Norwich bulletin., 1922-10-23
REPORTS ON BAPTIST AID

fH 1bip Ao fNuSSfd IItORtIucut Nudl iS bt- ing conducted by the Baptists of the Northern Baptist convention, to send over to the starving and scantily-clad peoples of central and northern Europe, thousands of garments, blankets, and other things too numerous to mention, was the request of Rev. William F. Lip phard of New York city made to Bap- lists Sunday evening at the Central Bap- t1st church to hear a report of the suc- cess last winter of the Baptist move ment of sending a Ship of Fellowship to the needy in Europe.
 It was pitiful sight that met the eyes of those who made up the distribution | party last fall. that took the garments, | blankets, toys and other articles over
 seas to distribute free of charge among the thousands of starving people of Rus sia, Poland, Germany, France, Czecho- Slovakia, Latavia, and other small coun- | tries of central and northern Europe.
 The movement among the Baptists was | a great one undertaken last fall when | every church was asked to contribute | clothing or articles to the association, | and when the time arrived in our big | warehouses in New York there were 12,- | 900 packages coming from 1000 Baptist | churches of the Northern Convention. | These packages were opened. the con | tents sorted out, packed by classification, | and then baled. These bales which num- | bered 1,75e in all. contained in some | cases. as many az 95S garments each. | When all was ready they were stored in | the hold of s. S. Estomia, the cargo all |
 in bales, if piled one on the other. equal | to a height of half mile. In this car |
 go were over 30,00o pairs of shoes, over | 50,O0o garments for men, and 100000 | garments for women, with as many more | for children. In addition there were barrels of toys and 110 barrels of soap. l
 It may have seemed hard to think that 1 1 soap would mean anything but when you learn that thousands in those coun 1 tries had not seen any soap for several years. it's worth is great. Thousands who had been used to having soap had been l forced to depend entirely for cleansing
 on sand and powders, that were home made.
 1 Leaving New York our ship sailed
 across the Atlantic, said Dr. Lipphard,
 and through the Kiel canal, the first city | on our landing schedule being Danzig. Here we loaded seven Polish freight cars
 with bales and sent men to guard over each car. It was here that we saw the | first signs of poverty and starvation. There was no milk in the city and a Baptist minister who had children could not obtain any although he had tickets in his pocket two months old. There was simply no milk to be had. I invited my helpers to the cabin and when they left II gave them each an orange. Did they eat it, no, they took it home and on Christmas, which was not far distant they were planning to give it to their
 wives, a priceless present. This IS an
 evidence of poverty in it's worst state. After distributing from there we went to
 Libau, Russia Here was starvation and poverty all about us. Bolsheviks had
 robbed the people of all they possessed.
 We had with us thousands of shoes. the
 American kind, pointed toes and high heels. There was no chance to djstrib-
 ute them among the Russian women, so
 we had the ends cut off. new tips put on. the heels lowered and gave them to the I children, not a shoe being wasted. Near 2 by we clothed the people, nearly 140, all i, lepers, also the Baptist minister who t weekly goes among them preaching the { gospel. We were given a fine present here for the government let our goods
 in tax free, saving of $l3o,oOO in American money, or 55,0O0,0o rubles in
 Russian money.
 In Russia it was pitiful, children, fac f es pinched poorly clothed, hungry all . about came to us for aid and received it. The weather was 10 below zero f and here were these people, no heat for = their houses, no food, wearing rags for e shoes, and rags for clothes. When they l, received clothing and other things they
 needed from us, the sight was pitiful . tears of joy rolled down their cheeks [ they kissed our hands, and could not q thank us enough for our gifts, from American Baptists to fellow Baptists
 and others in RusVia. In the market
 place could be seen the condition. Even ? the hoofs of animals were sold for eat U ing to those who could not afford bet T ter cuts. Women got up early in the ' morning, walked ten miles with a cart Ial 1ad n of,d r.
 sell and get money for themselves anC
 children.
 In Riga we met a Baptist minister
 who had been taken by the bolsheviks
 and exiled to Siberia for three years l. We had to clothe him before we coult q take his picture. And his photograph: taken before and after his exile show i, what Russia had done to him. In ont : he is young and in the best of health s in the second, an old man, haggard anC
 weak. Here we saw the Christian worl z undertaken by Hoover. So much ha! Il the A. NJ. A. done for the suffering iT t Europe that in Russia the letters A. NJ '' A., have become a word in theh = language There they were feeding ovei Y 900 people a day, and yet falling t'
 reach all who were in need
 We went to the Baptist Seminary n there and left blankets. Here we me t Dr. John E. Frye, president of the sem ,- inery. He was greatly in need. Bolshe t viks had visited his home and takeI ! everything but a quantity of black bread n This was worrny, but for days Dr. Fry, e and family had to sit at the table. wher' 2 he offered thanks to God, and then h. ' turned off the flights that his famil,
 might eat the bread without seeini |, fthe worms.
 . From there we went into France, Ger . many, and other countries delivering ou si clothing. In Poland we reached bo.
 and did everything to save him but h. : died within 24 hours of starvation ant e cold, an innocent victim of the war. |. Out of our entire shipment not on Il article was lost or was wasted. We foun,
 out these most in need and when the,
 called for their articles they were read.
 in a bundle. Women and children whi
 had not smiled in years. smiled whel ' they received their clothing they need ed so greatly, and blessed the Baptist le for their thought of poor SUickel ol Europe.
 B.. On the following summer when othe II Baptists went through Russia, on on or occasion 10000 people crowded about n, to hear them talk the gospel. and afte le the service would come up and pointinl x to their garments tell them that tn le Bsptists sent them.
 Now again winter is coming and rep pc resentatives report that many who las ed year were given clothing have been fore of ed to sell them for food and again ar 'n in need or must freeze I ask you al y, to give this year as never before, sen ,h in your packages filed with thousand ss of more articles than last year. s. The talk of pr. Lipphard was illustrat ne ed by slides taken during the trip. al tn of which showed the truth of his stor, ,s arousing in the hearts of all the detern le ination to give, that Baptists everywher