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Show DEATH OF ABBESS RECALLS HISTORY Was Member of Community of Irish Nuns at Ypres; Only Recently Saw First Bail way Train. DUBLIN, Ireland, Dec. 16. The death, which occurred recently at the convent at Edermine, county Wexford, of Abbess Perge, a member of the community of Irish nuns of Ypres, recalled an interesting inter-esting story of her flight from Belgium during the German Invasion. The abbess, who was a Belgian and SO years of age, took refuse in the Irish convent for a long and tedious journey from her stricken strick-en country. In this she was accompanied by other nuns from Ypres. Before the German bombardment drove the abbess and the other nuns Into the world she had never been outside the walls of her convent since she entered it as a novice some sixty years before. She had never before seen a railway train, and it is said there was the greatest difficulty dif-ficulty in persuading her to enter the train that carried her to safety. a The nuns were unable to bring anything any-thing away with them and were destitute when they" reached England. A place was bought for the community at Edermine. One of the members is a niece or John Redmond, who has always taken a keen Interest In the community and who helped the members to secure their present home. Before leaving Ypres the nuns managed to bury 'n a sure place their precious historical his-torical possession the flag captured from the British at Fontenoy by the Irish brigade, then in the service of France. The "Dames Irelandaises," as they were' known, fled from Ireland to Belgium in the reiffn of William III. The connection with Ireland was always maintained, novices poinsr over from Ireland regularly, regu-larly, although a few Belgians have been admitted from Time to time. Their convent, con-vent, which is close to the Ypres town hull, was wrecked by German shells. |