The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1918-05-18
HOSTESS HOUSE
Letter From Army City Visitor
Tells of Work There.
Girls Go To Work at Funston
in Army Trucks.


toward the success of the hostess !
house project with money gifts. they |
are interested to know of the work it |
is doing:
sea of mud-all kinds of mud. slip
perry Shiny mud. thick black heavy
mud, dark brown. viscous mud and
waded across the highway to Army
City's main street. Surely" / thought
to myself. There won't be many peo
pie in Army City today. Arks have
gone out of style and nothing else can
get around" I did not know Army
City. When there is mud, Army City
puts on rubber boots and goes ABOUT
many people. principally soldiers. on
the streets-and when / say streets
1 mean on the streets, not on the side
walks. The patches of cement side
walks and the strips of board side
walks were GASES in the mud and wei e
connected with the street, which was
reasonably clean. by little gangways
placed at judicious intervals. The
gangwayS, however were slippery with
mud and passage across was not I'M
attended with The risk of falling Tito
the gutter so that most pedestrians
preferred to use the middle of the
street in competition with the jitneys
and heavy trucks This gave Army
City a. curiously different" look which
characterizes the whole place.
No Mud There.
Turning down the first side street l
came to, 1 soon found myself in front
of two brown buildingS-the residence
and cafeteria built by the Y. w. G. A.
Along the porch in front of the cafe
terra, scrapers and door mats hsd
been placed and were now pracucally
hidden beneath cakes of mud How
ever, when 1 opened the cafeteria
door. 1 was surprised to find not a
trace of mud on the floor. The cafe
terra with its spotless counter, us
stained tables, its green and white
hangings was most attractive. In the
huge stone fireplace burned'a emery
wood fire and on each side were book
shelves. THE Camp library furnished
us with two hundred volumes. the
shelves and a carpenter to put them
up" exlained the hostess later. Wnen
/ was asking her about the life in the
residence. 81 had hardly got them on
the shelves and 1 hadn't arranged
them before people were asking me
for them"
Are they for everybody or just for
the girls who live in the residence!
people, girls-soldiers.s anybody VINO
wants to read them If you stay mere
tonight you'll see how it works out =
STAYED I did see how it worked
out.
| then until Z the room was full of lit
| tie groups of people, civilians ana SOL
diers. Some of them were old Gus
| TONERS but others were there Tor the
| first time ard were obviously sur
prised to find themselves in a Y. w
ca. cafeteria 1 overheard one SOL
| der say. I'm for the Y. w. C., A.
| every time if they can fix up a place
| to look IKE this" After the meal was
over. some of the people left but more
| gathered around the two big library
1 I- n "a 70
| terra tables were soon cleared ana the
big room took on a most astonishingly
| hcmelike appearance. There were
| girls reading and writing letters
| There we're soldiers talking to their
| wives, there were soldiers readlnS
| from The new books and magazines,
there was a soldier playing the vic
trola and two more nearby INDUCING
| H. a game of checkers. Presently the
| telephone rang, and the hostess an
| swered it.. What do you think OF
/ this?" she said when she came back.
This afternoon we got a telephone
| call from a soldier whose wife works
| in the laundry and lives in our dornli-
tory He said that he had got the
furlo he had been hoping for 50
| long and that he was going to catch
| the $500 to Kansas City and he want
| ed US to tell his wife when she came
back and get her the train at
| Ogden Tor he'd have to take it at
| Funston. So we told the girl when
| she came and she was awfully pleased
| and we all rushed around madly and
got her ready and on the train and
now he has just telephoned that he
| was down at the Funston station with
| his ticket bought when they came
j after him and told him that his furlo
| had been rescinded-and there's his
wife on the train and he wasn't able
to reach her at Manhattan. He want
-.
to telegraph her on the train
Take Girls to Work.
| 1 learned many things about the
life from the hostess. She told me
| how the girls who work in the big
work every morning in the huge army
| trucks. How they come back about
5 o'clock in the afternoon. glad to get
| home" She told me about the par
ties for men and girls that are given
in the cafeteria and how much the
boys enjoy them and how anxious they
are for more. She told me how the
girls from one of the little dornitory
| rooms went around early Easter
morning singing an Easter carol. She
told me how the Army City staff
make it a point to be porch
goes out and she showed me letter
from one of the boys in which he
said, II told all the fellows to be on
your side of the train and when we
saw you waving, we nearly yelled our
heads off. We certainly appreciated
it and what we would have done with
out you people when we were in Funs-
ton, don't know Il wonder where
the Old Guard is tonight" she said.
after a while.
DO tell me about the Old Guard"
1 begged.
"Oh, they're just a bunch of the
boys who come down here nearly
every night. There's Happy and the
4 Colorado boy and Bess and Mr.. Run
yon and the rest of. them and they
all come here and play the piano.
Bess just spends all his time asking