Evening capital and Maryland gazette. (Annapolis, Md.) 1910-1922, 1918-08-03
WHAT THE HOME
SERVICE STANDS FOR
1t Means Sheltering Care Be
slowed Upon Men In The
Service
IT ALSO REDUCES WORRY

The man entering war service goes
with two strong convictions: first,
that he is going 10 make life in later
years more certain and more livable
for those dearest TO him; and second,
that his countrymen at home will dur
ing his absence. protect his family
from misery and want. The second
imposes upon US an obligation in the
discharge Of which we she'll prove
whether or not we are worthy of the
Sacrifices men in service have made
and are making for US.
The Government is doing well what
il properly can do Through that
most enlightened and humane legisla-
ton, the war-risk insurance law, il is
sending hundreds of thousands of dol
lars monthly as partial compensation
to families for the absence of bread
winner. support and guide.
But such does not solve all the prob
lens of any family. What is required
further is friend, loyal, strong and
sympathetic. to supplement the gov
eminent machine dispensing funds.
To serve as such a friend is the aim of
the Red Cross through its Home Sery-
ice Division.
Have you ever considered the inf
mite variety and human completely of
the things that happen to families? If
not, then you can have only faint
conception of what is required of and
what is being done by the Red Cross
Home Service. II is in most intimate
contact at every point with the human
side of our war; the problems it has
TO deal with are those of life itself. Its
very intimacy with the life of the
family, its Intervention in the most
vital events that can occur in any
home, make sacred its duties and
privileges and confer the highest dis
tinction upon successful effort.
For example, soon after the impe-
tuous enlistment of a boy barely of
military age, and the oldest of five chill
dren, his father was killed in a rail
road accident, leaving his mother COM
pletely helpless.
Another mother, quite well when
her only son left for camp. was later
taken seriously i'll, operated upon,
only to face still another operation
Immediately after
So sheltering had been the care be-
slowed upon his wife by one husband
who entered the service that she found
herself quite helpless and distracted
in the face. of crisis resulting from
the sale of the house she was occupy
ing and complications in the business
affairs he had left in her charge.
Worry reduced her TO a state of ner-
vous exhaustion, which in turn so up
set her soldier husband that he found
it next to impossible to perform his
military duties.
The wife of drafted soldier in his
absence fell into loose ways of living
and began neglecting their unfortu-
nate child. born deaf and dumb. whom
its father had learned to love all the
more for its helplessness.
The wife of a sailor found it so diff
cult TO manage alone their three
young sons that in desperation she
was on the point of sending them to a
corrective institution.
The relatives in whose charge a SOL
der had confidently left his wife prov
ed unworthy of the trust by enslaving
her as a household drudge and taking
all the money sent her.
Financial reverses. illnesses, even
death itself, may strike at any family
in war or peace. but it is war which
so often takes away the man of the
family. 1t is not the untoward event
itself which is so much feared, but the
thought that should it come it must be
faced without him whom the family
has learned to depend upon. To fill
his place in time of stress, so far as a
friend can fill it is the endeavor Of
Red Cross Home Service