The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1918-02-06
woman,s Share in Wartime.


The canteens OF the Young Mems
Christian association in France follow
the soldiers as near the firing line as
possible-even TO the point where the
coffee pots have been punctured by the
bursting shells. A few American WON.
en- have been sent over TO France by the
association To help in these canteens.
Their work is always hard-one of them
has written OF carrying on" for 30
hours at time The quarters in which
they work are often far from comfort
able. Such trying task as breaking the
news of his mothers death to Il soldier
boy is turned over to them without ques-
ton, In the following story, Miss w. H.
Hubert, after chat with one of these
women canteeu workers, tells what she
considers woman's share of wartime.
Good health, social sense and spir-
itual insight the canteen worker said.
looking at me with blue eyes that were
the epitomc of the three. There YOU
have the qualifications of your canteen
woman. She must not be too young
TO possess discretion. nor too old To have
lost the sparkle of spontaniety and she
must be enough of a mother at heart to
grasp the individual needs Of the individ-
ual lad, to stimulate his ideals, to give
him the sympathy and comradeship that
VIII send him back TO his home the same
boy that he was when he left it.
:" To send him back after the guns
are silenced, and the torn villages in
northern France are quiet once more
when uniforms have disappeared, and the
solemn council Of nations has been re-
corded-that is one part of the outlook
OF women in war work to-day.
Women have their share in the war. |
time. Did the mother of the six stair |
step little towheads we saw among the
refugees at the Care du Nord the other
day have an easier job than her husband
in the trenches? Or the tortured old
woman in an asylum for the aged at
Amiens, blinded by gas bombs that were
dropped by the enemy throughout the
cityf When the music and the deeora
ton have marched from the home. town.
when the newspapers begin publishing
the rolls of honor, when prices rise and
work is scarce to find and hard to do,
when the three year old reaches his
teens and his right to a good education
that is where woman begins to find her
share of wartime Is the never-endinc
drag of hardshps lighter to bear than
a month, year, even five years, in the
front lines?
"And yet men say, You women don't
know what war really means, because
you are protected from its horrors!'
so some of us are entering into can
teen work with the determination to ex.
perienee as far as possible the mud, the
,old, the bombs, the thousand and one
other emergencies and heartaches that
make up the life of our men over here
When we have shared with them what
.ver shall arrive, we shall be better able
o help them plan the future II
That is why the American women |
ire here. They have direct and special i
mission They are to help keep our men /
lean and true as they were six months H
go, to send them back to their homes 4
II America purified by fire and suffering
sympathy. courtesy, comforts--these Ii
re the usual conditions at home All II
he more, when our men are running II
azards Of all kinds and facing death in
II its most terrible forms, should we
trive to give them these comforts when
hey most need them. The spirit of the >.
-omen canteen workers in undertaking I
II this is indomitable.
Miss Reed, one of the ~ workers at |
49, was driven out of her hut by rising |
rater. Her director was at the next |
amp four miles away; the rain was
curing down. Out she started, caught |
p with mule team, and learned to |
rive mule for the rest of the distance. |
he director happened to be out, so she |
ad luncheon with another canteen work |
there. and decided thu. only thing TO do |
as to 90 in 10 Paris to get proper equip
ent for herself while the hut was I'M
pr reconstruction. Back she iourneyed, |
lis time meeting a soldier on a motor I
'cle which carried sidecar, left her :.
structions at the camp. and took the
,xt train to Paris. A day or so later =
lie went back, equipped with a wardrobe
at contained rubber boots, breeehes, a
ort skirt, fleece lined shoes, and fur
ned jacket and cap.
&c Well, if this rain keeps on much
niger, | shall hand in my resignation,
q heard one Of the secretaries at her
mp say.
F." Well, if this rain keeps on much
nger,n she retorted, "the last thing I'll
will be to hand in my resignation
he boys will need us all the more
$ Good health a social sense and spir-
Ial insight they are all three neces- =