Bisbee daily review., 1918-02-17


 hostess houses in the various army camps and cantonments, Mrs Walter Douglas Is resting for a week in the Douglas home in the Warren District Restingi That is hardly the word, either. for the chairman of the con strgction and equipment work of the Y. W. national war council is in con stant telegraphic and mail communi- cation with the various camps ana the New York headquarters The work is vital and must go on It can not wait Every day means either 3 terrible loss of ground or fine gain.
 In an interview yesterday Mrs Douglas gave a close up view and fnst-hand story of this work that is amazing in its scope and accomplish ment. Review readers will remember that last fall Mrs Douglas gave to the Bisbee Y W. C. A brief and graphic account of the Y. W. work and plans in their early beginning These women wanted to raise a war fund of four million then, and build a hostess house in each of the big can comments where the government wish ed them to build and organize a cam paign that would help a little to stem the tide of immortality in great mill tary and industrial centers that al ways follow in the wake of war.
 Let no one make a mistake about this Y. w. war work The women in charge of it, wives or kin of rich and famous men the country over. have been selected. not for their money or accomplishments. but for their own individual and personal capacity for hard work and for organization and ef- ficiency. They are as practical. these ladies as a surveyor running a county line. or a brickmasOn building a wall or moulder making Enfield rifles
 Mrs Douglas, in outlining this work and talking of past achievements anf plans for the future. speaks in crisp sentences and clings closely to hard facts
 We cannot regulate soldiers and girl munitions workers" she says. nor can We preach or talk them into what we wish them to do for their own and the cOuntry's good We can only come forward with counter at- trstc.Ons i'd harmful or dangerous pleasures in these new and great pop ulatiOn centers.
 The hostess house was our start as a solution of the great question of women visiting the camps to see loved ones and relations This work led on naturally to the formation of the Girls Patriotic League. with two hundred thousand members pledged to highest standards of honor and patriotism, and to the establishment of recreation centers in camps and military reservations, and to the care of women workers within military zones as well as women visitors to these encampments.
 How I wish l could tell ycu of the actual facts of this work and Mrs Douglas looked up with shining eyes and eager face. Then her glance turn ed to the window and up to Bucky ONeil's Point. and her eyes became wistful ~It is such a great work and there is so much to do." she went on. Do you know that there are nearly one hundred military camps in this country and that the war department wish us to visit all of them and estab- fish hostess houses and recreation centers2 The Y. W. simply cannc. do all there is at hand to do and that should be done now We have raisec our budget from four to five million and hope to have it all by the endsof the month We aave built 40 build ings already and have 20 more unde. way and the demand multiplies.
 These hostess houses, I could sh here w1 fol ,a after case. instance after instance. of the real. practical good they are do ing for the boys in the army and the mothers and sisters and wives and sweethearts Of these boys They come, these mothers, these wives. from everywhere to see their soldier boy. who is sick, maybe, or who has been injured, CT away from home for long mcnthE. or who expects scon to sail for France They want a last Isnp talk; an embrace: a sigh: a fond goodbye They come to our house and We find the boy. And the mother sits in a rocker by the window and has tea and sandwich. waiting with a lcok upon her face that is reflecfe, from Heaven for the boy 10 come. Ont lcok from one such mother who is sending her frs. born son to fbe Flanders fields Ci death is worth a hundred times over our effort and ne and sacrifice in this Y. W. wal v-c-k. IL is worfh more than all the praise Of ea1t1 It spurs us on ant enables ITS to do anI tc aoconDiist ings tha. We simply could not Go o C1- oEn weak. earthly c7fcrt Tles' 'o b,ood and pa-ri0t-=m s;ar-c5 "a. Ca this work tuf Ire iapifa. 'oa cf g.. vo-k itself carries us cn. guided an, I'd by s~iri.Ual hand. w en th, .=t Tt h may mine Co islicr-s
 The story cf this Y. " war wcri ii % long t3 tell in one paper at on time. Tf Is pirr n ic. 't cIa~s as q goes. For instance: These builder cf hostess houses are engaged neg in FroF'dinE proper hOusinz for wcu en war workers. They are ereCtirl a rouse al Charleston ~avy yard fo the use of girls engaged there in ush ing naval uniforms It will be mode of Is kind Handsome in appearauc,