Evening star., 1941-07-01

833#$$$# $$$$&$&&&I a Cdill DIOhI4C
Henry McLemore. If an invader
comes to these shores he will have
to cope with women who not only
will insist on the last word, but on
the last punch as well. Thousands
of them have enrolled for duty
and they have not asked for jobs
which will protect their manicures
and wave sets. They are asking for
and getting-the work that is
dirtiest and toughest in time OF
emergency.
To a man who remembers when
women were so delicate that they
wore black silk stockings in bathing,
morning in the Voluntary Services
Office was a revelation. AS non
chalantly as if they were opening
a new charge account, women
signed to be motor mechanics, am
bulance drivers, afraid wardens,
radio operators, nurses and incen-
diary bomb dousers.
~ X
The girls aren't fooling, either.
I am living proctor, more accu-
rately, half-hving proof-of that.
My wife is a recruit and is now in
the middle Of a first-aid course. a
required study. Neither Johns nor
Hopkins ever applied himself more
assiduously to the practice of medi-
cine than my wife has to her prac-
tice on me. Nearly every husband
l know in New York is serving as
a patient for his wife, and like me.
they are showing signs of wear and
tear. If the invader is long in
coming, We, the husbands of first
aiders, won't live to see our gals
get into action.
Have you ever been resuscitated
when you felt as good as you ever
did in your life?
Have you ever tried to fll your
pipe with a bed sheet tourniquet on
your arm?
Have you ever Lmped around
your home in lovingly but misap-
piled splints?
The Florence Nightingale touch
is entirely missing in our home.
My wife obviously considers Flor
ence a sissy and has adopted an
/ approach to the patient patterned
/ after Stranger Lewis methods.
/ She doesn't stroke a brow: she
banks it, and gives you a drink of
water as if she were putting out
a fire on top of your head.
This morning she reached the
chapter in her Red Cross textbook
that has to do with snake bites.
am positive her instructor meant
to have her skip that part, because
the chance of snakes being adopted
as a means of warfare is very
slight. But a friend who has COM
pleted the course told her questions
concerning snake bites were part
of the written examination, and she
was taking no chances.
Act as if you had been bitten
by a snake" she commanded me
when had finished my breakfast
coffee.
What kind of snake?" I asked.
"The poisonous snakes in the
United States are the coral snakes,
the pit-vipers which include the
rattlesnake and copperheads and
cottonmouth moccasins," she read
from her manual. Take your
choice"
According to instruction
stretched out quietly and allowed
my best necktie to be tied firmly
around my left leg, just above
some fang marks which she had
drawn on with a fountain pen.
How are you?" she said, feeling
my pulse. 1T says here to sterilize
sharp knife or razor blade and
make a cross-cut incision one and
one-half by one and ons-half
inches at each fang mark"
Hobbled as I was I jumped to
avoid too much realism and headed
for the sideboard. My foot had gone
to sleep and stumbled. This was
taken for sign of shock and she
leaped at the chance to treat me
for this.
"And furthermore" she repri-
manded me as she started thumb
Ing her manual, ut won't do you
bit of good to keep making those
wild passes at the sideboard.
Because it says here 'whiskey is
not a good stimulant in these
cases"
I'll have to admit that the
women OF this country are pitching
In and doing a swell job. But there
Is no denying that they are making
1t a little tough on two groups OF
us-the mice and the men. The
mice can't scare them and they
scare us.
distributed by McNausht Syndicate.