New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1917-05-27


thing for the boys in France"
opened the package and discovered six fine
linen pillow slips, yellow with age, and elab-
oratelv embroidered with the exquisite needle
work Of an earlier day.
Surely you don't want to give these away!"
| asked.
Eyes" said the old lady, ~ have had them
for more than fifty years. have saved them
TO give my niece for wedding present; the
only one have for her. She is to be married
tomorrow. We talked it over and we both de
cded that the best way to use this beautiful
old linen would be to send it to the boys who
are dying for France. You know" she added
simply, "they tell us that fine linens and cam
brics make the best possible bandages"
WHAT HAPPENED FIFTY YEARS AGO
This old lady knew what war meant. She
remembered the days Of our own Civil War
when the factories could not begin TO supply
the demand for surgical dressings and every
patriotic woman in the country was tearing
up table napery, bed linen and underwear,
scraping lint and rolling bandages to save the
lives Of her men.
At that time the gauze and absorbent cotton
SO necessary to surgical work were not in use,
and the factories knew nothing of making
them. Now factories are working overtime
vet It is not enough Within short time
after the opening of the Great War, the cotton
factories of the world were drained Of gauze
and absorbent cotton, and for weeks and
months the wounds Of our Allied soldiers were
bound with the old linens and cottons collected
By the women Of the Allied countries and the
United States.
The factories are doing ali that they can, but
there is such an overwhelming demand for cot
ton-which is al integral part of munltion
making-that it is impossible to get enough TO
supply the hospitals at the front with all they
need.
And the need is growing every day as the
slaughter intensifes. Twelve million packets
Of surgical dressings have already been sent to
Europe We need more-and yet more, so long
as there are wounded men. More than ever 1t
is our business now, for the front out there Is
our own, and the suffering brotherhood OF
wounded men will soon be joined by our broth
ers and husbands and sons.
Fifty years ago the women of America did
all that women could do. Chests were ran
sacked, drawers ana trunBS ana CloscIo "ci"
searched and treasures long hidden were will
ingly sacrificed TO meet a need that put TO
shame even the strongest instinct for boarding
beautiful things.
THE ENDLESS TASK OF SCRAPING LINT
The women Of that day had to sit, hour after
hour, day after day, scratching with sharp
tool the threads out Of old linen to make tho
material that now is replaced by absorbent
cotton. There is no need for us to do that, but
every need for us to give every scrap we can
snare of linen and cotton instead of tearing
old sheets and tabecloths to pieces for busting
rags.
And don't forget that new material is as
useful in its way as the old. 1t is true that
only the fabrics worn soft by many washings
4. sufficiently absorbent for use as bandages,
but these bandages must be wrapped, and the
newer and stronger the wrappings, the better
for the bandagss.
Remember too, that next to surgical gauzs
the material most sought by army surgeons 10