The Delta independent., 1918-10-11
THE BLUE TRIANGLE
AT RUSSIA'S FRONT

Petrograd were in half shadow. A
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 it 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 merrier than all the rest.
Her wit aud 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. G. 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 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 dimry lit room was as joyous as
the gaiety. One of Russias greatest
singers stood by the piano and lifted
up her glorious voice filled with the
tears and heartbreak that people al
peace call thrills.
They went away early when the
music was done-these sad-eyed, half
starved little guests of the Blue Tri-
Gngl-for danger turks in the dark
Of PetroErad streets, robberies and
murderS-shnrp little by-products OF
q nations chaos and a 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 10
the last one of the other girls. The
| laughter had died out of the girls
eyes and the gaiety from her voice.
''Will you give me note to the
factory superintendent" she asked,
telling him I'm attending classes
here at night?' She spoke in French,
for she knew no English, and the sec
retary, no Russian.
1 e. . - ha
retary was glad to give her such a
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 l 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 II the music that had given her
an impetus to study toward something
beyond a factory?
What is 1t that interests you?" the
secretary asked her You are not in
any of the classes now, are you? What
] is 1t you want to take upI"
''This morning | looked out the fac
tory window" and Sonya's voice re-
minded the secretary of the call of n
/ light bird before a storm. Dawn "a
he courtyard was crowd and three
] Ii
! lice-the bolshevik police. while
stood there and watched. They said
| they We're anarchists. One was my
brother. Another was my sweetheart
came here tonight to forget But l
cannot forget. Always l will remem-
ber. l want nothing now but to car
! ry on their work, and to do that must
study and Learnt must learn English
aud many other things. l want to 20
! in all the classes. If the foreman at
I 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 tts shining in
| vitation to the bewildered women and
| young girls of Russia. II 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 it, 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, bu'
scattered among them are factory
girls, domestics, and girls who never
have worked.