284 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



May, 1918 



«G! 



C 



IVE us 



■ this day 

 our • daily 

 bread." I won- 

 der how many 

 readers of Glean- 

 ings have ever 

 attached any 

 particular s i g - 

 nificance to the 



above line in our Lord 's Prayer. I 

 for one have always repeated that 

 part in the most perfunctory man- 

 ner. To me it was somewhat like 

 "grace" at the table. It seemed 

 like a graceful acknowledgment to 

 the Creator that we are indebted to 

 Him for our food and daily comforts, 

 a reminder that in olden times there 

 was sometimes a scarcity of food. That peo- 

 ple in civilized countries should ever regard 

 it in the light of an earnest petition did not 

 occur to me. 



You may have noticed that the Food Ad- 

 ministration has recently sent out speakers 

 to every part of the country to tell of the 

 urgent need of food conservation. A com- 

 mission of six has recently returned from 

 France where it was sent to see conditions 

 and report what it actually saw. The mem- 

 bers of this Commission together with other 

 speakers have been making this speaking 

 tour. 



The speaker assigned to our town was a 

 woman, and the address was well advertised 

 for weeks in advance. It was at the court- 

 house, and on our way there we had to pass 

 our local picture theater. Now I have no 

 objection to a good picture show. The chil- 

 dren and I go occasionally and we enjoy it, 

 too. But I did not enjoy seeing crowds of 

 people around the entrance to that picture 

 theater, waiting a chance to get seats, while 

 at the courthouse a few people at a time 

 were drifting in to hear a speaker sent out 

 by our government to talk on a most impor- 

 tant phase of war work. 



Now I wish to tell you a few points that 

 this speaker made. If people in other towns 

 turned out in the proportion that they did 

 here, there is little chance that I shall be 

 repeating anything you have heard before. 

 A Hero of France. 



Let me begin by telling you a little story. 

 The members of this Commission were invit- 

 ed to witness an unusual occurence ''some- 

 where in France. ' ' A private soldier was to 

 receive a decoration. Previous to this he 

 had received all the decorations for bravery 

 which France had to bestow, and so the 

 authorities had to get together and decide 

 on a new decoration. The deed which called 

 for this last decoration was this: Th^re 

 had been a sharp engagement and when the 

 soldiers returned to their trenches their 

 colonel was missing. This man, Henri Andre, 

 volunteered to go bnck out in "No Man's 

 land" in search of him. He finally found 

 him in a shell hole, paralyzed by a shell 

 wound in his spine. Henri managed to get 



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3 



his helpless colo- 

 nel on his back 

 and started 

 crawling back to 

 the French 

 trenches. When 

 they had gone 

 but a short dis- 

 tance, the slow- 

 ly moving figures 

 were discovered and the boches o])en- 

 ed fire on them. Henri's hand was 

 shot off, later his leg was broken in 

 two places by shots, and, if I re- 

 member the story correctly, he re- 

 ceived some other wound. But in 

 spite of his terrible wounds and the 

 burden of his helpless colonel on his 

 back, he crawled back three hundred 

 yards and saved his officer's life and his own. 

 When Henri Andre came to receive his 

 decoration he was dressed in an old civilian 

 uniform, one arm hung limp, and he was on 

 crutches. France cannot supply new uni- 

 forms even to the soldiers she decorates for 

 bravery. When he went home a little woman 

 in a sunbonnet and several little children 

 were with him. His home was a little hut, 

 which had been built after his house had 

 been destroyed by enemy shells. Later on 

 in the evening when the members of the 

 Commission were talking to the commandant, 

 a messenger came to see if he could get a 

 bread card. The commandant told him he 

 was sorry, but it would be irregular to is- 

 sue a card at that time. On inquiry it was 

 found that the card was wanted for the fam- 

 ily of Henri Andre, that when their ration 

 of bread was issued the day before the chil- 

 dren were so ravenous with hunger that they 

 had found and eaten it all, and now the 

 family of the hero whom France had decorat- 

 ed with all the medals she had to bestow and 

 for whom she had then devised a new decora- 

 tion, was hungry. One of the Commission 

 immediately put his hand in his pocket and 

 suggested that they go out and buy bread 

 for the family. The commandant told him 

 that bread could not be bought in France 

 vithout cards. 



Hungry Children. 



May I tell you one more story? The mem- 

 bers of the Commission were present when 

 a line of little children came up to receive 

 their bread ration. By the way, that bread 

 was twenty per cent wheat flour and eighty 

 per cent substitiTtes. An inspector stood 

 by the line and occasionally he bent over 

 and scrutinized some child sharply, felt of 

 his flesh, and then pushed him out of the 

 line. The children who were treated in this 

 way went away crying bitterly. A member 

 of the Commission asked why this was and 

 was told that these children looked strong 

 enough to endure twenty-four hours longer 

 without bread, and so were sent away with- 

 out it. And yet w" find neople in this coun- 

 try who are unwilling to substitute grain-? 

 just as high in food value for part of the 



