Priests Fight Disease and Death in Small City Shanghai, Oct, 30.
'The fighting and relentless bombing, and machine-gunning of lvilians in the Jessfeld area has added momentum to the flow of refugees into Slecawel, which was already caring for some' 7,000 homeless and penniless Chinese, mostly from. the battered Lotien sector. In the shadow of the tall "spires of Shanghai's. main Eatholle scitlement, these hordes of village people are nding sanctuary after' their harrowing experiences in the war zones. They are chiefly from the farming district of Yanghong, between Lotien and Paoshan,. and most of them have made the perilous Journey on foot, under shell-fire and with practically nothing to eat during the several days they were on the road.
The Jesuit Fathers and Brothers, assisted by French and Chinese nuns, fare looking after the bodily and spiritual comfort of the refugees and fare now desperately trying to device means for housing their charges. in permanent buildings when cold. Weather comes.
Four Thousand Lodged Four thousand refugees are lodged and fed in matsheds, at the College and at the Sisters" section, Seng-Mou-Eu. In addition, some 1,800 who cannot possibly be accommodated and who live in the streets of Siccawei village are' being fed regularly, as fare another 1,500 who have homes Ju the vicinity' but no means of subsistence. 'The Yeading spirits of the vast enterprise are' Father James Kearney. 8, Father Louis Tsang, 83. and Brother Loh, 8.5., who are assisted by seven French and Chinese Sisters as nurses and teachers. Father Kearney is the American priest who arrived here from Nanking early this month after his railway coach had been bombed "and he had. been, machine-gunned, with other civilian passengers, while taking refuge in a paddy-field, Families Torn Asunder One of the great tragedies of the refugees is that families have been. disrupted in a vast number of eases. Children are without parents and do not know whether father and mother are dead. Aged and infirm men and women have been deprived of those relatives on whom they depended.
The "lame and the halt and the blind" "abound among Siceawel's charges, and disease,, neglect: and malnutrition have loft marks on the Fefugees which even the most expert medical attention cannot erase. Indeed, many come to the camp ying condition and, especially among the" small children, resistance 10 disease is so small that they become easy Victims of common alliwents, Often are the priests called to the side of a dying child whom the devoted nursing Sisters cannot possibly save, The Sisters conduct. the firm ary, with some forty beds, where fe and death rub elbows. There are many births in this department and altogether the camp teams with ehilren, The young mothers and. the children generally are among those privileged: to. receive three meals a day, whereas the average refugee gots only two, Benevolent bodies help to furnish rice and other food, When Winter Comes The problem of winter clothes. is pressing one, for the large majority of the refugees arrived with no other clothing than what they wore wearing. But the directors of the camp have now, surveyed the population and drafted all the tailors into service. Materials are obtained through gitts from charitable persons. Likewise, the carpenters in the camp Nave been put to work to prepare for winter, as Have other tradesmen. The Fathers hope to see their charges through Until such time as will allow for their repatriation,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.