CHRISTIAN SCIENCE IN THE WAR
relief was extended to more than 2600 cases in this way. Although Christian Scientists in the United Kingdom and the Colonies were naturally most anxious to contribute to The Mother Church Relief Fund, it was then impossible for them to do so under the Defence of the Realm Act, inasmuch as a portion of the fund would be used to aid sufferers in the countries with which the United Kingdom and her Colonies were at war.
The needs to be met at the time the fund was opened differed somewhat from those which subsequently presented themselves. The war broke out with startling suddenness and many well-to-do people found themselves reduced to poverty almost in a night. In these opening days, consequently, the need was often for substantial sums to prevent the collapse of small businesses, to carry on the education of children, or to train individuals for professions to take the place of those which war conditions had swept away. A great deal of help was also extended to landladies in districts which suffered heavily from air raids and bombardments. Much also was done for the relief of those in absolute destitution. In one instance, one of the local committees found a woman who had been struggling for six weeks to support herself and four children on five shillings and sixpence a week. She would neither run in debt, nor beg, and when she was found, there was literally nothing in the house, both she and the children being in a pitiful condition, having had no food for twenty-four hours. The family is now well cared for, and the woman's gratitude is very great.
Another case was that of a young German woman married to a Church of England clergyman, who
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