The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1919-03-17

airy VI american 6OlQlcTS III T rance iii
pressed Mrs. Theodore Roosevelt, Jr.,
above all else. Mrs. Roosevelt was the
first American woman to enter the Red
Triangle work, and the first to reach
/ France. During all the months since
the first Yanks landed in France she
has been ministering to their comfort
| in Y. M. c. A. huts.
The other day she told Faye Noble
| Grimes a few of the things she had
observed for publication in Associa-
ton Men, the official Y. NJ. G. A. maya
zine, though she s1nilingly refused to
discuss her own part in the war or
that of her husband. Mrs. Roosevelt
| saw fighting only once-the night be-
fore the armistice went into effect.
"On that famous night of Novem-
| Der TO-" she said, "Mr. Carter, Y. NJ.
c. A, executive secretary for all Eng
land and France, took his secretary
and me up to the front near Verdun
i We stayed through until the next day
and saw the start of the last barrage.
Finally we heard the firing cease;
suddenly II o'clock had come; the
| silence was terrible.
| 81 arrived in Paris only few weeks
after the first troops. For six months,
| in addition to my daytime canteen
work, | taught French in a night
school for officers and privates, and
ambulance drivers.
| Afraid to be out at night alone?
| Not once. If only the mothers of
America could have seen their sons
! in France, how proud they would have
| been of them! Many times, when I'd
be hurrying along they have sung out
in the incest, friendliest tone, Hello.
Y and I'd answer back, Hello, Yank."
Praises French Hospitality
"Just as l got to feeling like a sea
soned schoolma am and just as l had
become an expert scrubber, waitress,
cook and maid in the canteen, the
!! general order came to establish leave
areas Our first selection was in
Savoie What were our orders? Most
mighty general. We were to go down
to AK and see what could be DONE
do we hadn't the slightest idea. Frank
lin S. Edmonds of Philadelphia, who
was in charge, arranged with hotel
keepers to care for 1000 boys expect
ed in a week.
"In all my life / have never seen
anything to equal the hospitality OF
the French people. At AK, the mayor
personally received all the boys, and
the French people were always ready
and willing to do for them in count
less little ways.
AFTER several days of getting
ready, making everything homellke,
we all had an attack of stage fright.
Perhaps it was because we were SO
tired, but l can vouch that several
members of that first reception COM
mittee stood around with hearts of
lead, because 1000 boys came march
ing in covered with yellow mud up
to their waists, and with a crouch that
covered them from head to foot, and
that spread all over the place! They
didn't want to have a supervised va
cation; and then, this first crowd had
to pay their own expenses. Since
then, however, all expenses have been
paid by the government, and this first
group has been reimbursed.
THE boys certainly were unhappy
and determined we should know they
didn't like our old Aches and Pains
and that the whole world made them
sick.
Some of the guinness disappeared
when Lieutenant James Europe and
his matchless negro band from the
369th infantry, who were part Of our
program, began with rollicking one
steps Lieut.. Europe had sent clear |
out to Manila to get negroes with thin |
lips to play the reed instruments, and |
when these negro boys once got start |
ed the doughboys' feet started to shut
file and-presto, the fee was broken! |
Serve Cocoa Over Bar.
"They were so weary, so worn that
it took almost forty-eight hours of
sleeping out in the sun by day and
in real beds by night, plus good hot
meals for the boys to be anything near
normal |
It tickled the doughboy's sense OF
humor immensely to go into the bar
room of the old casino and drink cocoa
at the marble counter with his foot
on the brass rail; and it was side
splitting to hear them say they were
going to church in the baccarat room.
1.-The casinos got religion they
laughed.
"At any rate the Casino became
very popular, and when our first
crowd left, it's fame spread far and
wide.
There were no rules OF conduct, ex-
cept one they imposed upon them
selves, that was that every American
girl should be treated like a queen.
'If there is anything the American
doughboy loves it is his hot supper
before he goes to bed. Eggs were ex-
pensive in France, but fried eggs and
with cup of cocoa were
prime favorites. The canteen did not
pretend to meet expenses, our prices
we're very low; we tried to meet the
needs of enlisted men at prices with
in a private's pay.
And how mothers at home would
have enjoyed seeing those Red TRAN
gle girls-keen minded, well balanced,
just the sort they would
want their sons to know. Many