Rock Island Argus., 1919-12-31
f rederic Maskim' S Letter
MARRIED HEROES

HEROES
consisting Of odd boxes and bask-
cts and even shawls. These may
be all right for New York. but the
bride must have something more
modern and less conspicuous to
carry her belongings to her hus-
bands home.
Most Of the brides stop for only
. few days, or, at most, q couple
OF weeks, at the Hostess house, ON
their way to the west, the middle
west. and the south; very few Of
them remaining in New York or the
vicinity. Their husbands are chief
ly factory workers, small trades
men. and petty clerks Of the same
type as their brides, and since jobs
are still uncertainties Of the fu-
ture, the men have no resource but
to take the girls to the homes Of
their parents-in-law. The desire Of
the bride to make . pleasing i'm
preston on her husbands parents
is. therefore; very great. The de-
sire Of the husband is no less SO.
A Y. w. c. A. hostess is often con-
fronted by a desperate doughboy,
who implores her to use her in
fiuence to make Marie or Yvonne
look more American"
This usually means the iengthen-
ing of Yvonns's skirts, and the dis
carding Of long black veil, which
trails to the end OF them. And
Yvonne does not always approve of
this part Of the Americanizatio
process.
"Your fashions here" declared
one resentful Yvonne the other
day, they ten years too late. Your
shoes, they make the feet Of the
women appear SO big" She meas
ured An imaginary yard with her
hands, while she gazed compla-
Gently at her own blunt-toed, high
heeled, French-shod feet.
The French women, they have a
heart" she pointed out tactfully.
They wear the black veil for their
dead relative. This one is for my
brother. but over here my husband
say, Take it of, take it Off, My
people don't understand why you
wear a black veil when we are Just
married. It is also becoming" she
sighed bitterly.
But, II some Of the brides crit
icize our fashions, few of them crit
icize our food. The Y. w. C. A.
runs a cafeteria In the Hostess
house, where meals are sold at a
low cost and where the war bride
sometimes renews her acQuaint-
ance with small luxuries which be-
came extinct in many parts of Eu-
rope with the war. Among these
are several meat dishes and all
desserts. 1t Is not unusual to see
q war bride staggering to a table
with tray laden with three differ
ent kinds-of meat and five different
desserts. A pleasant feature about
the cafeteria, also, is the Italian
chef, who not only speaks Italian
but four other languages. He il
able to show the brides how to use
a cafeteria and to give them much
valuable advice as to American
customs.
During the first six months Of the
war bride invasion, according tc
Mrs. Macdonald, the Hostess house
cafeteria was a pathetic sight; il
was SO much appreciated. 1.-THE
girls, many Of them only IA and
IT," she says, "all showed five years
of war in their faces. The babies
accompanying some of them ani
the babies born to others while
here In New York, were sad, wien.
ed little creatures. We realized thai
!.all were undernourished, and w
opened two clinics here at thu
house-one, a general health clinic
and the other for babies and pros
pective mothers.
-"The girls and the few babies
who are coming over now are i:
much better shape. They have hat
the benefit Of last seasons harves
and q year Of reconstruction."
! Some Of the children now a
Hostess house are surprisingly old
so that you wonder about them
knowing that the American troop'
have not been in Europe that long
These are the step-children of oul
returning soldiers, who in acquir
ing war brides have also acquire,
their children. In some of thes,
cases the father and child are tn,
only genial members Of the family
while the bride sits listlessly by
. preoccupied in her, thoughts an,
J lingering a locket.
So many Of thep wear lockets
} snd the lockets always contain tn,
pictures Of their dead husbands
There are q few which contain {
) picture Of the dead hero on on,
side and a picture Of the new on,
on the other.