LOST RELATIVES FOUND.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 252, 3 April 1915, Page 5

LOST RELATIVES FOUND.

! m: Sn'RAORDLVARY COIN I croE.vci':.

. Th'ci. Fnlinuiry- number of the Senility at lTume, contains an article by .Mi jUiorge'A. Watfu entitled "Acting aa Host Ito n Nation,'" describing the reception and'treatment in this country of the IJ. lgian rcfiijgeea. Til the course of ilia contribution Mr H'ado narrates the folJOwiiig .story:— ; ''There was a Welshman and Ills wil'.i Hiving iir a country village a few miles :from Mird'iir. This God-fearing couple had' not' Been blessed with a child, aucl so, w/ien the man read in the local paper that' several Belgian refugees, including torpliitns; were being brought to Cardiff, and' would want homes, the kindhearted Welrillman at once suggested to his wife that slie go up to Cnrdiff and bring back with- Jier a little parentless girl, wliom tliey would adopt altogether as their owni.

"Die good woman went eagerly. But slit" found a little disappointment awa'tihg- her there. For no orphan girl was iiva liable by lierself in this way. There were one or two such boys, and one baby girl' with ft little brother, whom the authorities did not wish to separate. The ! Brave Welsh wife hesitated for a few | moments. Her husband was only ajworking man; two extra to feed, clot.lH\ jam! educate might almost prove toojmucli for their means. Then, however; | Iter faith in God triumplied, and shecalmly decided, she would adopt til* 'two. And so she set off with'her.-mjw little son and daughter to that -hom*-ill the country. "Her husband welcomed, the., twaingladly, much to her relief and 'pleasure. They gave the children a good 'tea; awl in due time began to get them ready-for bed. Of course neither of the littlft ones could speak or understand -Knglishj iitrt they clearly recognised 'that tlfoy hatl fallen among friends. Then unexpectedly came the climax, the ..reward; for- the noble deed of this Welsh',couple: As the woman wfts undressing ■ tiro baby ,>?rl she noticed a locket -hanging- beneath the dress. She took and'opened it eagerly, thinking that■ perhaps it might afford some clue to tlie'- children's identity. Tt did! For in that very locket was a portrait—an - nnmistukablo liluness—of the woman's own sister, who had gone abroad-years previously, and, as they had heard ■from Tier in almost the only letter they frad'ever received, haft married a Belgian!' "And those two orphans were actually the niece and' nephew (hitherto quite unknown to tlrem!) of this very couple in that remote Welsh village who had thus so womlrously chosen them from the. tens of thousands of refugees that had come to our shores from Belgium!" A Miro. resident has just received a letter from a relative in Scotland in which Rrtine of the effects of the war are very- graphically touched upon. The writer states that sorrow, trouble and hard times are every when- in evidence Coat is Is "el ewt. at the pit head, vteak Is id to Is lid per, lb, mutton Is K, biva<|- -Id per 2II> loaf. The winter vjis wry cold and wet, sickness being ' en' prevalent. All the houses and street .lamps along the coasts were in darkness ;every window and light having to be. ■covered up so as to prevent the "beasts iof Oerninns" from finding a mark f«.r; I their bombs. "It is not,," she says, "war, but murder." It is, she states, hard living in these times, every eatable anl wearable, even our medecines, beh)%> very much up in price. Work is scarce, and the calls for help are many. Belgian

refugees are all over Scotland, to the most remote corner. and their sutVerinpfs | have been great. We are," she adds, "'(ill | suffeving more or less. Tlmre are so many j tilings to contribute to tlmt tliere is 110 end to tliem, and my one sorro\Y- ia that I can do, so littlij j