Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1919-01-15
Industrial Woman's Service Club
Brings Home to Girls in New
Factory Community.
BLUE TRIANGLE MEANS CHEER
Club Stands for Hot Lunches, Clean
Towels, Comfortable Cots, Parties,
Games and Recreation to
Girl Workers.
Katherine Holland Brown.

|
labor department reports. But ] do
aim TO tell you about our Big Sister
and Of the things she has done for us
"To begin with. our factory town
isn't town at ALL Its huge barn
| of buildings stuck down in the country
| nineteen miles from nowhere. There
| is q railroad siding. station the size
of a dry goods box. seven farmhouses
and one general store and postottice
comhned-it's pretty near as big as
/ hot tamafe stand And that's all. No
Main street. no banks nor stores. no
ice-cream parlors, not one solitary
movie show, In all those nineteen
| miles. Lonesome? It's the ragged
! edge Of desolatlOn, that's what II is.
! 81 was one of the first carload OF
forty girls that was shipped up from
Chicago The factory was swarming
with workmcn putting in the machin-
| cry, and we girls couldn't begin work
] for day or so. so we began hunting
places TO eat and sleep. That was n
| trifie that the employment folks hadn't
| thought Of The workmen were sleep-
| ing and eating In the cars that had
brought them there, backed on the
siding. Our only chance for beds and
| food was with those seven farmhouses,
| so we marched straight to the farmers
wives and asked for board and room.
Farmers Wives Hospitable.
Il will say that those women were kind
| and hosptable. They fixed 1t up be-
tween them to feed us forty girls, and
they gave us good food too. But for
rooms, that was the question. They
could each spare one room. That
meant sleep Ave or six In room. But
right then along came the boss OF the
| factory and told US the machinery was
| ready and he'd expect us girls to work
double shifts, night and day.
4 He wanted to make use OF every
| minute, you see. But that gave us our
chance as to sleeping. We fixed II up
| with the farm folks that we'd work
double shifts and sleep double shifts
too.
$50 we planned It. Three girls
world use room from eight at night
tiI AZ the next morning. Then they'd
hustle over TO the factory. and the
thu. girls who'd been working all
nigh, would take the room and sleep
till cf,srnoon. II wasn't any luxuri-
Gus slumher believe me. The farm
women had so few sheets and pillow
cases that most of us went without.
And towels were scarce as diamonds
on blackberry bushes. AS 70 soap
we'll, the general store kept yellow bar
soap, that kind that Is so fun OF rosin
you could use II to calk n ship. But
we made out till the next three car
loads of girls came rolling in. Then
we went most distracted. Those poor
girls had to sleep in tents and In the
cars that the workmen had abandoned
by This time. and they were lucky II
they got a straw tick and blanket
Ry this time 1t had turned raw cold,
ard maybe you know what late an-
tunn nights In Michigan feel like. To
cap the climax the farm folks cut
down on food, and for a week 1t was
potatoes and beans and mighty few
beans at that
Along Came a Miracle.
ready to quit our jobs and beat II for
home, along came a miracle. Two
quiet. businesslike women climbed
down from the eastbound train one
morning. With them came eight work
men. carload OF scantling and tar
paper. another carload of cots and
blankets and pillows and sheets and
towels-brand new blankets and beds
think OF the glory of that land
bushels of dishes and rolls of oilcloth
and enough burlap to carpet the coun.
try You won't believe me when tell
you that In ten days their workmen
had ing-and-tar-paper shack
pui mp and burlap tackled over the
walls. and the Y. w. G. A. secretary
and her helper had set up board tables
and coffee kettles and were serving u.
the grandest hot lunches every day
And hack behind the burlap screeni
were set those rows of clean cots witt
enough cover to keep you warm tn,
coolest night that ever blew, and ,
towel apiece for every single girl d,
you wonder that we all felt. as on
girl put il. III wager the Fritz Garlic
ton has nothing on thisv
"Who were Il lse women? WHY
Y. W c. A. secretaries. of course. T.
think you'd know that without bein
told. All over the country whereve
we girls have pitched In to make aero
plane cloth or overalls or munitions O
canned goods you'll find Y. w. c. 4
secretary working harder than an,
body else to make the girls comfor
able and 10 keep them happy and wei
Sometimes they haven't money enoug
to get all that we really need But a
ways they stretch every cent TO max
II do its level best for US Do you VOL
der that we girl workers have learnf
to call the Y W. c. A. our Big Sistt
the very best Big Sister of ALT