The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1918-09-19
TOPEKA STATE JOURNAL
INFORM ALTON
BUREAU
FREDERIC J. HASKIN. Director.
Washington. D. c.
HOW THE FARMERETTE LIVES.
Washington. D. c.

Washington, D. c., Sept. 16.-Lola
was very tired. For a whole year she
had stood uncomplainingly behind the
ladies' veil counter of q large. badly
ventilated department store. day in
and day out, keeping up a cheerful
pretense of interest in each exacting
customer. Outside the sun was SO hot
that pedestrians brushed rudely past
each other in an attempt to stay in
the meager shade afforded by the |
stores awnings, but inside the store it |
was even hotter. If she could only |
get away for a week-away from this
stuffy, Moist atmosphere! Again, she |
considered the small size of her bank |
account. No, she decided YEARLY, it |
could not be done. She moved up the |
aisle to wait on couple of women |
lingering automobile wells. |
do they want us?' one of the wom- |
en- was saying, II should say they do! |
We could place another unit of thirty |
girls in the next county right away IL |
We could only get them. If you know
or any young things that are willing
to undertake healthy, outdoor farm
work for SO cents a day, do send them
along to join the Woman's Land army.
Anybody who is over 20 and can pass
a physical examination. Now don't
! forget" Il
I One of the women departed, leaving
the other still examining the automo.
| bile wells thru a gold-rimmed lor-
! gnette. Lola was shy of women with
| lorgnettes, but today she was willing
| to take desperate chances. 81 heard
what you said just now she said
| boldly, land 1 want to know If they
would take me in this-this womans
army"
This is the story Of one girl who is
working with a unit of the womans
! land army on a farm near Wash:Ag-
ton, as detailed by herself. Attired in
brown overails. wide. comfortable
shoes and wide-brimmed straw hat,
she was busily sorting apples and toss
ing them into bushel baskets. A heal
| thy red showed beneath the tan OF her
cheeks, and her movements were swift
and vigorous. 81 am glad I heard
those women talking" she concluded,
| for am sure I was growing Ill. And
when Tom comes back from war 1
want him to find me as healthy as he
is"
In the vicinity of this young woman
| about a dozen other young women in
brown overalls were working. Several
We're picking apples in nearby Or
chard; two others were also engag ed
in sorting them, and one girl, with
bright red kerchief in place of a hat,
was unloading barrels from a two
! horse dray. This girls. the writer
| learned later. was a society debutante,
who was recovering from a busy sea-
son by ,helDing the farmers harvest
their crops. All were phenomenally
rudy and healthy.
Some distance from the orchard
was the headquarters of the unit. a
low, shambling farmhouse, with a
large, homelike kitchen, and wide,
airy bedrooms lined with army cots.
Here busting. middle aged lady,
with grey hair. spectacles, and a stiff,
white apron. was preparing the noon
superintendent of the unit, a sort of
camp mother" who keeps house for
them, makes all the business arrange.
n1ents between them and their en-
their welfares. If a girl does not feel
equal to the strenuous outdoor work,
the superintendent arranges for her to
help the farmers wife can fruits and
vegetables until she is able to go back
to her heavier tasks. Turnout the
summer only one girl had to with
draw from the unit on account of i'll
health, and she had been too weak to
undertake the work at the beginning
| There are now 1877 Of these woman
: land army units working in all parts of
the country, which is a considera Bile
| decrease from the number in opera
ton during the busy season in the
early part of the summer when
$4,000 farmerettes were enrolled.
, Every state in the union has an organ
lied section of the army. The farmer
cite is no longer an experiment. She
has proved her value; the farmers
, have accepted her; the United States
department of labor has given her
official sanction, and she is here to
stay-as long as the war lasts anyhow
But this success has not been
. achieved without hard struggle. At
, first the farmers scorned the idea OF
woman labor. and refused to employ
it. Representatives of the department
of agriculture, including Miss Atwater
: who also is member of the woman's
committee of the council OF national
defense. declared themselves against il
= on the grounds that it would be toe
expensive, in the first place, and toe
| strenuous for the women in the sec
! ond place. 1t costs as much to main
e tain a farnnerette on the land in Eng.
8 land as it does to maintain a soldier
a in the trenches, was the statement
frequently given out. Nevertheless, q
}. few farmers, hard pressed for labor II
y the berry season, capitulated ant
: agreed to try a woman's land arm,
) unit. The women made good. Th'
IS work in the open air, far from beins
j. too strenuous. caused them to gain IL
il weight; the farmers were more thar
:, satisfied; and the proposition in mos
, cases was operated at profit.
The system employed is this. Thu
= unit furnishes its own housing accom-
= modations (the house is usual.
donated, but a stove. kitchen utensils
army cots. chairs and tables must b.
&c provided) and its superintendent Tn
e girls furnish their own overalls. sheets
pillows, blankets and shoes, in add
ton to their regular wardrobe Tn
farmer pays the superintendent 70
h the work of the unit, and each girl re
IT ceives SIS a month together with he
board. and lodging. Any money lef
over is turned into the treasury of tn
s. local organization of the woman's Ian
d army, where it is used to defray tn
expenses of equipment.
The housing accommodations pro
e vided for some of the units are neces
lie sarily primitive, since buildings wit
- a capacity of twenty or thirty youn
women in the rural districts are dis
l. tinctly scarce. Thus, one unit EN-
8, ployed by a Virginia farmer to pic
Of Strawberries was compelled to take u
its abode in large sawmill. TIL
girls tackled mosquito netting over tn