TOO SAD TO LAUGH

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2351, 6 January 1915, Page 7

TOO SAD TO LAUGH

UNHAPPY LOT OF BELGIUM. "A country without a smile." . That is Mr. Jarvis Bell's impression of Belgium. Mr. Bell, who is an American, went from London to Brussels with the first ship load of food sent by the Commission for Relief in Belgium, who have their headquarters at 3 London Wall Buildings. For the purpose of investigating, conditions he visited Antwerp, Malines, Louvain, Aerschot, and Turnbout ; he drove through what is. left of countless villages, and he saw thousands of Belgians. "Nothing that has been written," Mr. Bell said, on his return to London, "could exaggerate the misery of Belgium. ■ We drove for miles through graveyards. Stakes, on some of them a soldier's tattered-coat-and helmet,were the tombstones; deserted fields the cemeteries. As we entered villages women' and children sought refuge in the. ruins of their roof less homes, terrified lest we were some fresh visitation of war. Their faces were drawn and lined. If you could only see the gruesome surroundings in which they are struggling- for existence you could v not wonder that they do riot smile. "The Coblenz, with over 1000 tons of foodstuffs, arrived from London at Rotterdam at three o'clock, on a Sunday morning. The Dutch Government, with great kindness, made an exception to their rigid rule against work being done on Sunday ,_ and the labour unions also allowed their men to unload, with the result that by Monday morning eight barges, towed by four express tugs, left Rotterdam with relief for Brussels. On each barge was this large notice printed in English: 'Consigned to the American Minister at Brussels for .the Comite National, de Secours et d'Alimentation.' On the door of each barge captain's cabin was a copy of Governor yon der Goltz's proclamation instructing all German officials to give safe conduct and assistance to this cargo of relief. The crews of the barges arid tugs were Dutch. "On the Wednesday morning, just one week from the day the food left' London, wo drove up to the American Legation in Brussels, and told Mr. WMtlock, the American Minister, that the relief barges were safely at the wharf. In an hour all Brussels knew it, and rejoiced. Many people feared we should never manage to obtain permission to get the relief into Belgium, and that if we got it in we Bhould never get it through the wall of soldiers that surrounds Brussels.

'.'We drove back to Holland by way of Louvain, Aerschot, and Turnhout to Breda, on the Dutch frontier. In the Limburg district wo found several villages that had'been without salt for thirty days. By the bridges giving entrance to the village, or at the end of the village street, we almost invariably came across men with tin boxes on the look-out for travellers from more fortunate district which might help to relieve the local distress. This sounds like begging, but there are some conditions that justify anything. We met few Belgian men. Eighty per cent of the people in these country districts iaro women and children. We saw them eating green .vegetables, beets, and apples. They have little else. There were thousands of children—too sad to laugh." .