Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1920-06-06
Little Stories of the French
Children in DeUQstQtedReqiOnS
Sterling Heilig Says They Are the Best Be
haved Youngsters in the World, but They
Have the Least Fun---W0rk of Aneri-
can Committee

play gone out of her-because sho
| wore for weeks, hidden beneath her
! lace with her medals. a hateful piece
! of cardboard. bearing the Words.
'Liarw Thief" They are fierce on
| bringing-up, old-fashioned peasants.
Hear sweet Helene say her pro
hibition" fable. 1t is the Botrel piece
about the animals who found bottle
of brandy. the duck (quan. guam! oh,
la. laD. the dog (wof. wof! oh, laa'
laD, the colt, the cat and the COW
(moo, moo! oh. la, LAD quest que
c'est que ca?" they all cried. never
will / drink of that But the man
came along and snatched it up and
drank it all, and was so silly that
the animals all laughed and said-you
understand, this is the best part
coming now. and Helene gets it off
with unaffected childish brio, but an
old mans stern voice cuts her
Say thy English
1t is her old doddering, i'll kempt
grandpa, to whom Botrel counts for
Say thy Eng1ishr" And sweet Helene,
dropping, pulls herself together with
adorable dutifulness to get Off her
silly
"Tringle, tringle, lit-tel STARR!
Ow / von-ter vat-tu-arrr!
stop" thunders the old Hickory;
"1gnorante. bad learned Ii.ss 10 s1Sns
her on the wrist OF course, it does
not hurt, but we all hate him for it.
One day, to make it up to the nice
child they had her do her "wof, Wof
piece (she is an untaught artiste)
before some great folks. who, de,
lighted, petted and encored her. DIG
it faze the drooling grand parent P. ts
again he interrupted: And when
Helene finished "tringle-tringle, ne
swelled up with wretched vanity.
1--WE taught her that" he boosted.
The Americans. under the hign
direction of Miss Ann Morgan and
Mrs. Dixie, are teaching them some
American sports. for one thing, in.
GLIDING football played by boys ana
girls together. Some are actualiy
picking up the language. In an olo
chateau 100 children at time pass
through as residents to get a start
at vocational training ana American
ideas of co-education:
All through the Aisne (where the
committee has been working since
1917 at request OF the Frencn COY
ernment) the children see it's Ameri-
can tractors loaned to farmers, It's
rolling stores in villages still snor.
of Transportation, it's repaired scnooi
houses, school supplies and cniloren
clinics They see their own motners
listening, rapt, to these American
"French mothers" declares Mrs.
Thompson. "are more willing to ac-
cept scientific methods than are Amer
lean mothers, at home" ;. =
There is more soap used In the
Aisne Il think). more sterilizlng out
fits. fly screens. baby scales. tooth
brushes, dumb-bells. washing ma
chimes and antiseptics in bottles than
in many equal and some greater ter
ritories Of the earth.
This putting Of new wine into OLD
bottles has Cat tfmesl It's youtnlui
lamentations full Of charm. Because
the ancient culture, shaken but still
potent. has its delicacies-
"Mademoiselle Miss" murmurs suave
Suzette, 'if should be too clean, and
should another child be Jealous
Eyes, DEAR
SHOULD I not refrain to wash to
put her at her ease?"
Now, there is French tact! It Is
natural and Unborn.
French glory comes out, also. At
toothbrush drill, when Georges had a
"Mademoiselle Miss. there's two
girls at Vic-sur- Aisne who touch 1000
francs next Sunday, with q band Of
music! For toothHrushing their
baby sisters and carrying in firewood
Georges swelled UP. embarrassed)
an all thatv'
Adele helped him out.
1.-The Rosieres," she beamed. pick
ed out by monsieur the mayor and
the council. Just for being good!
Two thousand francs! We did 1t,
always, before the war;
he lad tn
proud, enigmatic, in face Of SO much
good from America to rest their
patriotic pride a little moment on the
laurels Of old France. The virtue
prizes, just for being good! All
France was dotted with them. and
the Aisne-ltke boche trampled
rose bush that bursts out In unex-
pected bloom.
The Paris edition of a New York
newspaper has just run an editorial
on the French Academy's acceptance
francs to provide an annual prize for
"a young girl without fortune who
has struggled honestly against adj
versity." 1t is but one more-the
latest-of ZIG such foundations ad-
ministered today by the academy, be-
ginning with their initiation by Rob-
ert Auget. Baron de Montyon, govern
or of Provence. in 1853, who left to
the academy the great fortune whose
revenues provide, yearly, for nineteen
such Montyon prizes ito reward poor
French persons for accomplishing the
most virtuous actions. ETC., etc"
The rosiere prizes of the French
Since the Lord of Sallency stood by
st. Medard, Bishop Of Noyon, to crown
the firest French rosiere, A. D. 500, it
became practice of great families,
in memory of some beloved daughter
dying in her bloom, to thus endow
localities with revenues charged on
lands. etc. Prosperous towns and viii
lagos followed suit. by public spirit
often for the annual ceremony. Phil
anthropic bourgeois and farmers en-
dowed others. Indeed, it is to the
shining honor of the great French
middle class that most Of the funds
now existing have this origin. And
| 1t was estimated that at least 1000
girls in France were annually crowned
with roses and handed bag of
money (from $500 to 5000, stated to
be g. marriage portion. just for being
good.
summer, and the ceremonies should
be brilliant, because while some con-
| tinued distributing through the war.
many accumulated, for wartime vir-
| tues, and the general thought was to
hold the distributions until the broth
ers should return and all be bright
again!
And now in the Aisne-
They bring her from her fathers
house. in the Street Of the Moat," tells
Fernand. lat the door the mayor
| stands. He calls the old folks out, and
tells them that their daughter, for
her virtue. piety. obedience and in
dustry, has been elected rosiere-'
euphra on his srnni. Ans 1ne . nNtr
in. for the observance Of the civil
| ce-re-mo-nyi"