Evening star., 1943-06-13
BY JESSIE FAINT EVANS.

She looks like a Dresden f1gurine
in the perfection of her faultless
grooming. Her manner and friendly
smile are those of the much-trav-
eled cosmopolite. A hint of her New
England background is reflected in
an occasional speech infection dis
tinctly reminiscent of her Back Bay
ancestry
Until her world suddenly toppled
about her in bombed and machine
gunned Baghdad, Miss Emma Curtiss
Tucker member of the New England
branch of this well-knoWn American
family, was teaching in boys
school there. With other Americans
and British who had been in the
midst of battle for several days,
she was given refuge in an RAF'
camp and then flown out by plane
to the port of Bashrat. From here
they were put on board ship for
Bombay, India, where they landed
in the worst of the Congress Party
troubles. Finally, with others, she
was evacuated to Durham, South
Africa, on British ship.
Life aboard this vessel proved to
be comparatively comfortable, ex-
cept for the constant blackouts at
night, and the fact that all of the
passengers shared with the crew
the responsibility of lookouts for
submarines and enemy planes. Life
saving jackets were kept constantly
at hand.
In Africa Four Months.
It was necessary for Miss Tucker
to remain in Africa four months be-
fore she could obtain passage from
Capetown to Buenos Aires. During
and worked in the American can
teen at Capetown.
Often" she declares, "CapetoWn
would be completely overrun with
sailors, many of whom were sur
vivors from torpedoed ships. Then,
overnight, they would vanish. We
learned not to ask questions, but to
help in any small way that we could
to add to their comfort and cheer
while they were in port. Their re-
actions as to what might lie ahead
for them were as varied, naturally,
as their own personalities.
"One said, as if to convince him.
self, FRITZ won't get this baby un-
til I have had my turn at him.
Others would call for technical books
on engineering and bury themselves
in them with some such statement
as, I'll be better prepared for the
Hun the next time he tries to tor
pedo my Ship"
From Buenos Aires Miss Tucker
was flown to this country. Nine
months elapsed from the time she
left Baghdad until she arrived in the
United States.
Walked to Coast.
Today she is back in Washington
for the second time since leaving
here in June, 1921, on a much
publicized walking trip to the Pa
cific Coast, accompanied by one of
her college pupils, Miss Myrtle King,
who had come East to study. At
that time Miss Tucker had just re-
signed her position as a teacher of
English at Goucher College, She
received a B. A. degree at Mount
Holyoke and her Phi. D. from Yale
She also undertook graduate study
at Oxford University in England.
Their decision to make this west
ward trek in riding trousers, carry
ing cooking utensils and sleeping
tent, all of which they had reduced
to a total of AZ pounds, caused
many uplifted eyes in conservative
academic circles % years ago, Miss
Tucker recalls. Mrs. Winnie G..
Barrows, director of personnel guild
ance for women at George WASH
ington and one of her former pupils
at Wilson College in Pennsylvania,
where Miss Tucker had taught be-
fore coming to Goucher, was one of
the friends who saw the two fem
mime pedestrians off on their 5000
mile jaunt.
The excitement did not subside as
their progress was featured across
the continent for they often slept in
haymows and barns. She and her
companion arrived on the West
Coast on September 7. They then
determined to go to Hawaii and
Japan. They first recouped their
finances, however, by teaching a
year in the State of Washington.
after which they spent their next