Evening star., 1922-07-15

all the next day. and the treeless
mountainside offered no chance of
shelter The children shivered with
cold. and what with two feet OF mud
on the road we could not even en-
Joy the luxury of sitting down. For
tunately. we found a large. empty
cistern and crawled into it for
rest. The provision wagon had over
mud. so all we had to eat for the mid
day meal was half loaf of bread
apiece.
Trudxe in Mud Knee Deep.
"Off we started again, with the
wind wrapping our soaked garments
about our bodies and our legs knee
deep in mud. Soon the children be-
came absolutely exhausted, many or
them falling face downward in the
mud and refusing to move. By heroic
efforts we reached the village of Eski
Serudj, where we found khan or
native mud inn. We gave the chill
dren a not supper and dosed them
with Quinine. then we fell asleep in
the khan courtyard. surrounded by
natives. During the night ! was
successively aroused by camel,
three donkeys. a calf and various
dogs. who were nosing about for
food
"I slept in my clothes, and. in fact,
off from Sunday until Thursday night.
Eski Serudj proved to be one. of the
so-called beehive" mud villages
whi, h are so picturesque from dis
taroc and so unsavory when seen from
within.
Two Parties Made Up.
Next day we procured wagons and
made up two parties, the one consist
ing of seventy children who would
go on with M. the other comprising
sixty-seven children. who were SO
tired out that 1t was DENIED best 10
senu taem along later. We left at
3 am, after a vast amount of yelling
and cursing on the drivers parts,
and much groaning and scoldlng on
the part of the unwilling came!s- BY
daybreak we were passing many lnuo
villages and Arab camps. Win their
black tents of goats hair, while be-
hind Us rose he majestic Taurus
mountains, with snowclad peaks.
Once, passing through village. we
found ourselves surrounded by saw.
aee-faced Kurds, who commenced
snatching food and extra clething
from the children. Fortunately we
had several Turkish guards. and SO
managed to escape without much loss
The guards seemed 20 regret the fact
that they could not stir up genuine
fight. as they had 100 rounds Of am
munition with them.
on reaching the half-destroyeo
bridge which spans the Guphrates
hetween Kemalist and French terri
tory, we got a native to Chamber out
on the girders and shout across a
message to the effect that some Amer
leans in charge of party of Near
East Relief orphans wanted ferryase
to the opposite bank. Up dashed
French motor boat with an officer
who presented the commentaries
compliments and an invitation to
spend the night at headauarsers;
we were, sleeping in some abandoned
box cars. AS a matter Of fact, due
to prowling animals and the presence
of thiev.sh Kurds. lay awake all
night long. pillowing my head on
my suit case.
Rowed Across River.
Early next morning we moved
baggage and children to the river
rowboats with which the French pro-
vided ms, Arriving on the other bank.
and the Turkish officials checked
and rechecked the children. who were
then put into box cars on the train
for Aleppo.
a o'clock that night we were so
weary that we could have gone to
sleep standing up. Meanwhile the
second party of children at Eski
Serudj had come along under charge
We had not lost child. and with the
exception of a few blisters and back
aches nobody was the worse for our
arduous trip"
The children were moved from Urfa
"a q matter of economy in relief
o6nin,stration o6 and also because OF
the greater security Of the French
area about Beirut War conditions
still largely prevail in Urfa- More
than seven thousand other war and
famine orphans had already been con-
centrated In the Beirut area by the
..fi.e orUp N ya tion