The daily Gate City and constitution-Democrat. (Keokuk, Iowa) 1916-1922, 1919-02-12
Of Interest to Women
BY wInona Evans Reeves.

Il g. y
BY Wlnona Evans Reeves.
In all that has been written and
said Of Theodore Roosevelt since his
DEATH the absence OF mention of his
wife has been most conspicuous.
At a recent meeting of the Wednes-
day Reading club, Mrs. j. ID. Rubidge
called the attention Of the club to
the fact Of how little was known by
the public OF Mrs. Theodore Roose-
welt, whose husband was one OF the
best known and most talked about
men for more than twenty years.
IF she had been the wife OF an
obscure citizen we could scarcely
have heard less about her, she could
scarcely have been more remote from
the public eye.
This was not due to Mr.. Roose-
velt's overshadowing Importance, to
his selfish desire to keep her IN the
background or to her lack OF posi-
tive and attractive qualities.
'She Is said to be a woman OF un-
usual strength of character, of great
common sense, of keen appreciation
of current problems and of profound
sympathy with Mr.. Roosevelt's ambi-
lions and activities. She remained
behind the scenes because she con-
sidered her home realm quite as I'M
portant as that in which her nus
band held SO prominent a place. And
those who know say that she was
tower of strength to the strong man
at her side, a counselor and frlend
whose wise influence contributed
materially to all Of his successes.
Roosevelt needed just such help
mate, one of sweetness and light ana
strength, one who knew how to slim
ulate and to check him"
The article which Mrs. Rubidge
read adds that zee type of woman
she was, no doubt made Roosevelt
the strong advocate for woman suf-
frage that he was.
A recent issue Of the Chicago
Tribune gives a very attractive pic
ture of Elizabeth Craig who is the
daughter of Bryan Y. Craig and the
granddaughter of DR.. Willis G. Craig
who was for SO many years pastor
of the First Westminster Presby-
terrain church. Miss Craig has been
in France for several months as. a
volunteer worker under the auspices
OF the French-American society of
which Gertrude Atherton is the
American president She gives this
picture of Paris as she found it:
Everything was open but the
Louvre. The streets swarmed with
French women and children In deep
mourning, and with American men In
khaki. The food was tremendously
high and the price of clothes was
nearly impossible. And the style OF
clothes, too, was strange-and strain
ed. The women all dress alike. Skirts
are tight and extremely short. Low
shoes are worn tied with huge bows
of velvet or SATIN The hats are
small and decidedly perky. They
shoot up at one side in an extreme
angle, topped with stiff, tremen-
dous bow of silk. Every woman car
ries on her wrist her sugar box, In
stead OF vanity case. The boxes
are Of gold or silver or enamel and
each contains four or five Jumps OF
sugar Sugar Is extremely rare IN
France and unless one has ones own
doled out by card, one must go with
out.
sThe coats are all cut the same,
whether for the great lady or tie
shop girl. They are of satin and
very loose, bound about the waist
with a narrow belt that ties in the
back. They resemble nothing on
earth but flour sacks, but everyone
wears them"
The styles Miss Craig saw were,
however, not the important part of
her experience When she arrived
in Paris, there were no takes at the
station 80 she rode on top of Y.
NJ. c. A luggage van, and because
of the crowds in Paris since the
close Of the war, she applied at
twenty hotels before she could secure
lodging.
Her work in France was the super
vision of a hospital at Besancon, in
which only tubercular soldiers were
treated. The hospital had been a
monastery, and living conditions
were most primitive, with no running
water and no lights. The only means
of heat was stove on the top of
which was heated all the supply of
hot water used in the hospital. Miss