Decorah public opinion. (Decorah, Winneshiek County [Iowa]) 1895-1928, 1918-10-23
THE BLUE TRIANGLE
AT RUSSIA'S FRONT

| PetroSrad were In nal1 SnaCOW.
| few scattered candles flung CLEANS as
persistent and as vague as Russia's
hope of liberty. A hundred Russian
girls and six young men were guests
Of the first Young Women's Christian
association In all Russia. 1t was
gala afternoon tea but 1t was dark
because the winter days end at three
| o'clock and there is a restriction on
the use of candles and kerosene as
well as of electricity.
The girls were making merry even
in the gloom Of winter. the twilight
and the tragedy Of war. One slender
white-faced girl with purple-shadowed
| eyes was merTier than all the rest.
Her wit and ringing laugh were con-
| tagiouS.
'Sonya is wonderful tonight" one
| girl whispered to another as she
| stirred gently into her tea the one
lump Of sugar doled out carefully for
the party. The Y. w. c. A. secre-
taries had been saving the sugar for
months--putting aside at each meal
one of the two Jumps served with the
| coffee in the restaurant. that there
| might be a bit of sweet for this first
| party. There was no bread.
| "Sonya is not drinking her tea."
her pale little admirer went on. "yet
she tainted this morning at the fac
! tory and the forewoman said she was
hungry"
Were all hungry" was the mo-
notonous reply. 1T wasn't that"
Something stopped the laughter and
talk suddenly but the hush that fell
in the dimly lit room was as joyous as
the gaiety. One Of Russia's greatest
singers stood by the piano and lifted
up her glorious voice filed with the
tears and heartbreak that people at
peace call thrills.
They went away early when the
music was done-these sad-eyed, half
starved little guests of the Blue Tri-
engle-for danger turks In the dark
of Petrograd streets, robberies and
murders-sharp little by-products of
nations chaos and world at war.
Sonya fingered after the others
were gone. She was standing close
| by the secretary-hostess chair when
she turned from saying goodnight to
the last one of the other girls. The
laughter had died out of the girls
eyes and the gaiety from her voice.
swim you give me a note to the
factory superintendent" she asked
telling him Tn attending classes
here at night?" She spoke in French,
for she knew no English, and the Sec
rotary, no Russian.
'Yes. if it will help YOU" The. Sec
rotary was glad to give her such
note but she was curious. ''Tell me
why"
'If he knows the girls are going to
night classes he won't put us on the
night shift. He will let us work days
so we can come. Yesterday ! asked
for the night shift. Today l have
changed my mind"
The secretary wondered. Sonya
had not been in any of the classes.
Had the bright little party given her
an interest in the work of the associa-
! ton? Had the friendliness of the
| American secretaries reached her?
Was it the music that had given her
an impetus to study toward something
/ beyond a factory?
''W'hat is IL that interests you?" the
secretary asked her. "You are not in
any OF the classes now, are you? What
is il YOU want to take up?"
This morning looked out the fac
tory window" and Sonya's voice re-
minded the secretary of the call of a
night bird before a storm. Down in
the courtyard was q. crowd and three
men were killed, Killed by the po-
lice-the bolsheyik police, while
stood there and watched. They said
| they were anarchists. Ope was my
I came here tonight, to forget. But
| cannot forget. Always I will remem-
Der. ] want nothing now but to car
ry on their work, and to do that must
| study and Learnt must learn English
and many other things. want to go
III All the CluSSeS. IL the lUTeibuu at
| the factory knows ! do that, he will
help. He will let me work days."
! In the dark, the hunger. the cold.
| and the terror of Petrograd, the Blue
| Triangle is sending out its shining in
| vitation to the bewildered women and
| young girls of Russia. 1t is Offering
| little oasis In the midst OF the
chaos where they may come and rest
and relax. play games, listen to
music, study English, French. stenog-
raphy, bookkeeping, or music, and as
one tired girl expressed 1t, forget for
the moment that they are in Petro-
grad. Most of the girls who gather
at the sign of the Blue Triangle are
/, bookkeepers and stenographers, but
scattered among them are factory
girls, domestics. and girls who never
have worked
an Petrograd and elsewhere In
Russia" says Miss Clarissa Spencer
world secretary of the Y. w. G. A.
who started the work in Russia, "girls
formerly employed in government of