The Madison daily leader. [volume] (Madison, S.D.) 1890-current, 1918-01-22

t5h WoHlen ut the 'front.', appeared IN d
recent issue of the London Daily Tele-
graph from a correspondent "at the
base In France :"
Now every signaller was a very fine
Wac,
And a very fine Waac was she-e-
Happy, happy shall we be.
There's none so fair as can compare
With the w. A. A. g.
There is a considerable amount of
musical talent and an Astounding sense
of fun among the girls who are cheer
fully fulfilling the tasks they have
taken up. This you Judge whenever
you attend II of their parties. The
lines quoted are from some patter
verses, On the plan of "Old King Cole"
In which unit administrators, area con-
:rollers and captains of army signallers
Of a particular corps came In for good
humored banter by name. The whole
corps always speaks of its members as
"Waacs," and unless a standard die
tionary of the future gravely admits
the word and its origin to its columns
there will be trouble for the students
yet to be of the war. Signalers, 1t may
be said, are an important section OF
this new arm. and they are especially
proud that they are allowed to wear
the blue and white armlet that, under
the kings regulations, Is distinctive of
the Geographic service.
AT OF e base, through which messages
Of supreme Importance are constantly
passing, the women are pronounced to
be doing excellent work. All have had
the full training of the post office and
are experts with the Wheatstone auto
matte system. But some specialized
training has been necessary, for GER
tain codes have been adopted and alb
solute accuracy Is essential when single
letters or figures are invested with
weighty significance and the smallest
error might have the gravest results.
Very efficient, too, is the telephone
service. employing, as at home, a num-
Der of highly trained young women
Scotland, II may be said. has furnished
a large proportion Of the girls carrying
nut these responsibilities.
J A New Vocabulary.
This question of codes and letters
and figures constitutes a bigger diff
Guilty than the outsider would imagine.
| When a staff officer escorted our party
through a great depot of the ordnance
department 1t was quickly realized
that these women have to acquire what
is literally a new vocabulary to them.
Now, no shop In the world contains the
variety of items and parts and sections
that this arm of the service brings to-
gether and issues. Its very magnitude
In the earlier days, even, of the war
led to the adoption of q code of letters
and figures to denote its division, at
least, where thousands Of acquisitions
pour In daily. Thanks to this method
1t became possible to utilize the help of
French women long before the posi-
bility Of securing feminine assistance
from home doomed into view. The In
telligent French girl might not possess
a ru~diTentary acquaintance with our
language, but she could understand
that all acquisitions bearing a certain
letter and figure were to be brought to-
gether in the rack provided, and thus
Il first stage Of sorting could be eff
fected.
BY special favor a glimpse was ac-
corded Of the ~stupendous labor by
which the guns are kept at their tire
less work. If there is a subject on
which the average girl clerk Is less like
ly TO be informed than upon another
1t Is surely that which touches the
t~echnicalities and working parts OF
modern artillery. Yet here are women
who, In a very few weeks, have learned
enough to know In which direction to
send forward acquisitions concerning
90 guns, or trench mortars, or the
mightiest howitzers. 1t was not always
thus, and mistakes even now are made
that recall the favorite story here OF
the young lady who. when a demand
came down for armored hose, gayly re"
ferred 1t to the authorities charged
with the issue Of clothing. But even
in a department which stores some
thing like $4,000 separate items the
mistakes have now come to be few anC
far between.
Varieties Of Work.
Less exacting at the outset Is thu
work upon which they are entering a
the clothing stores, where 1t Is esti
mated that four women will take thu
place of every three men formerly en-
gagged there. 1t Is a department Of
fabulous figures; indeed. the bare men
ton In tons Of the first supplies o.
winter equipment brought over is al
most staggering. Greatcoats, water
proofs, warm underwear, boots and &C
cessories fill stacks that would seen
inexhaustible. Even buttons and tn,
ribbons that belong to the more gen
orally bestowed medals make up a sui
fciently impressive total, while Their
are armlets, indicative Of specialize'
; Work-the white. green and red OF IL