The Washington times., 1914-09-20
A Chronicle 90
Cocie!% {

pletely out Of business In the first
place the seas are not safe from fiv-
| hN-niSht attacks by torpedo boats and
he like mosquito craft. then most OF
the men have gone to the front. and
deep-sea hshinG is not an occupation
than can be turned over to the women
folk.
| The women and children are almost
| starving. their onl,. support being the
neIp that the gentry of the country
| manage to give them and the few pen
| MICS they can earn knitting socks for
| the soldiers. 4 few of the welI-to-do
! people of the community-and there
= are only few who wcll-to-do-
| supply them with wool and pay them
. cents n pair for the completed artice
! II is pitifully little. but they are CRATE
| iull for the chance to make that much
| Mrs. Talaffero hasn't been very well
since her return from motor trip.
which she and Mr.. TaIiaffero took this
summer through Virginia. but when
she gets better she is hoping to ar
range an informal subscription card
party among her friends for the benefit
NJ the Scotch women and children about
her friends home. II is good cause.
truly. ana I hope will meet With much
success. for somehow their plight has
gone home to mo as larger ira ayedies DO
not.
DO you know ! think we have cause
to feel proud of the part the women are
throughout England women of means
and position are taking positions as
clerks. as secretaries, driving street
cars even. doing all sorts of mems work.
In short: and turning their salaries over
To the families of the men whose posi-
tions they are filling, that they may Join
the army feeling that their wives and
children are not destitute and condemn
ed to be A burden on the community.
Our sex does come up to the scratch
" ia rao1 70
doesn't it-even II we do indulge i'm
peace parades and such once in a while |
- |
was talking the other day to a |
prominent clergyman. who is just back |
from England. and he told me that in |
spite of the way the English have
buckled down to work-or perhaps be-
cause of that very thing-there is no
air of excitement. He says that New
York is really more upset over the war
than London. that the theaters there are
still open and playing to good houses.
sanelv and calmly. The streets are full
of terrtorials mobilZing, but they
rouse no great enthusiasm. He also tells
the story of stopping newsboy, whose
papers bore in enormous headlines
Great German Defeat" and asking him
is there any real news in the paper"
to which he replied, Yes, sir. all about
the cricket match.
-
/ met Mrs. Leigh Palmer, wife of
Lieutenant Commander Palmer. down.
town the other day and heard the most
account of her wartime ex-
perienCes. She has Just reached Wash
ington after thrilling trip, and maybe
she isn't glad to be home again. She
and her three children, all mere babies. |
went abroad early in the spring; Mrs. |
Palmer left the children with a nurse
nd in Lrln nd yx-nn To 1
England for q round of visits While |
she was there the war broke out.
Mrs. Palmer was almost frantic. |
When she tried to get transportation to |
bring the children out of France she
was told that it was impossible. II ,
for a long time that IL would I
Dc impossible for her to go into France ,
o join them. Finally. after persuading {
he officials that 1t was absolutely {
necessary for her to get to her babies, | ,
and being the wife Of an American ,
naval officer. she was allowed to go. ! ,
after she reached her family and gath
red up her. several trunks. suitcases.
,aby carriages. servants. and babies,
he found getting out of the country to I
e even harder than getting in. lf
There WAS no way Of obtaining prop G
r and sufficient food. Mrs. Palmer and
he nurses had to manage all the bag |
age and carry SlItCases and hand lug | h
age for there were no porters to he r
ad for love nor money. Suffice IL to | c
ay thai. after struggles that now seem {
n her like weird dreams. they reached [
England. There they were splendidly s
reated and before long secured passage | C
n the ST Louis and came safely home | h
While in London, Mrs. Palmer assist | Y
d in sewing for the Red Cross and
he said the saddest thing she ever saw
'as roomful OF women busy maki/g :,
neumonia pads and the like for the
se of the healthy young soldiers then n
assing by the door. She spoke of the I
ay in which all class distinctions have II
cen leveled abroad by the troubous n
mes and said that all sorts and con- | o.
itions of peopl" work side by side. e'
lat every one is sociably inclined and e,
rat people all talk to one another on | a
lie trans and buses. lh
When the Palmers reached this coun- -
y they won't directly to Newport TO Il
lin Commander Palmer. Who is on W
uty there. Mrs. Palmer said that at VI