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Show 1 Fl RST VOMAN WATCHM mmsm I 1 t pec.Av o.7-r. JiHZDtt? &r A$&kew $$&? i III lU$ Ssgrdh M WmTWmLlvnuMii i- iO H 5-&I JM f -s N ACCOUNT of the war" jSral r Is an old, old expression !ffi$$sfl j( to ub now. bui It never jKlffH 11 1 na more f meaning and 89l I j accuracy as an oxplana- ljBSHB J 1 tIon for unexampled' flB j JJ things than It has today. jB Q; It has been used to cx- jjB Plnln everything; from a shortago of chicken UH feathers for feather beds to tho extraordinarily f3BB ' n,Sh cost of n ton of coal; and now It Is given iJNH as tho reason for this story. fgH "n account of the wnr!" That expression, tH 1,Je a,(X"oet charity, covers a multitude of sins .3H and enables the sinner to esca'po unscathed "H DJ' nubl'c opinion; so- 'H This Btory will tell about what women can B do "on -account of tho war.'- Not only what J5B they can do, hut what thoy aro expected to do, 3m r.-hat they alroady have -andcrtaken In some 'JfSl To tno ecr of the Daughters of tho Rcvo- 8lH lutlon who have henrd their grandmothers toll I rB of tho stirring times In which their men fought '"aB t0T tho llljcrty of tnc United Slates; to those VgH old, lovablo, gray-halrcd women who sacrificed Bj their loved ones that tho North and South ' Jfl might decide In tho only possible way tho dlf- . jlB forencen that threatened disruption of tho VS9 Union; the talo of what womon today must do iB will seem preposterously unreasonable. VB Perhaps they havo read and been told of ,'4H what European womon havo rlono since tho be- 'r'W ginning of tho war and how thousands of their GH sisters In tho munitions centers of this country jlB . aided thf allies with their skilled fingers and JH hands; but they have novcr made personal ap- .'H . plication of tho things thoy havo rend and lls- lH Thoy never have visualized themselves at a H, . cwiftly-rovolving lathe, at a noisy, thundor- flH, ouoly thumping machine for days and days, JH performing an allotted task that must bo dono H to provide ncccBsai-les for the army. They 9H havo never grasped Hie fact that each one of 55j them, aa well as tho pcoplo in foreign coun- 4UVP' trle3, might have to contrlbuto of personal service in back-wearying, car-dcafcnlng labor; M and ovon with tho declaration of war they have &9 not been convinced of tho nood for women In jjfl thoso spheres of life ami work formerly held. H almost sacredly, to bo man's exclusively. B Most of them remember tho days of tho other H. wars especially the war betwoen tho states. K Thoy know what was dono In thoso times: H That tho women stayed palpitatingly at home, B nervously preparing bandages and lint, breath - B ing a prayer hourly that nono of the cssontialo K thoy mado might bo needed for a loved one B Theirs was a work of mercy and waiting; to- M day, weman la called on to labor In tho field B of destruction, or to enter tho pursuits of B peaceful commerce that men- may bo released B. tor tho duty of fighting. ' . Hi "Women Crossing Watchmen. U Thcro will bo no weary dayB of waiting for B nows from tho front while tho women of tho B neighborhood gathered in morosely silent K groupB today for the women thore will bo ac- Sftk tlon eager, hurried, helpful notion, uniting Hr t wjth th sacriflclng efforts of father, son, broth. H er and sweetheart to bring moro quickly to an H end the days of destruction. ' H; Big business has been quicker to realize H( RU these thlncs than havo tho women them- WL Bolvcs. It is hard to tcU which should havo HP' the greater Interest in women's now phase, Hi- the wortan herself, or big business, for whom Wj Bho wil'. work. Probably it is the iatter. H:J "With tho first call for volunteers to fill up H,' ' tho ranks of the regular army and to provide Hf trained officers for new armies, business began W- t0 experionco shortage of male help. Now that Br x iho army draft bill has becomo a lav, and U B' . seems llkoly that at least one young man in B; evorj' seventeen will bo called awny Immedlatc- B- y, with otr to follow soon afterwards, bus!- B neas can see that It is goins to havo to cur- f tall iti"-activities to .an alarming extent, or obtain tlu aid of women. Tho rMlroads have been the first to act. All . the big Eastern lines, the lines operating out . of Chlcxtgo and the Southern roads with head- quartcJ? in St. Louis have taken stops to'pro vldo for the use. of women In:. every place that thoy can suitably perform the duties of positions posi-tions formerly filled by a man. In Boston women have been listed for mobilization mo-bilization and 1G00 of them are ready to man street cars Just as soon as the men now holding hold-ing these Jobs aro called to tho acrvlco of their country. Detroit also has Lakcn this step and tho street car company there has listed a number of women who are ready to tako the places or motormon and haa announced that It will establish es-tablish a training class for thoso desiring to learn tho operation of strcot cars. Tho Saltlmoro and Ohio Railroad, on its lines west of the Ohio River, was the first to put into actual operation its plan for tho employment of women to rolleve men for military duty and a fow days ago tho first woman crossing watch, man in tho United States assumed her post at Now Albany. Ind., guarding a crossing over which thousands of vehicles and pedestrians pass daily. Sho 1b Miss Mary Travcrs, 42 years of age, and sho has undertaken tho work from a patriotic 3pirlt. llore's her own otory: "No." sho said, a3 sho acknowledged her 42 years with a bright Irish smile, "I did not havo to go to railroading to make a living, but I like tho work, and when tho opportunity cama and I found I could release an able man Tor Uncle Sam, I took It. to do my llttlo bit to help along. "And so you want to know who's who at this crossing? Tou havo my nam and age. My parents came from Kilkenny. I was born in Cincinnati on old Fulton street, now Gladstone. Glad-stone. My father is not a railroad man. By coming hero I released John GoB30tt, a man who was crippled in a wreck during tho great flood of 3003, who was sent to Seymour, Ind., to release an ablo-bodled man for service. "No, I never expected to recolvo all tho notoriety, no-toriety, tho reportors and photographers coming com-ing to roe, on taking this Job, but, of course, I enjoy it aa well as any society woman, and everybody 1b good to me," and she laughed heartily. Miss Travor3 is of sturdy, medium build, has bright, laughing gray eyes, firm mouth and a mass of brown hair, dono up in a large, tidy knot at tho back of her head, on which nln wears a brown leathor cap with a sllvor badge over the peak with tho word "watchman" engraved en-graved upon it Sho woro a brown sweater and a serviceable "black Bklrt of heavy material. ma-terial. Sho is intelligent, self-reliant and attends at-tends to her duties with care at tho crossing, whore tho Baltlmoro and Ohio Southwestern haa its freight depot for tho supply of New Albany, a city of aomo 23,000 people, and whero wagons and trains aro continually crossing. cross-ing. Sho goes to work at G a. m. and quits at 0 p. m. and during tho twelve hours has very llttlo time to sit down In her watch shanty. Rain or shine. Mls Travers has to be out .Willi her signal llag. The ladles of New Albany N ; have made her a white 6llk flag with a. mahogany ma-hogany staff. "Slnco tho womon may vote," Miss Travera called after tho reporter, "they must do their bit for tho government." Miss Travcrs took tho place through the suggestion sug-gestion of H. R. Gibson, division engineer, a friend of the Travers family, when Miss Travera hinted that sho was willing and ablo to do her share In helping out. Km. Others Follow the Leader. Tho railroad did not stop with this ono acquisition acquisi-tion to it3 crossing watchwomon forco. Another An-other was lramodlately put to work at Springfield, Spring-field, 111., and two at LawrcncovHlo. Ind. Since that time others have been placed on the system, sys-tem, and tho road hereafter will use only such men aa are totally unfit for even the light duties about a frelghthouso or in other departments depart-ments of railroad work, using women at tho crossings wherever volunteers for the work can be obtained. This eamo road began a campaign to forward the uso of women in all its dcpartmont3 except those directly concernod with tho operation of trains. Circular letters were sent to all heads of departments asking for Information as to the number of womon that could bo employed in those departments to do tho work formerly handled by men, and the officials, according to reports, havo been co-operating fully, designating desig-nating places for womon wherevor it seemed llkoly the gentler sex could satisfactorily fill evert a portion of a Job which a man has been attending to in tho past. As a rosult of the campaign, within a space of a few days, -15 womon clorks, 10 stenographers, stenogra-phers, 2 operators. 0 telephone operators, y Janltronses and 2 agents were placed at tiJr new duties and a corresponding number ,of Mff&IfiB3SflE&5fififiMltfssMttka young men released for actual military service. This number has boen greatly augmented slnco and is being Increased dally, as men volunteer or are drafted from tho aervlco of the railroad rail-road to other work. Nor will tho labors of women in tho railroad field bo limited to tho occupations named. It Is planned to uuo Gome as dispatchers, aftor a period of training and careful watching under tho tutelage of men experienced In such work, and even tho civil engineering corps has been asked to use all tho women who can be found mentally equipped for tho work of maintaining tho transportation lines in suitable condition to handle a large volume of heavy traffic. According to adices from Eastern points, tho Pennsylvania, Erie, Central Railroad of Now Jersey, Lohlgh Valley, tho New York, Now Haven and Hartford, the Now York Central and tho Long Island railroads nre putting women in clorlcal positions as 'fast as they can bo obtained to fill tho places of hundreds of men called away from tho railroad sorvico when the militia of the Eastern States was mobilized. Tho Erie has placed a number of women at work as tlckot sellers, a post requiring wido knowledge of tho country, through familiarity 'with railroads and tholr routes, times and runa of trains and tho prices of tickets, as well aa just which of many possible forms is the proper ono to ueo for a cortaln trip. They also aro planning to roplaco their train auditors, who collect tickets in place of tho conductors, with women, and It is posalblo that the time will coma when even the conductors themselves will givo way to uniformed women, in so far as passenger trains aro concerned. Woman have boon employed in tho freight do- pnrtments to a greater extent than any other in the past, but their work mostly has been . .,.-. , ... stenographic. Now thoy will begin to take over all clerical work and will even assume the supcrintendency of car loading In frelghthouso cara for small shipments, a post that require almost as much knowledge as that of ticket seller. In tho past it has been' customary to employ young men in these Jobs, using them at posts to tost tho reliability of tho youngsters, a fact that mado tho positions stopping stones to responsible re-sponsible railroad positions. These large numbers num-bers of young men who aro able, Intelligent and accustomed to slrlct obodlence of prlntod orders, or-ders, violation of which would cauao losa of froight on the part of tho railroad company, will- bo released as part of tho country's finest material for a new army; and they will be Incorporated In-corporated into tho federal sorvico Just as quickly as the draft law bacomoB dtfmltely or foclivc. " - On some roads It always has ttfen customary to employ women, generally dependents of men H .incapacitated In tho service, as car washers at IH tho tormlnals. Now all the roads have adopted B the plan of employing women for this work, H and thus has been released a largo number of IH men too old for actual military service, perhap3, jH yet ablo enough to tako up tho work of younger: H men in some other department of tho railroad, H thus, through several switched employes, re- IH leasing other men for tho country's defense. H No longer Is It tho part for "men to worlc M and women to weep"; no longer do the limits oC H Red Cross possibilities mark tho extent of worn- JM on's belligerent activities, for now In tho hour B of need, as always when ho Is stumped, man- IH turns, to women for aid and sustenance In car-. H rylng out his projects for their mutual wel- M faro; and woman, herself, Is delighted to find, JM that' now and unexpected, but long-dcslrcd, tM fields of usefulness havo been opened up to her IH "on .account of tho war." B jSBi - B |