The Martian, journal publié par les soldats américains de l'Hôpital de Mars-sur-Allier , item 13

• November 1, 2018 12:06:38 Sara Fresi

  THE MARTIAN

  Hommes - 36-40

  Chevaux - 8

  Vol. 1. - No. 20.   SUNDAY, January 5, 1919  Price: 30 centimes

  ----

  "AND THERE WERE PRESENTS FOR ALL"

    For the children of the village of St. Pierre-le-Moutier, Christmas 1918 - unlike the four days of the Saviour's birth since the beginning of the war was a happy one, probably far happier than any in their short little lives. All that these children could wish for was summed up in the well-filled auto trucks with their buglers who blew indefatigably, the waiting arms of soldiers who carried them over the rough spots and the mud, the glitter of the hall and the gorgeous Christmas trees, the gifts distributed to all by a Santa Claus in wondrous attire, and all that dreams had pictured in Christmas joy. 

    Practically the entire juvenile population of the village, 175 boys and girls between the ages of five and ten, were at the big party in the Convalescent Camp Red Cross Hut. They came with their teachers and no less a local personage than the wife of the mayor of their village. When the bigs trucks arrived in the main square, it seemed as if every family had been up betimes and spent hours in furbishing and polishing the young garçons and filles.

    What scurrying and hurrying there was from every nook and corner of the village! Proud mothers with their children clinging to a hand ran up, poked them into the capacious maws of the trucks, pulled a sailor collar or a loose ribbon into place, and then stood aside, beaming at the officers and men who were directing the momentous happening. Several times the signal to start was given, but every time a breathless youngster with his more breathless mère behind him appeared in the offing, and of course, he had to be taken along. And finally, after the first load was safely on its way, there came the future belle of the village, a coy little miss of seven in a Red Cross nurse's costume. Since it would never do to disappoint her after all efforts to adorn herself, she was given a place in the ambulance with Capt. Kenyon and Lieut. Mills, who were directing the event.

    The big hospital buildings, the great number of soldiers and the occasional nurse, the toy railroad used by the engineers and the bumpy roads were matters of great importance to the tots. Everything new, but particularly the bouncing which occurred at every bump, were occasions for shrieks and gurgles of delight. Arriving at the Convalescent Camp, Lieut. Colonel Dearborn and his officers acted as a reception committee. Several hundred men lined up and greeted the new comers literally with open arms. For as far as they went, each man received as a "Christmas package" one of the boys or girls, to carry through the mud to the Red Cross Hut.

    Inside the hut, the youngsters gazed about rather timidly at the walls glistening with tinsel and the two huge trees which were marvels of glittering beauty. Then their eyes fell on huge baskets, high-laden with toys and packages, with oranges and cornucopias, and with a rush they gathered about. But Santa Claus had not yet appeared; and the teachers who came along to keep holiday spirits in safe and orderly channels, proceeded to organize dances about the trees. One of the men struck a few chords on the piano and soon four circles of children, two of boys and two of girls, with linked hands danced around the Christmas trees, the girls demurely and gracefully, the boys in a pell-mell riot, the occasional sabots adding a not unmusical click to the merriment. 

    And then while the dancing was at its height, a really remarkable figure appeared. He wore huge rubber boots and about his shoulders

  (Continued on page 2)

• November 1, 2018 12:06:32 Sara Fresi

  
  

  
  

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• November 13, 2017 19:38:37 Thomas A. Lingner

  THE MARTIAN

  Hommes - 36-40

  Chevaux - 8

  Vol. 1. - No. 20.   SUNDAY, January 5, 1919  Price: 30 centimes

  ----

  "AND THERE WERE PRESENTS FOR ALL"

    For the children of the village of St. Pierre-le-Moutier, Christmas 1918 - unlike the four days of the Saviour's birth since the beginning of the war was a happy one, probably far happier than any in their short little lives. All that these children could wish for was summed up in the well-filled auto trucks with their buglers who blew indefatigably, the waiting arms of soldiers who carried them over the rough spots and the mud, the glitter of the hall and the gorgeous Christmas trees, the gifts distributed to all by a Santa Claus in wondrous attire, and all that dreams had pictured in Christmas joy. 

    Practically the entire juvenile population of the village, 175 boys and girls between the ages of five and ten, were at the big party in the Convalescent Camp Red Cross Hut. They came with their teachers and no less a local personage than the wife of the mayor of their village. When the bigs trucks arrived in the main square, it seemed as if every family had been up betimes and spent hours in furbishing and polishing the young garçons and filles.

    What scurrying and hurrying there was from every nook and corner of the village! Proud mothers with their children clinging to a hand ran up, poked them into the capacious maws of the trucks, pulled a sailor collar or a loose ribbon into place, and then stood aside, beaming at the officers and men who were directing the momentous happening. Several times the signal to start was given, but every time a breathless youngster with his more breathless mère behind him appeared in the offing, and of course, he had to be taken along. And finally, after the first load was safely on its way, there came the future belle of the village, a coy little miss of seven in a Red Cross nurse's costume. Since it would never do to disappoint her after all efforts to adorn herself, she was given a place in the ambulance with Capt. Kenyon and Lieut. Mills, who were directing the event.

    The big hospital buildings, the great number of soldiers and the occasional nurse, the toy railroad used by the engineers and the bumpy roads were matters of great importance to the tots. Everything new, but particularly the bouncing which occurred at every bump, were occasions for shrieks and gurgles of delight. Arriving at the Convalescent Camp, Lieut. Colonel Dearborn and his officers acted as a reception committee. Several hundred men lined up and greeted the new comers literally with open arms. For as far as they went, each man received as a "Christmas package" one of the boys or girls, to carry through the mud to the Red Cross Hut.

    Inside the hut, the youngsters gazed about rather timidly at the walls glistening with tinsel and the two huge trees which were marvels of glittering beauty. Then their eyes fell on huge baskets, high-laden with toys and packages, with oranges and cornucopias, and with a rush they gathered about. But Santa Claus had not yet appeared; and the teachers who came along to keep holiday spirits in safe and orderly channels, proceeded to organize dances about the trees. One of the men struck a few chords on the piano and soon four circles of children, two of boys and two of girls, with linked hands danced around the Christmas trees, the girls demurely and gracefully, the boys in a pell-mell riot, the occasional sabots adding a not unmusical click to the merriment. 

    And then while the dancing was at its height, a really remarkable figure appeared. He wore huge rubber boots and about his shoulders

  (Continued on page 2)
  

  
  

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• November 13, 2017 19:29:53 Thomas A. Lingner

  THE MARTIAN

  Hommes - 36-40

  Chevaux - 8

  Vol. 1. - No. 20.   SUNDAY, January 5, 1919  Price: 30 centimes

  ----

  "AND THERE WERE PRESENTS FOR ALL"

    For the children of the village of St. Pierre-le-Moutier, Christmas 1918 - unlike the four days of the Saviour's birth since the beginning of the war was a happy one, probably far happier than any in their short little lives. All that these children could wish for was summed up in the well-filled auto trucks with their buglers who blew indefatigably, the waiting arms of soldiers who carried them over the rough spots and the mud, the glitter of the hall and the gorgeous Christmas trees, the gifts distributed to all by a Santa Claus in wondrous attire, and all that dreams had pictured in Christmas joy. 

    Practically the entire juvenile population of the village, 175 boys and girls between the ages of five and ten, were at the big party in the Convalescent Camp Red Cross Hut. They came with their teachers and no less a local personage than the wife of the mayor of their village. When the bigs trucks arrived in the main square, it seemed as if every family had been up betimes and spent hours in furbishing and polishing the young garçons and filles.

    

  
  

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