The Wahpeton times., 1918-10-17
THE BLUE TTTIAi,I.iE
ON BABEL'S TOWER.

the station platform bench as the solid
blue figure suddenly bent down over
ner. EScitedly she shook her head in
answer to The question that she could
not understand. She searched through
her red plaid waist for the paper that
Tony had folded into little square
ana given I" her. The writing on it,
IN the English that Tony knew and She
did not, '"lA the house where she lived.
lonS had explained it all to her that
morning. 10 had told 1t to her again
az the Slaiion. Then. waving his hat
he had disappeared into the train With
the rest, of tho men, and Lucia ha6
been left standing oueside the gate.
There were crowds Of women pushing
all about her. They were weeping.
So Lucia wept, too.
Lucia had been betrothed to Tony
In the old country. Five years before,
With long ticket for New York
pinned into his inside pocket, her lover
had left her. He wrote in every let
ter that he had made her a home in
the new country. Her dowry money
had finally provided her own transpor-
tadon. and for two months Tony and
sne had been married. Then he had
drawn ticket with number on It,
and this morning he had gone on to
war.
To the policeman Lucia told all these
things In rapid Italian. But the po-
lceman only talked back to her as
rapidly in language that was not
Italian. She followed him dumbly to
headquarters. An hour later a wom-
an wearing American clothes gently
began talking to her In beautiful Ital.
ian.
italian Lucia was only one of thou
sands Of foreign-born women, Svrians
Italians, Armenians. Russians, Lithu-
anians. Polish, who. when the draft
called their men folk to the American
colors, asked in helpless confusion
what 1t was all about. When would
their men he back? What did people
mean when they told them they would
receive money through the mail?
Where. could they find work that they
knew how to do? Was there no one
who could explain 1t all to them in
:, their own language?
The Y. w. c. A. was ready to offer
assistance, but 1t would be Of no value
to offer 1t in English. Consequently
1t had to supply corps Of women who
could talk to the foreign-born woman
at her own door in the language that
she was used to hearing in the home
land. To teach her English was as
essential a factor in her Anerlcaniza-
tlOn as to find her job. Therefore
the war council of the Y. w. G. A. set
out to find her English.
A year before the war began In Eu-
rope, the leaders of the Young Wom-
ans Christian association fOresaw just
such situation. and made ready to
meet it. They studied the needs of
the immigrant. They trained skilled
miliar with the home habits and to
speak the language of the Lett and the
Hungarian and the Greek and the 9TH
or foreign Eothers who brought ba.
bieS and bundles over from Ellis island
to Battery park.
The organization into which this ex-
pertinent has developed was named
by thu Y. W. G. 4. national board, 1.-THE
International Institute for Young
Women" II terms which these wom-
on, indians. and r. tc hi n,,
foreign-hotn how to sew and cook and
care for the baby.
To girls like Italian Lucia. who con.
fusetlly fingered on the station plat
forms whom the draft trains pulled out,
the w. Y. c. A. is giving direct as
sistnnce. Educated European women,
appointed to the regular staff of work.
ers at the camp Y. w. C. A. Hostess
Houses are able to talk to the drafted
men in their own language, assist them
in writing letters home. and IN ar.
ranging furlOughs and little visits to
the camp.
"The Home Information Service for
Foreign Families Of Enlisted Men" is
doing practical relief work for the
wives nr'l mothers. The purpose of
the board is to hep the women folk
left behind to understand where their
boys are and how they are being treat
ed; how they need home support and
cheer, how to send them comforts, and
to keep pace themselves by learning
English and other things. so that when
the boys come home they will not find
their women still very un.American
and out Of sympathy with them.
Food conservation bulletins have
been translated into 18 or 10 languages.
At the factories and muniti0n plants
interpreters are available for the non-
English speaking women by whom the
real war industries Of the country are
being largely carried on. In 25 i'm
portant cities International Institute
Bureaus are training American aud
foreign women for full time social
service work with foreigners. Twenty
four trained women are employed on
the national and district field staff Of
the Y. w. C. A. On June IS there were
1O5 trained women working at Ameri-
canizatiOn.
When more than 1900 Chicago men
filled out their blue cards for the Sep