The Washington times., 1920-06-03
Presidents and Pies
An Interesting Account of Washington Peo.
pie Of Yesterday and Today Bv the Wife
of the Well -KnOlDn DiDl0matist
BY MIR. Lars Anderson.

There were no paid cooks. all were
volunteers, and the work was hard.
Wood had to be brought. the nrs
made. the coffee put into bags. End
the cauldrons filled with water.
Then after they had been used. the
great kettles had to be cleaned ana
all the tin cups and cans as well.
For q thoussnd men the seemingly
BrobdingnagiAn ratlons of thirty
seven and one-half pounds OF coffee
and the same OF sugar would bs
used, together with three-foarths
of an entire case Of condensed milk.
A >proportionate serving of sand
wlches required li2 double Puilmsn
loaves.
When the corps hrst started. the
original thirty-six members wor. n
Uniform of blue and white cotton
with the red cross; the Others IN
white were considered reserves to
be called when needed. Later, how
ver, by hard work these reserves
were able to earn the right to wear
the regulation uniform and the rcu
cross. with white apron and small
white helmet with dark blue veil.
the whole uniform cost q little over
three dollars. When the weather
became colder, q very smart navy
blue winter coat lined with red'snd
with a white belt was added. and
a turban hat: this. of course. cost
considerably more.
Our intelligence officer found
there was a score OF army camps
within twenty miles OF Washing
ton, and visited each Of them to
discover what things were needed.
Then she looked up the places
tnS
Iy to sidetrack, and found out
whether the army officials and
trainmen would cooperate and no.
tify us. After that we were all
ready for action.
Our hrst public appearances oc-
CURED on May IL, 1917. when the
new Red Cross Memorial building
was formally opened. The President
reviewed several different corps
surgical dressings, clerical, COM
fort bag, and SO on-all In uniform,
and a pretty sight they were with
their flowing wells of different
coIors. Most of the girls had never
marched in a parade before. ana
there was much dismay at hrst be-
cause many OF them did not wirn
to do SO. Fearing that the can
teen would make no showing At All.
I sent out notices to the erect
that all who wished to remain IN
the organization must march un-
less they were Ill or out of town.
Getting the corps ready for tho
parade was quite amusing. First
INV. husband and General Edwards
gave me q little military training
in the house, then called the women
together and drilled them in the
back alley, and finally gave them
a grand rehearsal in the White Lot.
learned to bark out orders quito
professionally. but was mortally
afraid OF forgetting to give "eyeS
left" as we passed the Presidents
stand. The discipline was not all
that could be desired-one girl
talked a steady stream while she
was marching, and another could
not be made to keep step-but on
the whole it went off pretty well.
Our kitchen trailer was unique
feature Of the parade, and was so
much admired that later II was
sent for to take part in the great
Red Cross procession in New YORK.
Hardly were we ready for service
when orders came to go to Fort
Myer and serve luncheon to NJ
teen hundred men. This gave us
fine chance to try out our system,
which was as follows: When the
CORPS was called. / noticed tho
captain of the commissary depart-
ment to order the foodstuffs; tho
recruiting officer, Miss Sheridan.
daughter of the famous general. to
telephone her mattresses, who made
and served the sandwiches; then
the cooks, who prepared and served
the coffee; the. nurse and the secret
service man who used to accom-
pany us in those early days; ana
last the motor-corps, which took
the members.
Copyright. HouEhton. Mifflin Coz
(Te BE Continued Tomerrow.)