The herald and news. [volume] (Newberry S.C.) 1903-1937, 1918-10-22
Ncman Makes Chocolate and
Other Dainties for Men
on Firing Line.
She GIyEs The HOME TOUCH
Calls It Privilege to Talk to Boys
Sees That They Are Well and
Happy and That Their
I Clothes Are Whole.
By ROY S. DURsTlNE.


will hear, then, about the women who
are cooking and baking for the Amer
ican boys with their helmets and gas;
masks on the shelf. next the baking
powder can. They will learn Of the.
casual heroSnes who see nothing re-
markable in making hot chocolate In
shacks where the rain and the snow
come in on them through fresh SHELF
holes in the roof.
One of the women people will hear
about will be Mrs. Clara Simmons.
She is as close to the front line
here as any woman is permitted to,
60. For many days, during the active
fighting just over the hill from her..
she was the only woman In the entire
area. That didn't bother her at all
The boys wanted hot chocolate, anE
she could make 1t. So there you are
And there she was.
She is little bit Of America, Of
American womanhood, dropped right
down in the middle Of the fighting
zone. She looks more like home to-
the boys than anything in the world
except letter. She has no pic
turesque ideas about carrying culture
and uplift to the soldiers. She's
there to work for them.
Sure Like the Chocolate.
She works with huge mixing bowl
full of pulverized chocolate, and seven
or eight open cans of condensed milk
on the table. On the rlckety stovee
where the old fireplace used to be. a.
great kettle of hot water is simmer
ing. She stirs and pours, and pourss
and stirs, till the air Of the little~
shack is as fragrant as that Of q
candy store at home.
A convoy Of camions rumbles past.
her door. They are almost at the end.
of their journey. German territory
isn't half dozen kilometers away.
Mrs. Simmons knows that, Of course
but she huns, under her breath. at
her work.
Even before the hot chocolate Is
quite ready, the boys begin to arrive.
They come in tin hats with gas masks
hanging at their sides. Her own he'll
met and mask are on the shelf behind.
her.
"Hot chocolate readyY the first ONE
asks.
"All ready" she says, as she stirss
it with her long spoon. She fills one
Of the tin cups from the mantelpiece:-
"Um-m-m!' says the youngster-
'aThat's good and thick. Give US &
package of cookies"
He takes his tin cup and his cookies
to an empty packing box in the cor
ner, sits down, and feasts slowly ana
luxuriously. Another boy is at the
board that serves as counter.
Gives&he Home Touch.
Some Of the boys stop to gosstls.
when the edge is taken of their
thirsts and hungers.
Remember Bill Johnsonw they ask
Mrs. Simmons. She does. He was
the boy who always took three cups
of chocolate.
"He won't any more for awhile
they tell her. stopped one In the leg
last night.
ooh, that's too bad!" she says, just
the way she would say it at home If
she heard that Johnnie had the
measles.
That's the thing about Mrs. Sim.
mons and such women. She brings
to the boys a constant reminder OF
the women they have left behind. OF
their mothers and their sisters and
their wive Is. She talks in the most
casual American way about things
that are neither casual nor American.
After the last of her soldiers has;
put on his tin hat and gone down.
the hill into the valleys from which
they start for their outposts, she be-
gins talking very simply about heL,'
work. II
''There is not mother or wife or
sister of any one of these boys who
wouldn't give all she has to be where
I am today" she says. "Just think
what a privilege it is to talk to them,
and to see that they are well and
happy, and that their clothes are
whole. Women, you know, worry
most about their uncertainties. If
could only tell the people who are
worrying about these boys how husky
and cheerful their youngsters are /;
That's what would make them happy
Every time I get tired, just think
how many thousands of women would
be the happiest persons on earth Il
they could be where l am. Oh, it's,
great"