The Hays free press. [volume] (Hays, Kan.) 1908-1924, 1918-12-05
A WALLED CITY
OF WOMEN

A little sunny village has grown up
inside high wall in France within the
last year. It's square fiat houses stand
in straight even rows and along one
side of the city wall is a long dormi-
tory for single women. There are many
more of them than of the families in
the drab little houses. The village Is
full of wOmen-Old. young, middle
aged-whose faces, hands and hair
slowly are turning yellow from the
powder which it is said will eventually
affect their lungs. But most of them
are refugees and the fact that they
are giving up their good looks, their
health, and perhaps their lives in the
munition factory, is of little moment to
them. They have come into the walled
town from ruined villages and devas-
tated farms with their frightened little
children, their despairing old people,
carrying all their earthly possessions
in tiny bundles. In their individual
lives there is no future; in all their
world there is no interest but the con-
quest of the Hun.
No one comes into this little war
community that centerS around the big
new munitions plant but those who
work. Because of the danger and the
blighting yellow powder, the work is
highly paid and all the workers are
volunteers.
The women wear OYeralls or apron
dresses. some of black sateen, some
nondescript. The duh garb harmonizes
with the yellowing faces and despair
ing eyes.
Into this modern walled city of de-
spair the Blue Triangle has flashed the
first message of hope. The Y. W. c. A.
| foyer is the only recreatiOnal center
within reach. The cars which find
cafes at the end of the line a mile
away, stop running at seven o'clock to
save fuel. The city is three miles
from the factory.
my problem" writes the 7. W. G.
A. secretary in charge, sis to keep the
women occupied in the evenings, to
| give them good healthy amusement so
that they will forget their SORROWS and
go to bed and sleep, physically tired
out from playing"
She goes on to tell of some of the
women and girls who come to the
foyer:
There is a pretty little round. rosy
checked girl here who is just beginning
| to show the effects of the powder. The
roots of her hair and her forehead are
| a pale yellow. The palms of her hands
are deep burnt orange and her hands
and arns a bright yellow.
''There is an ex-professional dancer,
an interesting girl who enjoys the
i f0-or- hn1nc fol o nfhoF
| girls. There is a professional pianist
who does her bit at the noon and eve
ming hours. There is one rough-and-
ready girl who speaks English, whose
| father was an innkeeper in northern
| France. There is a pretty little girl
| who is engaged to a French soldier
who still is rejoicing over the five min
| utes she had with him recently during
| an air raid. His mother is the care
| taker here and he is one of six sons in
! the war. Two of them are German
military prisoners, two are civil pris-
oners in Germany and two are soldiers
| in the trenches. Her home in the
north of France was destroyed and she
escaped with a small bundle of such
| things as she could carry in her hands.
''There is a sweet-faced girl who
was a lacemaker in Valenciennes, who
/ came direct to US from the German
ridden section after hard experience
in getting away"
i These are the women the Blue Tri-
i angle is helping to forget perhaps
i only for an hour at a tfme-the hOr-
4 rors that have blackened their hearth
4 stones and darkened the world.
i 'My foyer" the secretary writes,
consists of a hall and two large rooms
1 with cement floors. One has a writing
table and paper, pens and ink, sewing
i machines, a cupboard with teacups IN
it, large table with papers and maya
zines, easy chairs and my desk. The
other room has a piano, more tables.
chairs, ironing boards and a Victrola.
There are unframed French pictures
and American and French war posters
around the room. The walls are paint
ed gray and white"
Saturday evenings they sing and
dance. First they have a chorus, !"
writes the secretary, 'tsuch as lie Reve
Passe' or the LYNNE des Amateurs or
something equally thrilling, and at the
final notes of triumph a voice at my
ears begs, I'm polka, mees.' The polka
; finished, there is call for the 'Hymne
Americain' and we sing the Star
Spangled Banner de Drapeau Etoile)
in two languages"
These foyers have been established
in several munition centers in France
Each one has a cafeteria. a recreation
hall and rooms fitted up as rest
rooms, writing and sewing rooms. Al
night these rooms are filed with
French girls learning English, book
keeping or stenography, that they may
work in the offices of the American
ExpeditiOnary Forces. In connection
with each Is a large recreation field OF
park.
At the request of the French minis
try OF war the Young Women's Chris
tan association has opened club
rooms for the sixteen thousand French
women employed in the offices OF the
war department
& So successful has been the foyel
work in France that a call has come
from England to the American 7. "
81 G. A TO bring its Rlue Triangle hur,