THE DAILY CAPITAL JOURNAL. SALEM. ORE. SATURDAY, MAY 18. 1918.
ML
"A Great Net of
et of Mercv drawn tfircmcjk f
an Ocean of Unspeakable Pain"
-n a Tfc -t
at r ineamencanKea trass
ytfe4W4tet. 1 fet
HUSBAND GONE SONS GONE-
EARNS 14 CENTS A DAY;
THE UTILE HOUSE
AT THE CORNER
PUTTING HIS MONEY TO WORK
HAS WIFE AND BABY
TWO
1
A
HOME AND RELATIVES GONE
f
A Fact Story Telling Just What the Red Cross
, Did for Mme. Pellier.
-' . .
! ' By mi Eye Witness
MAUDE RADFORD WARREN
This Is tlie picture 1 saw lust Janu-llng Into Switzerland und then Into
ery Id France, and you liuve mercl-j Hnute-Siivoie. From there they went
fully changed It I Color enough there: 10 Lorraine. Mine. Pellier hoped that,
was above, the eternal blue; In the I evwi hUfih her village had heen bom-
backe round. H..I.U of 'living rreen.l "," nome migm nave es apeu.
which the German shells could not
I She found nothing except her bare
i fields.
prevent from creeping hack; In the .
,,,, , , , ,,, i Vo" chimgod that picture, you Amer-
mldUle foreground, a long village, ,0rttlSi wllo cnn nevcr ,)e bolllbariMi
street so hntlered and burned that ho can never lose through war five
U was merely u canyon of cream-col-ored
ruins. In front of one little
broken house were four figures In
blin k an old woman, poking among
the fallen si ones In a vain search for
omellilng tlint could be used; n
younger w-oninn, seated on what had
once heen a doorstep, with her face
hidden In her arms; and a little hoy
anil girl, who stared, half frightened,
half curious, ot the desolation about
mem. The little hoy held In his thin
band fl Ited Cross ling. All four were
pale and gnunt ; the faces und bodies
of the children showed none of the
round curves that make the beauty of
a child.
This Is their history: When the
war broke out, Mine. Pellier, her
mother and her four younger children
were visiting her husband's mother In
the ' north of France. Her husband
and two elder sons were at home In
Lorraine taking care of the summer
crops. Then the war I The mother
In-law of Mine. Pellier was 111 and
could not be left. Her old 'mother
was afraid to travel to Lorraine with
the full care of the four children. Be
fore they could all start together the
Germans Invaded. Had news Is allow
ed to como Into northern France, and
so as the months passed Mine. I'elller
learned that her village home had been
bombarded and that her husband and
two sons had been killed. Except for
the Belgian Relief Commission, which
operates In northern France also, she
and her little ones would have starved
ov' right. At the best they were un
s nourished. Then the great push
Hn, and hopes for France grew
.t But as the French soldiers ad
turned they had to hombard the north
er towns. Mme. I'elller begged the
On-mans to let her go away with her
children even Into Germany. This
wa ret ited. She tried to seelt safety
. In fome jellnr whenever there was a
bombardment. Nevertheless a shell
killed two of her children.
Found Her Home Gone.
TTome gone; husband gone; brave
so'dler sons gone; little, tender boys
torn Into shreds! That woman's face
would liuve tiliown you what she hud
sulVeied her face against the batter
ed ruins the Germans had made. At
IhI she and her mother and her two
rnmaliiinf children wore repatriated.
They ki.rjw the Infi'ilte relief of cross-
out of the seven dearest to 'you. It
was not your husband and children
who died ; not your wife who was
widowed; not your little ones who
came buck, bony and tuberculnr, to a
home (hut had vanished. Not yours,
hut only the grace of accident saved
you; not yours, but It might have been
ami so you changed the pletjire. You
could not build up with your own
hands that heap of stones Into a home,
nor till the fields, nor bring Mine. Pel
lier back to hope and the children
back to health. But through the Red
Cross yon saved the remnants of Hint
family that hud suffered as you might
have suffered.
Things the Red Cross Did,
You took the mother of Mme. Pel
lier to a Ited Cross hospital to be treat
ed for anaemia. You took the little
girl, who was In the first stages ot
tuberculosis, to a Red Cross sani
tarium. You found a place which
could be made habitable for Mme. Pet
Her near her fields which she was
anxious to till. Yoa gave her clothes
and furniture; you got her seeds; you
lent her Implements. You sent a vis
iting doctor to watch over her health
and Unit of her little boy. You sent
nurses, who achieved the mighty vic
tory of making her and the child tuke
baths. Later you persuaded her to let
him go to a refuge not far away where
he might attend school and where she
could often visit hi in. Through the
help of your Red Cross hope and cour
age and ambition have come back to
that woman, and she Is rebuilding her
family life. The biggest thing one hu
man being can do for another you, If
you are a helper of the Red Cross,
have done for that mother.
Red Cross! I saw Its work every
where In France In fields and In
blasted villages; In hospitals and
schools and clinics; In refuges and
vestiaries for widows and orphans and
for the sick children of soldiers fight
l,ig to keep you safe from the enemy,
This symbol of help has a double
meaning now for Americans, who have
always taken for granted the blessing
of safety. It stands for your willing
ness to pay (he price of exemption, of
pity,, of sympathy. A bitter, black
road thit road of war, but across It,
like a beacon Of hope, you have flung
the Ited Cross.
HE GAVE HIS SHIRT OFF m TACK
How an Italian Officer Traveling on Train
Helped a New Born Bab.
On ot the ways to say that a man
i good hciirk'd is to descend to ex
isIt Anieitcauese slung und an y
"he d giv you his shirt."
A tminf Itnllan officer did exactly
thai- gjv the shirt off his back to a
ktby Just born. It was during a flight
f the Italian refugees Just after the
Italian army hud been tricked by the
4.uMihins,
Here's the story :
4n-Italian officer, v. ho had been a
eeluntcer worker ut the million when
Ifci crush came through, walked Into
lk American Ited C'roi", i.lllco at Ho
texuii, Italy, i,d told 01 t poor .vcmiiis:
weatu who hod i;lven i'.r'h lo u huhy
the train In whli h it was riding ti
night's previously. They bail been
sMlng for over Id hours, nod the
wretchedly poor and disheartened
mother had been Jammed In with the
hundreds of other frightened Italians
on the same tiiiln. Hungry, tired and
miserable and In a frightfully weak
ened condition, she had scarcely suffi
cient clothes for herself, not to speak
of properly curing for a newborn hube.
The young officer stripped himself of
bU shirt, und there among this frlght
iieil, half starved, forlorn crowd the
poor iii'luH Infant was wrapped In Its
llrsi body .'verliig.
Mother it mi babewere afterwards
nursed hack to health, clothed and
looked tiller by ihe American Red
Cross. And this Is oi'ly one small, Is
olated Incident umong thousands that
mine under the working of I lie Red
Cross,
FULL MAN.SIZED
W SANDWICH
What Tea Minutes for Re
freshments Means in
Modern War.
Think of what refreshments mean
"over there," Thing of the Sample or
tbe Pollu coming ont f the trenches
with a thirty il Ur leave of ab
sence, getitnl itoar tbe train or ma-M-
ob h U 0. ttft Line of Cora
MiMca'a Bti & front and tbe
i r, i4si II frts tired follows
stopping ten minutes for refreshments
ut a Ited Cross Canteen.
Think of a big cup of hoi coffee and
a wealth of nuiii-sincd bam sand
wiches served by the Ited Cross wo
men with the Joy of service in their
eyes. Think of ten minutes for re
freshments w ithin sound of the guns
such refreshments served by such wo
men, Did ever a weary lad have such
refreshments? Did ever a cup 'of cof
fee and a sandwich taste so good?
It is service like this, ;he supplying
ot "food thut's got a homey taste" at
p time when a man's spirits are likely
to be at lowest ebb, that moved a Com
manding General of the American
Forces to write on December 30 ! "The
extant of the work of the Red Cross
is only limited by the number of mem
bers It has and the amount of funds
available for Its use."
:- fw If stv rvTS
1
iMi .
COP1i6HT ft
un pu a c
Contributed by Charles Dana Gibson.
THE HOPE OF THE ' WOKLD
By M.ROLD SILL WRIGHT.
THE hope of the world is not alon
that the armies of humanity rill
be victorious, but that the spirit and
purposo of our warfare will prevjil in
our victory, The hope of the world
is in the Red Cross, because the Red ,
Cross is voicing this spirit and pur- '
pose that must, through the force o
our arms, triumph. Just to the de
gree that we can evidence this Red
Cross spirit of mercy and brothor
hood we will hold true in the dan
gerous hour of victory to the ideals
that havo forced us into the trenches
in tho defense of human rights and
human liberty.
The one sano and saving thought
in this delirium of death that now
possesses the world is the Red Cross.
Wherever the storms of battle
hell rage, amid the fires of ruthless
destruction, in trench and camp and
hospital, these soldiers of mercy with
heroism unsurpassed are carrying the
(lag of tho highest conceivable ideals
of humanity. Tho ideals for which
our armies have .taken the field are,
by these unarmed hosts, proclaimed
to friend and foe, in that unmistaka
ble language of universal mercy and
brotherhood. In the terms of wasted
towns rebuilt, of broken humanity
salvaged, of dying children rescued,
of desolate families succored, the Red
Cross declares the cause for which we
war and proclaims the principles and
ideals that must and will in the end
prevail. Above the thunder of the
guns, tho roar of exploding mines,
the crash of fallen cities and the criea
of tortured humanity, the voice of
4he Ked Cross carries clear and strong
t&e one message of hope to our war
burdened world.
The black horror of this world's
crisis would be unbearable were it
not for the spirit and work of this
' mighty force. The normal mind re
fuses to contemplate the situation
without this saving power.
It is the knowledge that in every
city, town and hamlet, men, women
and children are united in this work
of declaring to the world, through
the Red Cros3, our message of mercy
and brotherhood, that keeps our
hearts from sinking under the burden
r . of woe and sustains our faith in hu
man kind. It is the constant daily,
almost hourly touch with the Red
Cross work that is felt by every citi
zen in tho land, that inspires us with
courage and hope.
Out of this hell of slaughter the
Red Cross will guide the warring na
tions to a heaven of world-wide pesce
and brotherhood.
Because it is the living expre.-.ion
of those ideals and principle In e
fense of which we are giving our all
in lives and material wealth because
on every field of death it is proclaim
ing its message of life bwuae t
keeps ever before us and the "vorid
the cause for which we war berrt9
it will preserve us in the horn of oar
victory from defeating ourselvee- tho
Red Cross is the hope of the world.
THE RGO CROSS
IS HELPING
IN
UNITED STATES
ENGLAND
FRANCS
ITALY
SERBIA
ARMENIA
RUMANIA
h'.'SSIA
lip . .
And Yet This True Story Has a
Happy Ending.
Even a Frenchman sometimes loses,
for awhile at least, his "unfailing"
sense of humor.
Take, for Instance, the case of a
man from Lille, a soldier, Waeltele by
name and only twenty-three. He had
done pretty well, for the youngster had
already his own printing shop In that
northern French town, which Is still in
side the German lines. In the trenches
Waeltele developed tuberculosis, and
he was sent to a hospital at Grenoble.
There he was considered Incurable,
and after the usual three months of
treatment he was granted his 14 cents
a day pension. Said his fatherly army
doctor, "My son, you cau perhaps cure
yourself If you will live In the moun
tains, If you will eat plenty of nour
ishing food and, above all, If you don't
worry."
Waeltele should have smiled, but he
didn't. He was thinking of his baby
and his wife and his 14 cents. "Don",
worry!" The humor of It entirely es
caped him.
Then the Red Cross stepped In. He
was found by nn American woman
with some American Ited Cross money
for Just such cases, and within a few
hours he no longer had need to worry.
He was sent to the mountains at La
mure, In the French Alps, happy In
the knowledge that his family was be
ing cared for by these amazingly kind
Americans.
And now the army doctor's words
are coming true. Wacltele's lung Is
healing fast, and he Is dreaming of
another printing shop and of living
again some day with that little family.
There have been over 400,000 new
cases of tuberculosis In France sinie
the war started, and to care for these
cases and check the White Plague's
spread Is merely one of the big Jobs
the American Red Cross has set out to
accomplish.
FATHER AT WAR,
TRAGEDYAT HOME
bi Heme Service Kjis
ia a Soldier.
The father kisses his wife and kid
dles goodby, shoulders his gun aud
inarches away to war.
For a time the current of life flows
smoothly for the soldier's little fami
ly. Then conies the tragedy. Mother
Is taken 111. The little brood of broth
ers and sisters Is helplesp. No father
to turn to. A helpless mother I
To whom can the American soldier's
family look at this critical period?
Must a brave mails loyalty to his
country mean desolation and suffering
to those nearest and dearest to him?
No! Emphatically no! The Ameri
can people will not permit the fami
lies of their soldiers and sailors to
suffer because their breadwinners are
fighting for their country. . And so the
Ited Cross Department of Civilian Re
lief has created n nation-wide orgar-
l.ation for home service for the fami
lies of soldiers and sailors.
Under the banner of "Home Serv
ice" patriotic men and women have
enrolled and are devoting themselves
to the noble task of helping soldiers'
families to meet and adjust the prob
lems of everyday life and aiding them
to mnintnln the standards of health,
education and Industry.
Home Service True Service.
Home service means keeping the sol
dier's children well and In school It
means tiding the family over financial
troubles, arranging the household
budget, meeting insurance premiums
adjusting a mortgage, bringing med
ical aid and legal advice to bear at the
right moment. In short "Home Serv-
v . .evice, ln lmt ,t provWes
the warm handclasp of friendship
By
RALPH HENRY BARBOUR.
Of the Vigilantes.
The Director laid his pen aside,
yawned, stretched, and, leaning back,
looked from his window. The Head
quarters, a temporary wooden struc
ture with a tar-paper roof, had beea
knocked together ln the shadow of the
half-ruined church, a.nd from the wU
dow, Just above Uie street level, the
Director could look almost the entire
length of the little village. They had
been rebuilding It, that village, and
now the work was almost done. In 1914
the Germans hud shelled it and burned
It, and then, passing over, had left It
empty and silent for two years. But
recently, In the early Autumn, the tide
had turned and the retreating gra
hordes hnd passed back the way they,
had gone, destroying aud defiling.
Now the roar of their guns was aoft
ened by distance and miracle had
taken place In the village.
Village Rebuilt In a Month.
In a short uionlh, houses unlovely,
if you like, but warm and comfortable
and weather-ttght had replaced the
sorry heaps of stone and plaster and
splintered beams. In' some cases the
original walls had been repaired and
roofed over, In others small, neat wood
en structures had entirely replaced the
former dwellings. Shell holes had
been filled in and blackened tree
stumps removed, ln another week
the battered church would alone tell
of the havoc of war. There were
many such miracles being performed
at tliut minute all up and down
the narrow strip of France regained.
An assistant thrust his bead In.
"The Mayor and the priest to see yon"
he whispered. "I told Uiem you were
busy" ( t
"Ask them to come In, please."
They entered. The malre was aa
elderly giant of man, dark-visaged,
gruff-voiced, before the war the Til
Inge blacksmith. The priest was siaall
and slight, with a parchment like pal
lor in his sadly kind face, and he held
something half hidden under the folds
of his rusty soutane.
"M'sieur will he leaving us soon?"
"Yes, Father, the work Is about fia
Ished. 1 go the day after tomorrow.
The others remain a while longer."
"It Is sad news," said Father Jean,
and the maire nodded gloomily behind
the smoke of his cigarette. "But we
could not expect m'sieur to remala ,
with us always. Others demand his
services beyond doubt. But we shall
be very sad. M'sieur has been so
greatly our friend, has done so much,
performed so many wonders In our
poor village" The priest blew hi
nose vigorously.
"You owe me no thanks, Father t
nor those who aid me, nor the Society
I represent. What we do Is done la
the name of Humanity."
'"Tis well," growled, the malre.
"Thunks are difficult to express,
m'sieur."
The Favor the Priest Asked,
"We have much gratitude but few
words In which to clothe It," sighed
Father Jean. "And It Is because we
of this little village, cannot say te
m'sieur what is ln our hearts that
friend Bonot and I have come, repre
senting the citizens to Whom m'sienr
has restored homes and food, com
fort and courage, to beg a favor."
"A favor? Have the goodness te
name it, Father."
"M'sieur knows the little place at
the end of the village, where the well
stood before before "
"Place?" ' The Director shook Ms
head, smiling, puzzled. "I did aot
know there was a place, Father."
"M'sieur would doubtless, not noUce
It. It Is but tiny. Besides, we have
never called It so. There was no need.
But now, with m'sieurs permission,
we would give it a name." The priest
slowly withdrew from beneath his sou
tane what had been In hiding there.
"There is so little we of the village
rather than the humiliation of charitv I Cnn 1,0 ln return he, murmured, "hut
It calls for sympathetic understanding lf m'slel"' permits we shall place this
and Intelligent consideration of the
.m,. I1WS OI me soldier's familv
uie l ed Cross Is pledged to "Home
!erviee wherever needed In th i-.,.
ed States. In each chapter of the Red
Cross there will be a horn. .,-.!.
section, under competent hands, whose
mission will be to protect the welfare
of the soldiers' and sailors' homes and
to safeguard the normal development
of their families in employment and in
v. m.,p gna self reliance.
m. . . .. ...
. no wrn mat the Red
Cress is doing in France
this winter is worth more
than a million and a half
American soldiers In the
lines In France today."
General Petatn.
on the corner of Pierre Martin's bouse,
where for all time It shall remalD as a
token of our gratitude. If m'sieur per
mits," he added apologetically.
He held forth with... hesitation a
piece of board newly painted.
Against a white ground had beea
wrought, first, a red cross, then words
In oddly formed black letters, thea a
red heart. The Director read the In
scription. Then he opened his month,
and closed It Finally he, too, blew
his nose . . ,
All of which explains why, should
you ever happen on that little village
when the war la over, von will rtnnht.
i less observe, facing a square no larger
! than a kitchen gardeu, a quaint sign
j bearing, between a red cross and a ted
, heart the
PLACE DE LA
CROIX-ROUGE AWERICAINS, .
Place of the ,
American Red Cross, ; J