Mansfield mirror., 1918-11-21
THE BLUE TRIANGLE
ON BABEL'S TOWER

Lucia pulled her shawl farther
across her face and slrank down on
the station platform bench us the solid
blue figure suddenly bent down oyer
her. Excltedly 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
and given to her. The writing on 1t,
In the English that Tony knew and she
did not, told the house where she lived.
Tony had explained 1t all to her that
morning. He had told II to her again
at the station. Then, waving his hat,
he had disappeared into the train With
the rest Of the men, and Lucia had
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 home In
the new country. Her dowry money
had finally provided her own transpOr.
tation, and for two months Tony and
she had been married. Then he had
and this morning he had gone off to
| war.
To the policeman Lucia told I'LL these
things in rapid Italian. But the po-
liceman only talked back to her MS
rapidly In language that wns not
italian. She followed him dumbly to
| headquarters. An hour later a wom-
an wearing American clothes gently
| began talking to her In beautiful ltal.
| ian.
Italian Lucia was only one Of thou
sands Of fnreign-born women. Syrinns,
Italians, Armcnans. Russians. f.ithu.
anIans, Polish, who. when the draft
called their men folk to the American
colurs. asked In helpless confusion
what It was all about. When would
their men be 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 It all to them In
their own language?
The Y. W. G. A. was ready TO offer
assistance, but 1t would be Of no value
to offer It in English. Consequently
1t hnd to supply a 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 factor in her Americaniza-
ton 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 Eli
rope, the leaders Of the Young Wom-
ans Christian association fOresaw just
such II situation, and made rendy to
meet 1t. They studied the needs OF
the immigrant. They trained skilled
American social workers to become IN.
milinr with the home habits and to
speak the language of the Lett and the
Hungarian and the Greek and the 9TH
er foreign mothers 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 the y. W. c. A. national bonrd, "Thc
International institute for Young
Women" In terms which these wom.
en- can understand, II Is teaching the
foreIgn.born how TO sew and cook and
care for the baby.
To girls Ike Italian Lucia, who con.
fusedly fingered on the station plat
forms when the draft trains pulled out,
The W. Y. c. A. Is giving direct as
sistance. Educated European women
appointed To the regular staff OF work
"rs ai III" camp y. " e. { Hostess
Houses are uble to talk 10 the drafted