WAR ORPHANS.

Waikato Times, Volume 88, Issue 13432, 10 March 1917, Page 4 (Supplement)

WAR ORPHANS.

The first thing that had to be done on the very eve of this war was (writes M. de Maratray. a well-known French author, in ihe "Daily Mail") to relieve the poor widowers suddenly called to leave their homes for the battle-field, who were in despair at having to leave their children, these naving only their fathers to turn to for their daily sustenance. Probably our enemies had .something ready for this emergency. It no doubt formed part of their carefully premeditated i rime. In France we had made no provision for those who, already motherless, were now about to lose their fathers. Numbers of our future poilus, who had no savings, were obliged to leave their infants to the doubtful care of concierges or neighbours, with no assurance whatever that there would l>e enough money or devotion to keep their dear onrs alive!

At this critical moment a man with heart and drains, the director of an already celebrated university populaire. Baron Vitta, stepped forward and publis'*(xl in the "Matin" tlie following appeal :-

"All motherless children whose fathers are mobilised have only to be taken to the Tniversite Populaire <iu Faubourg SaintAntoine.' Paris. Thev will be received there at once and without formalities. greeted with affectionate solicitude byfriends of the 'universite,' and cared for by women able to understand their wants. A pledge is taken that the small ones will never be abandoned to vice or misery." At once and without iimalitics! This was indeed a new lan-;...e that ran? like silver bells throughout country, where, alas, red tape was reigning supreme in all the administrations.

Hundreds of little children poured in. Some of them were quite alone, with a lalei pinned to their clothes revealing their identity In this way was formed the nucleus of "Les Orphelins de la Guene" (The War Orphans' Association!.

R»TuiiiiM agents are constantly in search of war orphans in France*. Belgium. Italy, and have even been as far as Albania. .Serbian children were saved in that way, and they now thrive like their little French friends. In Febrnarv. 1915, Dr Fidelin, of Etretat, certified that no epidemic, accident, or death had to be deplored among the 700 children under his care. It is instructive to mention that two months later the Governmentwas compelled to close one of the State nurseries, at Chatillon-sous-Bagneux, the death-rate having gone up there to 60 per cent.!

At the end of six months the Etretat orphanage liecame too small, and a new one was therefore founded at another beautiful seaside place in the sunny south, St. Jean Cap Feuat (Riviera). No fewer than fourteen houses were prepared there. with a large villa in the centre of a park. In April a special infant colony was opened at nice, and a third one established at Dampierre (Haute-Saone), where agriculture is taught. Since then a sanitorium, a hospital, and two more colonies have been added. A technical one is planned in Algeria, and still another on the' reconquered territory of Alsace. It would not have been,possible if the enterprising men who started it had imitated the old French methods and neglected to advertise their schemes. Thanks to their business capacity—which never spoils a good cause—they have received money from all comers of the world, and the list of contributions fills the heart with pride and wonder. Dp to the present the number of children received in these orphanages amounts

to about 2500. There are 200 matron*, mostly chosen from among the wive* of teachers fallen in the war, and professors of all kinds are in charge of the education.