Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1917-09-07

| ALREADY IN HlattsDurg, New YORK;
Sacket Harbor and Watertown, New
York (Madison Barracks; Youngs-
town, New York (Fort Niagara);
Indianapolis, Indiana (Fort Benja-
min Harrison); Chattanooga, Tenn
essee (Fort Oglethorpe); Junction
City and Manhattan, Kansas (Fort
Riley); Battle Creek, Michigan
4 Highland Park, Lake Forest, and
Waukegan, Illinois (Fort Sheridan
and Great Lakes Naval Station);
Minneapolis and st. Paul, Minnesota
Il (Fort Shelling); Charleston, South
Carolina Government Factory;
and Allentown, Pennsylvania (Am-
bulance Corps); trained secretaries
or the Young Women's Christian AS
sociation are on the spot gathering
up all the resources of the confmun-
lty which can be made to serve the
interests of the young women and
girls; swimming pools, summer cot
tages and camps, club work, physi-
cal training and recreational stunts
are made available to the young wo-
men of these communities.
Work For Women
1t is distinctively a work of women
Tor women, and is not directly con-
nected with that planned for the
soldier. But it is certain that any,
thing which builds up the moral
bound to help the men.
Il The Y. M. G. A. holds that CO.
| operative work for women by wo-
men in communities where men are
to be quartered is absolutely essen
tial for the safeguarding of the
camps. The attention of the officers
OF the Y. M. G. A. is centered on the
meH in the camps. The work for
women in the communities when it
is done must be done by women.
At Plattsburg seven live clubs of
| girls are making use of q new club
house opened in the town of Platts-
burg. A summer camp has been
made available to the girls from
one of the factories of the town who
are out of work during the summers
Girls employed in the army post
form one of the clubs.
AT Watertown the recreational
program is progressing splendidly IN
cooperation. In Charlestown the
Chamber of Commerce called upon
the Y. w. c. A. to find homes for
| several hundred girls who were COM
ing in to operate new factory which
Is turning out uniforms for the Gov
ernment. The Association was able
to take care of the groups of girls
who arrived.
In Syracuse, where there is a thriv-
ing w. w. c. A, the Association i'm
llS program TO
! take care of the conditions brought
out by the quartering of troops near
that city.
indianapolis has a special worker
where club work for girls is health
fully underway, in Indianapolis and
| IN towns between the city and the
fort. AT Minneapolis the authorities
turned to the Y. w. c. A. to help
instruct large number of INDUS
trial girls, who with their evenings
unoccupied needed wise supervision.
ion.
There are a number of canton
ments to be located where no large
city exists. To these the Y. w. c.
A. is giving special attention, send
ing as IN the other cases a trained
investigator to make report after
consultation with the people in the
nearby communities and with the
Representatives of the Federal Com
mission of Training Camp Activities,
as to what the Y. w. c. A.Nprogram
shall be- Burlington County, New
Jersey, where Camp Dix is located,
is being carefully gone over. A Nat
lonal secretary for county work is
visiting fourteen or fifteen towns in
the county, helping the women gath.
er the girls in clubs, forming them in
Patriotic League, and making pre-
paratlon for a sane program of in
struction for leaders and girls as to
how to meet the new situation.
Near Camp Funston, Kansas,
where the new Army City to cater %
the needs of the hundred thousand
men at the camp, is being rapidly
brought to completion, the Y. w. c.
A. has been asked to establish a club
center for girls.
The commanding officer at the
camp mas In addition asked us TO
erect a hostess house, where women
relatives and friends of the soldiers
and friends of the soldiers nv have
a homelike place to meet their SOL
dier friends.
The first of these hostess houses
was established at Plattsburg, New
York. In just two weeks after Col
Paul Wolfe had authorized the Y.
w. c. A. to undertake this, the hos
tess house was opened and speedily
its lobby and rest rooms were filed
with officers greeting their women
folk. cafeteria under trained
worker serves delicious food, and the
place is constantly filed with ap-
preciative officers and women.
Near Fort Niagara and Sacket
Harbor similar houses are at the
service of the men and their relatives
At Allentown, Pennsylvania, at the
request of the commanding officer.
a simple hospitality center and rest
room is erected and busy. REQUESTS
for the erection of several others are
in hand.
These hostess houses are provided
with a mature woman who acts as
hostess, and with her are associated
friends of the Association from near
by cities who spend the weekend in
giving cheering word to the lonely
soldiers and discouraged wives.
mothers and sweethearts.
Where Is My Boy?
do you know where l can find my
boy? He is in some New England
Company, 1 Just can't think which
one, but 1 must see him right away.
He is tall and dark, with curly hair.
His name? o, Thomas Ryan. Please
find him right away" Such requests
are the order of the day at the
hostess house, Plattsburg Barracks.
where mothers, wives, sisters and
sweethearts throng each day to meet
their friends in the Reserve officers
training camp. Before the hostess
house was built. visitors had to stand
around in the hot sun, often in tho
pouring rain, or sit on fence rail
waiting for friends to be released
from duty for few moments of rest
and relaxation. It is off-duty periods
at noon, 4.30, 500 and that this
attractive and comfortable building
huns like a beehive, for the rooms
are then crowded with men in uni
form and their women friends in
light dresses and bright colored
sweaters, consuming sandwiches,
cakes ice cream and soft drinks