The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1918-05-17

war.
They have gone into the fields of
England, these brave Land Lassies,
just as the Old Contemptibles went
out to France in August, 1914; they
have gone to field labor with that
spirit of gaiety, that larking and
testing spirit, that singing and laugh
ing spirit, which is so characteristic
of their race, and which acts like
camouflage in hiding a patriotism, a
devotion, a heroism, which would
blush scarlet to express itself in ser
ions language.
1 very much doubt, after having
visited nearly every kind of war
worker in the United Kingdom,
whether there are any women to
compare with these jolly Land Lassies
for courage and absolute heroism. I
doubt whether any kind of work
could make greater demands on a
woman's body. 1 doubt whether
finer quality of grit is displayed by
ay worker in these islands, be that
worker man or woman than is dis
played by these splendid and happy
girls, who are worse paid than any
other worker, who get little or no
praise from the public and who never
grumble and who certainly never
strike.
Hard Work and Laughter.
"Ill say this for the work." a
strapping young woman told me the
other ray in the Vale of Evesham,
sit prevents you from thinking. I
don't care what your troubles may
be; you can't think about them when
you're working in the fields. You
just go on and on with every muscle
in your body aching, and then you go
back to your diggings, get your sup
per, and go to bed. It's not long be-
fore you're asleep, can tell you.
1 asked some of these, girls who
work in the Vale of Evesham which
sort of weather they like best-hot
sunshine or cold and rain. They told
me instantly that they much prefer
cold and rain. The thing that knocks
them over, the thing that tries their
courage to the last ounce, is blazing
sun beating down on their backs as
they stoop over plants in an open field.
One of these girls wrote to me the
other day asking whether I could not
do something to buck up" the life of
the English village. Her complaint
is that there is no vital sense of joy
and happiness in village life, that the
people are all asleep, that nothing
happens, and that every effort on her
part to waken things up is met with
a frown like an iceberg
When 1 paid a visit to this admira-
III 1o1 7 Ia
in her cottage which witnessed strik-
ingly to the topsy-turveydom of war
For there indoors, watching the Sun
day dinner on the stove laying the
table, cutting the bread. and attend
ing to the fire, was the lady's father
a dear little old gentleman retired
from the Civil Service, and too asth-
NAUTICAL to undertake any laborious
work. This old gentleman gets ur
earlyfn the morning and makes a CUP
of tea for his daughter and her COM
panion on the land. While they are
working in the fields he gets break
fast ready and does the homework
Imagine the return of these two girls
in breaches and CATERS and smock tt
a bright kitchen prepared for then
by a dear old gentleman in a tai
coat.
These girls told me many things
which made me realize the hardnes.
of their life, but always the narrative
was accompanied by laughter.
1.-THE worst thing of ALL" they said
ais spreading manure. It's all very
fine when it's ordinary farmyard man.
ure, but what price something thai
calls itself Hoof and Horn?-or o.
the variety known as Blood and Meat