THE RUIN IN FRANCE.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CXVII, Issue 17394, 3 February 1917, Page 12

THE RUIN IN FRANCE.

In a private letter a Melbourne soU dier who went away with the first! Australian contingent, and has been continuously -(without furlough) in uniform ever since, and who was in the Boer War from' beginning to end (over three years), writes feelingly of what he sees in France. He &ays:—"l believe a large number in Australia whc> should be away are sitting back thinks ing we are winning all before us, and really believe they are not -wanted. Do they ever think of France and Belgium, and J what it means to the women and children of these war-worn countries? France is a glorious nation, and it is up to us to help'her. Words cannot give any idea of the ruin we have been seeing everywhere. You remember ' the big fire' in Flinders Street some years ago. Well, than is something like what every village is over here, only there are no walli left standing; all one sees is a pile of ■wreckage. There are no able-bodied men behind the firing lines. All work, either in factory or field, is done by women. I saw an old lady—she must have been over sixty years of age—j walking behind a team of horses cultivating a field, and it was a cold, wei» day. The old lady had a walking stick, and it was cruel to see her trying to do the .work so as to keep the home going while her men folk are fighting. And all this time thera are big, strong men doing nothing but seeking their own pleasures in Austrslfct, men who could be here if they wanted to, and if they were worthy of tho name -if men."