The Adair County news. [volume] (Columbia, Ky.) 1897-1987, 1919-01-22
Y, ", c. A, W0RkE Err
is BIG SISTER
Industrial Woman's Service Gut
Brings Home to Girls in Neas !
Factory Community :
BLUE TRIANGLE MEANS CHeEF
Club Stands for Hot Lunches, ctezrS
Towels, Comfortable Cots, Parties
Games and Recreation to-.
Girl Workers.
Katherine Holland Brown

YIN m HdIHt 10 NIuJ IStIOS-' V7F'-''s
MI han. 1 am eighteen ye-srs--
old, and 1 work in a big fac
tory in Michigan. More thar fcsT
hundred other girls work Their tase
l don't aim to tell you about our [c3S
You can read about our work fr-N3
labor department reports BIT : &c
aim to tell you about our Big Sitter
and of the things she has done - ES
"To begin with, our factory tJyz
isn't town at all. It's a huge bszEz'
of buildings stuck down in the country
nineteen miles from nowhere. There
is a railroad siding, station the SiZ@1
of dry goods box, seven farmhouse
and one general store and pOstOliiee
combined-it's pretty near as big As a
hot tamale stand. And that's all Nc
Main street, no banks nor stores, nc
ice-cream parlors, not one solitary
movie show, in all those nineteen
miles. Lonesome? It's the ragged
edge of desolation, that's what IL Isl
81 was one Of the first carload Of
forty girls that was shipped W tro1-'
Chicago. The factory was swafHTfns
with workmen putting in the macbS8-
cry, and we girls couldn't begin w7rzS
for a day or so, so we began hUEta1<
places to eat and sleep. That H1E ::
trifle that the employment folks nEo7
thought Of The wOrkmen were sfePI.
ing and eating in the cars that 10
brought them there, backed or q .
siding. Our only chance for beds I'D, 7
food was with those seven farmhOE ~,
so we marched straight to the farESefS
wives and asked for board and rrsu e
Farmers Wives HospitabIe-
twill say that thosewomen were kins
and hospitable. They fixed It 70 ie---
tween them to feed US forty girls enc
they gave us good food too BUe1 for
rooms, that was the question They
could each spare one ROOM Ihat
meant sleep five or six in rOoD- BuS
right then along came the boss OK the
factory and told Us the machinery was
ready and he'd expect us girls to WA T.
double shifts, night and day
"He wanted to make use o$ sTeIzzr
minute, you see. But that gave Us OUT p
chance as to sleeping. We fxec is u p
with the farm folks that we'd YDrE
double shifts and sleep double shifts
too.
$50 we planned 1t. Three. gTr2E~
would use a room from eight at night
till six the next morning. Then they'6 :
hustle over to the factory, andi The .
three girls who'd been working NJ
night would take the room auae steep
till afternoon. 1t wasn't any Iuxuri-
Gus slumber, believe me. Thaf 1aIm
women had so few sheets ana PTIIs8v
cases that most of US went wfthssluf
And towels were scarce as diarn018S
on blackberry bushes. rs TO soap
well, the general store kept ye1lOSy hzTz7
soap. that kind that Is so full OF rIsiB
you could use it to calk a shir.i But
we made out till the next thTsP SEr-
loads Of girls came rolling ir - ESeT-
we went most distracted. Those Yo0E
girls had TO sleep IL tents and. IN ne
cars that the workmen had abandSsrS5
by this time, and they were ldckT if
they got a straw tick and aaDiSzEer-
BY this time 1T had turned raw esstl.
and maybe YOU know what ldTe III
tumn nights in Michigan feel ike To-
cap the climax the farm" fOi6y r8t
down on food, and for q week IL MRS
| potatoes and beans and mighty. fcS-.
beans at that
Along Came a Miracle
"But, right when we we're a5sUnt
ready to quit our jobs and beat is fOF-
home, along came a miracle. Ty1s.
quiet, businesslike women cliiGs5es
! down from the eastbound traia1 s8s-
morning With them came eight yssTE-
men, q carload of scaEtling anCs IT,
paper, another carload of, cots mE
blankets and pillows and sheets and
! towels-brand new blankets an&F 1stiS-'
think of the glory of that I-aDa
| bushels of dishes and rolls of oilciothl'
| and enough burlap to carpet the csES--
! try. You won't believe me when seIyi
| you that in ten days their WERNER
had a scantling-and-tar-pa szzck-
| put up and burlap tackled over the
| walls, and the Y. W. @. 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 burlap screens
were set those rows of clean COTS With
enough cover to keep you wasID the
coolest night that ever blew, and a,
towel apiece for every single girl Dc
| you wonder that we all felt, as enc
| girl put it, I'll wager the Fritz-Garle-
ton has nothing on thisp
who were tt 0se women? Why
| Y. w. G. A. secretaries, of course. "a
think you'd know that without being
told. All over the country wherever
we girls have pitched in to make syErs-s-
| plane cloth or overalls or munitit : 81.
canned goods you'll find a z W q. q,
secretary working harder thar Il
body else to make the girls eozaT1rs-
able and to keep them happy and reA
| Sometimes they haven't money enough
to get all that we really need But ak
ways they stretch eve-y cena ap,maEee
1t do its level best for us. Deyo1Hxsac.
der that we girl workers stave IexfzzE
to cali they. w. G. A. our Big sistee.
tho ysrrbsst Big Sister Of aHf