The daily banner. (Cambridge, Md.) 1897-2008, 1918-02-06

WEBB & WEBB
Editors and Propr1etors,
CAMBRIDGE. Md. FEB. &, 1918
WomaB.s Share In Wartime
.: :;==~"::'
The canteens of the Young Mems
Christian Association in France fol-
low the soldiers as near the firing
uneisas possible-even to the point
whete the coffee-pots have been
punttured by the bursting shells. A
few American women 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 thirty
six Hours at time. The quarters
In which they work are often far
from comfortable. Such a trying
task as breaking the news OF his
mothers death to a soldier boy Is
turned over to them without ques-
tion.s In the following story, Miss
!. w. p. Hubert, after a chat with one
Of these women canteen-WorKers'
lla;what she considers woman's
share of wartime:
"sEood health, social sense, and
spiritual insight the canteen work
er said, looking at me with blue
eyesstha were the epitome of the
threG There you have the qualifl-
cations 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 individual lad, to stimulate
his ideals, to give him the sympathy
and 7eouradship that will lsend 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 vii
lages. in northern France are quiet
once more, when uniforms have dis
appesf 3D. and the solemn Council
OF Nations has been recorded-that
b one part Of the outlook of women
In war.Hork today.
women have their share In war
ume.i Did the mother Of the six
stair~atep little tow-h6ads We saw
among the refugees at the Care du
Nord the other day have an easier
Job than her husband in the tren-
chea?: Or the tortured old woman
In an Asylum for the aged at Ami
ems. blinded by gas-bombs that
were dropped by the enemy throu-
ghouf the. city? When the music
and decoration have marched from
the hometown, when the newspapers
BEGIN publishing the Rolls Of Honor,
when fprices rise and work is scarce
to find and hard to do, when the
thred-year-old reaches his teens and
his Eight to a good education-that
il where a woman begins to find
her share Of wartime. Is the new.
er-ending drag of hardships lighter
to bear than a month, a year, even
ave Wears, in the front lines?
'Ahd yet men say, You women
don't know what war really means,
because you are protected from its
horrors
80 some of us are entering into
canteen work with the determination
to experience as far as possible the
mud, the cold, the bombs, the thou
sand and one other emergencies and
hearfaches that make up the life OF
our men over here. When we have
shared with them whatever shall ar
rive, we shall be better able to help
them plan the future.
That IL why the American wom-
Da ara here.-sThey have a direct and
special mission. They are to help
keep our men clean and true as they
were nix months ago, to send them
hack, to their homes in America puri-
Aod hy dre and suffering.
SfmPafhy. courtesy. comforts
these, are the usual conditions at
home. All the more, when our men
are running hazards of all kinds and
facing death in all its most terrible
forms, should we strive to give them
these ;cofforts when they most need
them: The spirit of the women can
teen workers in undertaking all this
IL intomitable.
Miss Reed, one of the 'Y' work
eYs af -. was driven out of her
hut by rising water. Her director
was 1t the next camp four miles
away; the rain was pouring down.
Out she started, caught up with a
mule. team. and learned to drive a
mule for. the rest Of the distance.
The director. happened to be out, so
60e n0Q lNQEQ0On VIII anOtneT Call
teen worker there, and decided the
only thing to de- was to go In to Par
Il to get proper equipment for her.
self while the hut was under recon-
struction. Back she journeyed. this
time meeting a soldier on a motor
cycle which carried side-car, left
her instructions at the camp. and
took the next train to Paris. A day
or so later she went back, equipped
with q wardrobe that contained rub
Dor boots, breeches, a short skirt,
dsece-lined shoes, and a fur-lined
Jacket and cap.
"'Well. if this rain keeps on much
longer I shall hand in my resigna-
tion.' she heard one of the secre-
taries at her camp say. (
well, IL this rain keeps on much
longer she retorted. the last thing
Ill do will be to hand in my resig-
nation. The boys will need US all
the more
"'Good health, a social sense, and
spiritual iinsight,'-they are all
three necessary to the woman who