Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1919-06-23
WOMAN'S HAND MAKES
II GUST LIKE HOME"
[Continued from First Page.1

or Bellefonte, Pa, and Miss Watts,
of Harrisburg, who had served as
"Y" Secretaries in France and Ger
many, had come home with the
Rainbows, and why not set them up
in an unprovised house" partitioned
off from the main lobby, give them
a free hand in furnishing it-and
see what would happen!
What happened can best be real
lied by the person who drops in any
evening between and P. M. There
are other times, too, but those are
the rush hours. Lonesome lads in
khaki and shy gobs in blue edge up
toward the open door in twos and
threes, hardly believing their eyes.
then sidle in, and the first thing you
know, some one has tackled the
piano, and the rest is easy. It's
HOME. that's all.
Seems like some of these boys
didn't realize" says Miss Laurie,
how much they needed mothering
and big-sisterin gtill they came in
here. Sometimes they just come in
and sit in corner and look. Others
make for the writing materials and
start letters to the folks back home.
Again they will be hungry for talk
and will crowd around, chatting and
remiscing till we feel as happy and
popular as debutantes in hall room.
1t is perfect joy to see how they
respond to our friendliness.'
Miss Watts broke in to explain that
there is only one thing barred, and
that is formality.
I'VE are going to make this corner
as near like home as it's possible to
do. No fuss, no company manners,
no effort to entertain. Just case of
doing whatever you like, however you
like it. We are going to sew and
mend and darn. Or sing a song. Or
play jazz. Or classics. Or take a.
hand at checkers. Or listen to some
body's story if he wants to tell it to
us. Well even advise, If he asks us
to, just as his sister or his mother
would do if they could.
Whether the fellows are returned
soldiers and sailors, or whether they
are Just boys who are away from
home making their way in the big
city. we want to be their big sisters,
or their mothers if they'll let us.
They liked it all in France, and we
think they'll like it here"
Miss Laurie and Miss Watts are
rather too youthful to suggest the
role of mother to the sprawling big
chaps who make such good use of
the "Y's" new home corner. Yet
they have had birthdays enough to
make them understand when Bill or
Peter confides about that girl whose
picture has been toted around in an
inner pocket since goodness knows
when. And to offer sensible sugges-
tons in the case of that quarrel. Or
the letter that didn't seem to mean
exactly what it said. Or any of those
other things that a fellow gets per-
picked about once in while.
Both young women were selected
for service abroad because they were
peculiarly fitted by personality and
temperament to be the useful all
around pals and helpers they have
been for more than eighteen months.
First they were located at Is-sur-
Tile with the Service of Supplies.
Then they were at Barbecue, where
the jelly comes from, and finally
were sent to Rolandseck-on
Rhine, with the Army of Occupa-
ton, being assigned to the 166th In
fantry, part of the 42d, or Rain
bow. Division.
There were good many times
when those fellows over there
needed a friend" and not one time
when Miss Laurie or Miss Watts
failed them. The boys paid them the
cherished compliment too of calling
them affectionately Mother" not
withstanding their lack of gray
hairs and comfortable double chins.
Amt it funny" as one buck pri-
vate put it, "how they've got the
knack of being your ma one minute
and your sister the next? Women"
he concluded with a sageness beyond
his twenty-five years, "do make
things better somehow, whether it is
war time or peace time. or over there
or over here. l. used to think girls