Evening star., 1921-06-12
yANKS FRAULE|N
BRIDES PENNED UP

Wives and Babes Through
Wire Fence.
By MIRIAM TEICHNER.
COBLENZ, June 2.-when the
steamer Cambria. sailing from Ant
werp. arrived In Now York, it car
ried between $50 and 200 women who
are brides Of American soldiers. Most
Of these women are Germans. but
there were among them. too. a
sprinkling of French, Italian. Belgian
and British bridea
Until sailing time these girls were
housed in the barracks of the Coblenx
casual depot Eighty one OF them
are the mothers of babies. The policy
of the Army headquarters in the
American area toward the marriage
Of soldiers below the the rank Gaas,onsa OF ser
Ia admitted by high ranking officers.
into q peculiar situation among some
American soldiers and the German
girls of the area A man below third
rank was almost certain to be re-
showed moral cause" why the mar
riage should take place. Neither
could he be married by German civil
authorities unless he first had the
necessary military consent: He He
prospective til sUs. BRIDE top to some am town % over I
which the Americans had no juris-
diction. and be married there by Ger
man civil authorities, but the easier
and moro obvious course was not to
do this.
How System Works Out.
A typical instance of the working
out Of the system is that told by a
captain in the Medical Corps The
man in question came from a good
family in the United States His
rather, a student and a man Of bril-
liant intellectual attainments, made
the provision in his will that this boy
serve at least one years internship
in a hospital.
The boy disliked medicine. but he
followed his fathers desires to the
letter. One year. to the day. he
served an internship. Then he left
distaste for the profession. he was
in fair way Of making a brilliant
record, and became a wanderer. He
was shiftlese, unstable, in spite of his
intellect. The cause was morphine.
He went to Alaska, and he worked
III Iuo IuhcS ana AZ q 1un O0rJaCk.
He enlisted and went to Mexico and
later to France. He is a man who
might easily have had a commission.
but he had no ambition. The captain
in the Medical Corps discovered him
during a small influenza furry here,
when the supposedly green private
showed skill in administering diff
cult treatments which confounded the
captain.
In Love With German Girl.
"Oh, I've worked around hospitals
seme," said the man when he was
questioned, and it was some time be-
Iore the captain learned his true story
from him He Is, in addition to his
other attainments, linguist; he can
60 home at any time and fill q posi-
ton as translator and interpreter.
with German girl
she was a respectable girl, and a
pretty one. though Of no culture or
education-a farm girl. He insisted
that he would marry her and his com
pany commander, knowing his social
me ntal qualities, refused him permis-
sion. You'll ruin yourself" the man
was told by every one who knew him
and who hoped to have an influence
over him and to help him to a future.
one.
He thinks he loves that girl now
says the captain Of the Medical Corps,
but he win return home with her
and tne cn1d and begin. inevitably.
own social station station Which
he cannot hope to fill with the sort
of wife he has taken. Then it will
be more dope, and finally he will drift
away and the girl will be deserted
as a good many of the others will be
when they once get to America"
Happiness AZ Well AZ Misery.
which presage a happier outcome
young soldiers and girls who love
them and will make them good wives.
There are others, again. which have
In them potentialities Of nothing but
misery.
There is one woman at the casual
depot who arrived there with her
baby In filth and in rags She is ignor-
ant and not clean, a girl of the low
est peasant type: Her husband is of
1ne same type. He is. moreover. in
honesty his Army pay has been dis
although court-martial
was waived, and he will return to the
United States, as his officer in charge
says. owing the government money"
physicians in charge at the casual
depot. who have not the remotest idea
OF how to care for their babies. There
Is G4rl Of sixteen who has q hand
some boy baby, whom she brought
with her So encrBted with dirt that
his little body was 0ore. It win take
the physicians all the time between
her coming to camp and her LANDING
to doctor him into something an
the condition which il the
right OF his plump and lovely baby
hood.
Conditions Different Here.
When these women reach the states.
although they will be cared for by the
Red Cross on their arrival, they will no
longer be under the jurisdiction Of the
United States military authorities Once
he Is landed at home, the matter of
whether or not a soldier Is married is
his own personal affair. He will be sent
where he should go. and he will have to
provide transportation for his wife II
she is to accompany him-unless. Of
course, this matter IL attended to BY tho
Red Cross authorities which were in
structed to meet the boatload Of brides
and their families. The married soldier
ton Of his term. at the rate of $50
And the family allowance is
July 81.
The German woman who is caring for
the brides on their arrival into the casual
depot is the mother Of two children, a
girl about seventeen and a boy a little
younger. Her new husband is twenty
two-yeaF-old private. This woman has
been in the states before and speaks ex-
cellent English She is anxious to return
there