The Birmingham age-herald. [volume], July 11, 1915, MAGAZINE SECTION, Image 38

About The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950

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On Taking Trip
in a Motor Boat
tiLSTUR KiDDITUR: For veers I have
longed to own a motur boat. f
have always had a weekness for
- not spesiallv to drink, but to bathe
in and catch fish fmm and glide ovver.
Watur is so nise to glide ovver in the moon
lite; it seem> so rowmantick. Theerefore,
as I have sed, one of my dreems has been to
own a reel, homiest to-goodness motur
boat and gathur togetliur a croud of my
frends and glide ovver the restless waves
feeling tlie throbbing of the little engine
as it pulsate.- and spits its protests against
the world in gennerel, but propel Is ns
ovver the sliimmery watur. Such lias been
the mental picture I have always wished
on myself at such times as I had the time
to flo -o. Imagine my joy, theerefore,
when a trend of mine who owns a motur
boat included me in an invitasion t<: spend
an evening with himself and pleasent little
party on the hoosiim of the broad and biiti
ful PoPmmiaek last week. T could hardly
wait !'(■’• 1 ti: to cum, and in honur of
1 lie occasion, and m ordur to look plum
nautical, i purchased me a perfectly good
yachting cap and borrowed a pair of
howiioekulers. The bownoekulers air now
in the hot turn of sed Potoomaek, and the
yachting cap is for sail cheap. Motur boat
ing is not what T beleeved it to be: f am
sorry that another dreem lias went rung,
but I <li.gr ss, ! will stick to tlie cold and
crewel details without further cornmint,
°xsept to obsurve that the noxl sucker that
.......
invites me on a motur trip will do so at his
perril.
Insidentallv I wish to state that enny
person who contimplates a trip in a motur
lioat, evven if he is meerly an invited guest
and has no responsibilities, that my advise
to him is, that furst he turns down sed in
vitasion; second, if he owes the persun who
invites him munnv and feels under obliga
sionsdo accept, that he gets sick or sum
tiling* and at the last minnit renig, and
thurd, if he does go, not to ware enny
clothes that he thinks he will ewer need
enny moor- sertainly it is the verry highest
peek of folly to ware a white.flannel suit.
White flannel suits air not suitabull for
motur boating—rite at this time I can’t re
call or suggest just what is the best thing
to ware, but insidentallv I can think of
nothing moor suitabull than a set of fawlse
teeth and a pained expression. Enny
other warning apparel is sertain to be put
out of commission. Also let me remind you,
gentul reeder, that a thundershower and
the ring-tailed variety of Kansas cyclones
will break an engagement to annoy the
landskape in sutliern Illinois and will cross
fore states going hundreds of miles out of
theere way just to put a lot of expression
in a motur boating party. Heed not the
forecasts of the weethur burow. Thev do
not apply when you air going moturing.
The sun may be shining with a benign and
innosent expression, theere may not be a
breeth of air blowing—the surfase of the
rivur is as smooth and calm as Sunday a.
m. in a prohibision town, but do not be de
seeved; all theese details air staged meere
ly to commit you to the trip'and to iced you
on to your unhappy fate.
When I started on this boating trip the
cheef of the gennerel admiralty staff didn’t
have a thing on me when it cum to looks;
I was theere, beleevo me. I looked evverv
inch a sailor even down to the impressive
walk. But when I got back—and I was
thankful to get hack—I was not so impres
sive. Indeed, with the exsepsion of my
classick features, I had retained little of
the debonair apperense I had when 1 left
home so full of spirrits; I returned soaked
full of watur, gassoleen, oil, greese and a
low ordur of profannity. I shall newer
feel quite the same about it.
It was a merry little party that left the
warf that eveutfull evening. When I furst
got into that motur boat I experiensed sum
misgiwings. It was far frum commodius
—with the party we had our movements
weer moor or less restricted, but this im
pression soon vannished under the inflew
ance of bock beer and cheese sandwiches
and girlish laftur. Aftur we had been go
ing for a few momints, l was as care-free
and giddy as a debutantee with her furst
bow. Ilowevver, we had been going not
moor than an hour before it was notised
that the engine was doing the hesitation;
it would sputter and gasp and “put-putt”
in such a mannur as to convinse all of us
. 11 __„
Ilial sumthing was rong. The owner of the
boat looked wise and sed he guessed that
sumthing was rong with the “sparkur”
and he would have to look it ovver. He,
therefore, stopped the engine and started
rite in on a tour of inspectsion.
This aetsion was fatel; it was the begin
ning of sevverel hours of startling and
spontanous evvents which spoiled the hole
evening for roe. That engine was obstin
ate, the owner fooled with it for half an
hour and then called a spesial meeting of
all on board for a conferense. Theere weer
moor bone-boded opinions and suggestsions
offured than there has been explanasions
of who started the war in Urope. But that
little engine remained calm thro-out it all.
It maid a noise like a clam and refused to
budge: in the meentime we had been drift
ing, noboddy paying eny attension to the
direotsion, and suddenly the boat was
aground. It was aground, but about a
mile frurn shore in a mud-flat cuvvered
with about a loot of perfectly damp watur.
Also about that time a black cloud put in
its apperen.se on the western horrizun and
the thunder began an ovverture with zig
zag litning necompanvmint. Up to that
time evvervboddy had been calm and pa
sient with that engine, and even the owner
had respected the pressense of ladies and
had refrained frum harph expressions. We
all began frantickly to work on it, and T
totally disregarded my white flannel suit
and did my best to coax that blooming,
idiotlie and inannimate peese of mnshinery
to coff just onse, but theere was nuthing
to it. The ladies began to get anxious and
emosionel; this added to the gennerel gay
ety of the iestivvities of the occasion; it
began to rain and thunder—it sounded
wurst than the bombardmint of Psre^ylme.
Then came the wind—and the way it did
howl and blow was sumtiling feerce.
The waves began to slosh against th«
boat and evvery now and then a barrel or
so of muddy but aggitated Potomack
watur would walze ovver the gun-walls
and seet itself in sumboddy’s lap with a
dull thud. And hit a rainning. We began
to send out the S. O. S. in a hoarse tone of
voise, but we mite as well been shooting
peas at the Washingtun monnumint. In
about 10 minutes most of the Potommack
rivur was in that boat, but it couldn’t sink,
it was alreddv on the bottum. It stopped
rainning in about two hours and we suc
ceeded in attracting the attension of a
fisherman in a raud-skow, who paddled us
to the shore for the small considerasion of
five bones and our kind regards.
Before f left I gave the engine a visions
kick, and promptly enuff it began to
“coff.” I have newer seen an engine moor
willing than it appeerod at that momint.
Still we did not trust it, but stuck to the
mud-skow—but it convinsed me that kind
ness has no effect on a gassoleen engine.
No moor motor boats for little Billy—I
am cured. Yours troolv,
BILL VINES.
Washington. T). P.
UP AND DOWN BROADWAY—By Allen Griffin Johnson
KW YORK, July 10.—(Special.)
In the minds of many strangers
to this metropolis there is a be
lief that New York city is es
sentially of and for the wealthy,
and that it is a municipality to lie avoided
hv thf* ' iser poor. This is the result, no
doubt, of tin fact that so much more has
been w. tten about the rich man’s than
the ft.o: mu s Gotham. Yet it is true
that i i c’t in the world offers more to
its i icier classes, or does more for its
real!.- pauperized inhabitants than does
this s: me New York.
To begin with, it is the privilege of
all of us to possess by sight much that
even the wealthiest alone may claim own
ership of. and within what other city's
limits- is there so much, and such va
riety. to delight the beholder, and to in
tensely interest him? Though one has
lived in New York a day, or a lifetime,
there a re still 'to lie found new sights,
nev scenes end new entertainment of the
kind that i.- free to all.
New N or!-. 1 know, has no reputation
as a city beautiful, yet parts of it are
r.stnnishh ■!y so. not^ftn account of the
masses of ungainly architecture, hut in
spite of tJ * m. Tliis is true of a certain
section of beautiful Riverside drive,
where if on, turn his back to the lines of
apartment buildings and look toward the
setting sun. his heart must he thrilled
if he posses.-.es any appreciation of the
beautiful in its most appealing form.
I*i oilier sections he is impressed by the
grandeur and the wealth it indicates,
and in still others he is interested, if he
he a student of human nature, by the
methods of life common to alien classes
Br*jadwa\ itself is a never ending source
of interest and entertainment which rfiay
••«••••••••••»••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
bn enjoyed, externally, by the poorest as
well as by those upon whom poverty has
novel1 placed his withering hand.
But it is on holidays and occasions
when pleasure takes precedence over busi
ness. that one realizes how much Father
Knickerbocker does for ids people’s pleas
ure and entertainment, and it is then
that the poorer classes revel in his kindly
generosity.
It was or. Monday, July 5, that this fact
v,*s brought home tp me very impressive
ly- dining a trip around the city. There
was scarcely a section, residential, com
mercial, financial or otherwise, in which
thei e was not some kind of diversion and
,entei tainn.ent offered free to the inhab
itants thereof.
flow the wealthy enjoyed that holiday
I hardly knew, though most likely the
majority of them hade adieu to Father
Knickerbocker and went elsewhere for
their entertainment. Of these, however,
New A ork took no account, its prepara
tion being solely for those who remained
at home and who were not able to spend
fabulous sums for their amusement.
And the thoughtful old municipal gen
tleman was very careful to see that each
form of entertainment given under his
auspices should be of a high moral tone,
and. in many cases, of an educational
nature. Among the drive alone, Jn the
evening of that day, I passed five large
bands of music, each surrounded by an
immense but quiet and well behaved
throng of music lovers. The selections
were all good music, though now and
then a lighter tune was played for the
benefit of those who cared to dance in the
open, and there were many who indulged
in that also, for New’ York, rich or poor,
must dnnee.
Here and these orators flung their elo
quence to tn© evening breezes, and in
stiil other sections children danced and
sang to great crowds of admiring parents
and friends. The city went to the ex
pense of lighting with many vari-colored
incandescents each of these scenes, where
many people were gathered together, and
nowhere was there any indication that
even 1 cent was expected from those who
enjoyed the entertainment offered.
In addition to this there were open air
moving pictures in many parts of the
city, given in connection with the band
concerts and absolutely free of charge.
It seemed that all one really needed, in
order to gel some pleasure out of Die
holiday, was health. Even though he had
not money to buy food, that was offered
free by the several bread lines, and there
was hardly any escape from a few hours
of enjoyment.
On ordinary days the poor can get free
food, there are the beautiful parks for
rest, and there is the ever-changing pano
rama of life that Gotham exhibits at all
times and which must, at all times, in
terest anyone who finds human nature
at all interesting. There are public baths
as well where cleanliness can he obtained
free -*f charge, and I verily believe that
there is seme sort of remunerative labor
pc ssiblc of acquirement by anyone who is
physically fit and willing to earn his
bread.
The report has long since gone abroad
among the “hoboes” that New York is
the place to live in jus there is no longer
any danger of starving to death in this
municipality, and it does seem that, in or
der to starve here, one would have to
lock himself up and refuse to eat when
offered nourishment.
All about the city are fountains from
which one can get a free drink of pure
water, bubbling up so that only the water
itself is touched by the lips that drink,
and there are free wash basins in sub
terranean chambers kept as scrupulously
clean as one could wish his own bathroom
to be.
In addition to these things, the safety
of the individual is carefully looked after
by the city. Its splendid traffic police
men watch the crowds closely at all times
and are ready at any moment to sava
some irresponsible individual who has
permitted himself to dream instead of
taking care of himself properly. Signs
everywhere warn and instruct so that one
has really little thinking to do for him
self. It is likewise unnecessary to ask
many questions, just tead as you go and
you are reasonably certain to reach ydUr
destination without trouble.
Wherever there is a possibility of real
danger there is stationed some one td»
warn in ample time. New York’s thought
fulness in such things deserves great
credit—and saves many lives. True, there
are accidents, but accidents will always
happen, no matter how careful one may be
or how well others may care for us.
So, you see, the poor man’s New York is
a place of many attractions—more, it is
a place of wonderful opportunities, but one
wherein the fate of the individual is in
his own hands. And it is the acid test
of character, since \mm temptation is
met with in its strongest forms, the, while
old Father Knickerbocker smiles com
placently upon what he inwardly con
demns, leaving each of us to win his own
fight or find oblivion in failure.
JIM AND JOB.
Jim and Joe were hoys together.
Knew the same swift forest streams,
Roamed the same fair fields and heather,
In the Land of Hope-filled Dreams.
Jim was filled with strange ambition,
Wealth he’d wanted from the start;
Different was Joe’s condition—
He wanted but a tender heart.
Two fair sisters soon they married—
All seemed happy for a while—
But no long at home Jim tarried,
Ere he sought Wealth’s fickle smile.
Joe but labored through the morning,
Often, too, into the night;
For liis wage, the smile adorning
Wife’s and baby's faces bright.
Jim grew rich, and with his power
O’er his fellows held a sway,
But, with ev’ry passing hour
Love was stealing swift away.
Soon the maid whom Jim had married
Bowed her head and smiled the less:
Bravely, though, her cross she carried,
Speaking still of “Jim’s success."
Wealth was theirs, all Its treasure
Theirs to gloat o’er ev’ry day;
Yet they’d lost In greater measure—
Wealth had driven love away.
Joe met many sad reverses.
Unto him was fortune vile;
Yet he ne’er indulged in curses,
Rather did he seem to smile.
Though he hoped for fortune later,
With a faith in God above.
He had found a treasure greater,
In the wealth of Mary’s love.
I/ENVOI
Though success and wealth we’re after,
Oft. we’re losers in the end—
Hove makes best its own sweet laughter,
Hardship is its truest friend.
There has been a great deal of condem
nation of certain male beings who have
the flirtatious tendency and endeavor to
engage in conversation with women whom
they do not know, on the subway, in the
busses, etc. They may be bad fellows,
but it seems to me they are men of re-'
markable courage. When you talk to an
unknown woman here you don't know
whether It is Carrie Chapman Catt. Eve
lyn Thaw or Bloody Mary, Queen of
Scots—it Is an awful chance and it must
be either a brave man or a fool who
takes It.
The New York dramatic season is at
low ebb. There are only a dozen or 30
high-class attractions now playing, and
the well-known actors and actresses are
making cigar and pin-money appearing
in the movies at so many thousand per
week.
The word ‘kike” is much used in this
city, not with reference to a certain race
only, but meaning a close-fisted and gen
erally ‘‘cheap" sort of a party. For In
stance, the other day I overheard one
may say to another that Charlie Chaplin,
the movie comedian, who is just now up
here, is a “kike.”
He said Chaplin was offered so many
thousand a week to appear in the movies
and that he (Chaplin) had asked for $25 a
week more.
"Why, what is that for?” he was asked.
“Oh, I want that to live on,” Chaplin
is said to have replied.
Through my open window floods ths SI
loud cry of "Wuxtry!" "Wuxtry!" foV*t
lowed by some gibberish which only a
newsboy can understand. I’ll bet th*
Kaiser's army has made a gain of two
inches along some front. I don’t think
they would get out an extra for a gain
of only an inch and a half, but two
inches is worth an extra any time in
New York.
Father Knickerbocker thinks a lot ot
his children. His latest movement fot
them is to arrange to sot aside certain
city blocks for them ns playgrounds
These blocks will be closed to traffic, but j
when It becomes necessary for a vehicle
of some sort to stop in that block, the
driver thereof must get down and lead j
his horse by the bridle, finish his busi
ness as soon as possible and lead hid
horse out of the way again.
There are numbers of playgrounds for j
children on Manhattan, but not a suffi
cient number, it seems, and many of the
little ones can be seen in the quieter
streets at almost any time. They seem
to have no thought of danger and tha
drivers of vehicles must look out for
them. As this necessitates walking their
horses, or driving their cars very slowly k
through such blocks, the change will ;
hardly meet with any serious opposition.
If New York could only afford a few I
more lawns, hammocks, porches with |||
shadows over them, etc., it would ellmf- :B
nate a lot of this cuddling in public that jil
seems to be so objectionable’ to many-*-\jifl
who are not indulging in it. As it is. theJul
lack of opportunities such as are pro*
vided by the porches, etc., elsewhere/IMI
emboldens the spooning couples and as a I H
result they "go to it" almost any when* |JI
they happen to find themselves in a prdx
imlty that makes cuddling a possibility. JJj
WILL ENGLAND SEE FIERCE SEX STRUGGLE?
By E. U SCOTT
ONDON, July 1.— (Special Cor
respondence.) — England is
■7ETJ7" worrying about the possible
nWM status of its women after the
war. For many years it has
been widely said that England was a
woman's country. The number of men
whs outnumbered by the number of
women to the amazing extent of 1,
600.000. In addition marriage had be
come unpopular or impossible to hun
dreds of thousands of the young men
of the country with the result that
millions of women were either forced
or desirous of earning their own liv
ing. In the shops and factories, the of
fices and on the farms more than 6,*
000,000 English women competed with
the men of the country.
Now this evil is in u fair way to be
tragically increased by the war. Hun
dreds of thousands of young men,
many of them married, have been
taken from the industries of the coun
try and hurried to the trenches of
Flanders, France or Turkey. Hundreus
of thousands more will follow before
the war is brought to a conclusion.
Three hundred thousand of those who
have gone have been wounded, or
killed or captured. Before the war is
finished the English casualties will
probably reach into the millions.
Jn the meantime the places of many
of these absent men are being filled
by women. At first these women are
unskilled and. under present condi
tions, could not stand the competi
tion of the men whose positions they
are taking. But by months of practice,
long before the men come limping
home, they will have mastered the de
tails of their new work and have be
come as proficient, or more proficient
in many cases, than* were the men who
preceded them. In addition, in the Vast
majority of the cases, they will be re
ceiving smaller wages than were the
men. How many big employers, faced
• h they will probably be by business
depression, lnterno- competition, reduced
capital and the imperative need 61 re
trenchment, will discharge cheap and
$ \
efficient female labor to replace It by
expensive and stale male labor?
In other words, In the opinion of
many experts, the labor field of Eng
land will have been captured or large
ly dominated by the women of the
country, and the terrible' war on the
continent will be followed by a ter
rific sex struggle in England in which
the womenfolk, through economic pres
sure, the growing spirit of sex inde
pendence, and the prospects of a new
interest in life, will eventually win.
Before the war is finished hundreds of
thousands of women who before last Aug
ust had no thought of earning their own
livings will have been literally forced
Into industry. Already the government
has issued a call for women who are
willing to work.
Upward of 75,000 have sent in their
names and specified the particular class
ot work that appealed to them. Already
there are insistent demands from many
quarters that every man not actually in
dispensable for war work at home Vie
forced into the army, his place to be im
mediately filled by u woman. What this
means to the country can be Judged by
taking a single business. Premier Asquith
recently in addressing representatives of
the ‘•shops” or department stores of Eng
land, declared that although practically
a quarter of a million shop assistants had
joined the colors, another quarter of a
million still remained behind counters do
ing work that could very easily be per
formed by women. The employers were
appealed to to encourage these men to en
list. ’‘Encouragement" really means a
form of Irresistible pressure. The writer
heard of a typical case recently. An em
ployer who was opposed in principle to
any form of conscription or compulsory
military service ha’d a secretary who in
every way was fitted to fight, but who
made no move to Join Kitchener’s army.
In addition there were many other men
in the shop who were eligible. One day
the employer called all these men into
his office and said to the secretary:
"Mr. —-1 am not going to bring
any pressure to bear upon you to Join
the army; but when you come into my
\ - A
office I wish you would turn your head
because 1 don’t like the look of your
face.’’
The following day not only the secretary
but many of the men in the shop enlisted.
Not only are women replacing men
who have gone to the front but they
arc taking the places of men who have
been taken from other employments
and placed on war work. Lloyd-George
recently declared that there were,
roughly speaking, about 2,000,000 men
employed upon war work. Hundreds of
thousands of these men had been
drawn from other industries and hun
dreds of thousands additional will be
drawn upon in the new shell agitation
now being carried on by the minister
of munitions. Most of these industries
will come to a complete standstill aft
er the war. It will take months for
machine shops which have been con
verted into shell shops or gun shops
to be reconverted to their original use,
even supposing there is an immediate
demand for their original output. Ir.
the meantime hundreds of thousands of
men will be suddenly cut off from
work and compelled to seek it at their
original trades, only to find that ef
ficient and lower paid women are de
termined and equipped to fight them to
a linish.
Largely through the efforts of
Lloyd-George, the trade union restric
tions against the employment of wom
en labor in certuin trades are about to
be removed, temporarily at least. Thou
sands of w omen are now employed in
making shells In factories all over the
country. Indeed, there is hardly a
branch of industry throughout the
country which has not been invaded
in a more or less serious degree by
women.
In London and other large towns it
is impossible to get young boys for
office work and girls are being em
ployed instead. This means that thou
Fpnds of young girls who, in normal
times, would have continued their « dr
ucatlon, are now being prematurely
withdrawn from schools and placed in
employment. In many cases this is ab
solutely necessary for ths support of
the family because of the absorption
of the regular bread winners Into tne
army.
All over England there is a demand
that the large body of able-bodied men
who form the constabulary should be
frced tor army service and in many
cities the authorities are taking a tip
from Chicago and other American
cities and are replacing the men by
women. More than 50 women policemen
are now on duty in the more orderly
districts of London and the number is
constantly on the increase. These worn-,
en are being instructed in police court
procedure and attend regular classes
in drill, signalling, first aid and self
defense. So great is the success of
this corps that It will persist beyond
the war to the exclusion of a corres
ponding number of men.
Women are rapidly replacing men in
tne ticket booths of the underground
railways and the big railway terminals
throughout the country. Your tickets
are now punched by women attend
ants while a larger portion of the work
heretofore in the hands of male por
ters at the big stations is now handled
by sturdy women. It will not be long
before the conductors and guards of
the trains also will be women.
Women are taking the places of the
thousands of young men who, previous
to the war and even months after hostili
ties began, were carrying milk through
the streets of the big cities. Ixmg before
war started French women were driving
motor cars for hire in the streets of
Paris, but it was not until the British
government began to realize that they
would need every available man to beat
the Germans that women took up this
work here. Now many women are turn
ing their knowledge of cars to good use
in relieving men of work that will not
push forward the conclusion of the war
one moment.
The war has given a great fillip to the
employment of women labor in the fields
and England is beginning to realize what
the great continental people have known
for generations—that, for many classes
of farm work, a woman is as capable as
a man.
Van boys, as a class, have almost en
tirely disappeared from the Innumerable
vehicles that make their way through
the streets of the big towns. Young wom
en run the elevators, or “lifts,” as they
call them here, in the big shops and office
buildings. Women in smart uniform*
have taken the places of the famous Lon
don “commissioners” as carriage attend
ants in front of the big business estab
lishments. Women now ride the hundreds
of bicycle delivery carts so popular with
English tradesmen and deliver the wares
of the butcher, the baker and the can
dlestick maker to your door at all times
of day. And one might continue this
list of substitutions almost indefinitely.
Enough, however, has been said to im
press upon the reader that a momentous
change is now taking place in economic
England. What will be its (effects after
the war?
Undoubtedly much of the economic pres
sure that would otherwise result will be
relieved by the disappearance of thou
sands of male wage-earners from the
field. Already, after 10 months of war,
the English casualty lists show more than
50.000 killed and more than double that
number permanently disabled. That works
out at 16.000 permanent withdrawals from
labor every month and undoubtedly the
late is fast increasing. No one can esti
mate the possible losses In the whole war
because no one can set a limit to its dura
tion. If the war is to go on until the
Germanic powers are absolutely crushed
or until, it is definitely proved that it is
impossible to accomplish such an end,
the English permanent losses from labor
cannot be much under a round 1,000,000.
To this extent the Invasion of the labor
field by women would then be not only
desirable but necessary if England is to
stand any chance of maintaining her
present position in the markets of the
world.
There is another phase of the ques
tion of almost equal significance. It
l as been widely said that the former
clerks, “ribbon counter!* attendants,
shop assistants, in faot all those who.
befora the war, led a humdrum, mo
notonous life would, after a taste of
outdoor life of risk and romance in
Flanders and France, absolutely refuse
to settle down again in England. Thou
sands of them will, it is confidentally
predicted, pack their little belongings
and set out on the fascinating roads of
high adventure that lead to the far cor
ners of the world. Canada, Australia,
New Zealand and South Africa princi
pally, but, as well, the United States
and the South American republics will
benefit by this trek of the young man
hood of Mother England.
Especially is this true of the new
mips of British officers who are now'
rising from the middle and lower
classes. When the war started the Brit
ish army, like the German army, was
officered by men drawn from the ruling
classes. These, however, are being rarT
idly wiped out and their places taken
by men from the ranks. . Upon the dis
banding of Kitchener's army, w'lien
----I
peace does come, each of these officers !
is entitled to a lump sum of something 1
like $1000, jn the case of lieutenants, 1
and correspondingly larger amounts in , J
the case of officers of higher rank. It b
is believed that a large number of y;
these men in possession of the means
will take the opportunity of getting;
abroad. Thousands of them have wished '
to do so In the past but have not Jjad
the money necessary.
Thus with the death or disablement q
of hundreds of thousands of men and J
with the emigration of hundreds of/ I
thousands of others, the women will be 9
to a corresponding degree in undis- ||j
puted control of the field of labor. Will ©
England be. as virile, as strong; wil)
she be as able to hold her own in tht tV
fierce international commercial strung
gle that is sure to follow the |£j
under the altered conditions of her laboi H
market? These are the questions thavB
many thinking men are asking them-|9j
selves in this country today.
No Romance in War Nursing
From the New York Time*.
The pictures of sweet young nurses
reading to wounded heroes bear about
tlie same relation to the actual work of
the army nurse recruit that the posters
of handsome young men in becoming uni
forms, tacked up for recruiting purposes,
do to the routine of the trench lighter.
They are part of society’s conspiracy,
half deliberate, to sugar coat the pill of
complete individual self-sacrifice which
w’ar entails. Warfare, modern warfare
particularly, means for all of its servants
spared by bullets and disease the bitterest
sort of drudgery in all departments.
Apparently this is the lesson which
MIbs Nona McAdoo and Miss Katherine
Britton, young women thoroughly in
formed, experienced. “Too much scrub
bing and not enough nursing” sums up
their arraignment of conditions at the
women’s front in northern France. Scrub
bing makes the back ache cruelly and
coarsens and reddens \he hands, besides
interfering with all attempts to dress neat
ly and becomingly. The attitude on all
fours in a crowded and busy environment
invites humiliation, too. Add to this liv FU
ing quarters of the most primitive sort* 01
poor food and dirt, and altogether the op jfljjjlf
portunity for romance seems sliookingl;
Of course, some nurses are not forevak IH
doing the mean and discouraging jobs. Bm
But they, for the most part, are the vet'll
erans in command; they correspond t< II
the commissioned officers among ths]
men. t’nlike commissioned officers, how Kill
over, the mortality among them is neg H|
ligible, leaving little foom for promotloi Rl|
from the ranks. Enlistment as a nurst :f||
therefore. has this lone compensation—it IH
term is indefinite and desertion carrie/HH
no penalty. Llfl
Then They Fumigated the Room uB
r rom the Boston Transcript. I UR
Aii-b. Parvenu—John, that Mrs. KMT
lcr who was just here, said she ha lifS
l e.Mi having a had attack of ongwet LjiH
What s that?
Parvenu—Something catehin’.
haps. Why don't you look It up In
dictionary? iXH
Mrs. P.—I did. I went through all th'IHP
O’a. but I can't find no such word.