THE DISTRESS IN GERMANY.
[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] SIR,—May I, through your columns, ask your readers to give us a Christmas gift through the Universities Committee, 71 Southwark Bridge Road, London, S.E. 1, in the name of humanity to a young girl student, or a pensioned professor or a widow in Germany whom we know to be actually destitute, and to be living a life which is one prolonged nightmare ? There is to-day in Germany wholesale starvation facing millions of people ; they are frozen, weak, ill, and above all, they are in despair. It is no exaggeration to say that many human lives are threatened in the midst of European civilization, and in that the British people have ever been the upholders of the sacredness of life, I would ask you to make up a parcel of some simple things from your own household. I suggest three or more gifts from the following list as easily within the reach of all.
(1) A pair of stockings, or socks, preferably black, and darned ready for us. (2) A couple of handkerchiefs from your stock. (3) A woolly vest, shawl or scarf. (4) A cake of soap. (5) A towel. (6) Tin of condensed milk, or - lb. tea, or soup cubes. (7) A couple of reels of cotton or mending wool, or a packet of needles. (8) A note expressing your good wishes, and asking for an acknowledgment of the parcel at your address.
This parcel should be very carefully packed. The following are the necessary instructions : (a) Sew your. parcel into an old duster or piece of cloth ; (b) on the outside of this cloth sew a strong piece of notepaper, with the words " Christmas
gift from —" (your name and address) ; (c) on this self- same piece of notepaper give a list of the exact contents of the parcel ; (d) then wrap this parcel in a strong covering of brown paper and send it to the Universities Committee, 71 Southwark Bridge Road, London, S.E. 1. There should be no further writing on the outside of the parcel.—I ELEANORA IRED.ALE.
(Organizing Secretary )
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