Mexico Missouri message., 1918-09-12
MISS RACHEL EDWARDS
DUBS WOMEN VISITORS
At The Army Camps As Reasonable,
Hysterical And Captlous Callers
She is Centralia Girl.

concerned with the welfare OF the
enlisted men in the training camp
at Camp Hancock, says the Courier,
writes the following letter concern
ing the classifications of wives and
women relatives who visit at the
camp.
my work consists of meeting
trains and looking out for travellers
who need assistance in any way.
But l am more especially interested
in the friends and relatives who
come to visit the soldiers in camp.
An important phase Of my work lies
in keeping the mothers and wives,
who have not been met at the sta
ton by their loved ones, from COM
ing to the immediate and unshaka-
BILE conclusion that He must be i'll,
injured or otherwise incapacitated
from attending upon the expected
arrival"
In support of her general classifi-
cation Miss Edwards cites three
cases, which might be considered
tvpical, to show the different de-
grees of reason that seize women in
such straits. One, whom she calls
Mrs. John Jones, arrived in Angus
IA at 1O:9O one morning. I'VE did
not get into communication with
private Jones until 600 o'clock
that afternoon, but she never lost
ber patience and her sunny good
temper, passing the time as pleas
antly as might be in conversation
with those of us who were at leisure
and reading magazines"
The next. on the other hand, Mrs.
Brown, had nerves. "She arrived on
n night train and refused even to go
to a hotel because she thought her
husband might come in any minute
of the night. 1t was impossible for
us to get in communication with
him at camp till morning, but Mrs.
b. didn't consider that at all. In
the morning, before he could be
reached, a casket containing a SOL
dier who had died the day before
was brought into the station. Upon
seeing it Mrs. Brown Immediately
became possessed of a conviction
that 1t was her husband who was in
closed therein and acted up ac-
cordingly. No amount of argument
could change her mind, until the be-
lated husband had been located and
brought-yery much alive and well
before her"
The Lieutenant's wife represents
the third type, the woman who gets
real mad" and reads the riot act
because no one had met her at the
train. Her husband had arrived in
camp, along with about 400 other
subalterns, just half an hour before
she had reached the Augusta depot.
OF course he had made arrange
ments to meet her upon her debar-
kation, but the fact that his own
troop train had met with a three
hours delay had contrived to alter
his plans signally. 1--WE got official
information for her, saying that heI
husbands train had been delayed
and that he could not possibly have
met her under the circumstances
She was very unreasonable, howev
er, saying she did not know what
that fool man could be thinking of
to let his wife arrive in a strange
town and have no one to meet hel
and that she would rather be al
home with her mother than follow
ing "a fool husband around. We
had the pleasure Of her company
for two hours and half before the
Lieutenant finally arrived. During
that time l learned that she had
been born in Honolulu and had
travelled in every State of the Union
a great deal of the time without es'
cort, and unattended at any of the
stations"
Pressing problems that Miss Ed
wards and her associates have tt
meet include the taking care o.
women who find, upon arrival a.
Augusta, that their soldier-men have
transferred suddenly to another
camp, whittier insufficient funds
will prevent their following; thu
placing lucrative employment o
women, insuffciently provided will
funds, who ere obliged to work theil
way thru tie highly priced visit t
their soldiers and the handling o
the cousin" niece" and SISTER,
who appear to crop up in especial
Iy large numbers just after the ar
rival OF new contingents at thu
camp. This latter class are sub
iected to very close scrutiny OF
the part of the Protective Worker