ACROSS FRANCE.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 150, 1 December 1914, Page 7

ACROSS FRANCE.

AX ENGLISHWOMAN'S JOURNEY. ; . CHEERED EVERYWHERE. ' The following interesting description ' of a journey across France, written by r.Miss Bertha Drake, who was in Switzcr- | land when the war broke out, and who, with other British visitors, had to re;main four weeks before they were able r to return home, has been sent for pubI lieation by her brother, the Rev. Alfred [ Drake, eurate of the Church of England, . Frankton: — . j "With 800 British refugees I arrived _ isafely in London on Saturday afternoon, i A"g us t 29. We had travelled on the ; "fourth special train provided by the I of the French Government for l .the repatriation of the 8000 British subi .jects who have been for the last four , weeks stranded in Switzerland. Our two i /lays' journey through France was like • a Royal progress, and I cannot help won- ! .dering whether Englishmen have the I least idea of the love and enthusiasm " , which the name of Englishman evokes : in the country of our allies. Our train • was cheered from one side of France to ! the other just because we were English men and women. At Lyons there was an organised reception. Hundreds of people were drawn up on the platform to cheer j the train to the station. Speeches were imade; the National 'Anthems were sung c | over and over. Very few people know ; English in that part of France, 50 typed > 'copies of the English National Anthem [.were passed out with the music and . I words, the latter spelt phonetically so .; that all might join in "God sev cure grashieus .Kiim,' etc., down to the words - "o:I sev zeu Kinn.' 1 i'rench soldiers decorated the English , \omen with the tricolor. French wo- , mer. fold us the awful state in which ; , their husbands and brothers were return- ; ing to them, their hands cut off above , the wrists lest the wounds they had , already received would be cured and , they should be ready to fight again. They 1 . told us, top, that their wounded were ' . being killed by the Germans; soldiers j . then in Lyons had seen it done. 'French | and English stood weeping together, holding hands like brothers and sisters, j All the men between the ages of 20 j and 50> have gone, and this is,the same f in Switzerland, where the, brunt of the . field work has fallen upon the women j j and children. , "A detachment of Zouaves gave us ! [our send-ofi 1 from Paris. After singing 1 'the Marseillaise' they asked for the | British National Anthem, and stood sij lently at 'Attention,' while we English I refugees sang 'God Save the King.' i | "Then we started for Dieppe, the route ' Laving been changed at the last moment | because the Germans were too close to (Boulogne. 'Vive l'Anglcterre! Vive l'Angleterre!' was shouted from every bridge and from every roadway, women holding , lip their little children to have a sight j j of 'our friends Englishmen. The senti- I nels along the lines saluted, smiling, and ' many of them waved and cheered, pro I | bubly an irregular proceeding for a sol- I dier on duty., ) j 'At one station outside Paris, we were ! 1 stopped for ten minutes, there was a | troop train drawn up on the other side. | When the French soldiers learnt that jive were English refugees cheer after i cheer rang out, and to our joy some of our- own Tommies came rushing across I the platform to shake hands with us. ,One of the Red Cross ladies, who was ' talki.ng with us, said 'All, les Anglais! J ils sont toujours gais, toujours, heureux; ,ils ont tout de courage!' And the first 'part of her remarks was illustrated at j the moment by one of 'les Anglais,' ex- j 1 cited by the unexpected meeting with his jown countrymen, seizing a French soldier round the waist, and waltzing down .the platform. "There were small temporary hospitals on all the stations. At Amberien my friend spoke to the grave faced elderly lady in charge of the Red Cross work, [who said that already 3000 wounded men had passed through her hands. She had [onlv the station waiting room fitted up ; with tell beds. She keeps the men long I enough to re-dress their wounds, give : | them food, and decide to which of the large hospitals they shall be sent. Three ' thousand wounded at a small country town in the south of France, far from the fighting area! Can our imaginations grasp what that means for the whole'. of France ? 1 "At half-past eight on Saturday morning, we left the land that had so stirred our hearts. There were cheers to the lust. Men, women and children, gathered in groups all the length of the [harbor pier and along the quays, shout:ing 'Vive l'Anglcterre,' and the steamboats hooting their salutes. Then we steamed out into the empty sea—not a I boat nor a ship in sight—till we came [to the first British ironclad guarding our own beloved shores, and within that line were fishing-smacks, yachts and ] pleasure boats moving about in freedom and safety. But his safety may not laSt long. Do Englishmen understand? We are fighting not only for our brave allies, but also,for our very existence. May God defeat the right!"