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THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



Dtograph from Harriet Chalmers Adams 

 FLOWER OF PRANCE DECORATES ONE OF HER COUNTRY'S 

 DEFENDERS 



across the street were fired, she went 

 out to a German officer and said, "Don't 

 you dare to burn my house. I am car- 

 ing for the wounded. If you spare my 

 house and' the people in it, I will care 

 for your wounded, too." And she kept 

 her word. She mothered the homeless 

 population. The stories she told us made 

 me sick with horror. 



AT THE SHRINE WHERE AMERICA WAS 

 CHRISTENED 



Back of the ruins are shacks erected 

 by the government to house 800 refugees 



who have returned to 

 their old haunts. The 

 women had just come 

 in from the hop field. 

 They were poorly clad 

 and in need of new 

 hob-nailed shoes. One 

 poor old soul offered 

 me her only chair. 

 She said she was very 

 grateful to have a 

 home again and was 

 comfortable when it 

 was not cold. "But, 

 O, Madame, if only 

 you could have seen 

 those pewter plates 

 over the fireplace in 

 my house that was 

 burned. They be- 

 longed to my great- 

 great-grandmother." 



A mecca of mine lay 

 beyond Gerbeviller, in 

 the mountains of the 

 Vosges — the old town 

 of St. Die, where 

 America was named ; 

 but it was under heavy 

 bombardment just 

 then and not at home 

 to visitors. Many of 

 our boys have already 

 seen the places I have 

 described, and some of 

 the Young American 

 Lafayettes may wan- 

 der through St. Die's 

 narrow streets and, if 

 it has withstood the 

 German shells, even 

 enter the old house 

 where America was put on the map. 



America is on the map to stay, and 

 all the Young American Lafayettes are 

 in France to stay until the day of victory. 

 Since my return from the war zone I 

 have been traveling throughout the 

 United States, feeling the pulse of Amer- 

 ica. I am convinced that, although the 

 awakening is slow with many, we are at 

 last becoming united and will stand the 

 test; that in the struggle to maintain those 

 principles on which our nation rests we 

 will exhibit the same fortitude and spirit 

 of self-sacrifice I met in French Lorraine. 



