not only boys. We have nurses and doctors and an ambulance, and uniforms that we made ourselves. '

“When people first saw us they smiled, but the pennies fell into our home made box. \/Vhen the box got heavy we counted our fortune.

“We sat on the side walk and all of us together counted and piled the coins.

“We agreed that we must elect a responsible committee to dispose of the funds.”

That’s how the two who told me the story came to be elected guards of the money. They are assisted by two little girls- lO years old—Petra Orgaz and Isabelle Ripoli.

At the end of the first day, they had altogether 30 pesetas (about $3.60).

“Good. Now we must get it to the wounded.” And their odyssey began.

They moved first on the military hospital Buen Suceso. A delegation was selected to enter the building with the money. The rest of the battalion in military formation waited outside.——- One tot held their flag. Nurses in white head dresses and “volunteers” in militiamen’s hats, held toy stretchers.

“We can’t accept your money here,” the delegation was told inside the hospital, “for the simple reason that we cannot use it.”

A cloud of sorrow passed over the faces of the children. They wanted so desparately to be useful to the struggle. One young man spoke up: _

“How many seriously wounded men have you here?”

“Thirteen.”

The delegation rejoined the battalion. In all seriousness they paraded to the nearest bakery. In a short while they returned carrying 13 cakes.

But they still had about 25 pesetas left. How could they best be used for the wounded. With martial tread, they paraded to the Princess Hospital.

The director of that hospital, Dr. Jose Arroyo Cuadrado

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