There must be bread and clothing for everybody, shelter for the homeless, soup for the hungry, food boxes for prisoners in Germany, milk for babies, special nourishment2 for the tubercular, orphanages3 and crèches for the tiny war victims, work for the idle, some means of secours [72]for merchants, artists, teachers and thousands of “ashamed poor”—665,000 idle workmen with their 1,000,000 dependents, 1,250,000 on the soupes, 53,000 babies and 200,000 children under normal health in the cantines—how much of the story can these figures tell?
Yet the efforts of the organization have been so continuous and comprehensive, the C. R. B. has been so steadily4 bringing to them the vital foodstuffs5, and holding for them the guaranty of their freedom to act, that from the committee-rooms it has sometimes seemed as if there were really nothing more to be done for Belgium!
But one has only to spend a few days at the other end, to get quickly disabused6 of this idea! No amount of organization can truly meet the needs of the seven and a half million people of a small industrial country, suddenly and entirely7 cut off from all normal contact with the rest of [73]the world. Despite all the food that has been distributed, the resistance of the people has been lowered. Tuberculosis8 has seized its opportunity, and is making rapid strides. I have visited home after home where a heartbreaking courage was trying to cover up a losing struggle. Over and above all the organized “Relief,” there remains9 an enormous task for just such splendid women as Madame....
Madame is the wife of a lawyer, with two sons at the front. As soon as the war broke out she organized a Red Cross center. Then the refugees came pouring into Brussels, and she felt that among them there must be many to whom it would be torture to be crowded into the big relief shelters. She said little, but by the end of August she had managed to squeeze five families in with her own. From the day the Germans abolished the Belgian Red Cross she gave her entire time to helping10 the homeless who had [74]been in comfortable circumstances before the war to some quiet corner where they might wait its end. There was never any announcement of her work, but the word spread like wildfire—many had to be turned away daily. Then she found a big home on the Boulevard, rather shabby inside, but conveniently arranged for suites11 of two or even three rooms. Here a considerable number of families might have space for a complete ménage; plenty of light and air, and room to cook and sleep. Before long she was housing ninety-eight, but a few of these were able to re-establish themselves, so when I visited her in September, 1916, there were sixty-five. As her own funds were limited, and fast disappearing, she had in the end to appeal to the “Relief” to subsidize this “Home.”
On the first floor she had a little pantry-shop, where each family received the permitted ration12 of bread, sugar, bacon and [75]other foodstuffs. One day a woman came to her, hungry. She was a widow with two little girls, who, before the war, had earned a good salary in the post-office. Somehow she had managed to exist for two years, but now there was nothing left. She was given charge of the pantry at ten cents a day. I have seen many processions of people descending13 long stairways. I shall forget them. But I shall never forget this one of the refugees from the upper floors winding14 down the stairways at the shop hour, with their pathetic plates and bowls ready for the bacon and bread that made living possible. They could, perhaps, add vegetables and fruit, or an egg or two, to the ration to piece out the meal. On the lowest shelf of this miniature shop were a few dozen cans of American corn, which even yet the people have not learned to like. Having been brought up to regard corn in all forms as fit only for cattle and [76]chickens, even disaster can not convince them that it is a proper food for man!
Later we went upstairs to visit some of the apartments. They were bright and clean, with cheery flower-pots on all the window-sills. Every one showed a fine appreciation15 of what was done for him by making the most of all he had; an attitude quite different from that of many less used to comfort, less intelligent, who neither hesitate to demand charity, nor to complain of what they receive. Each family had a small, practical stove, which served for both cooking and heating.
One family of eight was content in its two rooms. They had had a copper16 shop and a pension at Dinant; were very comfortably off, when, suddenly, Dinant was struck. All their property was in flames, men were being shot, their own grandmother, eighty-one years old, had her leg broken, and, terror-stricken, they fled with her up and down hill, over rocks and [77]through brush till they reached Namur, and finally arrived at Brussels where they heard of Madame’s “Home.” The grandmother, whose leg is mended but still crooked17, was sitting in front of the red geraniums at a window, knitting socks. She knits one pair a week and receives five cents for each pair from the clothing committee. The young girls help Madame in various ways; the father tries to work in copper, but if he earns fifty cents a week, considers himself lucky. The particular struggle for this family is to get eggs for the grandmother, who can not get along on the bacon and bread. Eggs cost ten cents each. Happily, this is a kind of situation that “special funds” from the United States have often relieved. Everybody was courageous18, trying simply to hold on till the terrible war should be ended and he could go back to rebuild something on the ruins of his home.
There was another Dinant ménage next [78]door, but a ménage for one. I quickly read this poor woman’s story on the walls. On one was tacked19 a large picture of Dinant, beautiful, smiling, winding along the river, as in July, 1914. Above it was the photograph of her husband, shot in August; on the other wall a handsome son in uniform. He was at the front. She stopt peeling her potatoes to go over again those horrible days. They had been so well-off, so happy, father, mother and son. When they saw their city in flames, they were too bewildered, too terror-stricken to realize what it meant. Her husband left to help restore a bridge—he did not return. The son hurried to follow his King; she somehow reached Brussels.
There was a fine young chap of about fifteen, whose father had been killed at Manceau sur Sambre. He and his mother had found this haven20, but now she was in the hospital undergoing a capital opera[79]tion. Madame was trying to arrange a special diet for her on her return. They had been in very comfortable circumstances; now everything was gone.
And so it was—the same story, and from all parts of Belgium. They had come from Verviers, Aerschot, Dinant, from Termonde and Ypres—the striking thing was the courage, the gentleness, the fine spirit of all.
This “Home,” as I said, has now been subsidized, but along with it Madame still carries on another admirable work entirely on her own responsibility. Some friends help her, but she really lives from day to day! On the ground floor of this same building she has a restaurant, also known only as the word passes from mouth to mouth, where any one may come for a good dinner at noon. There is no limit to what one may pay, but the charge is a franc, or twenty cents. The majority pay less.
[80]
It has quite the atmosphere of one of the little Paris restaurants of the Latin quarter—two adjoining rooms bright with flowers and colored cloths and gay china, separated from the kitchen only by screens. It is frequented chiefly by artists and teachers, some young girls from the shops, and a few business men. Madame does not go from table to table as the Paris host does, greeting his guests, but they come to her table to shake hands and chat for a minute. They linger over their coffee—there is the general atmosphere of cheer and bien être. And what this means in this time of gloom to the sixty or more who gather there daily!
Young girls of the families of the refugees serve the meals. The cook, herself a refugee, works for twenty francs a month.
I said any one might come, but that is, of course, not exact. Any one may ask to come, but he must prove to Madame [81]that he needs to come. After he explains his situation, she has ways of checking up this information and deciding herself whether the need is a real one. The dinner consists of soup, a meat and vegetable dish, and dessert, with beer or coffee.
I was looking over the meal tickets and noticed that while most of them were unstamped (the one franc ones) a good number had distinguishing marks. Then I learned that if a person was unable to pay a franc for this meal, he might have it for fifteen or even ten cents, and his ticket was stamped accordingly. I found one ticket with no stamp, but with the “o” of “No” blotted21 out. This might be chance, but after finding a half-dozen or more with this same ink blot22, I suspected a meaning. And the explanation revealed the spirit of Madame’s work. “Yes,” she said, [82]“there is a meaning. There are some so badly off that they can pay nothing; to save them the pain of having to look at, and to have others look at, a stamp registering this misery23, I do not stamp their tickets, but, since I must keep count, I blot that little ‘o,’ which at once suggests ‘zero’ to me!”
1 dinner at 1 franc, 10 centimes.
58 dinners at 1 franc.
43 dinners at 75 centimes (15 cents).
10 dinners at 50 centimes.
4 dinners at 0.
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1
complexity
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| n.复杂(性)，复杂的事物 | |
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2
nourishment
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| n.食物，营养品；营养情况 | |
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orphanages
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| 孤儿院( orphanage的名词复数 ) | |
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4
steadily
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| adv.稳定地；不变地；持续地 | |
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5
foodstuffs
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| 食物，食品( foodstuff的名词复数 ) | |
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6
disabused
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| v.去除…的错误想法( disabuse的过去式和过去分词 )；使醒悟 | |
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7
entirely
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| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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8
tuberculosis
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| n.结核病，肺结核 | |
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9
remains
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| n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹 | |
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10
helping
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| n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的 | |
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11
suites
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| n.套( suite的名词复数 )；一套房间；一套家具；一套公寓 | |
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12
ration
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| n.定量(pl.)给养，口粮；vt.定量供应 | |
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13
descending
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| n. 下行 adj. 下降的 | |
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14
winding
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| n.绕，缠，绕组，线圈 | |
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15
appreciation
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| n.评价；欣赏；感谢；领会，理解；价格上涨 | |
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16
copper
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| n.铜；铜币；铜器；adj.铜(制)的；(紫)铜色的 | |
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17
crooked
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| adj.弯曲的；不诚实的，狡猾的，不正当的 | |
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18
courageous
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| adj.勇敢的，有胆量的 | |
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19
tacked
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| 用平头钉钉( tack的过去式和过去分词 )； 附加，增补； 帆船抢风行驶，用粗线脚缝 | |
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haven
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| n.安全的地方，避难所，庇护所 | |
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21
blotted
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| 涂污( blot的过去式和过去分词 )； （用吸墨纸）吸干 | |
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22
blot
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| vt.弄脏（用吸墨纸）吸干；n.污点，污渍 | |
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23
misery
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| n.痛苦，苦恼，苦难；悲惨的境遇，贫苦 | |
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random
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| adj.随机的；任意的；n.偶然的(或随便的)行动 | |
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