THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



437 



Here is a typical letter from a bereaved 

 husband in New York State: "The en- 

 closed blanket was knitted by Mrs. , 



age 701 years, while suffering from a 

 broken ankle last winter. She desired 

 that it be sent to France. As the Na- 

 tional Geographic Society maintains sev- 

 eral hospital units there, we concluded it 

 would be proper to present it to you for 

 one of them. Shortly after finishing the 



blanket Mrs. died suddenly of heart 



trouble." 



A short time ago there came to the 

 Editor's desk this eye-dimming missive : 

 "It is not much I can do, as I cannot 

 afford to, as I am a Civil War veteran's 

 widow. But I want to do anything I can 

 for our dear boys who have shown their 

 love of country and their loyalty, too. I 

 am 81 years old. I hope you will like 

 the wash-cloths. I have never knit any- 

 thing before. If I can do anything else, 

 please let me know." 



Here, indeed, is inspiration for another 

 parable of the Widow's Mite. 



And, at the other end of life's scale, 

 the day's mail brings a package of towels, 

 comfort bags, and one wash-cloth knitted 

 by the eight - year old daughter of a 

 Vermont mother whose son is in the 

 army. 



From New Orleans there comes a 

 "happiness quilt," with a letter which 

 adds, "If you want more such quilts for 

 our convalescents, all right, you will get 

 them ; for, when off duty, as a lawyer 

 (a woman), I can knit and, better yet, 

 I have lots of friends I can press into 

 service." 



A HERO OF l86l KNITS FOR THE HEROES 

 • OE 1918 



From Springfield, Mass., comes the 

 following: "I am writing you in the in- 

 terest of my father, , who has 



been a subscriber to the National Geo- 

 graphic Magazine for some time. We 

 recently read in one of the issues an arti- 

 cle on a Paris hospital, two rooms of 

 which are furnished by the Geographic 

 Society for the benefit of American sol- 

 diers. My father is 85 years old, a G. 

 A. R. man, and his grandsons — my three 

 boys — are now in the service, two of 

 them in France. He has been for the 

 past year industriously knitting, until now 



he has completed two afghans, which he 

 very much desires should be sent to that 

 very hospital in which you are in- 

 terested." 



Comfort bags, made and filled by 

 mothers of Annapolis graduates during 

 June week ; six afghans, knitted by the 

 young ladies employed in the headquar- 

 ters of the National Geographic Society; 

 comfort bags, designed as Christmas gifts 

 for each boy occupying a bed in the Geo- 

 graphic Wards ; scrap-books from Camp 

 Fire Girls; an afghan from Cuba; boxes 

 of sheets, pillows, and other supplies from 

 many women's clubs ; two great boxes of 

 hospital supplies from the women of 

 Ohio ; afghans knitted in small squares 

 by the school children of many States — 

 these are some of the contributions which 

 have flowed into these offices continu- 

 ously since the first announcement of the 

 need for them, and will continue to be 

 received, for that need is not yet satis- 

 fied, with tens of thousands of wounded 

 men still in France. 



Not all of the contributions have come 

 through the mails. A few mornings ago 

 there called at the editorial offices of the 

 Society a matron in whose eyes tears 

 gleamed as she confessed that her health 

 was such that her efforts to assist in Red 

 Cross work had proved futile. "AH I 

 can do is give," she added. "My son 

 enlisted in the British army before Amer- 

 ica entered the war, but he has since been 

 transferred to our own expeditionary 

 forces, and I want to feel that I have 

 aided in giving comfort to some one of 

 his associates who may be stricken on 

 the firing line. Will you allow me to 

 endow one bed in one of the Geographic 

 Wards for a year? I would like to con- 

 tribute, in addition to the $600 for the 

 support of that bed, $5 a month to buy 

 the 'extras' — fruits, chocolates, and 

 'smokes' — which Mrs. Corey mentioned 

 in her account of her visit to the wards." 



your personal INTEREST desired 



Thus have members of the National 

 Geographic Society responded to an op- 

 portunity afforded them to establish a di- 

 rect personal bond with the men who 

 have suffered for us Over There, while 

 we have endeavored to sustain them and 

 our common cause Over Here. 



