merican women resident in Paris, fell to a great extent the care of
the refugees; and many were giving out rations three times a day, not
only to refugees but to the poor of Paris, suddenly deprived of their
wage earners. It was some time before the Government got round to
paying the daily allowance of one-franc-twenty-five to the wives and
seventy-five centimes (fifty outside of Paris) for each child, known
as the allocation. Moreover, in those dread days when the Germans
were driving straight for Paris, many fled with the Government to
Bordeaux (not a few Americans ignominiously scampered off to England)
and did not return for three weeks or more; during which time those
brave enough to remain did ten times as much work as should be
expected even of the nine-lived female.

They knew at this critical time as well as later when they were
breathing normally again that the poor eclopes beyond the barrier were
without shelter in the autumn rains and altogether in desperate
plight; but it was only now and again that a few found time to pay
them a hasty visit and cheer them with those little gifts so dear to
the imaginative heart of the French soldier. Sooner or later, of
course, the Government would have taken them in hand and organized
them as meticulously as they have organized every conceivable angle of
this great struggle; but meanwhile thousands would have died or
shambled home to litter the villages as hopeless invalids. Perhaps
hundreds of thousands is a safer computation, and these hundreds of
thousands Mlle. Javal saved for France.

V

Today there are over one hundred and thirty Eclope Depots in France;
two or three are near Paris, the rest in the towns and villages of the
War Zone. The long baraques are well built, rain-proof and
draught-proof, but with many windows which are open when possible,
and furnished with comfortable beds. In each depot there is a hospital
baraque for those that need that sort of rest or care, a diet kitchen,
and a fine large kitchen for those that can eat anything and have
appetites of daily increasing vigor.

These depots are laid out like little towns, the streets of the large
ones named after famous generals and battles. Down one side is a row
of low buildings in which the officers, doctors and nurses sleep; a
chemist shop; a well-fitted bathroom; storerooms for supplies; and
consulting offices. There is also, almost invariably, a cantine set up
by young women--English, Ameri