The Donaldsonville chief., 1921-02-05
RELIEF IN POLAND.
Interesting Letter From Miss Grace
c. Vuliiamy On Work of
British Committee.


veterinary surgeon of this city,
The letter which is postmarked
Przewodniczaca, Poland and dated
Jan. 9, 1921, reads as follows:
"My Dearest Constance, Gerald and
all the family,
"You will see by this paper that |
am again in Poland, and, as you can
imagine, have very much to do, SO |
must send you a joint letter to
tell you how delighted I was
to get your letters. was long
ing to hear from you, and have been
wondering how you are getting on.
| was also delighted with the photo.
Do send me some more. | fear |
won't have time to tell you very much
about my work, but | must tell you a
little, as ! knoW it will interest you.
When ! returned to England, / ap-
pealed for more help, and as | re-
ceived 10000 pounds worth of stores,
! formed committee, found some
voluntary workers, and came back
here. Now the distress is worse than
ever, as there are $4,000, Russian
refugees, and over 10000 interned
Ukranians, many with wives and
families, distributed in the camps.
made visit round and you could
never imagine what it is like. In one
camp for thirteen days they had had
no bread, only bean soup, no straw,
no fuel, no light no blankets. One man
was frozen dead. In some hospitals
three lie in bed suffering from diff
ferent illnesses, all so hungry and
cold. | travelled four nights out of
five; no heating; ice on the windows
and floor; you sat first on one leg,
then on the other. One night we ar
rived at a. m; no room anywhere,
and the waiting rooms crowded with
officers and soldiers who had been
three days lying on the floor. The
wives of the general and colonels had
benches to lie on. They said, eve
have found you two beds, quite clean,
and there is only one man in bed in |
the same ROOM" The next day had
an interview with Rethura. He lent
me his car to get to Cracow. The
driver went furiously, and in trying
to avoid two horses that took fright,
landed us all in ditch. We were all
so padded with thick coats. q had
the eX-prime minister of the
Ukranians coat on). My first thought
was, we shan't feel anything. One
Russian fell out very gently, and sat
comfortably in the ditch. I could
not help laughing. He looked as if he
Was WBaasssfblyp fflpo pto to nGYYt, nfGlYt said "S' FAINT
bouncy fall" "No." he said. IL sup
nose I am not" We then had to send
miles to dig the car out and in spite
of NV thick coat, got icier and icier
and arrived in Cracow quite detached
from any clothing, only a block OF
ice. One laughs after. then had
an interview with Savinkoff, the
great revolutionist, who has killed
manv in the old Gar days. He has
a tremendous personality. He form
ed an army in Poland, of Russians to
fight against the Bolsheviks, and now
thew are interned in Poland. You
cannot imagine the misery here. Will
it ever improve? Their money is
worth nothing! For one dollar I got
600 marks which before the war was
80 pounds. In Russian village,
where we are helping, So marks
keeps child whole day-feeds,
bsuses and warns it. l wonder if
you know of any schools which
would help? In England several are
working for us, making clothes.
Could Constance or Gerald sell
stamps to help? | am enclosing
some now, and could send many,
many more. 1t would be splendid if
they could. This misery will go on
for some years yet, I fear. | will
send you reports on the work. Our
principles are:
q. Only to distribute where we
have our own workers.
g. All, except children and sick,
must work in return.
II am trying to start house building
as we did in Holland Sometimes
think of coming to America to get
help for Central Europe, but it takes
SO long, and there is so mucf
. to do here. At present we have {
pretty little fiat, lent us, but NJ
kitchen. The other night two gen
erals came to supper; you woule
have laughed to have seen one max
ing the soup on wood fire, ant
toast, dropping it in the ashes, thel
blowing it and saying fine toast.
One general is fine. He ha
r been wounded fourteen times, los
an eye and a hand, motors himself
and is splendid. He is giving US 10
pounds for expenses of worker, a
We need more help so badly. | hav
six workers here now, and coul
use twenty In one camp there ar
500 cases of typhus, and | fear
will increase largely. When | wa
in one camp | used to always retur
here. have Search and was S
pleased to only find bugs and n
typhus lice We had over thol
sand eases. and touch wood
never found one.
"our man only speaks Polish; yo
would laugh sometimes. l Wante
him TO buy chicken and did NJ
know the word. so | crowed, and +
brought me 4 duck. It costs us, wit
our money, very little to live.
bought two chickens for one shillin
nave house for refugees for OF
year, and il costs me only tv
mounds for the rent for one yea
There are about twelve rooms in
and we have school and a children
kitchen. am enclosing lett
from a Russian child of whom I a
very fond. She was in a camp la
year with her parents, her father HI
been a millionaire They had six {
tates and about one hundred 81
wants. The Bolsheviks took all, a
they were left ruined. The faith
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