When the Yankees return home after the great war is over, those who
have been quartered in Brittany will carry back a vivid impression of
long stretches of green forests and fields, of tumbling green waters,
of gray-and-white skies with dashes of tender blue, of glinting
sunshine lying warm on blue slate roofs, of low stone villages
huddled about quaint church-towers, and of granite buildings of
unknown antiquity—and some may carry home recollections of yellow- or
auburn-haired girls, rosy-cheeked, clad in heavy black peasant costumes
and white muslin "coiffes."
It rains often in this west country, skies hang low, and there is much
hazy atmosphere and blue-wrapped distances, but the temperature is so
mild, roses bloom all winter, mimosa spread their golden sprays over
southern walls. The hedgerows and uplands are aglow early in January
with primroses and gorse, all shades of golden yellows, cutting sharp
against green backgrounds and vapory skies.
The air is mild and damp, and it is probably due to this purity of
atmosphere, that the Breton is as hardy and as vigorous as he is, for
their cottages, with the dirt floors, walled-in beds, and lack of
cleanliness, are about as sanitary as in the days of Anne of Brittany.
Since 1914 these good people have been called upon to provide
hospitality for all kinds of foreigners; strangers who, in ordinary
life, had never even heard of this part of the world, and who probably
never had any desire to see it—but Kaiser Wilhelm arranged otherwise,
and they poured in in their thousands. Somehow or other, food and
lodging were found for them, and they became tremendously at home.
Some, much too much so!
First came the Belgians, poor, driven, dazed creatures, carrying all
sorts of parcels and bundles, footsore, limping, weary; fleeing before
that first dreadful on-rush of Germans in August, 1914. Everyone worked
to get them food, clothing and lodging; but, scattered all over the
province, they were wretchedly unhappy crowds, knowing no language
but Flemish or Walloon, isolated and lost in France, and with their
families in Belgium. English and Americans took charge of them, and, by
tireless generosity and exertion, provided them with the necessities of
life.
I know of one Belgian hospital at St. Lunaire, which, for the last
four-and-a-half years, has been dependent on five English girls, who,
through all sorts of trouble, complications and work have kept it
going—and going competently and well.
From England they obtained the necessary surgical and hospital
supplies, but often and often they had to dip deep into their own
pockets—it was a flimsy summer hotel, in no way suited to a hospital
service; but, nothing daunted, they stuck at it courageously, giving
time, health, and wealth, never relaxing their efforts, or becoming
discouraged—brave, unselfish, untiring volunteers!
Many a Belgian, exiled, wounded, homesick, has a special little shrine
in his heart for the Misses de Montmorency and Miss Amscott.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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