Show I WOMEN AND AID THE WARBy WAR I By MRS HENRY P. P DAVISON 4 i Treasurer War Var Work ork Council National Board Y V. W. W C. C A. A In an nn Illinois prairie town lives u I. widow who launders seventeen baskets baskets bas bas- of ot wash a week and every Y night thanks c God a for having 1 put ut x pity Into the hearts of women To her came o one ono o oday day a letl letter r from her only son He Her was then at Camp r 4 Funston Kansas s learning to be bea ater a soldier The letter letter let let- ter begged her tok to toome k come ome and see seo him himY Y before he w was a a. s sent to Franco The mot mother her opened the tin Mrs Davison bank In ln which she had been hoarding her dimes and quarters against this day The money was scarcely enough Nevertheless she started She walked the first eighteen miles Then her strength gave out and she took a n train She did not know that visitors to Camp Funston stay in Junction City eleven miles awa away So she got off the train at Fort Jort Riley An officer set her right and sho she reached Junction Junction Junc June tion City after atter dark Somehow she found a rooming rooming house Some one on there stole five dollars from her her her- fivES of the precious dollars she had earned over oyer the wash tub and saved by walking Terror-stricken Terror she crept out of ot the house when no one was looking Later in the night a soldier found her trembling In the street and took her to the rooms of at the Young Women's Women's Women's Wom Wom- ens en's Christian Association rooms which the War Work Vork Council had opened as a house clearing for trou trou- bles The poor frightened woman was waa put to bed but she was too miserable to sleep The matron got up at daybreak b built a fire tire and comforted comforted com forted her The sons son's commanding officer was reached by telephone early 8 In the morning and the boy came to his mother on the first car ley-car he could catch The two spent long voiced low hours together perhaps the last hours bours they will have this side of heaven beann Every moment was as precious pre cious as a month had been last laet year The old lady had still one present worry The boys boy's bad cold might turn Into pneumonia If she left him But Buthe she he had not money enough to sta stay another night and buy a ticket home When the matron told told- her that her bed was free she abe broke down and cried and cried I did not know there was so much pity left In the world she sobbed She stayed till her boys boy's cold was better Then she went back to her seventeen se washings and her memo memo- ries Because of the certainty of just such luch cases as this was Governmental sanction given to the activities of ot the War Work Council of the Y W. W C C. C A. A From the Pacific to the its field extends Every state In the tho Union has bas Its members Urgent appeals appeals ap ap- ap- ap peals Deals for for help are its cause and Its inspiration Women of every evey race and creed are arc Its wards The Ask sk of th the War Work Council Is ous When the United States entered the great war the Young Women Christian Association was as always working among mong women With the call to new duties its members did did not abandon their old responsibilities The War Var Work Council was formed as an emergency measure to take care of ot the women who were caught in some of the tho mazes of war waT just as the parent or organization has taken care caie of thorn them through man many years o ot of peace Tho varied activities decided upon by the War Var Work Council follow fol low closely the needs of ot the tho different differ ent communities of ot tho country Secretaries Secretaries Sec Sec- trained in the methods o othe or orthe orthe the organization were sent ou out broadcast They were instructed to report to the National Board of the Young Women's Christian Associations Associations in New York tho the lines of work which could be best followed in the tin various localities These secretaries work in close cooperation with minIsters mm min min min- asters women's clubs chambers o of oC commerce churches military officials and charitable societies The record rec ice ord of a days day's doings of a secretary reads like a novel an economic treatise and a psychological essay all compressed into a line line-a day a day entry A secretary sent out by the War Work Council must be equal to any emergency Miss Lillian Hull at Chillicothe Chillicothe Chil Chil- close by Camp Sherman hut hut- along the street at nightfall came upon a forlorn couple A Finnish Finnish Finnish Fin Fin- nish soldier had found a job for his wife so that she might come on from Cleveland Cleeland When she arrived she was refused the place because she spoke no English Their money had been all spent on the railroad fare and the soldier was Vas due back at Camp The situation was bad Thanks to Miss Hull a housewife now has an industrious and grateful domestic a soldier la is II happy happ and a soldiers soldier's wife is safe Army folks often benefit even more directly from the secretaries' secretaries work In Bremerton Washington a 0 secretary secre seem tary was accosted on the street by a sailor She was a slender woman and he had mistaken her for a girl May I walk along with you ou he asked Surely she replied with mature understanding and intuition What Js is the matter Are you homesick 7 The lads lad's story came out with a rush Yes he was homesick so hopelessly despairingly heartsick that tbt he was on the verge of deserting But this woman gave him genuine e e sympathy and encouragement she Stu saved sayed him to his country From From north south cast east and fl t these pioneer secretaries sen D. D their reports The appalling siz the undertaking was revealed t I. I War Work Council of the work was the first step 0 O of the multitudinous phases certain lines of ot work were revealed J Continued |