Evening journal., 1918-08-03
What women WAR
WORKERS ARE Doing
Miss Burner of New York
Tells Of Y. w. c. A.
Help
SPEAKER SPENT
SOME TIME IN FRANCE


All those who have frienls and rela-
tives who are going over as nurses will
be interested in the account OF the big
part the Y. w. C. A. is taking in the
lives Of the women war workers In
France told by Miss Oolooah Burner, OF
New York City who has just come
back from a Y. w. C. A. hut at base
hospital. Miss Burner believes that
this work will have a tremendous ef-
feet on the whole factory system and
the whole social movement in France
not only now, but after the war. De-
tails Of the results she tells in her
own words.
AT St. Etienne. where we were plan
ming to open a cafeteria. we were sd-
vised TO have two rooms-one for
working girls and one for wealthy wo-
men OF the town who might stop in
after shopping. But we went ahead,
in spite Of warnings. to make just one
room. Now you can go there at any
hour and cannot tell the difference be-
tween the two classes-they are all
mingllng. sitting at the same tables,
eating and Chatting.
Before ! came home I went TO see
the work we are doing in 'foyers
or clubs in the munitions factories,
The flrst one / visited. at an enormous
factory center, was the most success
ful thing / have looked on in France
The center was one where the authori-
ties had refused to cooperate. The
secretary went right ahead and for
several months Just waited, and walled
and was patient. She had the foyer
erected and furnished but 1t took O
long time.
The first day the foyer opened one
thousand women came to see what II
was all about. There were yOuns
girls and grandmOthers.
Il stood there and watched them
come In and saw their faces light up
as they said Bon jour- Just the ef-
feet Of the welcome they receive daily
means a great deal The factory man
ager told us that they worked so much
better because Of their relaxation and
recreation periods at the foyer than
they did before we came. One girl tolo
how much better she could work after
hearing the music at noon.
i0ne factory head asked, 'Couldn
YOU do It for the men, tooT Though
we started our work In France on
very small scale. almost inconsplcuous
". and we had TO wait, wait for every
thing we wanted, it has counted. Re
quests are pouring in TO headquarter
in Paris almost daily from managers o
munitions factories, asking US to star
a foyer on their grounds. Now the
are willing 20 cooperate In many way'
/ At first we had TO do everything ouI
selves.
81 went through a big factory VIII
the director OF the foyer where oVC
three thousand women and girls weI
; working at fuses or large shells. w
psssed through the crowded aisles an
the girls from all parts OF the moo
started in singing Tipperary. MY gulu,
who spoke little English, said ISM j
funny? They think Of you Ike you
/ President
"In the foyer that noon we played
| laughing game. Il is a very simple
! thing hut soon women were stopping
their work in all parts or the room
and after looking curiously al the sporl
for a moment, Joined in and Deiore
long practically every woman in tht
room was strieking with laughter. Ever
we who were looking on found our
selves with tears streaming down our
checks. When ! got outside and tried
10 compose myself. I felt the enecl
which that play had on me and mus
have ON the women for the rest OF the
day. and the effect their work.
aIf YOU arc planning or expecting 70
On N France YOU will not suffer from
| tbe cold. or the food shortage, or when
! some shells break overhead, but you
viii have to learn patience-the very
] hardest kind Of waiting. IL is the
/ hardest kind OF patience, too, which
one learns working over there.
"Our lives with the nurses az tht
base hospitals near the front were not
as YOU might think. exciting we
would get ND out Of a perfectly gooc
bed 10 a perfectly good breakfast. We
would omen the windows OF the nuts
90 shopping. smile over 100 cups OF te;
every afternoon and after a quiet nigh
NJ chatting go back TO our perfectly
good beds. At times we became dis
eouraged and wondered II our wori
really counted and then we would hn'
that the cheer we brought some nurs'
has saved her from breakdown an'
begin realizing again the worth OF be
ing a play lady at a munition factory
or a base hospital where women ar
doing cherries. heart-rending work o.
straight monotonous drudgery."
Miss Burner sailed for France In Jan
uary and now she is back to bring =
college girls throughout the country al
idea Of what must be done during tn
reconstruction period, here and abroad
Miss Burner has worked a great dea
among college girls at De Pauw Uni
verslty, Greencsstle, Ind, and at schools
in the Carolinas and in Virginia.