The Bingham County news. [volume] (Blackfoot, Idaho) 1918-1930, 1921-07-29

do not know, but she avoided all
the mistakes she might have had
She opened the Children's Clearing
house.
1t is today a large stone building
set in big gardens that are surround
ed, as all Albanian city houses are,
by high stone wall. Kol Ndoya.
tall old man in tight black-braided
white trousers, short fringed black
jacket and barbaric sash, guards the
high gateway. Three hundred chill
dren go past him daily; they come
in the morning, stay all day, and go
away to their refugee novels again
at night All day long they sing their
songs and dance their native dances
In the Fairgrounds; they have les
sons In the schoolrooms that were
once the drawing rooms of an Eng
| fish general; they battle under the
showers that were once part of all
army field bathhouse. and their sores
are dressed IN the small white dis
pensary.. And everyone of them
wears the American garments that
are so carefully boarded and thought
fully given out from the small store
ROOM
AS soon as child Is cured of his
war diseases, fed and clean and happy
again, he leaves the children's clear
ing house. He is entered in the
Scutari public schools, and MS long
as he goes to school every day and
keeps clean he can spend his free
time inside the gates. He always
comes back for that. But his former
place Is taken by another refugee
child.
All Must Be Clean.
There is only one inflexible rule; no
child can continue to come inside the
gates, no child can wear American gar
ments, unless he keeps himself clean.
| That Is the rule which Is making
over the whole Of Northern Albania.
For consider the situation. These
children have no homes; they live
crowded In old stables or damp base
ments Of wrecked and dirty barracks.
They have no soap. no way Of heat
Ing water, and no changes Of clothes.
For there are not many American
garments In that storeroom, and
there are no other new clothes In all
waf ravaged Albania. How can they
keep themselves clean7 Could any OF
US keep ourselves clean in such con.
ditions?
do not know how they do It,
but they do. For there is always be-
fore them the vision OF the Child
dren's Clearing house. and they have
always upon them the pride of tina,
little sweater or coat that some
American woman, somewhere, has
! made.
There are times when could
hardly bear It," Miss Cleveland says.
1T seemed unutterably cruel to ask
them to keep clean. How could they :?
They didn't even understand what we
meant. They had never minded dirt,
and they thought lice were healthful. l
remember one child we sent out, whose
mother brought him back to the gates
and hung on to my knees and begged
me to take him back. For the love of
God she said. He Is cold, he is
hungry. There are no clothes and no
food in my house. You will be doing
great charity to take him back
| You can Imagine how l felt. But
managed to look stern enough, and
turned back his shirt collar and
showed her why we had sent him out.
We are not here to do a great char
| ity,' said. we are here to show
you how to live Clearly. Go home
| and
| back
"She was furious. why do you want
the lice to leave my sOnT she said.
Lice leave only dead body But he
was back next morning, just the same,
| clean. There Is always water In the
river or In the wells. Water and de.
termination enough will keep anyone
clean. And when it was a choice be.
tween hungry nakedness and the chill.
drcn's clearing house they are de-
termned
Its Influence 10 Spreading.
Hundreds of children have gone
through that house. and gone back to
schools and normal life, new and
happy little persons, with the refugee
'ook gone from their eyes, Hundreds
more will go through it, for refugee
children are still coming down from
kastrati and over the mountains from
kossova. And far In the mountains.
ten days journey from Scutari, the
influence of that place has spread and
ran be seen. The children, going back
very night to earthen- 1oored novels
where, with rags for bed and an old
oil can for water. they fought their
battles to be clean, have given all
Northern Albania new idea. Scores
Of them have gone back to relatives
among the mountain tribes, wearing
the gray American sweaters, demand.
ing baths, washed clothes, clean beds
and bodies and education. have seen.
IN the heights above the LumI Shala
where the warriors wear scalplocks
and laws and customs have been un-
changed since prehistoric times WON.