The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1918-04-06
GIRLS In WAR WORK
SHOULD SEASON ZEAL WITH
JUDGMENT-iN THEIR ENTHU-
SIASTIc PATRIOTISM THEY
SHOULD NOT BE IMPRUDENT IN
THEIR RELATIONS WITH SOL
DIERS.

The war has not only wrought
radical change in the lives of young
men of draft age, but it has also open
ed new spheres of interest to young
women. We are not referring to
greater opportunities in the economic
world, but to greater opportunities for
unselfish service in war welfare work.
| Not all young women, however, en-
gage in this work in the right spirit.
| In an address the other day before
the girl students of ST. Marys Acad-
envy, Austin, Texas, the Rev. ]. Elliott
Ross, C. S. p, gave some very valuable
counsel in this respect. He said:
The girl who goes into the Red
| Cross society simply from enthusiasm
| II might almost say the semi-insanity
| of the moment, is not living up
to the highest ideals of this organiza
ton. She may, indeed, be doing
more harm than good. If she is
| imprudent in her relations with the
soldier boys, if she fairly worships
an officers straps, if she throws over
all the conventionalities which society
has found by long and bitter expert,
ence are necessary in order to safe
guard the association between young
men and young women, then she is
helping to demoralize our country,
she is helping to send this nation
| down into defeat no matter what may
be the outcome of the battles in Eu-
rope
! This war is such a tremendous
| thing, it is such contrast to the
ways of peace, it is to such an extent
disrupting the organization of society
as we knew it few years ago, that
many persons have lost their balance.
A great many people seem to be in
| toxicated with excitement and they
are doing all sorts of imprudent and
| hurtful things. Perhaps this is es-
pecially noticeable in the change
which has come over our young girls.
| Some of them will do now what they
would not have dreamt of doing three,
years back. They look upone:a khaki
uniform as a perfect guarantee of
4
any occasion for becoming acquaint
ed with a man in uniform, and after
few chance meetings will associate
| with him as intimately and freely as
| if they had known him for years.
Some girls are adopting" soldiers, as
they call it, and writing to men they
| have never even seen.
All this is opposed to the serious
| ness which should characterize mem
bers of the Red Cross. This society
stands for all that is best and
noblest, and while it's great object is to
help win this war, it cannot lose sight
| of the most important consideration
of all, to preserve the American ideal
of girlhood and womanhood, SO that
| we who remain at home shall be
| worth fighting for. When the good
Sisters warn you against imprudence,
need rather than less for caution in
| associating with men gathered from
| the four corners of the country, do
not think they are behind the times,
| do not think that they are lacking in
patriotism. Trust to their wider out
/ look on life, to their experience, to
their profOunder knowledge of hui
man nature They are true patriots,
they are the noblest specimens of
womanheod, they are your best
friends.
Do not be deceived, therefore, by
the glamor of waving flags, by the
subtle excitement of brass bands.
Be quiet and calm, and remember
above all things that your best con-
tribution to the country will not be
the making of something to send to
Europe, but the leading of such lives,
the forming of such characters, that
America may triumph at home as
well as abroad Indeed, the most i'm
portant consequences of this war are
not victory or defeat in France, but
Ivictory or defeat here at home. 1t is
very possible to conquer Germany and
yet lose this war from the larger
aspects of success. Other nations
have had military triumphs, and yet
have lost. Rome's laundering legions
laid the whole world subject at her
feet, and yet she had been defeated
at home before the barbarianS broke
through that ring of steel ROme's
luxury and extravaganza, Rome's love
for ease and comfort, Rome's sinful
| ness and moral corruption played
greater havoc with her real success
as a nation than ever did the sword
of an enemy.