Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1918-05-08
GIRLS TAKE THE
PLACE OF Y MEN
WHERE POSSIBLE

Girls are replacing men in Young
Mems Christian association work
as much as it is possible.
This is brought out in a letter re
ceived by NJ and Mrs. Harry Aims
worth, Braeface, Moline, from their
daughter, Miss Dorothy, who is at
Camp Upton, Yaphank, Long Is
land, doing Y. Ms c. A work. The
girls are stationed behind counters
relieving the men secretaries as
much as possible
I In the letter she says:
We are under very strict rules
We cannot walk about the camp
alone. We must not talk with an
officer or enlisted man. We are ac-
| companied home very impersonaI-
ly) by one of the secretaries in the
evening. We must always be with
one of the other girls. Our chap
erone is Miss Putnam of Daven-
| port. We are all living in the par
/ 1sh house of little white church,
! where eight rooms were put in for
/ the chaplains, but il was decided
| that 1t would be best for the chap
lains to live with the soldiers. so
! we have the rooms, which are.
/ charming, all singles. There are
/ eight rooms and one bath, but so
/ far there are only six of us here.
! 1T is so interesting to watch the
men in the hut. One of them, who
/ hardly spoke good English, came
! up and took Hamlet out of the Ii
brary and returned the Rubyiat
/ He asked if there was philosophy in
Hamlet, and when they said Yes,
he said That's me- Then a bride
and groom, who, for some reason
or other, had not been properly
married, came in and wanted to get
back the certificate which they had
mailed to a clerk in Brooklyn So
we went through all the mail and
found it, and they were remarked
in our little office
I'VE eat our breakfasts and sup
pers in the Y. w. c. A. hostess
house and our lunches at the Off
GERS club, where we have better
but more expensive food. BY the
way. the entire Y. W. cafeteria is
run by Priscilla McClell of our
class at Smith. The girl with whom
work was there two years with
the class of 1917. Her name is Hor-
tense Bissel.
The camp continues to be most
interesting. We have quite good
| collection of books, and I have been
cataloguing them and putting them
: on the shelves. / expect to have a
librarians training by the time l
finish. We have a new order of
: things which is most delightful.
! Our janitor has just been married
: and now that he has a wife, we are
Z able to get our breakfasts here
: right in front of the fireplace-al-
; most like Michillinda.
Yesterday RooseveIt's sister
walked in on us and introduced
: herself. Not as his sister. however
r but as Mrs. Robinson, which meant
| nothing to me. After she had left
! someone told me who she was. She
t must have thought me very stupid
l because she told me her name three
r times, and l did not show a glim-
: mer of intelligence. We are grad
/ ually being allowed to do more and
2 different kinds of work, which is
just what we wish
$ "a few funny things happen. One
: day boy came up to send two tele-
1 grams. The first was to Mary some
:, thing-or-other, and said, Sorry, viii
G be on guard duty all Sunday. Dc
not come out Signed Bill The
| other was to Rosie Somebody, anC
i said. Take1O:55 Sunday. Will NEE
e YOU Signed Bill Most of then
: insist upon saying Dear Helen o.
Dear Mary and when we midi!
suggest that it might be well to Gu
d down a few words, that is one par
h they will not change, though the,
# struggle hours to make the rest o
! the message shorter.
: I'VE are not supposed to speal
+ to an officer unless to say 'TW'
s threes' Some of the men come u
: and say "A book of threes, or els
q Three threes' But the most confus
ing thing is to have someone das
Fl down a dollar bill and say, Give m
2 some twos and threes and ones an
r postals', And when you say, HOY
n many?'@Oh, a dollars worth
2 Then I have a time with rapid cal
culation, which l never took in higl
II school"