Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1920-02-17
COUNTESS szECHE NYI AND HER CHILDREN

NEW YORK.--No one knows bet
ter than Countess Szecheryi, former
ly Miss Gladys Vanderbilt. of this
city, the fearful privations which
I the children of Central Europe are
suffering today and the heart pangs
W hich their mothers must endure
because they can do nothing to aid
their little ones.
T The countess, as is well known,
recently returned to this country pri-
mariIy to preserve the life and health
of her own three children. Con-
ditions in Hungary are such today
that even the weolthiest are unable
to obtain proper food and clothing
for their children. while the distress
and suffering of poorer families is
proportionately greater:
Have you ever thought, \she ask
ed soon after her return, what it
would be to see Your own child
grow daily thinner fore want Of food.
to see chilblains coming on hands
| and feet for want of stockings and
shoes and mittens; to have to send
her out IN mid-winter, hungry and
half-froZen before the door opened
| without a WOODEN garment on her?
To have no school to send her to.
| because the schools were often shut
| for lack of coal?
Il have gone ii:ro one store after
another, trying to buy any warm
| clothes for children ana have been
told. almost before I had spoken.
| No, we have nothing Then, per
| haps, at the end of the afternoon /
| have been able to collect 20 pairs
| of stockings at SIS a pair, when
| reeded hundreds, and a dozen WOODEN
petticoats, and this after ranseck!n2
the town.
you nave pictured over here the
| almost unimaginable horrors, you
| have tried to grasp the feeling of
the cold, the wet the noise, the fear
and the pain. You have visuaIized
| the chastity tragedy of the firing
! line, and you have known the anXi-
| ETY. and grief when waiting at home
! But how many of you have realized
| or even tried to understand the
| petty miseries of these last five
| years-petty, if taken one by one
| but when accumulat ting and increas-
| ing from day to day, week to week
month to month AMI year to year
| no longer petty, but tremendous
heavy. all-pervading and making life
long sacrifice?
Now | am back here, and the diff
ference is so great that it appalls
me. There the people are starving
| here they eat more than they need
or even want. If you feel a little
| sympathy for the poor miserable
brats over there would you be will
| ing to cut down your food for one
| day! Unless you cut it down to al
most nothing you will still be eat
! ing more than they have had daily
for many years.
IF say, tomorrow, you would eat
81 per cent of what you usually ,lo,
and send the 20 per cent saved to us,
wouldn't the lack Of that food
whether it was meat, butter - des-
sert or an ice cream soda. be rather
| pleasant than Otherwise? Wouldn /
it be good to feel that by eating a
little less yourself, you were actu-
ally giving meal to some one who
! was actually hungry:
Telling of food conditions in Hun
gary today the countess said
MILK still is nor 20 be had. This
means that practically every child
and every person in the city sits
down TO breakfasts Of tea usually
made with blackberry leaves and in
most cases without sugar or MILK
and piece of dry, sour black bread.
For dinner they may have beans or
potatoes and for supper black war
coffee and bread. When children
| have had this food for about three
years you can imagine the condition.
they are in. Would You like to Try it
Oh your children fo@ one day?'