The weekly Alaska citizen., 1918-05-06


 ment are performing the most menial tasks and undergoing severe hard ships to make the lot of the French soldier easier on the way to and from the front is told graphically in a series of letters received here from Mrs. Belmont Tiffany, a New York society woman and leader in Red Cross work, who organized a Red Cross canteen at French railway junction. She wrote with no thought of publication but the letters-written to relatives and released for publica- tion today by the American Red Cross-tell their own story.
 On October 25 last, Mrs. Tiffany arrived at the railroad center, some where" behind the French front. Four railroads converged there, she found, and more than 5000 men a day stop ped over at the station for refresh ments. which were procurable in li- quid form only There were no faci- lities for their comfort.
 T wish you could see our little village, so tiny and primitive-one long street winding up a hill with the big junction railroad station at the bottom and the church at the top: and stream, winding under bridge half way up. stream which allows the inevitable laundry to go on," Mrs. Tiffany wrote "It is picturesque as all French villages go, but rather too poor for beauty and there are no gardens at all, which is strange"
 Less than month later, November 13, to be exact, Mrs. Tiffany told of the progress achieved in establishing the canteen. A rough addition had been added to the station, and dor mitory and a recreation room had been completed while reception room to accommodate 1000 men was in course of construction.
 We have red and white oilcloth on the tables, red glass carafes, and turkey-red window curtains, and all ways flowers on the counter of the recreation room," Mrs. Tiffany wrote. Tt is the gayest, brightest room you ever saw. However, it only holds 120 men. Our big room is to have huge kitchen and seats for over a thousand men.
 "The dormitories are wonderful. l never was so proud of anything be- fore. Two hundred canvas stretchers for beds! We have splendid fumi- gating plant and an incinerator and the place is model of cleanliness.
 "All the men take off their wet and dirty boots, and we have good felt slippers for them There are two big stoves in the room, two woolen blankets for each, an orderly who wakes the men for their trains, gooo shower baths and wash rooms. Al together. when the big room is finish cd. honestly think it will be a model of what it should be.
 Last year the men slept in the road!"
 However, the speedy transformation was not effected without the expendi- ture of great effort. Mrs. Tiffany summed it up by saying:
 Everything is going awfully well and the whole unit has been fine. No one should come for this work who is not as strong as a horse and indifferent to cold and fatigue. It is terribly hard. The good it does is enormous. however, and more than repays one. You never saw anything like the appreciation and gratitude for the food we give the men and the price we charge. We give them a whole meal for IS cents, soup, meat and vegetables, or meat and salad, bread and compete. It is really good, too. l thought I had a good many occupations, as I wrote you before, but since then I have been particu- larly proud of being a good cook"
 Mrs. Tiffany in another letter des- cribes in interesting detail the rou- tine Of the canteen's night shift" which she regards as more strenuous than the day relief.
 "The station is empty when we ar. rive, but fifteen minutes later it fills up as if by magic" Mrs. Tiffany says.
 This crowd keeps on pretty con- tinuously. It is never an overpower- ing rush, but steady stream until about 2:30 and sometimes until 4:3O. The men buy their tickets at the first window and then pass on to the counter where the food is served. Of course they are always in tear ing hurry and push and shove each other as if they were going to get left if they didn't. But there is no reason for it, because they don't come in for meals unless they have at least an hour and usually they have wait of three hours. But that makes no difference. They act as if they had one minute in which to get and eat their food. But all are good.