Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1921-08-13
AMERICAN GIRL HAS
THRILLING EXPERIENCE
After Strenuous War Service
She Devotes Time TO Helping
Afflicted Of Albania.

In tho quaint little. Albanian town
OF Tirana there II a young unnamed
American girl who wears tweed
suit and velvet tam. with knee boots
10 defy the mud In the narrow un-
raved streets. She has only been
there two years. but she can chatter
the old Aryan language like ma
tive. Rose Wilder Lane. In the Red
Cross Bulletin. tells the romantic
story Of Miss America in old Albania.
The girl was In Switzerland when
war broke out in Europe. She bor-
rowrd enough money to buy motor
ambulance which she drove all
through the war, just behind the front
lines. in spite of, wounds received.
Then she volunteered for further Red
Cross work and was sent to Albania
in charge of n so-called motor trans
port, which consisted of one cid ma
chine without spare parts or extra
| tires She drove IL over rough noun
tain roads until there were no inner
tires left. Then she stuffed the tires
with pieces of her own clothing until
she wore the tires of. Then she ran
| IL on the rims. until they too were
| zone and there was no motor trans
port. Mrs Lane tells what happened
I ext rs follows:
| Being without job, she then went
out into the street and gathered to-
| gether a dozen homeless. wretched
children. she borrowed more money
the Red Cross was doing o1iy relief
work--and rented d house and hired
a teacher. She bathed the children.
clothed them, and saw that they were
fed and taught. Slowly they began
TO be normal Children again.
/ But Tirana was full of wandering
orphans. living like the hungry dogs
w the streets. They besisged the
home of the Red Cross iady;" she
| took in a dozen. 20. 40. She borrowed
more money and rented larger
house. She had a thriving school; she
star led kindergarten work she
brought in equipment for little
museum and a laboratory. she taught
drawing and English and manners
aua mcraIs She kept the children
clear and happy: she hired other Al
,anian teachers and supervised their
work She had on her hands large
Institution. manufacturing sturdy, in
;eiIigcnt human beings from the
Captain Crawiey came to Albania
as Red Cross director and took over
the tiny school. and developed IL into
The largest school in Tram, where
coo boys and girls learn modern meth
eds i'm agriculture. silkworm culture.
ns well as academic subjects.
Mrs. Lanes account continues. The
Red Cross lady" had still little
boys spent their idle time troubled
her. They had no sports no amuse-
n ents. no knowledge OF out-or-doors.
They sat In dark. wfndowless rooms.
in the fumes from charcoal tfaziers.
smoking cigarettes. drinking Turkish
coffee. and absorbing the evil of sdie
| mems talk. She went out Gre day
and organized an Albanian Boy
Scouts. One week she had a dozen
boys taking long walks with her after
school hours. bathing once day. and
once day doing kind deed. They
thought it fun. Next week there were
40. Then she sent to Italy ar d with
her own money. bought 40 uniforms.
Mohammeds cannot wear hats with
brims that shade their eyes from
Allah. so she designed cap In red
and black--black mourning for Scan
derberE, the hero whose death dyed
all Alba nisn Jackets black. AMI red for
the blood Albanians have shed to
keep their people free. The third,
week the boys marched through III
rama N their uniforms. and the
people in the market place rose and
cheered them. In the fourth week
four other Albanian towns sent in re-
quests for a Boy Scout organization;
two Albanian men who had been
.coutmasters in Italy and Switzer-
land came forward TO helr: the people
contributed $4,000 kronen to carry on
the work. and the Albanian govern
m ent took IL over.
The incident of the Boy Scouts helps
to complete the picture of on. of the
girls who in Europe carry a power-of-
attorney from the American people.
She herself viii perhaps forgive me IL
/ add another personal bit. She has
recently received a legacy that repaid
all the money she borrowed to spend
in saving lives in France AMI in AL
i,ania; this winter she goes 10 lAmeri-
ca to work her way through a last
year Of college so that she can come
back TO her work in Albania.
Because really you know, I'm very
stupid I've just done what / could"
she said to me.