Evening star., 1937-10-10
BY ANNA LOUISE STRONG.

oid ANdbii III ivy, tpiNi INV why
he wanted to go to children's
~ colony in the safer parts of
Spain. 1t wasn't the bombing. 1t was
the food shortage. II would have gone
some time ago." he said, but mother
wouldn't let me. But now that she
sees how bad I am without the proper
food, she lets me. The colonies have
food" told him the colony to which
he was going had also swimming
pool and his eyes lit up with delight
The tenement where Jesus lived
was bombed some months ago. I asked
him if it had been completely de-
stroyed
mo, only half of it fell" he said
judicially. But the furniture all
spilled out of the half that stood"
Jesus was not in the house when the
bomb destroyed it. for his family had
long since formed the habit of Sleep
ing on subway floors.
Jesus admitted that he was afraid
OF air bombs. But all the same, I
go to the window to look" That is
the typical attitude of Madrid chill
dren as 1 have seen them by thou
sands in streets and parks and houses.
Gaping Holes of Bombs.
My window in a Madrid hotel looks
down five floors through a great bomb
hole, which few months ago ripped
the next-door building from roof to
foundation. leaving edges Of every
floor jutting drunkenly into the air.
AS I write / can see four children
standing high in the air on fire es-
cape of the house beyond the bomb
hole. staring with enhancement up
ward into the blue July morning.
They are watching airplanes.
Night before last an incendiary shell
set fire to the Department of the In
terror two blocks away, and we crept
through black streets to watch the
fire department put it out. Last night
great searchlights circled hour by hour
across the heavens, seeking enemy
planes all night. This morning in the
peace of dawn heard bombs fall. Or
thought heard. There are so MANY
sounds Of war in this city that I am
not able to distinguish aerial bombs
from shellf1re, nor even from the sound
OF the Loyalists' own big guns.
Suddenly sharp and clear came the
roar OF airplanes. The children ap-
peared on the balcony-three girls
and boy, the youngest a e-year-old
clinging to her 12-year-old sister.
They stare into the binding sky. The
roar OF the planes increases: 1t changes
in way incomprehensible to me.
But the children understand.
Watch Aerial Battle.
With a shout they disappear into
the attic and reappear. Seven this
time, not four "Nuestros, nuestros"
tours, ours"-they shout. raising
their fists to salute the heavens, where
1 see there is now a triple dog-ight
between 'ours" and enemy" planes.
There is a striking implanted
difference between Madrid children
and the children of Bilbao and Malaga.
All of them have been bombed by air
planes. But Malaga and Bilbao had
no defense. Their children are con-
ditioned to panic. You remember how
the Bilbao children shrieked in hys-
terra in the peaceful British camp near
Southampton when they heard COM
mercial planes overhead. Madrid
children are otherwise conditioned.
They have an air defense. To them the
roar Of planes means not panic or
flight, but battle. They come out ex-
citedly to watch it, distinguishing
between "ours" and theirs"
Some Madrid children, however.
have suffered more than Jesus de los
Rios. Amelia Gambia, a charming
l2-year-old, now neatly dressed in her
best blue skirt and white blouse in
honor of her departure to the colony,
was actually at home when the bomb
fell. She lived in large apartment
house with ancient solid stone walls,
and her part remained standing, so
she was not physically hurt. But the
shaking OF the house made her nerve
sick, with fever running to 104 for
three days. Several other children In
the same house were thus affected.
Shell Aids Amelia.
For four months after the bombing
Amelia's family lived in the cellar, to
be on the safe side. They wouldn't
let Amelia 90 to colony. for Spanish
parents cling to their children with
possessive love. But four days ago
shell demolished the house above the
cellar and Amelia was 50 sick that
her mother said she could go. She
got well almost Immediately.
Il want to go anywhere far away"
even to America" said Amelia. II
want to get away from war"
"You say it's a nice house, and the
Americans are supporting it?" asked
the more cautious mother. "Ah, then
it's all right" It was to the Ameri-
can house in Tonigros, Catalonia, that
I was sending Amelia.
At least Q million civilians, chiefly
women, old men and children, have