The Monett times., 1918-11-08
THE SECOND LINE
OF DEFENSE

fOday as the distance from Paris to
Berlin. The Atlantic ocean Is not as
vide as the River SOmme. The girl
In the muntIon factory In the middle
West is very close to her brother in
rhp front-line trenches. II her work
faIters. If one untrue torpedo passes
the careful scrutiny of the inspector.
the lives of American soldiers pay
the price.
II Is as necessary TO keep the girl
who makes the shells physically fit
and high of courage as the man who
fires the gun.
The glory and excitement of war
are for the man in khaki. Grinding.
moDOtonnuS labor far away from the
flying flags and martial music is the
lions.
One and half million women and
girls have marched into the service OF
the Urited States government, te take
the places Of the men who have been
called to the cOors. With every draft
and with the opening of every muni-
tion environment tile number is null
tiplied. These girls work long hours
and the work is hard and mnnotOnouS.
Furthcrlnnrc they work at high ncrN-
ouS tension. On the skin of their fin
gers and the accuracy Of their eyes de-
penhS the lives of many soldiers, the
winning or losing of many battles.
81 can't sleep at night because I'm
so afraid may have'paSSed on some
thing that was not quite true said
one young girl not yet in her tWentirS,
vino inspected hundreds of tOrpedoes
every day.
Unless something can make this girl
forget at night, and find some rest, her
hand will lose its cunning.
"Nights and Sundays" said another,
T walk and walk. and ! never go the
same route twice until ! have worn
out all the others. and yet can't for
get that perhaps some time, somehow.
during the day something may have
gone through that was not quite right"
81 was just on the edge of going
back home" said another. 81 couldn't
stand it. Then the recreation leader
asked me if I played basket ball, and
I tod her I was too old. I'm twenty
eight She insisted that I just try
throwing the ball. and now Tn captain
of the basket ball team. play tennis,
and can set up and 'wig-wag,' and
they're going to make me fOrew0man
of the room. That would have fright
ened me to death once. But every
thing is different now, that we have
our War Service club"
The war department had seen the
need of occupations for Out-ofwork
. hours if the employees were to work
at their greatest efficiency, and through
the ordnance department asked the
Young Women's Christian Association
for recreation leaders, to line up the
girls and direct their free-time pleas
ures.
The government reminded the Y. W
G. A. that as an organization it always
had had an interest in the right houS-
ing of girls, in the right feeding of
girls, and in the right education of
girls, and that the intelligent care of
these girls in the munitions factories
was one of the essentials in the win.
ming of the war. The government
could house and feed them. 1t could
put up recreation buildings, but when
this was done it was as helpless as the
father of motherlesS girl. The GOV,
ernment is a composite man. He didn't
know what a girl should do when tho
six o'clock factory whistle blew. He
only know she needed locking aftC!
| and he called to the one WOman's or
ganization that for half century had
| made n study of the needs of girls
Vaguely. he had an idea that she
should be encouraged to play, thai
| she needed wholesome recreation. anC
| some one, wise and sympathetic as q
careful mother, to guide her social ac
| tivitieS.
The Blue Triangle sent its play lady
to salute and go to work. Workers are
asked for in recreation buildings OF
| all the % federal Industrial reSerVa
tioEs or munition cantOnments which
have been opened this summer in sev
eral of the states. These reservations
sprung up out of the very fields in q
| few weeks. They are employing thou
sands of workers. Many of these
women have come from far dstHn'
homes. The government provided
dormtories and mess barracks. IL
some places ii is putting up recreation
buildings. Where such building Is
not provided by the government, the Y
w. G. A. will furnish it. using one al
ready standing when available, nnC
building when that is necessary. Al
these buildings, whether government
or aSsOciation-owned, will operate un
der the sign of the Blue Triangle. The,
will have big living rooms. assemhl,
rooms for entertainments. club rooms
and gymnasiums. The Blue Triangl
will furnish program of service work