Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1919-06-12
HOUSE DESERTED,
"MOTHER" NOODLE MOL!RNS
Parent 5000 Service Men Spends Most OF Time Read
ing Hundreds of Craef full Letters :

, came to me and said. Well, Mother
Noodle, I'm going to take the great leap
today And then he told me in ex-
cited tones all about the girl and how
they were going to be married that eve
ming at the preachers. OF course
made him bring the girl to me. She
was a pretty young thing, happy and
shy. We fixed her up the cunningest
white dress we could find in Cape May;
made her veil. provided bridesmaids
and had a regular military wedding.
Mammie Martha, our cook. baked one OF
her famous cakes and we borrowed
sword to cut it. / gave the bride away,
and as we came down the steps she
whispered with tears in her eyes, Can't
I call you Mother Noodle too? I've
always wanted mother.'' ~
Any boy at the barracks or the hos
pital would tell you that the Hostess
House was what Mother Noodles spirit
and personality made it. AS one COB
expressed it, she took the lonely out of
life"
At first Mrs. Noodle didn't know
where the money was coming from to
run the house, but she didn't worry, be-
cause she knew it was needed. But the
War Camp Community Service recogi
nized the need and so financed the place.
Mrs. Noodles services were given to
cher boys Most of it was happy till
the wounded soldiers were brought and
the influenza epidemic came.
Zone little wife wrote me-" the host
ess told. that she had never seen her
h, -, Il .Ia al
to come so she could see him the minute
he got out of quarantine. He was COB.
When the girl arrived her husband was
diving with the "flu'' in the navy hos
pital. She never saw him in his uniform
until he lay in his military caskets
Seventeen Of my boys died with the
''hu"
''One mother and sister came from
North Carolina when they heard their
boy had been wounded in France and
sent to the Cape May army hospitals
When they came they found him
raving maniac. and ours was the task
to help them bear this shock and sor-
row."
Miss Nellie Vasey. of Pittsburgh, who
went to Cape May to visit her sister and
"gob" brother in law and remained as
secretary and first mate" at the
Hostess House, was one of Mrsas
Noodles most popular aides.
Cape May Girls Help
Young women of Cape May and Wis
itprs at the shore from nearby cities
came in to help wait on the tables and
to aid in entertaining the lonely service
men. The nurses and aides at the ARMY
hospital found the Hostess House
happy place, too.
Mother" Noodle was accused sew
eral times of running matrimonial
agency so many engagements were an
nounced as a result of happy times at
the Hostess House.
While Mrs. Noodle sighs to think
the exciting days are over, her family
surreptitiously sighs with relief. Don
aldson, the only real son, who served
his .ime as COB. remembers too dis
tinctly the time his pretty. generous
mother gave his, only good uniform
away to another COB at a most critical
moment.
Mrs. Noodle laughed as she told OF
1t. 1T was after the fire at the barr
racks, she said. ''One little COB was
brought here, all wet and cold, his
clothes torn badly. OF course, the suit
was much too long, but the little COB
was pleased Then Donaldson came
home in cold, disheveled condition.
I've lost lot in the fire, he said,
but I'm luckier than most of the fell
lows. I've got good suit UPSTAIRS I
don't just remember how l broke the
news to him, but we had hard time
hnding clothes for him to put on