Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1919-10-02
AMERICAN LEAGUE STANDING
1880 MEALS SERVED
BY Y. w. G.. A. IN PARIS
Famous Hostess House, Hotel Petro-
grind. Now Closed

With the American army a vanishing
factor in Paris life, several aspects of the
capital are changing. Nowhere more
than in Rue Caumartn. The American
Y. w. c. A. hostess house. Hotel Petro-
grad. has closed its doors after nearly
two years Of open hospitality, durlns,
which time 3l2.500 meals were served in
the glass domed dining salon, and the
narrow busy thoroughfare has lost its
approximate American appearance
! Practically all army women have stayed
at the Hotel Petrograd when on leave
during the past two years. The one
hundred and twenty-eight rooms at tho
hostess house have been elastic enough.
someway. TO take care Of allied women
working with the army. There have
been nights when all the chairs in the
salon were occupied by late Corners
The PetroCrad is now to become an
American Woman's club which will serve
as an information and guide center for
American women who come over to find
graves Of American soldiers
1t was In December. 1917. that the Y.
w. c. y. took over this hotel, which had
always been a haunt Of English and
American tourists. American women
welfare workers were coming over, and
the difficult conditions of living in Paris.
c.osed hotels and scant coal, made it
/ necessary that these workers should have
hotel of their own.
The first Y. w. c. A. group, Miss Mary
Dingman, Miss Henrietta Roelofs, Miss
Katy Boyd George. together with Miss
Blanche Geary. and Miss Jean Cavers,
Ventured to take over the Hotel Petro-
grad. even though Paris might fall.
From the beginning the Petrograd has
h<ar Id ..tt
war workers; it has never taken civilians,
1t was the center of the world to war
working women during those darkest
days that stretched from March to July
1913. Women in every variety of uniform,
the Red Cross. the C. A. r. D.. the A. r.
+, W., the Y. NJ. c. A., the B. E. D..
S. w. H.. the A. w. H.. and all the othef
organizations, came to its shelter And
they came from Palestine, Russia, Rou-
mania. Africa, South America as we'll al
from the countries and the armies of thu
Allies.
| il was entirely a womans hotel 1t
endured the commandments undismayed.
unterrified. and the nightly professions
down to the cave. following on the
shrieks of the siren, will make an anus
ing moment when the tragedy Of the war
is written into comedy.
"hen Iaris became leave area for
men and oficers Of the American army.
the hostess house took on more the ap-
pearance of a hostess house in America;
the khaki throng made it it's own. Always
| the men throng where they could get an
American square meal and the oppor-
tunity to talk with an American girl.
There are still two hostess houses re-
naming in Paris for the coming winter.
the Oxford and Cambridge, on rue St.
Honorc, home for permanent guests,
and the Palais Royal on rue de Va.o
near the Louvre, which has become n Clue
for American women, and is especially
famous for its teas.
Out IN the provinces, where the Y. w.
c. A. has had a dozen hostess houses a
Tours, Bordeaux, lie Mans. St Nazaire.
Chaumont. Toul and in Neuenahr, there
are left only those at Coblenz and al
Brest.