Feeding the Hungry, P. C. Hiebert, 1929

All our work was done by servants, and we devoted our entire time to culture and the enjoyment of life. But the war came. That brought grief and sorrow. The revolu- tion followed which brought heart-ache and unspeakable anguish. The bands of marauders operating in the name of freedom entered our home, killed our father, satisfied their beastly passions and left us hopeless in our grief and despair. Then came the famine, and we began to suffer from starvation, and now we are trying to find a place where there is bread to eat. As soon as we can, we will secure passage on the train to take us away from here.” As the train still showed no signs of moving, I stepped onto the platform to view the situation a little more fully. All the available space on the platform and in the station was occupied with persons of a similar de- scription and of like intentions. I walked around the station and back, and decided to return to my retreat in the car, for [ had seen, heard and smelled enough to last me a life-time. THREE LITTLE ORPHANS AND THEIR STORY It was in the month of May. We were in Alexan- drowsk at our A.M.R. headquarters, when the local sta- tion agent called our relief office by telephone and in- formed us that there were several sick children at the station, who evidently were Germans, and probably Men- nonites, in whom we might have a special interest. Several brethren were at once dispatched to investigate. In a short time they returned bringing with them three children, ranging in age from about six to fourteen. All three were in rags, such as we cannot imagine here in America; and in addition very seriously undernourished and sick. They spoke a good German and told us that they had come from the Molotschna. Their condition was such that we VIZUALIZING FAMINE CONDITIONS 235 realized at once that their welfare must be thought of and provided for, before we take further time for inquiry. The committee found a home for them in the house of a poor widow, Mrs. Funk, who was willing to care for them provided that we would supply the food for them and enough in addition that she too could eat. This arrange- ment was considered satisfactory and the children were: taken down at once, since the smallest, a boy of about six was very ill and had considerable temperature, which we took to indicate that he had contracted the dreaded spot- ted typhus that usually proved fatal among undernour- ished persons and often with the more robust; besides it was very contagious, being readily carried from one per- son to another by the ever present body-lice. In a few days the condition of the children had very greatly improved, and Mrs. Funk brought two of them along to our headquarters and reported that she had taken the children home and found that they were not only ill and hungry, dirty and ragged, but infested with vermin (lice) to an extent that would seem impossible to us in America. They now had