Evening star., 1938-01-09
Mrs. Waters Turns Travels
Into al, Energetic Career
Entered Alaska in Gold
Rush as First White
Child.
BY JESSIE FAINT EVANS.

waters, hOme-maker IN wesley
Heights, the first white child to enter
Alaska with the famous gold rush. q
Red Cross nurse during the World
War, and the only woman in Washing
ton today who owns and operates a
travel bureau.
Her own lifelong travel experiences
and interest in people and their back
grounds, she is capitalizing into sue
cessful profession today, as one side OF
the variety and purposefulness of her
days.
Alert, poised. but never briskly o,
offlciously so, she has twinkling sense
of humor that makes her kin to those
who would on "pilgrimages co." like
the Elizabethian folk of old Chaucer's
time.
Her efficiency crops up in the clarity
OF her viewpoint in her pronounce
ment that With the new generation
that is springing up, every one loves
to travel. but have still to find two
people with exactly the same thoughts
and desires on travel. Tours must
therefore be planned from all angles,
educational, recreational; whether
tourists desire sea or air, to land;
whether warm climates are preferable
to cold: whether relaxation and re-
cuperation are the watch-words. or a
desire to see all there is to see-or Just
to have a good time"
Mrs. Taft a Customer.
Mrs. William Howard Taft WAS her
first important travel customer when
she was starting out in a very modest
way with desk space only. In the
Wardman Park Hotel. She has lust
sent Mrs. Taft forth again on a Jour
ney which will include Australia as q
port of call in her travels.
Today, Mrs. Waters travel activi-
ties occupy large part of what was
once one of Washington's old homes
on H street NV, but she is as era
clous and feminine in her Office, as il
the entire day were yours and hers.
Inc conversation veered to her Red
Gross days before her marriage, when
france was the theater of the Worlo
War-and Rheims meant to her thu
serving Of bowls of soup to wounded
IN dugouts, or the distribution nj
chunks OF bread to war refugees wolf.
lsh with hunger for more.
From her broad, business like desk
She picked up letter of remembrance
from one Of her "crutch-club" bows te
whom she ministered near Bordeaux
lhere is another from Mike" Quin.
Ian. one time athletic star. who minus
arms and an eye as a war casualty. i.
now Mayor of Pennsylvania town
To him and his ward associates Al
Base Hospital No S, near Paris. sh,
one holiday time, sent humorous
verses evolved with racing pen upor
pad on her knee, in scant moment.
between surgical dressing times.
Her eyes grey misty, too. for the
mother in Iowa who remembers with
gratitude what it meant to her ane
her husband to have word concernins
son mortally wounded at Chatear
Thierry, of whose last moments the,
might never have known except fol
the communication sent them by tn,
Red Cross nurse who is the Mrs
Waters of today.
Commended for Work.
A certificate of commendation which
reads in part, Your tender care tt
the sick will long remain as a high
example of noble sacrifice" it is from
Maj. Joseph Byron, tank corps com.
mander-she explained was only thu
result OF services rendered, "in tn,
line of duty"
Diffident under the praise concern.
ing this phase of her life, she wonders
if this generation is ceasing to realize
what war actually means" But
with a soldiers spirit, she believe!
in the type of preparedness and 0,
commercial interchange of commodi.
ties and reprisals which will make il
wiser for aggressive nations not Il
trespass, lest they face serious con.
sequences.
After the armstice she was con.
nected abroad with the Division oi
United States Supplies when relic.
was being sent to Rumania, Russia
Poland, the Balkans and Monte.
negro. From this experience she de.
rived an intimate knowledge of thu
straits to which war can reduce ma
tions and their peoples, as well a.
the bravery with which they meet
the problems of their daily needs.
Born in Minnesota, she began hel
travels as little girl when her father
leaving their pleasant home, took his
family with him to seek his fortune
in the gold rush to the Klondyke. The
first white child to enter Alaska, she
remembers vividly her tugging at her
fathers hand as their slow wood
burning vessel made its landing at
dockless Skagway with its cargo OF
dogs, later to be used for transporta-
ton to the gold fields.
Barter Thrived.
One of her treasures from that
expedition is copy of the first issue
of the Daily Alaskan, published
Wednesday, June l., 1898. The ab-
Sence OF currency at That time IN
Uncle Sans northernmost territorial
possession is indicated by the offer Of
various subscribers to barter thei,
possessions Of which they had nc
need for those that they conside,
Of consequence at the moment. Colo
nuggets or gold dust are also proffered
for furniture, sledge teams or supplies
From her fathers people, who were
Great Lakes sailors and captains, Mrs
Waters in all likelihood inherits hel
initiative, understanding heart ane
Il STAMMERlNG
TREATED BY FORMER sTANfMERER
Other Speech Defects Corrected