Evening star., 1939-10-01
britons Evacuated
From Cities Reported
Anxious 10 Return
J Billet Arrangements
/, Also Cause Friction
! Between Families
BY H. ]. ]. SARGENT.

BY H. J. J. SARGENT.
LONDON. Sept. 80 (CPAJ-Last
week I wrote about the spirit Of ap-
peasement which seemed to pervade
this country. Political and indus
trial strife has indeed been dissi-
pated by the tragic adventure Of
war through which we are passing,
but appeasement has not sunk very
deeply into the hearts and minds Of
many of the people who with their
children have been evacuated from
the great cities and have been found
quarters in the country.
The moving of these millions was
. masterpiece Of organization. 1t
was the best piece of work that. as
far as London is concerned. Frank
Pick, the operative head of London
transport, and his assistants ever
did or are ever likely to do in their
lives. The evacuees. to use the
newly coined, unlovely word, are
not, however. as grateful as they
might be. They find the country
dull and they want to come home.
It may be that. If the war had
begun as many amateur strategists
thought, by vast and repeated en-
erny air raids, these grumblings
weuld not have been heard. The
people would have been thankful
enough to remain in their rural re-
treats and to thank Heaven that
they were not in the bombed areas.
This was not what happened, and
there was really nothing to interfere
with the homesickness which rapidly
developed.
Uneasiness No Novelty.
I do not want it to be thought that
all, or the bulk Of, the evacuees are
aHtating to return home. The move
inent is confined largely to working
class circles and 1t is due to many
reasons. First Of all there Is what
certain mothers who have gone
away with their children call the
horrible" hush of the country. The
noise and the glitter, until blackouts
were ordered, OF London, the smell
Of the fish and chips shops. the
brightness of the lights are all miss
ing in the little country districts
where these cockney folk are now
settled.
This feeling of fear, or, if you like,
uneasiness. of town folk for the
darkness of country lanes is by no
means novelty. There is in this
country a great exodus every year
from London to the hop fields Of
Kent and other neighboring coun-
ties. Huge numbers of working
class families, the father, if he is not
otherwise employed, the mother and
the children go down to these fields
at the time of the picking of the
leaves and it is indeed the only
change and holiday that many of
these people have. But even hop
pickers who have been season after
season at this job are still terrified
OF the dark and hate to go out in the
evenings after their work is done
unless they 60 about with several
companions, and even then they
sing or whistle to keep up their
spirits.
There is also the matter of food.
1t Is a fact that many Of these
poorer-class families living in big
centers like London or the larger
provincial cities know next to
nothing about fresh food. That
does not apply so much to meat as
to other things like vegetables, and,
to some extent. milk. The consump-
ton Of timed milk among the urban
working classes, for instance. is
enormous. They use it in preference
to fresh milk, partly because it is
cheaper and partly because con-
densed milk is usually sweetened and
they prefer the taste of it to that of
raw milk.
Then, about vegetables. There are
cases where the village grocer has
been completely sold out of all his
timed goods while the greengrocer
Is selling nothing. The same thing
can be said about fish. The east
end working class family dearly
loves its &nned salmon, which it eats
IN enormous quantities. They like
their bloaters and kippers and their
smoked haddocks, but thev eat
very little fresh fish except for fried
white Ash. which they buy with
ch1pped potatoes from the smoky
noisy. friendly shop at the corner
Of the street.
Other Side Of Picture.
On the other side of the picture,
one finds certain amount of fric-
ton between the evacuees and those
on whom they are billeted. Even in
Parliament We have heard stories of
housewives in the reception areas
weeping amid the wreckage of their
homes, which have been upset by
their visitors from the great cities.
The habits Of some of the evacuees
are not, of course, exactly those of
the leisured classes, nor can it be
expected that they should be, and
when two or three working class
families have been billeted in some
big country house, the owners, who
\ CARLY BIR