Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-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.

hundred other girls work there too
! don't aim 10 tell you about our jobs
You can read about our work in the
labor department reports. But | do
aim to tell you about our Big Sister
and of the things she has done for us.
"ro begin with. our factory town
isn't town at all It's Il huge barn
of buildings stuck down in the country
nineteen miles from nowhere. There
Is a railroad siding. a station the size
of dry goods box. seven farmh0uSes
and one general store and poStofiice
combined-it's pretty near as big as
Tot tamale 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 desolation, that's what it is.
"I was one of the first carload Of
forty girls that was shipped up from
Chicago. The factory was Swarming
with workmen putting ii the machin-
cry. and we girls couldn't begin work
for day or so, so we began hunting
nlaces to eat and sleep. That was a
trifle 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 Rosptable-
; ST will say that thosewomen were kind
and hospitable They fixed it 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 five 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.
"He wanted to make use Of every
minute, you see. But that gave us oui
chance as 10 sleeping We fixed it uE
with the farm folks that we'd WORK
double shifts and sleep double Shift.
too
!, $50 we planned it, Three girl.
would use room from eight at night
till six the next morning. Then they'd
hustle over to the factory, and thu
three girls who'd been working al
night would take The room and sleeE
till afternoon. 1t wasn't any luIurl
Gus slumber believe me- The farm
women had so few sheets and pillow
cases that most Of us went without
And towels were scarce as diamond:
on blackberry bushes. As to soap
we'll, the general store kept yellow bal
soap. that kind that is so full of rosir
you could use IL to calk Il ship. Bu'
we made out till the next three car
loads of girls came rolling in. Their
we went most distracted. Those poor
girls had to sleep in tents and in the
cars that the workmcn had abandoned
by this time, and they were lucky il
they got straw tick and a blanket
BY this time it had turned raw cold
and maybe you know what late au
tumn nights in Michigan feel like. TIC
cap the climax the farm folks cut
down on food, and for a week il was
potatoes and beans and mighty few
beans at that.
Along Came Miracle.
"But, right when we were ahou
ready to quit our jobs and beat it fot
home, along came Il miracle. Two
quiet, busineSslikc 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 anG
blankets and pillows and sheets and
towels-brand new blankets and beds
think Of the glory of that and
bushels Of dishes and rolls of oicloth
and enough bui'lap to carpet the cOun.
try. You won't believe me when I tell
you that in ten days their workmen
had Il Scantling-and-tar-pa shack
put up and burlap tackled over the
walls, and the Y. w c. 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 warm the
coolest night that ever blew, and q
towel apiece for every single girl. Dc
you wonder that we all felt. as one
girl put it, I'll wager the Fritz Carle
ton has nothing on this
"Who were t. 1Se women? Why,
Y. w. c. a. secretaries, Of course. I'd
think you'd know that without being
told All over the country wherever
we girls have pitched in to make aero
plane cloth or overalls or munitions OF
canned goods you'll find Y. w. c. A
secretary working harder than any.
body else to make the girls comfort
able and to keep them happy and we'll
Sometimes they haven't money enough
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