearby trenches, and IL he can ind
nails he will knock together q bench
Tor his pupils to sit upon. If he can
obtain chalk, he has his class In arfth-
metic figure on the rough walls In lieu
Of q blackboard. II he has sufficient
memory he teaches his pupils what he
remembers Of history and geography.
A survey made in July, 1919, showed
that in 65 Of the villages under the
supervision Of the American commit
tee, % improvised schools had been
opened, and four were expected to
open in October. From the 80 villages
still without instructors or school shell
ter, the children must walk from three
to ten miles to the nearest school.
This walk in winter, In the fog and
rain and mud. ill-clad and undernour-
lished; IL q strain upon the frail con.
Situations that may result in the'lo
Of young life. " -. ,.
The children at home, sheltered in
the cellar Of a destroyed house where
many people live together, q calico cur
tain sometimes the only wall s<parat-
ing family beds, are under as unhealthy
conditions and as exposed as on the
trip to the nearest schuolhouse. II the
schoolhouses were equipped, the jour-
ney to school on a winters day would
.be worth while. but as it 10, the only
Involvement held out to the youth of
the isolated villages Is the afternoon
"gouter" or four o'clock lunch pro-
vided by the Hoover commission and
distributed by the American commit
tee.
+ Patriotic Though Suffering.
The instructors are government paid,
their salaries varying from $50 to 300
francs q month. The French govern
;ment owns the school buildings and
equips the schools, the taxes In the
past levied on the communes making
possible this support. When communes
are wiped out and buildings are nom
existent, taxee cannot be levied, and
until G readjustment Of government
finances is accomplished there is little
prospect of adequate school facilities
in the war-wrecked area.
Motoring one afternoon through the
beautiful Aisne valley, where scarlet
peoples covered the pock-maked fields
and the great war seemed as far away
as the Roman wars, workers OF the
American committee on devastated
France heard the faint strains Of q
poor violin and the high-pitched voices
Of children singing the "Marseilles."
They stopped the motor and up on
bluff by the roadside saw tiny hut
to which they climbed and found nine
children grouped around a hoy of
twelve playing his homemade instru-
ment and leading the singing Of their
national anthem.
The days instruction was over and
the children we're about to scatter, but
every day before they parted their pa
triotism broke forth In song.
These are the children whose ter
lrible war experiences have left them
nervous and frightened and who must
live for many years to come among