The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1918-08-31
TOPEKA STATE JOURNAL
INF M A TON
Blu REAU
FREDERIC ]. HASKIN. Director.
Washington, D. c.
ANYWHERE IN AMERICA.

| pulled into the station a little while
ago, and the men were told that they
could get out and stretch their legs
for a few minutes They crowded out
upon the platform, hopping perspir-
| ing brows, stretching cramped muscles
and casting longing glances in the
| direction of remote soda fountain
| Most of them looked hot and dusty
| and cross.
| Later it transpfred that they were
| all of these, things. They had come
| long distance on a hot, sultry day,
| and something had happened to the
trains diner. 1t was to have been
switched on at a certain point but it
| hadn't kept its appointment, SO the
men were ravenously hungry. They
| couldn't understand why this should
have happened particularly to them,
they said, when the government was
noted for its punctuality in serving
meals.
"oh, boy" suddenly exclaimed
tall private, slapping his nearest
| towards the upper end of the plat
form. A murmur of deep satisfaction
rippled turnout the troops. Approach
ing them, pushing a baggage. truck
| decorated with American flags. were
| several young ladies in blue and white
aprons blue wells and American Red
Gross insignia, and on the truck were
baskets of sandwiches, plates of fruit
| and doughnuts, and huge enameled
buckets filled with iced lemonade.
That was a, half an hour ago. The
train has gone now, carrying much
more cheerful lot of men. Some of
them ate as many as five ham sand
witches and six doughnuts, as well as
fruit and lemonade; and everybody
took a new supply of cigarettes,
matches and chewing gum along with
him-also gifts of the Red Cross wo-
| men. They are rolling the empty
baggage truck back to the canteen hut
which is situated in one corner of the
train shed, wearing that gratified look
characteristic of women whose cult
| nary arts have been praised by men.
Some of them are very pretty.
One of them, a stout, grey haired,
motherly person of about fifty, seems
to be in charge of the hut. She says
that half an hour before this troop
train arrived she received a telegram
| stating that, owing to unusual circum-
stances, it was travelling without food.
That gave them just one half hour in
which to make hundreds of sand
wiches, buy lemons, collect patches of
doughnuts from various committee
members, and persuade the station to-
bacco stand to sell them its entire sup
ply of cigarettes.
DO you supply all the troop trains
with food ?" the writer asked.
| NO" she said. 1.-THE government
usually supplies food for its men in a
liberal and efficient way. but some
times emergencies occur, as they are
bound to occur in the transportation
of thousands of troops, when a train
must run without restaurant facilities.
In these emergencies the government
depends upon the canteens of the
American Red Cross to help it out.
Just as a local fire department is call
! ed in case of fire" she concluded
| There are 1000 Red Cross canteens
such as this one at various railroad
| points turnout the country. with a VOL
unteer force of over $4,000 women.
Some of them are large buildings,
with shower baths and writing rooms
for the use of troops in transit, while
others are simply small kitchens en-
closed by narrow counter over which
the men push their cups to be refilled.
one canteen in a southern city is
housed In railroad box car, painted
white, with red cross on either side
or its wide central door.
The object of the canteen is not
primarily, to supply troops in transit
with food. The object, as defined by
a canteen committee member, is to
welcome and encourage the men. and
by some small token, show that the
natlon realizes what sacrifices they
are making and appreciates their un-
selfishness. Knowing the high value
placed upon food by the male sex
however, this token of appreciation is
most often made in that form,< but
current magazines tobacco, chewing
gum and postal cards are also offered
/ In the small towns the women enjoy
making doughnuts, pie, cake, fried
chicken and preserves as gifts to the
troops, and the experienced soldier is
always eager to pass thru a rural Sec
; ton for this reason. Many municipali-
ties have endeared themselves to
American troops by the hospitality ex-
: tended to them at their railway sta
lions. I4ynchburg, Va, for example
> diers as 'Lunchburg." And, when
the war is over declared a young
: lieutenant the other day, CT am going
l to hunt all over the country for A.
he mentioned town somewhere In
the northern Alleghanies-"and when
] I have found it 1 am going to stay
there and eat apple pie for a whole
week"
During the recent heat wave many
canteen committees devoted all theil
s energy to obtaining large Juicy wa ter
, melons and packing them in ice, and
: when the troop trains arrived at E
railroad station they would find a row
r of star-spangled baggage trucks await
! ing them. supporting innun1erable
i. | slices of ice-cold watermelon. In one
town canteen is fortunate enough
e to possess the services of a young
3 woman who is an expert candy-maker
2 | who manufactures delicious, froth,
| candles as easily as most young WomeI
= make tea. and who has never had 6
|. failure. So great is the faith inspired
: by this record that the other canteer
b. | committee members donate small por'
/ tions of their sugar rations to her
S and she turns out weekly patches o
| candy for the canteen. Every soldie
| who stops long enough to enjoy thu
. Hospitality of this town is handed e
o paper napkin filled with candy as h'
d climbs back on the train.
During the summer months there L
. one thing which American men wouit
Sometimes rather have than food, ant
=, | that is a bath. With the thermomete
soaring in the nineties travelling be
comes a strain; the cars are hot AM
I stuffy, and the conversation OF tn
: troop consists almost entirely of rem