FIFTY YEARS OF A SHOWMAN'S LIFE 



of French territory. The harvest of the small 

 farmers had, therefore, in many parts, never 

 been reaped, and in not a few instances where 

 it had been gathered in, the corn had been com- 

 mandeered by one or other of the contending 

 forces. Under such circumstances, the peasant 

 farmers were in a pitiable plight. Then it was 

 that the happy thought occurred to the late Mr. 

 James Howard, M.P., that the British farmer 

 might come to the rescue by contributing either 

 money to purchase seeds or the seeds themselves, 

 so that the small farmers might not be entirely 

 stranded. Meetings were called, a good repre- 

 sentative committee was formed, and the proposal 

 was enthusiastically taken up by agriculturists 

 generally. Honorary secretaries of whom I was 

 glad to be one were appointed in the different 

 districts to assist the scheme and collect donations 

 in money and kind, ,and, in the end, no less than 

 over 29,000 in money was contributed, almost 

 entirely by agriculturists, together with large 

 quantities of corn and other seeds. This was 

 supplemented by grants from funds raised in 

 other directions, bringing up the money total, 

 with which the committee had to deal, to over 

 52,000. The distribution of the vast quantity 

 of seed represented by this amount was a marvel- 

 lous piece of organization, the utmost care being 

 taken to ensure that the seeds got into the right 

 hands and where they were most wanted. 



This timely action conferred an immense 

 benefit upon thousands of French peasant far- 

 mers and their families, and their gratitude was 

 unbounded. It resulted in thousands of acres, 



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