Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1944-10-10
Letters to The Star
"Stay At Home" Is Her Advice
to Other YOUNG Girls

Stay ut Home IL Her Advice
to Other Young Girls
To the Editor Of The star:
With the tragic death Of Dorothy
Berrum. there has arisen In the minds
of many readers speculation about Gov
eminent girls and the protection they
are given. As a Federal employee and Z
resident Of Arlington Farms. should
like to express my personal views con-
corning the life we live. I'm not .
hardened, cosmopolitan woman Of the
world; I'll be only 81 next month, and
I've been in Washington just five
months.
We on the Farms are OF all person.
alities, shapes. sizes and creeds. We
have come from every State, and even
outside the States. We are from differ
ent backgrounds in both our homes and
educations. Some Of us have had years
OF training and experience, some have
never worked before. Why are we here?
We sometimes wonder ourselves. We
came because We wanted to help our
country, and didn't or couldn't don a
uniform; because the money was good
Tor 50 we thought, until we saw how
fast it VENT; because we wanted free
dom from our homes and wanted to be
ION our own; because we wanted to see
for ourselves If there were as many men
as we had heard; because we had never
been in a large place and we wanted to
find out all about It. Many of US were
sadly disillusioned, especially those who
never had worked before, to find that
working in Washington was not the
glamorous mode OF life we had thought
but was plain hard work.
Life ut "the Farms"
How do we live? 1t can be said in
three woodworking, washing, we'd
ding-and that daily workout, eating, OF
course. Some of us are on eight and
ten hour shifts, some on swing and
graveyard" We come In so tired we
just want to sleep our lives away. But
We haven't washed clothes. or ironed,
or met the new girls In the wing, or
talked over our latest letter with q
friend next door; so we get to bed any,
time around 10, II, II or /. We livs for
the free time We have, from one day
off" to the next; for the next letter from
"the man" or from home. Some of us
don't really have homes; or we want to
forget what we do have. because they
are that bad. And we all aren't angels,
either The old saying about birds OF
q feather flocking together" was never
truer than when applied to the Farms.
We make friends with all, but we make
close friends with only a chosen few.
We know who in the wing is not "our
kind" We see girls hanging around
the telephones, waiting to answer them
in the hope that the girl wanted won't
be In, and the boy will ask her for a
date. We see pickups that are a dime
hundred; we see girls who scorn such.
We know that, in most cases, our house
directors know more about us than we
do ourselves. We can fool them some
times, but not always. They know when
were gold-bricking, and when we're
really Ill; they know what kind of dates
we have, because they are experienced
and wise enough to, Judge our boy
friends and us.
And how much protection are we
given? Are we considered any more
than any other Government worker
whose home is in Washington? No.
But We are looked after in the best DOS
sible way, allowing as much liberty as
girl on her own normally would want.
We know that the few rules we have
are for our own good. No, the protec-
ton doesn't really come from the Gov
eminent or from friends 1t comes di-
rectly from our moral training, our edu-
cational background. The Farms can
help us with bed checks, slips to sign
when we come in after 2 am, healthy
clean recreation. house meetings, ETC.;
but the thing that really counts is what
we've already been taught to think and
feel and how prepared We are to meet
life.
Here Il Her Advice.
My advice to any girl under 20, or to
one who has never worked before is:
Stay at home" We meet many dis
courasements; We get so homesick we
sometimes meet ourselves in the hail.
all packed up and ready to go: we man.
age finances poorly and are broke soon
after payday. Were we at home, we
could have the counsel Of family and
friends. Parents should say a deter
mined and unwavering mo" when q
daughter asks to come here to work.
That Is. unless they have taught her to
take care Of herself in all ways-and
especially when 1t comes to men. On
the Farms, 1t isn't uncommon to meet