Show v VIENNA IENNA THE CITY OF STARVING CHILDREN in vienna soap is more precious than gold and as tor for food there Is so little that children die daily of starvation and of tuberculosis babies come into the world frail and anemic their bothers have no nourishment tor for them but fortunately perhaps the babies come come not so often now as they did before tho the war it is a tragic picture which madeleine Z doty paints in the new york world ot of conditions in the once gay and idle capital now there 1 ia no gaiety and the women who were brought up to avoid work must struggle to make both ends meet in dr pa Pac hospital the writer who was studying conditions in austria met miss von pott and asked her to lunch with her the viennese woman was slender it was the slenderness ol of poverty there was an all occasional lush flush on her cheeks it was the flush of weakness she wore good clothes and she carried an atmosphere of 0 breeding but she was starving one day the two went out to lunch together continuing the story she ate ravenously I 1 took her to the he best hotel there tor for enormous prices one could get a real meal when she had finished she looked at my plate 1 may I I 1 take what Is left she took out the daintiest daintie st of pocket handkerchiefs she brushed the remnants into it then she put it into the lik linea bag without a quiver quite quit simply she said 1 I no longer ha have any pride we are starving A my ay family amily will vill envy me because I 1 have lad had meat it is long since we have lad had any it was able but it was true A diplomats family was starving miss von potts uncle had been an all austrian ambassador the family still wore beautiful clothes they still lived with quaint formality but their only food aas was the regulation ration it was not enough and they could buy no more the pension allowed diplomats w was as that paid under the old regime WI with th the depreciation in money this pittance was not enough even tor for rent they were slowly being squeezed to death there was a diplomats kitchen tor for destitute diplomats here the starving aristocracy could eat cat they sat next to their former servants and consumed cabbage soup the von pott family ate at the kitchen but cabbage soup is not very nourishing miss von potts mother was dying she had lost forty pounds I 1 had bad a few cans of 0 sardines and a little sweet chocolate brought from switzerland these I 1 gave miss von pott tor for her mother she was very grateful when she he found I 1 wanted to study starvation in austria she said let me take you about each day we lunched together each day she took the scraps left back home I 1 do not know that I 1 was good to miss von pott tor for who feeds her now no but she was very appreciative she said 1 I will eat everything you give me tor for I 1 must keep up my strength for my family and she added smiling it is only in the early stages starvation hurts then you suffer hunger pangs and get angry but after three or four weeks you do not feel it only you get weak you have no vitality I 1 have none she took me first to a maternity hospital i it was a stone building cold and bleak there were no flowers anywhere the wards were shabby tile beds had blankets but no white spreads the pillow cases were ragged ed there was no cotton the leetor doctor was glad of our visit we were the first visitors in six months lie he took us through the wards ile he showed us the mothers thiu thin spent creatures with dried up breasts only one had enough vitality to nurse her baby I 1 looked at the babies tiny creatures ot of one two or three days old oue one mother had twins the babies were sucking milk bottles but when I 1 looked I 1 saw the bottles held no milk in each was wag imitation coffee coffee ersatz and when I 1 raised my head a mothers tace face turned toward me ine flus flushed lied and quivering and haunting mother eyes followed me as I 1 left the room for how long can a newborn new born baby live on coffee ersatz fortunately the number ot of babies born in the maternity hospital Is 13 only one third what it was before the war next nest we wa went to a day clinic here each morning mothers brought their ailing little ones the children were from one to three years of age the little naked creatures were placed on the doctors table some were bloated from rom improper feeding others mere skeletons all had curved legs and backs the doctor brought them to me ile he bent the tiny arms amis ind and legs bent them straight lek back where there were no joints rubber hubber children he said js then he prest the little head the skull was waa s so 0 soft it gave under his fingers i it is hopeless it he e said we need milk and cod liver oil and we have none and lie he added most angrily 1 I do not want money I 1 want food lie he gave the babies back to their mothers they turned away with tears running down their cheeks of what use Is the doctor still they came hoping against hope Is it enough asked miss aless von pott no I 1 answered 1 I will see it all next day she took me to an orphan asylum many ot of the chalden had been male made orphans by the war there were few sheets and no soap an attempt at washing was made once a week in a yard divided by a fence were listless silent ilent little boys and little girls all were ill from want of food some had swollen bodies and running sores others were skeletons children of ten and twelve looked to be five and six in the girls yard were two tiny boys dying of tuberculosis they sat on a hard wooden bench tho the nurse looked at them with pity they want to lie down she said we ought to have easy chairs but there are none upstairs up stairs in the wards were the children too weak to walk in a clothes basket wrape in rags was a baby ten months old tragic eyes looked out from a pallid face the baby had had pneumonia now it was dying of 0 tuberculosis the father had been killed in the war the mother was breathing her last in a nearby near by hospital in another room were three children lying dying one about four with golden curls lay upon the bed quivering with convulsions great sobbing gasps came from between the little lips the eyes were scarcely open on oil the next bed a baby sat propped up her body was a swollen lump of consumption but she still clung her legs two sticks she was too long unfed to help the third kiddle was in the last stage to life in her hand was a tin tiny mus icebox ice box it played one tune endlessly she ground out that tune to her dying companions tho the minutes tick ed and life away no milk no mothers breast no kiss these little lives went out alone jn in each ward it was the same tile the hospital was a charnel house there were but few nurses and they were hungry and desperate they did not like to see the babies die As the writer left the little ones lined up in the yard to say goodby good by toy this is the scene she remembers hundreds ot of baby faces with pathetic I 1 eyes looked up at me and broken little bodies bowed and courtesies courte sled sied and lisped in chorus god bless you I 1 turned and led fled f miss von pott I 1 hurried after me she seized my arm I 1 clenched my list fist ill it only they had said god damm dafni you I 1 sobbed she took my hand we had long since ceased to remember we were from enemy lands we were women and the world was dying do you know said miss pott 1 I have been wondering it if the children in russia and hungary have more to eat than they have here because it they have we might better become belshe viki alki what difference does it make as long as we are fed we went back to miss von potts home the family all lived in one apartment tor for economy it was teatime they still had a little real tea there were no milli milk and n no 0 sugar but tea hour was sacred mrs yon von pott presided she was as fragile as the china A breath would blow lier her away there was an exquisite tea tray the daintie st of china and linen napkins we hung breathless ilver over the steaming liquid and nibbled a tiny portion ot of impossible black breau bread tills this said mrs vou von pott Is the great moment of oe the day I 1 livelier it but soon our tea will be gone it was hard to leave miss von pott hard to go back to america where they hey would not understand where I 1 could not talk for in the face of suffering suffering of children everything else is forgotten women like miss hiss vou von pott and myself who had seen been what we had seen temporarily had no differences it was all merged in anguish we hated war wo we hated the mans physical world of combat that let child ren die we wanted the mothers of the world to join hands and see that thai every baby was fed said miss von pott my class has made the poor suffer now we must pay austria Is old and rotten women have been kept down they were told comans womans place was in the home they have lived tor for dress and entertainment tain ment when the war came the women were helpless A friend in england writes occupy yourself with your painting you must leearn to work I 1 am glad to work I 1 have no lie longer pride I 1 am helping ohp american Alls mission slon teed feed school ch children ildren it only all could be fed but a whole nation is starving we said goodby good by with tears I 1 do not know whether miss von pott is still alive I 1 have not heard from her she owned a house aud and land in belgium but she was not allowed to go there and claim it her thoughts often turned to belgium it was her second home she said 1 I dream every night of my home in belgium I 1 dream of my animals of my dogs and horses and cows I 1 dream I 1 am kissing them the world owes a great reparation to bomell and children its task now should be to pay the debt literary digest |