The Aberdeen weekly. [volume] (Aberdeen, Miss.) 1878-1933, 1919-01-24
WV. :, worker
is BIG SISTER
Industrial Woman'S Service Club
Brings Eome to Girls in New
Factory Community.
BLUE TRIANGLE MEANS CHEER
Club STANDS for Hot Lunches, Clean
Towels, Comfortable Cots, Parties,
Games and Recreation to
Girl Workers.
Katherine Holland Brown.

IVI han. / am eighteen year.
old, and / work in a big fac
tory In Michigan. More than -four
hundred other girls work there too
don't aim TO tell ysu about our jobs
You can read about our work in the
labor department reports. But / do
aim TO tell you about our Big Sister
AMI OF the things she has done for Us
TO begin with. our factory town
isn't a town At all. It's huge barn
Of buildings stuck down in the country
nineteen miles from nowhere. There
f. II railroad siding. % STATION the size
OF dry goods box. seven farmhouses
anil one general store and poStOfiicc
combined Its pretty near aS big as a
hor tanale stand. And that's all No
Main street. no banks nor stores, no
Ice. cream parors not one solitary
movie show. I'm all those nineteen
I1flrs LoneSome7 It's the ragged
ed.e 81 deSolation, that's what il is.
II was one OF the first carload ~
forty girla that was shipped M from
Ciicngo The factory was swarminc
with workmen putting IN the machin-
cry. and we girls couldn't begin work
for q day or 80. So We hogan hunting
pieces tn eat and sleep That was n
triHr thar the employment folks hadn't
thought or The workmen We're sleep
ing and eating In the cars that had
brought them there. backed on the
sf1ing. our only chance for beds and
food was with those seven farmhouSeS,
- We masched straight to the farmers
wives and asked for board and room.
Farmers' Wives Hospitable
Il Yll say that those women were kind
hiid hospitable They fixed it up be
tween them to feed US forty girls. and
tfry gave US good food too. But for
rooms. that was the question. They
Gould each spare one room That
meant sleep five or six I'm a room. But
ri.ht then along came the boss Of the
factory and told US the machinery was
ready and he'd expect Us girls To work
double shifts. night and day.
He wanted 10 make use of every
minute. YOU see. But that gave Us our
chance ~ to sleeping. We fixed it up
w.rh the farms folks that we'd work
double shifts and sleep double shifts
too
so we planned II. Three girls
would use room from eight at night
ilff ~ the ltAL liui nll-. men lUtN ~
hustle over To the factory. and the
three girls who'd been working all
NIGHT would take the room and sleep
tll afternoon. It wasn't any luxuri-
Gus slumber. believe me. The farm
women had SCI few sheets and pillow
cuScs tlAt most of us went without
And towels were scarce as diamonds
or blackberry bushes. As 10 soap
we'll, the general store kept yellow bar
SOAP. that kind that is so fun Of rosin
you could use IL 10 calk ship But
W. made out till the next three car
loads OF girls came rolling I'm. Then
We went most distra tted. Those poor
girls had To sleep I'm tents and I'm the
cars that the wOrkmen had abandoned
bv this time. and they We're lucky IL
they got q straw tick and q blanket /
BY this time II had turned raw cold, |
and maybe YOU know what late au-
tunn nights In Michigan feel like To |
cap the climax the farm folks cut |
down on food, and for week IL was |
potatoes and beans and mighty few |
beans al that
Along Came a Miracle
-But, right when we were a,,.ut |
ready TO quit our jobs and beat 1t for /
home. along came a miracle Two |
quiet. businesslike women climbed |
down from the eastbound train one |
morning. With them came eight work
men. a carload OF scantling and tar
paper, another carload OF COTS and
blankets and pillows and sheets and
towels-brand new blankets and beds
think OF the glory of that and
bushels Of dishes and rolls of oilcloth
and enough burlap TO carpet the coun-
try. You won't believe me when I tell
you that I'm ten days their workmen
had scantling- shack
put up and burlap tackled over the
walls. and the Y. W. G.. A secretary |
and her helper had set up board tables
and coffee kettles and were serving US
the grandest hot lunches every day.
And back behind the hurlap screens
were set those rows OF clean cots. with
enough cover to keep you warm the
coolest night that ever blew and a
towel apiece for every single girl DO
you wonder that we all felt. as one
girl put ft, III wager the Frity-Carle-
ton has nothing on this
who were II Dse womenr wny.
Y. W c. A. secretaries. OF course. I'd
think you'd know that without being
told All over the country wherever
We girls have pitched in 10 make aero
plane cloth or overalls or munitions or
canned goods you'll find Y. w. c. A.
secretary working harder than any
body else TO make the girls comfort
able and TO keep them happy and we'll
Sometimes they haven't money enough
To get all that we really need Bur al
ways they stretch every cent to make
II DO ITS level best for us. 10 you won
der that We girl workers have learned
% call the Y. w C. A. our Big Siste
the very hest Big Sister OF all? y