Evening capital and Maryland gazette. (Annapolis, Md.) 1910-1922, 1918-12-27
MRS. ASTOR TELLS OF
WOMANS WORK IN ARMY
Says Women Have Been An In.
dispensable Factor in The
Winning Of Victory
~" WORKER IN FRANCE

The part that women played in the
war has teen an indispensable factor
toward victory, and never until his
torians have written the last chapter
of the great war story will all that
women have done be fully known and
appreciated.
This is the opinion of Mrs. Vincent
Astor, who after year and half of
active service with the Y. NJ c. A. has
just returned to this country. And
she proves her point by telling, al
though unwillingly, of her own con-
ltribution, story that in spite of her
modest narration, is one of devotion
and unfagging faithfulness to the en-
listed men. story OF manual labor, of
long hours, of drudgery, of organizing.
planning. of careful executive work
1t is an honorable record, a record TO
he proud of, and yet Mrs. Aston calls
herself Stacker for coming back so
soon, and insists she didn't do any
more than any other women in France
Although she was unwilling to talk
about herself personally, for the sake
of the Y. NJ. c. A. she received report
ers at her New York home when she
came back and told the story of her
work in France, from the beginning
when, in July, 1917. she and Mrs.
Henry Russell (Ethel Borden Harri-
man RusselD handed out cigarettes
for an hour day, until 1918 when at
the Y. M. c. A. service house at Bor-
deaux the two women had full charge
of staff of sixty and full RESPONSE
bility for the feeding of two thousand
soldiers and sailors daily. That was
how the Y NJ. G. A. grew in France
and that was how Mrs. Astors own
part in the work developed.
The care of the Bordeaux house was
a job in itself but in addition to this,
Mrs. Astor had charge of the women's
work for the Y. NJ. C. A in the Second
Division, which covered twelve camps
in and around Bordeaux and kept fifty
women workers busy every minute.
She visited her camps every ten days,
and reported to Paris every month
Meanwhile, of course, those two thous-
and appetites were always demanding
attention, and the pies, eggs and
ldoughnuts had to be kept stacked high
to keep ahead of the game This meant
that Mrs. Aston as well as her sixty
neat little French maids, had to put
on the Bingham apron of toll and fry
eggs, sweep floors, make change, and
hand out jam, frantically and furious
ly, in an earnest endeavor to fill that
ever-aching void, the stomach of the
A. Eff.
TIL great American novel may not
have appeared but the great American
victual has, and that is, according to
Mrs. Astor's canteen experience, Two
from the nest, sunny side up
There's nothing so tender to a
doughboy's heart as fried egg" said
Mrs. Astor. He will give up his last
franc and borrow another for that fav-
orite dish, even when he's not hungry
Eggs were expensive in France and we
lost heavily on them, but fried eggs
will win the war" was our motto, and
the doughboy saw to it that we lived
up to it. The canteen did not pre-
tend to meet expenses and our prices
were VIGOROUSLY low. We tried hard
to meet the needs of the enlisted men
teNN FAANOc pay.
Next to the love affair between the
American soldier and the fried egg.
came his passion for lemon meringue
pie, Mrs. Astor said. 1t was hardest TO
make and hardest to eat, but the SOL
der was boss and so the lemon mer-
ingues were forthcoming by the hun
dreds every day. Crullers, too, had
to be watched or the doughboy would
probably eat more than his quota of
six and deprive his brother in arms
of the delicacy.
These were the things that Mrs. As
tor learned about the American army
on leave as she waited on them day
after day. And she, too, got her share
of condolences from the men. who
young and old. regarded an American
woman as an angel from that partic-
ular heaven, home, and showed their
homage by opening their hearts. But
she also saw the American army at
war, when, during the st. Mihiel fight.
she and Mrs. Russell jaunted up to the
front in tiny automobile, slept in the
village OF Limey in a tent and then
went out ahead of the big American
cannon shooting toward Metz, where
IN the roar Of guns she saw the Amer
lean boys trooping back, pink and
smiling. as if they were coming in
from football game" Five days she
was there in the thick of things, after
which she said she went back to work
at Bordeaux with an increased admira-
ton for the soldiers that was a real in
SEPARATION.
Mrs. Aston did not see Lieut. Asfor
much while she was in Bordeaux, al
though he was stationed near by, be-
cause, as she said, they were both too
busy. But that didn't mean that the
young American society leader lacked