Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1921-04-11
AS ONE WOMAN SEES 1T
The Anne Morgan Unit In Devastated
France Admirably Combines Tact
With Practical Assistance
BY SARAH ID. LOwRIE
MAYOR MOORE'S constant alusi


by SARAH ID. LOWRIE
MAYOR MOORES constant allusion to
lVl himself in his public utteranCcs as
''thc Mayor" gives n certain piquancy to
his appearances on the platform that ]. for
one. would miss were he TO subSidc into n
moro conventional attitude toward his cX-
altCd position.
There was something also highly gratify-
ing in his vivacity while introducing Miss
Morgan at the Academy foyer meeting the
other afternoon in calling her several times
"Annir Morgan and whctting the imagina-
ton or her prospective audience by dcscrib-
ing her as "vCrr much like the statue of the
Goddess Of Liberty in Now York harbor.'
lie seemed quito stung with the splendor of
that sudden thought and ampliied it pic
tOrially until one quite expected some ono
larger than life and mountainously heavy
to clump up on the pMtform and stand
"four- square with an uplifted and pom
dcrous arm bearing n torch.
Our expectations were agrecably disap-
heroic in Miss Morgan's appearance and
she has the agreeable, casual, unself- ICON
scious manner Of her class-a sort Of breezy
forctfulncSS that passes over what it cannot
move and through what is not worth calling
an obstacle.
Her voice and clear, rather rhythmic ut :
tcrancr has II decided carrying power. and
something in tho handsome, generous char
aCtrrisirS Of her face. her easy, almost
bOyiSh carriage and tho nnturalness Of the
aSidcs which escaped her here and there
during III" thought out program of her
speech. all gave her audience the impression
Of power well directed and administrative
ability Of no common order.
TrkT France has allowed this American
l. unit 70 carry on in ono corner Of its sad
and devastated battlefield. and that the
French Government halls the various works
of the unit for tho babies and children of
the towns and villages undor rehabilitation
ns though they were the experiments of
particularly successful laboratory. speaks
well for tho tact and the clear headed sym
pathy Of tho enterprise.
Tho work Of the Americans was illus
tnicd by moving pictures that seemed to
havc been taken in n continuous dOwnpour,
50 heavy we're the imporfcctions of the films
and 50 hurried were all the movements of
tho actors involved.
II was quite evident that Miss Morgan in
explaining hcr pictures was aware of more
signiirnnr" in them than the hurried glimpscs
which they afforded the audience could quite
explain. The movie walk, which is too often
Il trot. was almost always a scurry in these
pictures Of the American aides and nurses
and French mothers and babies. Or per-
hHps it was because the pictures did sug
g">t So much that was vitally interesting
that ono felt provoked at being hustled past
them. ON" could scarcely sec tho smiles on
the faces let alone read the notices on the
walls.
HOWEVER. what | did get from that
i L hours talk was n thankful impression
that the generous. inventive, shrcwdly kind
side Of American character was being shown
to n good advantage to the proud and critical
and very distressed French pcasantry with
ont fulSom"ncSS on the gvCr's side os any
sense Of chagrin on the recipients side
It is sometimes gratifying sensation ("
weep with those that weep, but there comes
Il point when the wCpt over become rcStivc
and mgrNCful. ] imagine that by this timc
the French have eliminated all tho wccp"rs
that they could not cndur" and retained only
thuN" of the Morgan unit or the Friends
Nnit type who arc cheerful CO-OpcratOrS
rather than tender sympnthiHrrs.
A T ALL events. business likeness and n
y kind Of rcscrvcd gHycty seemed to mark
all the activities of those pictures Life was
not II continuous picnic. but il was cheer
ful regime, the establishment or the re-
establishment Of good habits for babies and
for mothers. boys and farmer folk.
In fact, one film showing children that
had been brought up I" til" normal phySi
cally and mentally and ready to be returned
to their parents was characterized by Miss
Morgan rs illustrating til" surprise await
ing tho parents who were to see the children
tho next day. "'Thoy hardly knew them
when tho children ran up to them" she
~al0. w IlHt tNrN rrlnarkc0 on was nor the
obvious health Of tho children, but their good
and happy manners.
VNIIE Boy Scout movement has got great
l. impetus in France since the war. and
n0Whrr" i II being better worked out than
under til" American unit. ! should say the
whole drill and equipment had been modified
to suit th" French environment, from the
bare hurcs and loose running pants of the
boys 10 III" variety of outdoor sports: which
individual type as the French. But there
was no mistaking tn" Boy Scout spirit Of
purpU~rful activity.
Til" milk clinics and weighing clinics for
babies, the distributing ronters for stores
ui all sorts. the Temporary intirmaries, the
scattered clusters Of portable houses. the
beginnings of gardens, the organized clear
juS up Of rubbish, the first little attempts Mt
festive rallies in ruincd civic Centers. the
daily start of the motors on the errands of
husinesS-all thcs" ar" familiar reminders ot
III" war days, with the happy difference that
rh" future cannot b" so bad as the past and
'ha, the dreaded word "cvacuatc" need no
longer strike terror INTO every act of life.
DTr what struck mo as strange as / sat
ID listening to Miss Morgan's recital was
that what used 10 bc fnmiliar in the mis-
s,onarioS tales Of mission work in China
and lIindustan was 80 strangely repeating
itself in the tales of Picrpont Morgan'S
daughter about France.
Tho ravagcs Of superstition and ignorance
and dobascd religion on the submerged
cIus~"s Of Asia are the same in effect as the
ravagrS Of drbasod culture and insane
,gutiSIn on tn" pheasant fields Of France.
The German lust has made a situation in
the most civilized country in the world only
puraclnd in the most tragic of the -callrd
'furCign mission rcnl"rs,' | cannot help
feeling that tn" NOR" foreign missionaries
.imcrica eau send out Of the Morgan type
the better.