Feeding the Hungry, P. C. Hiebert, 1929

the same for the day, and checked off the name of each person on his list. In this matter we were required to be very careful, in order to avoid repeaters. Some one might take one meal, then go out through the back door and return to enter again for the second portion; or if they did not come back there might be the temptation to let some friend go through on the same card. For this reason each card was carefully marked for the day. After they had entered the room with their plates they filed past the large kettles filled with steaming hot, palatable and nourishing food, where waiters served each with an ex- actly equal portion. Then each was given a biscuit, after which they found places to sit down and eat. One mem- VIZUALIZING FAMINE CONDITIONS 239 ber of the village committee was always present to see that everything went smoothly and to check up on the condition of the people. Some of the children came alone, because they were the only ones from their family so favored as to receive an admission card. Others came with their mothers, both showing the effects of their previous starvation diet. And how they did eat! Some of the youngsters, after scraping their plates as clean as they could, licked them out all ready for the next day’s use. The appetite of all seemed good, and complaint about the food was never heard. On one occasion, a group of boys who were just enjoying their noon-day meal were asked, which kind of American food they liked the best. For a moment they looked at each other and at the questioner with bewilderment, then replied in a chorus, ‘Everything !” For the sick and for children under three the food was carried home by a member of the family or by an obliging neighbor. The workers and the members of the committees, who were on duty, received two rations of food a day—not as pay, but that they might have enough strength to enable them to give their time to the work. In some cases it was found necessary to supplement this with a food package. With only a few exceptions, the workers stayed by their tasks very faithfully, in spite of criticism and unpleasant things that often fell to their lot in the discharge of their duties. A KIrcHEN ORGANIZING TouR THROUGH FAMINE DISTRICTS In an attempt to picture to my readers what hap- pened in the land of famine, it would indeed be one-sided and unfair if we should halt here and fail to give a few glimpses of the work of our representatives and their 240 FEEDING THE HUNGRY faithful helpers. Among the many interesting episodes that might be told, I shall select only a few as representa- tive ones. About the middle of May, 1922, it was agreed that C. E. Krehbiel and I should make a tour to the south- western Mennonite communities in order to investigate conditions and make definite arrangements for food-dis- tributions. The colonies coming under consideration were Nikopol, Kriwoirog, Sagradovka and Gruenfeld. A Ford