The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1917-05-02
AMERICAN W0MAN LONG IN FRANCE,
 SAYS, BE CALM Advises Women of Bridge
 port to Live As If In Peace Times. HAS CROSSED SEA
 OFTEN DURING WAR Thrilled, She Says, at Sight of Great Display of Ma
 tional Colors Here


 try to live in war times as nearly as possible as they do in times of peace. Tell them that this silly hysteria where it isn't necessary can only re- suit in ruin to- tradesmen and to the workers in a number of. trades and good" said Belle Armstrong Whit textile expert, yesterday at Warner Bros, with which concern she is Paris designer.
 Seventeen times since the war be- gan has Mrs. Whitney braved the sub marines of the Atlantic. Once, early in the conflict she was returning to France on ship loaded with muni- tions which was chased by submarines. The captain managed to evade the submersibles but his calls for help brought two armored British cruisers which conveyed the ship to Queens town. This was her most exciting trip.
 ''Traveling on the Atlantic now is not very gay,'' said Mrs. Whitney, ''but like in everything else, 1t be- comes a habit and once across, one feels thankful for having escaped that time" Mrs. Whitney has spent alto gether five months on the Atlantic since the war began. She arrived last Tuesday on the Espagne, from Bordeaux.
 q was so thrilled to see all the flags when I arrived she said, land thrill ed to see them in France too, when I left. You know the French deco rate their public buildings only when a new ally comes in and as soon as America declared war the stars and stripes were seen everywhere inter twined with the colors of the other allies. The Presidents message was printed and put up on every public building in France and was read to every school child in the country. The French regard our entering the war not merely from the standpoint of the great resources that we will bring in but from the moral effect of having the last great country declaring upon the side of liberty"
 Although her home is in Paris. Mrs. Whitney claims emphatically that she is first and always an American. She is also strongly broadly. As foreign secretary of the French section of the Surgical Dressings committee she has done a great work during the war. |, Her husband, Dr. Charles Alvano Whitney is <devoting his time to war work in the French hospitals. 'sWhen will the war end ?' the ques- i tion uppermost in the minds of most 1 inhabitants of the world to-day, is, according to Mrs. Whitney, as unan- l sWerable in France as it is inc the
 United States
 l we think though, over there," she l said, ''that there is great possibil-
 ity of Germany's cracking on the in side and having the rest of it fall in,
 as it were and thus ending the war ''It is very tragic in Europe, o1 lcourse. One sees every where, men 1 with one arm, one leg or blind. Just
 as I was coming away, I saw a mar with no arms and no legs being car I ried by another man. And the tra- gedy of it all is the young men. But 1 I have meyer heard a wounded or crip- l pied Frenchman grumble at his lot | Every Frenchman values his country imore than himself. That is why think we need compulsory service 1T this country. It will teach everJ man that it is his duty to do some sI thing for his country.
 I "Too much cannot be said of tht women, either, and how heroica1l, they have taken up the work of tho men. Of course the FrenchwomaI
 known before the war as superb lcial butterfly was but very small pro portion of all the women of France
 There are no better wives or moth
 CTS in the world than the French wo
 men and since the men have gon, away to war they have taken thei l places. Women are now guards il
 the subways, they are doing tn mems work in the fields, they are driv ing cars, conducting stores, working il
 munition factories, and in fact, work ing everywhere that it is possible fo
 a woman to work"
 Il Mrs. Whitney was in Bridgeport onl, la few hours. Her headquarters is il 1 New York when she is in America !, Within. few weeks she will retur1 : to Paris.