OCR Text |
Show Hl AIDING THE FRENCH H SOLDIERS. IHffl Many organisations to carry on re- Hnl lief work in the war zone have been LLH III formed, but one quite out of tho ordl- Hl nary is the "La Payette Fund," which H! lB "adopting French soldiers. As cx- siLUill PlaIned, it 1b Intended to cheer and H comfort mon of tho French army. H Many of the soldiers whoBe homes 1(11 and families are In tho invaded sec- LLH ill tl0Q northGrn France have been H III I in tho trenches since the beginning H jjll of the war a year ago. In all thle time, quite naturally, they have not jjl seen their families;" but what is more to tho point, they have not had a word or Information of any description descrip-tion from their loved ones. On the other hand, their comrades from other parts of Franco hear at regular Intervals In-tervals from home. These lonely soldiers sol-diers see their companions made happy hap-py by the arrival of letters and postcards, post-cards, of little packages containing articles of comfort and necessity and things that contribute to their happiness. happi-ness. This life in the trenches is grim and nerve-trying at best, but one may readily Imagine what it must be for these brave fellows who see their comrades cheered by the remembrance remem-brance from homo while they have only thoughts of those dear to them and the anticipation of .uncertainty upon which to exist. It is this state' of affairs that suggested to the members mem-bers of the La Fayetie fund the idea of "adopting" these soldiers. It was arranged whereby the names of the men were to be furnished by the commanding com-manding officers. In other wTardd, each soldier to be "adopted" is vouched for by his commander. In further explanation of just' what was meant by "adopting the soldiers, a member of the "La Fayette fund" said: "It means that when wo accept the name of a soldier, we write to him, write the sort of letters that cheer and encourage him. "We send him an occasional package containing socks, handkerchiefs or any other of numberless simple things that may Beem trivial to us but mean all the world to these lonely homesick men. It gives them strength and courage, It puts heart Into them to know that somewhere in the world a friend Is interested and is thinking of them." |