Lincoln County leader. [volume] (Toledo, Lincoln County, Or.) 1893-1987, 1922-03-03
OREGON bride
MOTHERS 1000
Ethel Long Newman Writes Of
Life in Armenia, Where She
Manages Great 0rphanage.

are given by Mrs. Samuel Newman,
formerly Miss Ethel Long, graduate
of Oregon Agricultural College, class
Of 1920s1n letters to friends in Oregon.
Mrs. Newman and her husband, the
Satter q graduate of the Idaho Agri-
cultural College. were married In Port
land last spring, and soon after left
for Armenia to Join the staff of Near
East Relief workers in charge of two
large orDhanages near Alexandropol,
where an extensive agricultural recon
struction project is being inaugurated
by the Near East Relief organization.
The Soviet government, unable to
cope with the appalling conditions fol.
lowing the warfare wAged in that re-
gion almost continuously since 1914,
last year turned over to the Near East
Relief three mammoth military posts
which had been converted into orph-
anages. together with $4,000 acres of
land to be put under cultivation.
ut is a staggering task the Near
East Relief has undertaken writes
Mrs. Newman, "but We are working
hard and making progress in the face
of overwhelming odds. Sam has TO-
600 acres Of farm lands under his
supervision. and is toiling early and
late getting his farm units started.
am busy every hour of the day with
my work in the orphanage here, which
shelters 1000 children and gives en-
ployment to the mothers and fathers
OF many hundreds more. The farms,
you know, are operated in connection
with the orphanages. Besides receiv-
ing instruction In manual training and
other useful things, the larger boys
are taught modern scientific methods
OF farming, The orphan girls are
taught to weave rugs and to sew and
cook. We are also operating several
industrial units where cloth is woven
and garments made for the children.
at was all very discouraging at
first Mrs Newman continues, but
now we are taking heart and work
ing harder than ever. Sam he'd
an awful time getting his first unit
started. However, after securing
the whole country he got together a
few plows and harrows and things;
also, q little later, the modern machin-
cry contributed by friends of the Near
East Relief began to arrive, and Sam
had the good fortune to round up 32
good reliable mules. He has sixteen
teams now at work, and expects to
have tractor in the field soon. =
The poor peasants here had never done
any real farming, and it was very hard
for them at first, but their eagerness to
learn and to help is very pathetic.
The great deep furrows Sam plows
with his good American equipment are
q neverending marvel to them. When
Sam gets one unit started with men
trained to operate it, he begins an
other and the orphan boys take to the
training with great zeal
When the Newmans arrived at Djela-
lioghu, the orphanage there sheltered
only 400 boys and girls, and Mrs. New
man writes Of these; There were 1000
In this lot last spring, but because 5f
malnutrition and sickness, 600 of them
died during the summer, so the Soviet
officials had only 400 left to turn over
to us. Enough have been brought
down from the over-crowded orphan
age at Alexandropol to make 2,00O
here, and as you can imagine, l have
my hands full. helping to mother them.
1t is wonderful to see how the wretch
ed. dirty, starved little newcomers be-
gin to blossom and grow as soon as
they have been bathed, clothed and
given few rations of wholesome food"
Mrs. Newman says there are things
the relief workers must think of as
little as possible, and must turn away
from whan outside the orphanage
gates. To attempt to aid all the
starving people, or even children,
would be utterly futile, she says, and
would exhaust the Near East resources
without permanently. helping any. The
orphanagss take in just >as many as
can be managed safely.
1--WE simply must ignore the rest"
she writA. Just outside our gates
there are scores Of starving children
AJAu6 VI oitttHS opoue liotiOooiy, oulFct-
ing in filthy rags. with their little
bones fairly .protruding through their
skins. Many Of them are sick and in
pain, and they all beg piteously to be
taken In every time they can catch the
attention of any of the workers. Many
times we have taken in lust one more
until 1t cannot be done again, else
there would not be food enough for
the ones we already have. Another
awful thing one may see any day, are
the little quiet bundles Of rags lying
on the sunny side Of a wall or hill.
side, Just able to stir feebly now and
then, or to lift up pleading little wist-
full arms In supplication, II anyone
3passes. They will lie in the same spot
for days sometimes, before they be-
come quite still. Then the Soviet cart
with Its daily load Of the dead, comes
and picks up the little bundle. Just
picture any one Of the many mothers
In this tragic land-half-starved and
despairing, clad In rags and tatters,
with her naked babe in her arms, the
little thing trying feebly to draw nour-
tishment from her dried-up breasts.
I must not write Of It, nor think of
1t. We must all keep strong for the
work that is before US. and think only
of the great good that we are doing
Dat 7 hao of voiI never haliava tbo+