WAR NOTES

Taihape Daily Times, Issue 220, 3 April 1917, Page 2

WAR NOTES

MOTHERS OF LILLE.

PARIS, January 20,

Among the human documents which by devious ways have recently reached Paris are several pathetic letters from Frenchwomen residing in the invaded towns of Lille, Douai, and Maubeuge. When their breadwinners were mobilised the women remained behind with' rent to pay and the children to feed. For thirty months tney have suffered from cold, hunger, and the countless humiliations imposed by the enemy. “We have suffered greatly,” writes on e mother, “but, what is a hundred times more cruel, we have seen bur children suffer. It has taken all our will power, all our ingenuity, to keep the malive, and many have succumbed through lack of food. In Lille cemetery innumerable little white crosses and broken marble columns bear witness to many an existence cut off on the threshold of life.” A lady who formerly lived in comfortable ease writes: “ Xhad a large flat, three domestic servants, and warmth and light in profusion. To-day I live in a garret, without servants, without light, without fire; and to keep my shivering infant from perishing of cold my only resource is to press it to my bosom.”