The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1918-07-15

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her parents fifty-four years ago. The
family lived al Fort Scott for sixteen
years and at Drywood near Fort Scot
for a good many years before that
Mrs. Lacefie1d spends a great deal OF
her time knitting.
Mrs. David w. Mulvane announces
that all but three counties of the
state have organiza tons of the
Woman's Committee Council of Ma.
tional Defense. The counties which
are not yet organized are Harvey, Lin
coin and Wilson counties. but it i.
hoped that the efforts to get an organ
ization in these counties will not be ii
vain much longer.
The woman's committee is very
strong thru the state and Mrs Null
vane is able thru its departments tc
get cooperation within a few hours
upon move the committee may think
wise. There are ten of these depart
ments, the child welfare, women in
industry. food production and home
economics, food administration, educa-
ton. health, and recreation, mainte.
nance of existing social agencies lib
erty loan, home and foreign relief and
publicity,
In view of the fact that so many
Topeka, young women have left for
Washington, d. c., to do goVernmen t
! work within the past few weeks this
letter stating what the Young Wo-
mans Christian association is doing
in Washington will be of interest.
Land has been bought near the
Union station, where an emergency,
transient hotel will be built to house
the women strangers In Washington
while they are going thru the increas-
inSly difficult task of finding perman-
ent living quarters. The hotel will be
built SO near the station, and its well
come to the stranger-woman will be
so bright, that it will be seen imme-
diately upon the travellers arrival. Its
erection will be the answer to the
question that is constantly heard on
woman's lips in Washington: But
where will stay while I'm hunting a
plave to live?' Work on its construc-
ton will be begun at once.
Two vacation homes for Washing
ton women will be opened by the Y w
c. A about the middle of July. One,
the Silver Springs Y. w. c. A. Vaca-
ton home at Silver Springs. Nd. has
been purchased. The other, the for
mer home of Georgetown Preparatory
school. at Georgetown, has been
leased. Both are within easy trolley
rides of Washington. Many women in
government employ will get only
weeks vacation, or If they get two
weeks, they will not be consecutive
weeks. Thus the workers living great
distances would not be a BILE to go home
for their vacations. 1t is to meet the
needs of such women that the homes
are being opened. They will be also
week end rest places where war work.
ers, jaded by the rush of emergency
work and hot weather, can recuperate.
The Silver Springs house, was designed
e. ~ l. =
The association bought it Just as it
was being finished. 1t is a big house
of soft-toned grey cement. with broad
verandas, big living rooms, with open
fireplaces for the cool evenings. 1t Is
situated in a beautiful woods of four
acres in the very heart of the country.
The two houses have a total capacity
of ESQ.
Membership in the Washington as
ISOLATION entities one to privileges Of
a Country club on the outskirts of
the city. This is the four-acre campus
of the Friends school. leased for the
the summer at a rental of $1,000,
where there are six tennis courts, out
door basketball equipment, woodsy
picnic grounds, and the like.
These four undertakings-the no.
tel, the two vacation homes and the
Country club-all have been the work
of the war work council of the ma
>.
jr., as chairman of the housing COM
nittee. and Miss Mary Sims. executive
of that department. have been largely
instrumental in getting these into
p 'actical working order. In addition
to this, the local association has pur-
chased a roomy old colonial mansio1-
Its library, conservatory. art gallery
and front iIarlors will be turned into
one big c. feteria that will feed 1000
girls. Opening into the cafeteria will
he quiet rooms fitted up as reception.
lounging and writing rooms. This will
be more than a cafeteria. 1t will be
kind of a downtown clubhouse where
girls who 90 not live in boarding
houses may come from their offices.
meet their friends. and get dressed
and rested for an evenings enga se-
ment Plans now are to open this
honse for use in October.
The new cafeteria, when opened.
will be the fourth conducted by the
Y W. c. A in Washington and the
four will represent a total of $500
meals a day. One cafeteria is few
doors from the newly purchased
house. another is at the local admin
istration building and a third is near
the Union station.
The local association is to have a
new building, that is to be the world s
model for association structure. This
will be built at 18th and I streets.
Mrs. George Dewey, wife of the late
admiral. gave the first brick" for this.
a check for $500. One hundred and
fifty women make their home at the
Elizabeth Somers house, formerly a
girls school, and taken over by the
Washington association at the begin
ming of the war
The As 900 woman doing the 1oy-