Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1918-12-04
AMERICAN GIRLS IN FRANCE
ARE .ULLS OF ALL TRADES
Letter From Member Of Wellesley Unit Describes Giving Tc
Moric Shoes Night, Trying to Talk Hungarian
and Many Other Things
WITH the termination of the war. tn

W1TH the termination OF the war, the
w tremendous task of reconstruction
In France and Belgium looms larger
than ever and the need for trained work.
ers becomes more imperative To help
In meeting this nced wellesley College
expects 10 send seven new members the
latter part of this month TO Join its
unit already in France. All Of the seven
are experienced social workers who can
speak French and drive motorcar
The Wellesley unit has done impor-
tant work in France. as is shown by the
| following interesting letter which comes
from one of the members Of It.
1t was written from the recreation hut
at Base Hospital 22. near Bordeaux,
| which Is under the management of five
| OF the unit.
Mary Whiting Is head Of the hut,
overseeing everything, doing all the buy
Ing, which means stoves, flowers, tacks,
chintz. paint. wigs, cement, shaving
brushes and axes. After the war she
will be able to qualify as French buyer
for great department store. Ada Davis
wakened us this morning as she started
Tor tho commlssary's, demanding money
to pay for the supplies for the canteen.
She also has charge OF the housekeep-
ing and of delivering flowers and fruit
TO the wards. Thanks to our Wellesley
fund we can give little surprises now and
then. One Sunday it was tiny punches
of violets for the hundred patients in
the surgical ward.
Agnes ellison has charge of the con-
struction work, materially and artistical-
ly; one minute with paint brush in hand
she is encouraging one of tho patients
VINO Is busy with the woodwork and the
next she Is discussing the comic opera
to be put on next Saturday.
Il wish I had the concentration to
tell the wonderful things that the girls
have done in one short month in trans
forming an unattractive, badly built
building into very CHEEKY semblance
or home. Concentration Is necessary
since there is no place in the hut that
Is not youth-infested from early morn
ing TIL late at night. Just now three
OF the boys are putting UP a beaver
board ceiling In the next room and I
expect them to fall through at any let
ter In between thoughts some one de-
mands necessary something, so no
consecutive ideas are possible. Since the
last period I have assured an artillery
man that I would cable home to his
mother that he wasn't really killed az
reported, but that he Is quite happv
and on the road to recovery. I have
searched In my mind for the few Mag
var words that I once knew to cheer up
lonesome native Of Hungary and have
told where many things and people are
I inclose little plan Of the hut that
one of the boys drew when We hap
pened to suggest that 1t would be nice
to send one home. Suggestion seems TO
be all that Is necessary to get anything
done. from our breakfast dishes to office
desks. (You will notice that we are
rather fond of the American soldier in
general and of our own detail in par
ticular They are tho boys we knew at
home. jolly and full Of clever fun. but
they are bigger, more worthy, less
selfish than those who have not been
over here.)
The hut Is one-storied, Of tar paper
and wood, and looks quite uninyitinr
from without. Our auditorium Is per-
haps thirty feet wide by seventy-flve
long. The boys have stained it brown,
even to the rafters, tho benches and the
tables. Agnes has had it frightened by
chintz curtains at the windows, by the