The herald and news. [volume] (Newberry S.C.) 1903-1937, 1919-07-04
THE LAST APPEAL.

1 AfAS IA A<AHs
! @ For Foster Parents for 10000 9
o French War Orphans. g
i" g
% 9 (. 9 . 9 8 9 8 9 @ . g o . o
One of the most appealing of
the after-the-war campaigns will be
launched this month, asking for fos-
ter parents for 10000 little war or
phans of France: Mrs. Walter s..
Brewster, wife of the Roumanian
Consul to Chicago, chairman of the
Chicago committee and vice-presi-
dent of the national committee of the
Fatherless Children of France, has
charge of the promotion Of this cam
paign.
Mrs. Brewster has just returned
from a tour of investigation through
the devasted regions of France. r.
The highest French officials pro-
vided her with military escort and
bestowed upon her every courtesy
during her visit to the war zone. She
lived with the appalling conditions
of these children and their mothers
she knows that thousands of child
rem cover there" are undernourish-
ed, starving, and succumbing to
sickness.
"In all the northern country" :"
says Mrs. Brewster, "there is no vii
lage untouched and scarcely house
with roof. There is not bridge
that has not been dynamited, fac
tory that has not been ruined. The
tales that are told Of the boche in
vasion are misunderstanding.
Still the people Of the north tell them
dispassionately. They have borne SO
much they have no energy to show
excitement over their suffering.
They are coming back into these ter
rible towns as soon as they are al
lowed. They bring their possessions
with them in two string bags, usual
ly. Possibly they have enough to fill
a red cotton tablecloth knotted at the
corners. To Cambria, $1,000 out Of
a pre-war population Of $4,000 have
returned. They live ten and twelve
in a room, and many of the rooms
have no roofs. &c..
! "For two days we motored over
this northern country before we saw
cow, chicken or horse. The
country is stripped bare of every
thing that makes it livable. But to
the French it is still lovable. AS you
ride through it your pity for France
is infinite. But in your, mind are no
words to express your feelings to-
ward Germany. There are miles and
miles Of grayish-brown dust where
were fertile farms, pleasant villages,
forests and orchards. About Verdun,
as far as you can see, are heaps OF
sand, no sign of life that was, no
promise of any life to come.
"Here and there is cross where
some soldier, killed in the last days
of the fighting, is buried.
"Those who died in the frightful-
ness of the earlier battles lie some
where beneath that awful heap of
dust. All along this strip Of dead
country are soldiers graves, singly
! in the middle of plowed fields, in
groups along the roads, or row after
row in some field cemetery. The ia
theirs of many of the little children
for whom we are seeking to care are
buried there, and more have left no
trace"
| Every day of her stay in the war
zone it was made wildly clear to
Mrs. Brewster that 1--WE must work
harder and faster than ever before, u
! for thousands of children are perish
| ing in France.
| Under the plan Of the campaign
being undertaken, each American
foster parent pledges ten cents day,
which makes So month, or $36 a
year, and this added to tiny allow
ance of the same amount allowed by
the French government, means saw
ing grace to French child, allowing
it not only to remain in it's own coun-
try, but with it's widowed mother in
stead of in an institution. Thus are
the broken remnants of the little war
families kept together. Each foster
parent is put in direct touch with the
child for whom she pledged the
necessary 10 cents day, and with
it's mother through correspondence.
Every cent subscribed goes to the