The Colville examiner. [volume] (Colville, Wash.) 1907-1948, 1918-09-14
WORKING WOMEN
IN THE TRENCHES
SALVATION ARMY LASSES DON
MASKS AND HELMETS TO AID
OUR SOLDIERS
Only Women Authorized by War De-
partment to Be in Front Line
Trenches With Soldiers

Salvation Army war work closes to-
morrow. Few people realize the
work that this organization is doing
in the fields of war.
Over a hundred Salvation Army
girls from this country have discard
ed the blue poke bonnet, full skirt
and tambourine for khaki-colored
uniform, tin hat and a gingham
apron. In this costume, with gas
mask convenient, they are ready to
meet shrapnel, mud and roaring hot
kitchen fire while they prepare dough-
nuts and coffee for our men at the
front.
The Salvation Army works unob-
trusively, but effectively. Since
America entered the war $50 of it's
men and women have quietly gone
to France to supply some of the SOL
diers' needs, such as homemade pie,
buttons sewed on to stay, place to
spend time off duty, and, not least
important, disinterested advice.
Close to the front lines, in dug
outs, cottages or made-to-order huts,
they set up shops and hang out their
signs. A kitchen stove is the most
important item of equipment. A Sal
walton Army unit may struggle along
with a well-behaved stove and no roof
to cover it, but lacking a means of
cooking it, the most elaborate hut is
failure. For the Salvation Army
speciality is cooking. Doughnuts, ap-
pie pie, cookies, coffee and cocoa
these the capable young cooks turn
out in quantity every day for the ed
ification of the American soldier to
whom life without pie is a calamity.
One girls record for doughnuts rests
at $500 in a morning. Even $500
doughnuts do not last long in line
Of hungry soldiers extending far
down the road in waiting it's turn at
the mornings baking.
Distribute Food in Trenches
At night, about the time when the
soldiers are shifted, Salvation Army
lassies, escorted by officers of the
organization, go on expeditions to
the trenches, armed with coffee and
baskets of pastry. AS the men re-
lieved from duty come out from the
trenches the girls distribute. their
gifts. AS one soldier says, "A cup
of steaming coffe may not look like
a luxury to the civilian, but to the
tired, muddy soldier just out of the
trenches it is the last word in ma
terial comfort"
One fact about these girls which
the soldiers note and appreciate is
that they are real workers with no
fuss and feathers, going calmly about
their work under fire, and infusing
the elusive home atmosphere into the
huts where they cook and sew.
There are now 22 of these huts
built by officers of the American
Salvation Army, and more are being
erected. The unit assigned to each
hut consists of Salvation Army Of
ficer, his wife and two young women
assistants. The young women as
well as the men are usually commits
stoned, for the Salvation Army was
among the first to give women equal
rights with men. A commission
does not mean that the officers main
duty is to give orders. A lieutenant
or captain may be seen any morning
removing last nights mud from the
hut floor or chopping wood for the
kitchen fire. The girls have few
comforts and no luxuries. If their
hut is near village they may rent
a room in cottage. If they are
stationed near the front they sleep
in a tiny unheated cubby hole built
off the main room of the hut. In
either case they are cheerful and
make the best of inconvenience ana
dangers. If a cook is interrupted
by a shell falling through the roof
and demolishing the kitchen table,
she gets man Of the unit to fix
strip of canvas over the gap in the.
ceiling, mixes new batch of dough,
takes bottle for a rolling pin, and
goes on with the days work.
Pie Tins are Scarce
One of the main difficulties in
turning out pies in France has been
the pie tin problem. The American
pie is an unknown species in France.
French pies being made in deep dish
cs. Therefore pie tins, such as the
Salvation Army needed by hundreds,
were not to be had even in small
quantities. This trouble is now be-