Emmons County record. [volume] (Williamsport, D.T. [i.e. N.D.]) 1884-current, 1918-10-24
TIE BLUE TRIANGLE
ON BABEL'S TOWER

uStVoS ueT tHCe anu tufuuk .UVWu OTI
the station platform bench as the solid
blue figure suddenly bent down over
her. Excltedly she shook her he0d In
answer to the question that she could
not understand. She searched through
her red plaid whist for the paper thai
Tony had folded into a little squire
and given to her. The writing on II
In the English that Tony knew end slls
did not, told the house where she lived
Tony had explained 1t all to her thu:
morning. He had told 1t to her agniB
Mt the station. Then. waving his hDl :.
he had disappeared into the train VIA
the rest Of the men. and Lucia hnG
been left standing oueside the gate.
There were crowds Of women pushing
all about her. They were weeping.
So Lucia wept. too.
Lucia had been betrothed to Tony
In the old country. Five years before.
with long ticket for New York
pinned into his inside pocket her lover
had left her. He wrote in every let
ter that he had made her home In
the new country. Her dowry money
had finally provided her own trnnspor-
tation. and for two months Tony and
she had been married. Then he had
drawn ticket with number on It,
and this morning he had gone Off to
war.
To tie policeman Lucia told all these
things In rapid Italian. But the po-
liceman only talked back to her as
rapidly in language that WIS not
Italian. She followed him dumbly to
headquarters. An hour later w0m-
an wearing American clothes gently
began talking to her In beautiful Itnl-
ian.
italian Lucia was only one Of thou
sands Of foreign-born women, Syrians.
Italians, Armenlans. Russians, Lithu-
anians, Polish, who, when the drift
chilled their men folk to the American
eolors. asked in helpless confusion
What 1t was all about. When would
their men be back? What did people
mean when they told them they would
receive money through the mail?
Where could they find work that they
knew how to do? Was there no one
who could explain 1t all to them In
their own language?
The y. w. c. A. wns ready to offer
assistance. but It would be of no value
to offer 1t in English. Consequently
1t had to supply corps Of women who
could tnlk to the foreign-born woman
at her own door In the language that
she WIS used to hearing in the home
land. To teach her English was us
essential factor In her Americnnizn-
ton rs to find her Job. Therefore
the war council of the 7. w. C. A. set
out to find her English.
A year before the war began In Flu
rope. the leaders Of the Young Wom-
ans Christian association foresnw Just
such situation. and made ready to
meet II. They studied the needs Of
the Immigrant. They trained skilled
American social workers to become ia
milinr with the home habits and to
speak the language Of the Lett and the
Hungarian and the Greek and the 9TH
er foreign mothers who brought bn-
bes and bundles over from Ellis island
to Battery park.
The organization into which this ex-
pertinent has developed was named
by the Y. W. c. A. national board 1.-THE
International Institute for Young
Women" In terms which these wom-
on can understand. 1t is teaching the
fnrcign-horn how to sew and cook and
care for tile baby.
To girls like Italian Lucia, who con-
fusedly fingered on the station plat
forms when the draft trains pulled ont,
the w. Y. c. A. Is giving direct rs.
sistnnce. Educated European women.
appointed to tli~regulnr staff Of work
ers ut the camp =. w. c. A. HOstes,
Houses are able TO silk to the drafted
men In their own language, assist them
In writing letters home. md in ar
ranging furloughs and little visits to
the camp.
'The Home Information Service for
Foreign Families of Enlisted Men" IL
doing practical relief work for tho
wives and mothefs. The purpose Of
the board Is TO help the women folk
left behind to understand where their
boys are and how they are being treat
ed: how they need home sTppnrt and
cheer how to send them comforts, and
20 keep pace themselves by learning
English and other things. so that when
>he boys come home they will not find
ther women still very un-American
and out Of sympathy with them.
Food conservation bulletins have
been translated into IS or 10 languages.
At the factories and munit!on plants
| interpreters are available for the non
English speaking women by whom the
real war Industries Of the country are
being largely carried on. In % inn
| Dortant cities International Institute
Bureaus are training American and
foreign women for full time social
service work with foreigners. Twenty
four trained women are employed on
the national and district field staff of
the y. ". G. A. On Jupe Is there were
105 trained women working Mt Ameri
caniZation.
When more than 7I.o00 Chicago mef