Show kathleen norris says women s share of war Is service dell syndicate service 1 40 j 0 z Z R 15 n i agg az P Alary haj knitted more than one hundred helmets the small girls knit too they are knitting those all service garments that reputedly are moo lar in any cold treather camp by KATHLEEN N ORRIS NORRIS THE HE american Americ hn woman is T going to come of age in the next few years she is going to put aside the grabbing boasting playing unthinking ways of a child and develop her own consciousness and her own soul she is going to waste less food buy fewer things that she want stop throwing aside perfectly good garments for newer garments stop flocking to poor shows that che care much about seeing anyway she Is going to learn the value of the things she has always taken tor for granted things she has felt that everyone has and she must ha have 0 as a matter of course money is going to look quite different to her in the next few years and such commonplaces as a good dinner a safe home firelight and books and friendly races faces suddenly are going to appear to be the miracles they are all one now and since immigration has stopped short and may not begin again tor for a decade were gradually going to unify ourselves into a strong nationally tio nally leveled people not irish american any more not italian american not belonging any more to the varied lands that gave our forefathers birth but all one now devoted solely to our own country and the immortal principles that have made her what she Is we will not buy it cheaply the world peace that must come out of all this there will be no nation in tile the world that will not be bled white before it arrives but when it does arrive it if it finds us understanding ourselves and our neighbor and our social obligations better it will not have been in vain this Is the story of mary cates I 1 know there are many women like her but she happens to be the ek example am pie that has come to my personal knowledge and I 1 want the women who would love to do something but dont know how to get at it to hear bear about her mary is 34 the wife of a man whose income is 2400 a year she has daughters 8 and 10 years old and a stepson who has just volunteered for service in the marines to begin with mary saves two dollars a week and takes two more out of the paycheck each month to buy government stamps she puts these in her daughters names she mado made a house to house canvass of her entire neighborhood a rather humble one to pick up games and packs of cards for the boys club in the nearest camp she had printed at her own expense a list of things often thrown away in the household that would be acceptable gifts for soldiers at christmas time she had six soldiers to dinner and a small present tor for each was on her tree mary knits helmets steadily she has knitted more than a hundred altogether the yarn is given her but she does the knitting children help the small girls knit too they are knitting those all service garments that reputedly are most popular of all in any cold weather camp these are first simply oblongs of knitting about 24 by 22 inches they are sewed sawed into tubes to be pulled up into the armpits to protect the entire body from froin cold or to bo be drawn over the head to keep throat chest and shoulders warm an old and faithful red cross worker mary keeps up this obliga DOING THEIR SHARE mary gates cates might ani tt he be someone you know site she might inight bo be one of your friends or neighbors she might in fact be you yourself yo ursell site she is a typical american mother poorer than some richer than many with three children to take care of neither she nor her husband has much money mone jy to spend on entertainment or luxuries but they manage to baity defense stamps not just once in a while when they think of it but every week mary alary knits and her little girls are also learning to t 0 linit kni t her stepson wants ta ts to join the marines alarin ea simple average everyday americans they do their share to help our country atvin the victory which may at long last mean a permanent pence peace tion and she does not forget prayer every morning before seven she walks to church chuoc tor for 20 minutes of an earnest service and when she walks home homa to start breakfast her face Is always bright but perhaps the finest thing about mary gates cates Is her mental moral and spiritual attitude her only brother Is out on the great north atlantic on a destroyer mary knows in her heart what the news from don may be at any moment but she faces whatever may come with complete fortitude she will do what she can in the years ahead every day and every hour she will pray and work and plan over each new duty each change as it arrives and no one will ever hear her complaining of the world that is at war or vai vainly y wishing that things could go back to what they wera were things wont go back never quite go back but perhaps well all be simpler and kinder less exacting less rapacious when this tragedy is over perhaps the sacrifices hospitalities and generos generosities attles of war will be extended to days of peace and nobody will have ten times too much of the necessities of life and nobody will ha have ve only one tenth enough lift your hearts carts 11 so lift your hearts and get into the side of this fight that does not involve hate or revenge or ugliness of any kind but just loving and serving the situation is not of our choosing tho the decisions have been made for us and in that very tact fact there lies a certain sorrowful satisfaction a certain conviction that tie no matter how difficult our path may be at least it has been made plain allany many years ago I 1 found some lines of an old hymn ive thought of them often in the last few weeks hero hera they are perhaps imperfectly quoted but the spirit is there when you come to the red sea place in your life when theres nothing else you can do there la Is no way back there is no way round there Is no other way but through then trust in the lord with a faith supreme till the dark and the night are gone ile he will still tho the waves ile ho will calm the storm i 1 when ho he says to youa your soul go on there Is no other way for us u s now noa but THROUGH and wo we will get through |