OCR Text |
Show Tne Women of Belgrade BY ANNIE CHRISTITCH. Miss Christitch, who has won H world wide fame as a journalist, B has returned to Servia, her na- tiro country, to nurse the J wounded. lll THE Vienna express steamed feflH into a desolate station at mH Belgrade. There was no KifH bustle, no rush o porters, flBlH no clad welcome of frienda. One iH might almost havo imagined one- iTnH self at a suburban station on a tB'H Sunday instead of at on0 of the iKjH most important centers in south- pflflH cm Europe. Fortunately thore eH wero but few passengers, and wc jH were thus able to sharo botween us MH tho services of an auciont peasant, IfiH who hobbled along tho platform and undertook to attend to the lug- P.JH gagc.a At the gate wo gave up lH our tickets to a one-armed ticket- tH collector and passed into the cus- trlH toms office, where a very raw fd9H youth turned all our possessions liH out on the floor, and after demand- fjH ing a repeated assurance from us mI that we wero not smuggling any- tf?H thing, allowed us to depart. kuI Thcro was not a cab to bo had but a number of old men, young IH bovs and even a few women were pMH waiting outside ready to act as porters and the passengers set tiH out on their weary tramp up the IfijH steep hill that leads to tbo central Irjjl part of the city. Belgrade has in the past acquired an unhappy T'l'l notoriety through its soul-rending cobble pavement. , Somo months jfrj'l ago the municipality decided to wrl have all the streets paved with ?i wood, but tho war broke out be- Ml fore tho work had focen half com- Hjl plctcd, and the result is that now the streets of Belgrade are nothing Ihjl more than a series of trenches and. N mounds of eaTth. The workmen 11 have all joined the colors, and it (01 is rumored that women will be lurl employed to finish the undertaking pfl beforo the snow comes down. Hl The next day was a natidnal holi- LtiH day in Bolgrade. The town was fi decked with flags, the shops wero Ful closed, and the war proclamation was everywhere to bo seen. It N nestled among Paris hats in mil-liners' mil-liners' windows, and hung on ovcry door and every wall, and was dis- f$ tributed outsido all the churches, v'H whore divine services was held for I the success of the Balkan allies. i'JI Servians are not a church-go- T ing pcoplo by any means. "God keeps Serviar is a popular saying, and the churches are left to take care of themselves on Sundays. But now they are daily packed to ij overflowing with mothers, wives, jll daughters, and sisters. Prayer is ' tho "only weapon left to the women. :p Numbers of them applied as volun- 'vjl teers at the war office, but they were rejected and so they returned vjl home to tho greater heroism of Kl silent watching. ''''1 These Servian women are hero- :? ines. Thcro axe no scenes, no weep- iH ing, no protests as they bid fare- , -well to their dear ones off to the , jH front. "God bless you and good luck, lH my boy." Thus a mother parts fll with her son. Well she knows that she may never see him again, or if ' she does, it will perhaps be in a N wounded condition. She does not faint, however. It is a practice unknown in Servia where centuries v. of suffering and oppression under " H the Turkish yoke have taught the women as well as the men to 'be h stoics in the greatest crises of u Tho last detachment of troops J; has left and now Belgrade is a city of sad-faced womon. A. friend H of mine, a promising young musi- cian. who had recently been ap- ' jH pointed conductor io the orches- v'; im at tho National theater was JM summoned to join the colors. Ho frankly admitted to mo that he was 'M onnoyed. Ho had b6en working Vl on a new symphony, and ho scarce- lj H Is wished to die before it was finished. Ho spent his last night at homo in revising his score; and at daybreak nest morning ho don- j" iH ncd his uniform and joined his regiment. I visited his mother, tf and found her in toirs in her son's ' room bending over sheets of music ; jH , fend stacks of books. hl "This was all he cared for." Ir jH she said. "The army never inter- fv ested him." 'i'H Tho staff at the cafes and res- taurants dwindled 3'estorday. Thero rJH wero only about a dozen people at rl table and tho establishment ap- pears to be i utho hands of one :K solitary waiter. T'l "Why have you not gone?" I I'fl asked. ""They havo not called mo utfl yct,r! ho replied indifferently. "I fh-Hil belong to the 'last dofonse. The DH inastor wont ten days ago. Ho is younger than I am." , i'lll At the National thoator patriotic di pieces arc performed daily by order of tho government. Men 's parts L jH are all played by actresses. In a f "'il few days when tho wounded are brought to Belgrade, tho theater, rr;H like tho university and other pub- (j'H lie buildings, will be turned mto f:H a hospital. -rl During the past weeks tho women uH and girls of Belgrade have boon busy with sewing aud courses in hH first aid and iu nursing, and their ffflH voluntary services have also been NH accepted in government offices and iu tho postnl administration. UtJI A strict censorship is oxercirod iljH over correspondence, and every j'H letter and telegram is read by tho officials beforo it is delivered or dispatched abroad. slrfl Tho popular man in Belgrade to- llH day is M. Toshoff the Bulgarian MIH minister. Ho is by nature buoyant- fjSH ly optimistic. "Kemcmbor this, he fkjH said lo mo with a cental smile, tfitl "defeat for the united Balkan UgH races is 311 impossibility. We shall jH suffer losses, but wo shall conquer. liHH Mv own son is amoue the combat- ffflH ants," he added gravely. "I ffltfr iYdH for him. but not for pur cause.' HH Tho "Belgrade Piedmont," a patriotic journal, appeared for the last tima this mornm. nor val- rfH iant efforts to survive the depar- ture of thB editor, reporters and frH subeditors to the front. For the J KH past week it has been published IfWM daily under the able management jjH of the commissionaire, a printer, jljH and two office boys, but now the rgpjl commissioraire has joined tho vol- HiH unteers, and publication is bus- ljll pended till tho end ot the war. fjH |