APPEAL TO WOMEN.

Sun (Christchurch), Volume VII, Issue 2029, 16 August 1920, Page 4

APPEAL TO WOMEN.

ORPHAN CITIES OF FRANCE. BAPAUME-VILLERS-BRETONNEUX. (By Ettie A. Rout.) LONDON, June 16, 15)20. To most colonials the' War ended in November, 1918. After that came a waiting time—then demobilisation—and finish! Beyond this there were only .memories—exciting, glad, horrifying, jgrief-stricken—then the mingled hope land bewilderment of recommencing our I national life —without the War! In mind and body we have all suffered—and developed. Apart from this all is merely so much entered on the national Profit and Loss Account. But the wounds of France still bleed, whilst ours are already healing fast. You see, when none of your houses have been smashed to matchwood, none of your smooth farm lauds pitted with shellholes, none of your orchards wantonly chopped down, none of your gardens saturated with poison gas, none of your bridges blown up, none of your factories destroyed, none of your public services (gas, water, drainage, railways) |become a mere waste of broken pipes and rails, it is so very hard to realise just what "beginning again" means. Of course, we have gone into the "backblocks" and made fangs and gardens and towns in what was virgin country. But, we didn't start with a loss! And those of us who went were selected folk: strong and hopeful, and young; and if we did not have some capital of health and cash we didn't go pioneering. But in Fiance it is different. No matter how old or weak or poor you may be, you must struggle on. I watched two "pioneers" at work near VillersBretonneux one day last winter. One was an old, old man, his white locks waving in the wind, and the other a little girl of 12. She was gathering up broken bricks and wheeling them to him ill a crazy handcart, and he was trying to build them up on the ruins of their own cottage. The rest of the family were dead. No folks have ever had to "make a start" under those conditions —not in any part of the New World. And it is' not only individual human beings who have been orphaned: even the cities are orphans, too. Those who should be city fathers and city mothers have passed on. But we remain—as trustees for the dead and guardians of the living, at the least. Only as we fulfil these duties can we look forward to the future, clear-eyed and unashamed. All ov*r England, America, Australia, different French towns are being "adopted." Yillers-Bretouneux is now the special care of Melbourne, and mes- j sages of gratitude and thanks have i been sent, but this private letter from j a French mother must be quoted in full here:—

"Dear Miss Rout, —I beg to send our thanks to the people of Melbourne, whose gifts have so overwhelmed us, ami. at the same time, to tell the dear mothers of Australia that we share in their troubles, and that our children will always respect the graves of those heroes wlio came from so far to defend us! Yes, our children will this summer —the same as last summer—search the forests and the fields for flowers to cover the graves of their Big Brothers: they look upon them as such! Accept, dear Miss Rout, our most sincere greetings and thanks."

A special effort is being made in London this mouth, ami there is to be a meeting at the Mansion House, presided over by the Lord Mayor of London, the provincial cities and boroughs have been invited to send representatives, and different speakers familiar with the devastated areas will be present. In describing the plan, on June !» .the London "Times" said: —

"What is immediately required is a reasonable sum of money to provide, it may be, a hospital or a sehool-liouse, or to remake a rond, so that traffic may lie restored in a district blasted by gun-fire. In some villages the most urgent need is the sinking of wells to provide a water supply. Tire total number of villages and towns that it is sought to help is 140, but less than a dozen plaees have been 'adopted' up to the present. Marseilles is helping Arras with a contribution of i) million francs. Manchester has agreed to act as godmother to Mezieres. Roizy has been adopted by the French colony in London, ami the village of Balham is being helped by the London

suburb of the same name. Albeit is provided for, and so'are Seraincourt, Poileourt, St. Bemy-le-Petit, and one or two more hamlets. What is to happen 1o the rest?"

The la<k of a water supply is perhaps .the greatest need of all. Recently in visiting different cemeteries J passed through scores of ruined villages, and wherever one goes there is the same pitiful sight —old women, young women, tired women, sick women carrying water: always carrying, carrying, carrying. Those of us-who have been in the Kast think of the water-carrier as a more or less picturesque kind of person, with maybe a scarlet, robe braided with gold, a black face surmounted with a A\hite turban, a huge leathern bottle swung over his sturdy shoulders, chinking and not over-clean glasses in a brass stand, and a long loud trumpet; his coming and going a pleasing entertainment. But those of us who have worked too in the devastated regions have a very different and much sadder conception of the water-carrier. Let the women at home just sit still for a few moments and feel for the women in France who must carry every cup of water, every wash-basinful, every bucketful for cleaning the house, every bathful for the bairns and their little garments—not carry it down clean and even streets, but o\'er pavements that are heaps of rubbish,'.over ruined roads and broken gutters: carry all the water in sunshine and in rain, in winter and in summer; carry it though their hearts arc broken for the dear ones they have lost, and perhaps they themselves becoming broken-bodied •as well as broken-hearted with work beyond their strength and years.

This week one of the London papers published the following letter from Camillc Dclaere, a priest (now Dean of Ypres), regarding the homeless families of Belgium:— "Their sufferings are indeed worthy of pity. Often my powerlessness to help them wrings my heart. Can you not do something in their behalf, particularly for the children, the little orphans of the Ypres Salient, whom I have gathered together, and whom we are feeding and teaching in our school colony of Ypres? We have so many Ypres orphans—poor little victims of the War—in the two orphanages. . . .

These have become a burden too heavy for my poor old shoulders!" It is expected that substantial help for Ypres will soon be available here. But Ypres is not the only town needing help. "What is to happen to the rest?" Cannot New Zealand adopt Bapaume, as Melbourne City has adopted VillersBretoiineux i' The need of Bapaume is almost overwhelming. Not the only town and village with which New Zealand will ever associate memories of grief and glory; but a choice must be made: and how could a better choice be made than—BAPAUME! June 17. Again to-day there are long newspaper references to the "British League of Help" for devastated Fiance, arid a Provisional Committee has been set up, with Viscount Burnham at the head.

"It is not suggested that British charity," says the "Morning Post," "shall take the responsibility of reparation which has been accepted by the German Government, but State reparation needs time, and meanwhile there arc thousands of families without homes, furniture, clothing or any of the amenities of civilised life. The League of Help has noble work to do: to clothe the children, to put a table and some chairs in the makeshift homes, and sup-" ply a few vegetables and flowers for the ruined gardens. Gifts to the adopted communities will be made mainly in kind, and second-hand and surplus goods, furniture, clothing, seeds, machinery, stock and the like will be most precious to the French peasant." New Zealand cannot, of course, send large and bulky articles, but there is hardly a home in New Zealand which could not spare at least one pair of

sheets and pillow-cases! Any household and personal linen; any woollen stuffs for clothing and bedding; and, above all, any farm and garden seeds—all these would be precious gifts, and surely from our abundance we can spare for thoso who have suffered infinitely more than ourselves. 1 write this appeal especially to the women of New Zealand, because it' in from women's hearts that streams of tender anxious care anil loving sympathy Mow most readily towards the ( women and children of the war-stricken zones. The loss of comfort and grace in a home means so much to most women. Won't, you show the women of Bapaunie, struggling to rebuild the homes our men saved for them, that the New Zealand women are just as kind in peace as the New Zealand men are brave in battle? Godmothers don't really need to be very rich: so long as they' are—.HIST KIND! |M. Malaquin, of Christchurch, is receiving subscriptions, with til" approval of the I'lvm-h Consular Agent (Mr 0. Humphreys), for tli" relief of French War omitting.--Bel. The Sun.l