LADY STRANGFORD'S MISSION IN BULGARIA.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XII, Issue 45, 21 February 1877, Page 4

LADY STRANGFORD'S MISSION IN BULGARIA.

FEARFUL SCENES OF DISTRESS.

From a le Iter addressed by tho above lady io tthe Lord Mayor of London, and' dated Philippopolis, November 3, we make the following extracts, as show'ipg the distressed condition of the Bulgarians after the late atrocities : — * _.? _ .* The present misery is so appalling that it will absorb me. It will be many years before the Bulgarian villages can be restored to the state fcbky were in last April; rich and poor visages;, ore alike utterly destroyed, and nothing scarcely is to be seen but thousands of wretched, half-starved women and children, huddling under a few loose boards, on the damp earth, among the blackened heaps of fallen wal& £300,000 might rebuild the. e j houses in the course of next year, and restore the property in them; this, however,- may stand over, for, I grieve to say,, it,— it will require £100,000 (while we have not £23,000 between ns all) to carry the wretched people through the winter by affording them , temporary shelter, blankets — a couple of blankets for each family— 'clothing, apd food. These figures I can now s.^y Ihaye myself more or less ascertained, having gone into the cost of most of the items — namely, timber, tools, blankets, &c, and into the extent and evil of the destruction. All the oloth ing and blankets were carried off or burned; while the crops have, since, jn most cases, been spoiled or were left ungathered. In many cases the people sank into a sort of apathetic lethargy, from which they are now awakening with winter on them to find themselves, without tbe means of cutting or. 1 carrying wood^or tools to work up anything tbey may get. The women have often sat wailing or unemployed, for there was no wool to spin or needles to sew witb. The villages are silent; there is not a stir or voice to be heard among them; and I can truiy eay I have not yet seen a smile on a single face-^-no, not even on a child. * * * We stopped en route at a wretched village, Radlovo, where Mr Clarke the American missionary, gave away some blankets. It was good to see how the people', clung to bim, and the piirst worked witb him. The priest had been imprisoned, and while all others around bim were cowed and weeping and afraid, be alone, Mr McGahau told rae, bore his fate with calm fortitude, comforting and helping others. Tbe people of Radlovo seemed nothing but akin and bone; their faces were pinched and emaciated, ' they tottered along with trembling-^eagerness for the few blankets we had to give away, making room for each other without quarrelling or jealousy— only weeping quietly and kisßfng ,my hand at each gift. Poor thinge! -Tbey had but little bread, but they pressed grapes and walnuts upon us, and would not be refused. After tbis, we rode six hours in torrents of jrain up the mountain gorge to Batak, The place, cleared now of human remains, is yet a dreadful sight; noihing but heaps of blackened, burnt stones, The people are living in huts of a few ' loose boardß laid together, or in ebanties ot straw, through which tbe wind and the rain pass freely. Mr Clarke had got up at the cost *of £250 a wooden building for refuge and hospital, in which we slept, with blankets hung up tp keep out the raiu, which dripped through tbe unfinished roof, and the wind from the uoglazed windows. We slept on sacks of straw. As I lay there, sleepless, and shivering with cold, T yet felt ashamed of the comparative comfort and warmth we were enjoying. The Government are also building some temporary shelter here which will preserve a good many, but it will be several •weeks yet before all are housed; and tbe poor, are dying rapidly, chiefly of dysentery, although Mr Clarke has been doing his best to keep them alive with a daily distribution of rice soup. It is no good now to repeat the horrid details ef the awful things that happened here ; tbey but unfit one for the daily work; but (While I live I can never forget the two days I slept at Batak, and what I saw and -heard there when it was comparatively cleansed and set in order. Heaven knows I feel for tbe privations of my own countrymen at borne, aod have -seen something of suffering in England; but if the poorest and worstoff peasant could see for himself the state of the best off here in these villages, I ..think we should have funds enough and to spare. For myself, 1 ara ashamed of the clothes I wear, of tbe blankets I ' sleep uader, and the food I eat chokes me .When I think of whafT have seen around me. There are six long, weary, months to be got through somehow, with the snow, and the ice, and the raiu, and lack of food, before we may hope for a ray of sunshine and warmth.