New Britain herald. [microfilm reel] (New Britain, Conn.) 1890-1976, 1928-07-12

Chicago, July 12.-You can hear
ruminative clicking as Command
ant katherine G. Knight turns
through the files in her office here.
The sound is family suggestive of
needles sliding back and forth as on
a loom. weaving a pattern Of mys-
terry and drama which is the story
that the records tell
Commandant knight has one of
the most unusual jobs in the world.
She spends her entire life looking
for lost needles.
She doesn't hunt the kind you
sew with, however. Instead, she's
constantly on the lookout for hu-
man needles-the ones that get lost
in the haystacks of civilization.
The Lost Are Her Game
The Cohmandant has charge of
the Missing Friends Bureau for the
eleven Central States of the Saliva
ton Army. Her office is at army di-
visional headquarters in Chicago.
And from that spot she keeps a
watchful eye over the entire world,
searching even into the tiniest cram
MES and forgotten hooks where men
and women, when they disappear,
go to hide.
With uncanny skill. this pleasant
little woman is able to take UP a
cold trail leading back into the dis
tant past. She is a persistent. cling
ing shadow. following silently but
surely down the pathways OF the
missing.
Not a Detective!
Her efficiency could shame many
a detective. But II you called her a
detective, Commandant knight
would feel hurt. She reminds you
that she searches only for friends
and has nothing whatever to do
with crime or criminals
Cities are the haystacks where
most Of her needles get lost. And
better than most any other person
she holds the answer to such riddles
as to why girls leave home, why
husbands disappear and what
prompts the queer quirk that fire.
quenly turns formerly respected ci-
items into tramps and derelicts.
Boys are hardest of all to find"
said the Commandant who each
year sets out to look for an average
of 1000 missing folks and finds
better than 40 per cent of the total,
a remarkable record.
Boys travel farthest when they
disappear" she explained. "A boys
will is the winds will and when
boys start thinking the far-off
thoughts of youth. they generally
manage to run as far as they think
and in most instances are lost for
ever"
Girls Are Not Venturesome
Girls are not the venturesome
sex. even though they do run away.
Most every normal human at some
time or other has wanted to pick
up and get lost like a needle in a
haystack.
However" she continued, "I've
never yet found a girl who has run
away 70 go on the stage or enter
the movies. Perhaps in other years
girls did such things. but they don't
any more. Nowadays girl will run
away because she's in trouble or
Just bored with her surroundings.
But most usually they disappear to
find independence through earning
their own livings Boys, too, have
gotten over notion of running out
west to fight Indians. But a lot of
them are being lured away by the
impossible dramatic situations por-
trayed by cheap moving pictures"
Love Keeps Wanderers Home
Husbands addicted to rowing will
require more watching in winter
than at any time of year. Command
ant knight said. because it's during
the winter when coal bills and doc
tor bills begin to pile up. and the
weather makes it hard for him ia
get outdoors. that the male is more
apt to feel the call of the road and
the itch to be off.
We're all nomads at heart" the
Commandment said. Its only the
strong who abide duty and care
while the weak abandon their OBJ
legations when touched by the
blight of the wanderlust.
Love is the best force to keep a
home united and its members in.
tact" she concluded And n more
parents would devote a little more
love and affection to their children
there would be fewer runawavs"