Evening star., 1942-11-18

solitude.
Everything that mattered in
Louis life is beyond his control
It's gotten so he screams at fellow
prisoner who thoughtlessly drums
his fingers on a table top If he |
had it to give, he'd trade what was
once a years wages for his garden
and a packet of flower seeds"
For the Government Girl.
A pretty Government Girl, Miss |
Lillian Winter of Blythe, Ga, was
introduced next. Miss Winter, the |
narrator explained, is file clerk
on the night shift at the Federal
Bureau of Investigation, living with
three other girls in one room of a
rooming house.
Miss Winter goes to work at $3.50
in the afternoon, gets off just be-
fore midnight. The movies have
closed by then. Lillian goes back to
the rooming house, finally goes to
sleep. In what seems like almost
no time, voices wake her up. Three
girls dressing in a epint-size room
can't be quiet. Then the whole day
stretches before Lillian There was
nothing but the movies to fill the
day until Lillian heard about the
USO schedule for night-shift work.
ers. Now she drops in for a noon
time dance or a musicale or maybe
a brunch party at one of the USO
clubs"
The narrator began to explain the
next empty seat, the one, he ex-
planned, that was reserved for
Stephanie.
"A year ago you might have seen
her on the streets of Warsaw.
Stenphanie's friends could recognize
her long way off by the red wooden
coat she likes so much. Then came
last Christmas. Over the Nazi radio
had come word the Nazis would
visit all homes in occupied areas to
collect warm clothes for Nazi SOL
diers suffering from Russian WIN
ter. Word spread around Warsaw:
Burn your Woolen clothing, even if
you need it. Let the German SOL
diers freeze to death. We shall
survive" On Christmas eve,
great clouds of smoke rose over the
roofs OF Warsaw. There seemed to
be fire in every stove. There was
one in Stephanle's. She was burn
ing her red woolen coat"
Applause mingled with cheers for
the girl of Warsaw. The narrator
went on to 8-year- old Valerie Beer
of Liverpool, England. In the two
years since she was sent to safety, |
he said, she had talked twice to her
parents in Britain.
fearful "Cheerio."
Both times" he said, "Valerie's
mother ended the few precious ra-
dio moments with 'Cheerio, darling.
You had to listen closely to her
laugh to catch the hint of a Sob"
The next absent guest. the narra-
tor went on, was one of a boatload
who had started out from Europe.
Dreaming OF haven in Amer
lea, dozens of children and their
parents were singing behind blacked-
out portfolios when the torpedoes
struck. After the explosion only
one lifeboat remained The parents
had to decide. Who should be
saved? Who should go down with.
the listing ship? A lifeboat full of
children landed on the British
coast There wasn't a mother or
a father with them and some of
their sisters and brothers had been
left behind. The parents had made
their decision"
Dolores, the next guest at the
head table, had to be lifted from
her char for the audience to be
seen at all. She was so tiny. The
narrator explained that Dolores was
from the nursery of Southwest Com
munlty House. With everybody in
her family working except an in
valid grandmother. he went on,
there was nobody to see that Do
lores got enough to eat during the
day or TO watch her when she went
out to play.
Now nursery attendants take
Dolores to the hospital clinic regu-
larly and she gets hot meals every
day. In the year since she has been
coming to the nursery, she has
gained eight pounds"
The empty seat beside Dolores.
the narrator continued, was Joes.
Joe, he explained, lives in Southwest
but his mother takes him to her
work in Chevy Chase every day on
the street car. Joe's mother can't
leave him at home alone.
Joe Almost Too Quiet.
His mother always tells him to
sit very quietly in one corner of the
kitchen while she's working SO the
lady of the house won't be disturbed
by Joe's noise. It's gotten so Joe's
quiet all the time-not like most g.
year-olds.'
All through the introductions the
aged woman beside Joe's empty
chair had been nodding and smiling,
although she caught little % what
was being said. She was introduced
now as the oldest inhabitant of the
Hebrew Home for the Aged-lO3
years old. When she first came to
the home, the narrator said, she
was very frail.
In the room she shared with her
sons family, she slept on two chairs.
That was when she was 93."
The empty chair beside her, the
narrator went on, was for another
grandmother.
Mrs. Karenoff is strong with the
strength of the Russian soil. Her
sons are at Stalingrad. Her daugh-
ters are turning out munitions. Mrs.
Karenon is taking care of the
grandchildren still too small to fight.
If wheat seeds come from America,
she will go out with her grand
children to plant the scorched earth.
Mrs. Karenoff is Russia"
After introducing James Lee, the
American-born Boy Scout who
kr0u,S the man ming 0f frceroy,o frny,,