Armistice

And so it was all over.  Not altogether - news of men who had been killed in the last hours of fighting continued to arrive for some time longer, which must have been especially hard to bear.  And there were men who died of wounds after the armistice took effect.  There were prisoners of war on both sides who had to be returned home, and wounded and broken men in hospitals, some of whom would never recover fully.  Food and fuel shortages at home did not instantly disappear, and Spanish flu was killing millions of people throughout the world.  But still, the armistice was undoubtedly a huge relief.

My family did not lose anyone during the war. My mother's father was in the Royal Navy; he joined before the war, and was a stoker.  He was at the Battle of Jutland and later served in K-class submarines, a strange and disastrous class that were designed to be fast on the surface as well as underwater and so needed stokers.  It must have been a very unhealthy environment in the engine-room - he developed T.B., was discharged from the Navy and died in the 1920s, when my mother was only 6 years old.  Her mother married again in the 1930s, and her second husband, my Grandad, had been in the Army during the war.  He was wounded in the knee, and wore a caliper on his leg, with special boots, for the rest of his long life - he lived to be 96.

I will give the last words of this blog to two people who have appeared in it several times.  Alice de Winton had been busy throughout the war, amongst other things collecting supplies of comforts for the troops from the knitters of Breconshire.  She was notably brisk in issuing her demands, as in the following letter in the Brecon County Times on the 5th December:

To the Editor of the COUNTY TIMES.
Sir,—Will all the knitters of Breconshire please help again and make 300 pairs of mittens for the 2nd S.W.B. [South Wales Borderers], now marching into Germany.  Germany is very cold.  Col. G. Raikes, D.S.O., is begging for mittens.  There is wool at 89, The Watton, Brecon.  Here is the pattern for knitting.  Eight pairs should be made out of 1lb. [one pound, or about 450gm.] of wool. Please begin at once.
PATTERN FOR MITTENS. 4 No. 12 needles. Cast on 48 stitches. Knit 24 rows, 3 purl 3 plain.  Knit 20 rows, plain.  To make hole for thumb—turn and purl all 3 needles turn and knit plain all 3 needles (as for back of sock heel).  Do this 12 times.  Then knit plain all round six rows; 12 rows, 3 purl 3 plain. Cast off loosely.
ALICE M. DEWINTON.

John Penoyre's style was very different.  He wrote regular letters to the newspapers (mainly The Times) from October 1914 on, always witty and erudite. He started out collecting sweaters that could be dyed khaki, then when the supply of ready-made sweaters began to dry up, asked for sweaters to be knitted.  He also collected field-glasses for army officers - officers had to provide their own equipment, and the supply of field-glasses rapidly dried up, so he asked for the families of officers who had been killed to donate them.  Towards the end of the war, he started to collect games for the troops in France, and these requests continued for some time after the Armistice.  The letter below to the editor of The Times, which appeared on January 29th, 1919, shows that demobilizing the troops on the Western Front was a long and tedious process.  (Notes: The "ever beneficent hut" probably means one of those run by the Y.M.C.A.  Woodbines were a brand of cigarette (smoked by my Grandad).  Hephzibah was, I think, John Penoyre's housekeeper, though I doubt if that was really her name - she is often mentioned in his letters. Sir Edward Ward, the Director General of Voluntary Organisations, has also been frequently mentioned in previous posts.)

Sir,—You cannot hope more than I do that this will be my last letter to you. The fact is I spent Sunday checking officers’ receipts for games recently sent them for their men, and their letters are such that I really have no choice left me but to beg for more.  With the sweater letters of the 1914 pneumonia epoch and the field-glass letters after Neuve Chapelle in my mind, it is curious to have to admit that these requests are quite as compelling.

It seems the days are miserably wet, the evenings are desperately long, many of the men are miles away from the ever beneficent hut, and there are limits, both linguistic and convivial, to the charms of the estaminet nearby.  “So we hang about, smoke interminable woodbines, and read old, old newspapers, till one of these splendid consignments comes to help us through many a weary evening,” and much more to the same effect.

If your readers care to know what games are most in demand here is the list: — Cards, dominoes, darts, draughts, halma, lotto, and ping pong. You will see that we are conservative.  Yet taste has changed in one particular, thank goodness.  I was never yet asked to amass Noah arks—which I read were in great demand in the Crimea of all places.  We also badly want more cigar boxes for packing games: those that hold 25 or 100: we have enough of the size holding 50.

The address for sending everything is that given below.  My quarters have had to be cleared of both comforts and games since the armistice—when Hephzibah, ever in the mode, presented an ultimatum.

Yours faithfully,

JOHN PENOYRE.

Depôt of Sir Edward Ward, D.G.V.O.,

45, Horseferry-road, S.W.1.

That is, you might say, the last post.

War Needlework

From the Sheffield Weekly Telegraph, November 9th 1918.

WAR NEEDLEWORK.

By VIOLET M. METHLEY.

EVEN now there are plenty of women without definite war work.  Many are too elderly, too delicate, or too much tied at home to undertake work on the land, in a canteen, in a hospital; they feel that it is only a few hours a week, perhaps, which can justly be spared from their household duties.

It is to these that I would appeal.  There is work which is needed, which is definitely "war work," and which will occupy just as much or as little time as they can honestly give to it.

There are few places now in the British Isles—more's the pity—which are out of reach of a military hospital.  From the very beginning of the war, it was evident that occupation and amusement for the thousands of wounded men in the hospitals was desirable and necessary, but it must have been a bold spirit who first suggested needle-work!

At the start, it was rather uphill work: the men were shy—afraid of ridicule.  Bit by bit the feeling wore off; a few took to the new departure enthusiastically, others followed, and now needle-work is the fashion. One need not press the men; they are eager to begin.  Groups collect round the beds to advise, criticise, and compare; such feminine terms as "broderie anglaise," "stem-stitch" and "long-and-short" are bandied freely.

Embroidery. 
And the embroidery of all kinds accomplished by these men, who probably never touched a needle until a few months ago, is nothing less than wonderful.  One need not fear unresponsive or dull pupils; personally, I think men are even quicker than women in picking up the stitches, in learning to knit, to crochet, to plain-sew. 

With the increase of pupils and interest, with the growing tendency in doctors and nurses to recommend and encourage needle-work, especially for the nervous patients—it is often definitely ordered, now, as part of the regime—the need for teachers has also grown.  In this district—a group of six or seven general and subsidiary hospitals—we could do with much more help.

Teachers for every kind of needle-work and handicraft are needed, from elaborate embroidery down to the plainest of sewing.  "Soft-toy making" is a very favourite industry, and this requires only careful cutting-out from good patterns and neat, strong stitching.

In some hospitals, the men work for their own pleasure only, but it is generally more satisfactory when the articles are destined for sale.  At our hospitals we have made many hundreds of pounds for war charities by the sale of the men's work.

Moreover, where some of the hopeless cases are concerned, needle-work will be far more than a recreation. One man—doomed to lie on his back, probably, for the rest of his life—has already made a good sum of money by embroidering regimental badges, which he executes in a really wonderful manner. 

I am sure no one who takes up this work will wish to give it up.  If one has little time, it need not be exacting: if one has much, it can all be profitably occupied.  It is interesting, and it gives one the opportunity to get intimately in touch with the men.  That, in itself, even from a selfish point of view, is worth doing; indeed, in the case of our wounded men, I am not sure that the teachers do not learn more than the taught.

Games for the Soldiers

From The Times, November 6th 1918. 

THE MEN'S GAMES.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE TIMES.

Sir,—Can you find room for a line, less irrelevant than it seems for these tremendous times?  The men may soon have more time for games during the coming winter abroad, and I write to ask for any good outdoor or indoor game that can still be spared to be sent to Sir Edward Ward, D.G.V.O., 45, Horseferry-road, S.W.1.  One from every house will be enough.  A post-card sent to me at 8, King’s Bench-walk will produce a list of desiderata.

Yours faithfully, 

JOHN PENOYRE.

8, King’s Bench-walk, Inner Temple, E.C.4. 

[I like the throwaway line 'one from every house will be enough' - a previous request for games from John Penoyre had received a poor response and he had had to write a follow-up letter saying that every household has at least one game - 'the game I am asking for now'.  He was very good at wording his demands in a witty and charming, but still very forceful, way. ] 

The Influenza Epidemic in Halifax

From the Halifax Courier, November 2nd, 1918.

INFLUENZA.

Grave concern is being aroused throughout the country— and, indeed, in India, America, the Continent, and countries far and near—by the persistence and danger of the influenza epidemic.  In this district there is greater freedom from its ravages than in many places, and no drastic steps have yet been necessary to safeguard the public health by the general closing of schools and institutions where people meet in large numbers.  But there is every reason for care; during the week cases have become more numerous, and some very pitiable instances have occurred of families being stricken.  Government authorities are handling the matter in the hope that research will throw light upon the cause and the remedy, both of which seem very much in doubt.  The actual influenza is very like other visitations, but the secondary infections are of a more acute character than usual.  They are pneumococci and streptococci—terms which are not illuminating to most people but which being interpreted mean septic pneumonia—an affection of the lungs which is drastic and rapid in its action.  There is the official assurance that the food rations are not considered a direct cause of, the spread of the disease.  That is satisfactory, but it is mere common sense to say that the restricted diet and “war strain” (in all its forms of anxiety and overwork) must contribute to a lower vitality and that a condition is created in which influenza flourishes.  The moral is that each individual has a responsibility—not only for himself or herself, but for the community.  Where influenza exists the utmost care should be taken to limit infection; where there are “ordinary” colds, and especially if any temperature accompanies them, bed is the best place (many have caused havoc to themselves and others by struggling on with their work when obviously unfitted for it); and where there is no illness it can most surely be avoided by most careful attention to personal health, embracing cleanliness (not forgetting the frequent cleansing of the throat), adequate rest and plenty of fresh air.

-- -- -- -- 

SPREAD OF INFLUENZA.

600 HALIFAX SCHOOL CHILDREN AFFECTED.

During the week influenza has spread rapidly in Halifax and several cases of pneumonia have resulted.  Some of these have proved fatal, the most distressing case recorded locally being from Primrose-street, Claremount, where Mr. and Mrs. Ashworth and three children have all died.  Two children were buried last Saturday, the father and mother were buried on Wednesday, and the youngest child, aged four months, died on Thursday.  In several instances, where there was no one at home to look after the afflicted, the patients have been removed to the Gibbet-street hospital, where they have received every attention.  From Southowram Bank, a father, mother and child were attacked, and there have been cases in all parts of the town.  A man who lived by himself was suffering from influenza for two days before he could obtain assistance, and then it was too late.  Pneumonia had developed and he died yesterday.

It is estimated that about 600 school children in Halifax are suffering from the “flu,” and Portland-road School has been closed until Monday week.  In the case of the other schools the scholars will assemble as usual, but instead of going into the school buildings they will be given exercise in the open air.  Offices and mills are more or less affected by it, but it has not spread to the same extent as the epidemic of a few months ago.  The present disease, if not checked at the beginning, attacks the lungs with great severity.  It is therefore important that early symptoms—generally cold in the head and sore throat—should not be neglected.

[This seems a more realistic view of the influenza epidemic than that in the previous post.]

Woollies and Spanish Flu

From Illustrated London News, November 2nd 1918.

LADIES' NEWS.

A quest we are all on these days is for woollies—chiefly those to send to the men who are campaigning, for victories will not keep the dear things warm.  We can get the best for them if we can show that we want it for fighting men, for the chief output of the Wolsey manufacture is for the use of the Army and Navy.  A bellicose lady was arguing that her old man wanted it as badly as any soldier, because coal was so short and he could not fight to keep himself warm.  Another woman took up the challenge, and told her that but for the fighters, who had to be out in all weathers, her old man would have no grate to put coal in nor house to put a grate in.  This was conceded, and the pair proceeded to extol the merits of Wolsey; and finally some was found for the bellicose lady's old man. whereupon she was converted to peace, but neither a Hun nor a pro-Hun version of that blessing.

No one has one good word for the latest scourge, the "Spanish flu."  Spain will, it is said, break her neutrality if we go on calling it so.  Women go about handkerchief to nose and reeking of antiseptic; the two pet pastimes are sneezing and skipping—the first not caused by flu, but by the use of Kruschen Salts to prevent it by getting rid of the germs; the second by way of keeping warm in the healthiest way.  An impromptu sneezing party proved rather a frolic; the guests passed round the salts, sniffed, and sneezed into properly disinfected handkies in a disinfected room.  There may be developments with competitions, the best sneezer to get a prize; or, if members of the minority sex are present, bets might enliven the proceedings, which would certainly often become hilarious.  Jokes apart, there is no better preventive of the prevailing malady than a good sneezing fit once or twice a day.  It is not for the good of the community that it should be done at large...... discreet sneezing properly environed is to be encouraged, and no one need fear enemy influence in the Kruschen Salts ..... — it has been all British for 160 years, and continues to be so.

[This seems a remarkably flippant view of Spanish flu, given the huge number of people that died, world-wide.  Wikipedia suggests that in the countries involved in the war, reports in 1918 minimized the effects of the epidemic.  In Spain, which was neutral, reports were more accurate. and hence it seemed to be more virulent and deadly there - hence the name.]

Economising on Fuel

From the Sheffield Independent, 28th October 1918.

WEIGH YOUR COAL RATIONS.

How Lady Leitrim Practises Economy.

One of the simplest and best ways that householders can adopt to ensure that their coal rations will not be exceeded is to weigh them out every day.  This is the coal-saving plan adopted by the Countess of Leitrim.

"Each day's fuel ration," she explained to a Press representative, "is carefully weighed, and may in no circumstances be exceeded.  It works out at 49lb. a day in summer and 56lb. in winter."

The Countess manages to limit herself to that small ration by the greatest household economy at her home in Cadogan square.  "The hot water system is for the most part suspended," she states, "and cans of water are carried to the bedrooms from the kitchen.  One gas-fire lit for three hours daily and one coal-fire started in time for tea in one small room, where all meals and recreation are taken, constitutes the entire heating of the living rooms.  The hot water pipes for central heating are cut off, and a small stove in the hall substituted.  All unnecessary electric bulbs have been removed from passages and staircases—an economy which is being adopted by many of my friends.  Instead of 26 tons of fuel, 70,000 feet of gas or 450 units of electricity hitherto considered the minimum possible for running the house, 17 tons of fuel and 420 units of electricity and very little gas are being managed with this year."

[I can't help thinking of the servants at the Cadogan Square house.  They would undoubtedly be the ones to do the carrying of cans of water to the bedrooms, and if there were only two fires allowed in the entire house, it sounds as though the servants' areas were entirely unheated.] 

A Red Cross Hospital in Wales

From the Brecon & Radnor Express, 17th October, 1918.

PENOYRE RED CROSS HOSPITAL.

Sir,—Our first convoy of 30 patients since the re-opening of the Hospital, arrived on Saturday evening, 12th.  We offer most grateful thanks to Col. Kennard, Miss Williams (Penpont), Rev. H. Church Jones, Messrs. Nott and Co., and Miss Nancie Jones, who lent cars to fetch the patients from the station.  Owing to an accident on the line the train was an hour late, and the patients arrived very cold and hungry, so it was all important they should be brought swiftly to warmth and food.  We also offer thanks for following gifts:— Sack of potatoes from children of Llandilorfan Council School, grown in the playground by the children; 2 rabbits, Miss Davies. Penwern; 4 gallons milk. 5 lbs. butter, Mrs McClintock; 2 lbs. honey, Mrs Stubbs, per Miss Best; tomatoes for men, Mrs Raikes.  We hope our kind friends who have sent us vegetables, eggs, etc., will remember our wants.

ALICE M. de WINTON,
Commandant.

[Earlier in the war, Miss de Winton ran the War Clothing Depot in Brecon, and issued regular requests for local knitters to produce socks, mittens, etc.  In fact, she was still doing that, while also, as this letter shows, running the Penoyre Red Cross Hospital.] 

Help For British Prisoners of War

From Woman’s Weekly, 12th October 1918.

HELP FOR BRITISH PRISONERS.

A Very Useful Article, Telling How to Inquire After the Soldier who is in Enemy Hands.

MUCH time might be saved, and trouble avoided, by going about a thing in the right way.
At the request of your Editress, therefore, I am going to tell readers who are anxious to ascertain information of the missing, or to send parcels to prisoners of war, the best way to go about it.

THE FIRST STEP. 
IN the first instance, write to The British Red Cross Society, 18, Carlton House Terrace, and do not fall into the common error of stating that "your son or husband is missing" without giving his Christian name and regimental number, or even the name of his regiment.  Remember that in the majority of cases dozens bear the same surname, and the omission causes unnecessary trouble and delay.
Should you hear from Carlton House, or from some other source, that he is a prisoner of war, your next step would be to call at or write to

Central Prisoners of War Committee, 
Records Dept., 
4, Thurloe Place, 
London, S.W. 1, 

giving information received, with a view to sending him food.  The entire record, as far possible, of every prisoner, and details, can be had from the above address.  However, many regiments have their own care committee, and the Central Prisoners of War Committee—which is a branch of the Red Cross—only pack for a certain number.
If you want to send a parcel to a British prisoner, you can send it through the committee.

STANDARD PARCELS. 
HEREWITH two standard parcels, costing about 10s.

(A)

One pound of beef, one pound of vegetables, one pound of rations, half a pound of cheese, quarter of a pound of tea, half a pound of milk, half a pound of sugar, half a pound of dripping or margarine, one pound of jam, one pound of biscuits, one packet of Quaker oats or milk pudding, fifty cigarettes or one ounce of tobacco, one tin of sardines, and one tablet of soap. 

(B)

One pound of beef, one pound of bacon, one pound of baked beans, half a pound of tea, half a pound of ham or veal, or beef dripping, one pound of biscuits, one pound of rations, one pound of dripping or margarine, one pound of Quaker oats or Grape Nuts or milk pudding, one tin of sardines, one pea-soup roll, fifty cigarettes, and one tablet of soap. 

NO assistance is afforded by the Government in any way, the institution being entirely supported by voluntary contributions.  This being the case, surely no one with a conscience will seek assistance without doing their utmost to help.
Of course, there are genuine cases of poverty.  The mother with a large family of growing children, struggling bravely with her inadequate separation allowance, can do little, if anything. If, however, she frankly states her case to the secretary of the committee, the prisoner will be as well looked after as those whose relatives are able to provide for him.

WHAT THE PRISONERS WRITE. 
HERE is a typically grateful letter, culled from a large number of similar ones, which the committee has kindly given me permission to publish:
(Extract from Pte. E. May's letter.) 

Rifle Brigade, 

Lager Lechfeld, 

May 13th, 1918. 

You will be glad to know that we are regularly receiving our parcels from the British Red Cross, and we are truly thankful for the same.  What we should do without them I dread to think.  Life would not be worth living.  They contain an excellent assortment of foods, and the best quality at that.  In addition to our grocery packets we receive bread parcels, each containing two loaves of pure white bread.  So you can rest assured that we will not starve while we have a British Red Cross Society.  May their good work continue to the end!  
The Red Cross sends all we need. 

With regard to the bread mentioned in the letter, as soon as the committee know the camp at which the prisoner is, a wire is instantly despatched to Copenhagen, and the society's agents begin to send him weekly supplies of bread.

HOW THE COMMITTEE WORKS. 
DIFFERENT sections deal with different regiments.  Directly information is received from the secretary relating to any particular captured man it is taken to the right quarter, and two cards are written for him.
One is for the camp-room (containing all particulars and source of information), the other for the records.
The latter are filed in boxes alphabetically arranged.  Fresh information is added from time to time, so that the committee is in a position to supply in-quires with all particulars.
The splendid work done by the Red Cross—of which the Central Prisoners of War Committee is a branch—needs no comment. Even those who have grown somewhat weary and sceptical of war charities must surely be in sympathy with it.
Every penny sent for the help of the prisoners of war is spent on them, and on them alone.  I am in a position to unhesitatingly assert this.  There is no reduction for working expenses, or anything of that sort.  Our brave lads get the full benefit of your generosity and self-denial.
I must not omit to mention that officers are cared for in the same way as the men and the relatives of both receive the same courteous consideration from all who have the great work at heart,
FREDA ELLIOT.

Good Knitting Recipes

From the Sheffield Weekly Telegraph, October 12th 1918.

Good Knitting Recipes.

IT behoves us to make such provision against the cold weather as the present state of national affairs permits. We know that we shall get less coal than we did last winter, and that the use of gas will be restricted.  These privations forced on us by the war we must patriotically bear without complaint.  Then, too, amongst other much needed materials, wool is very scarce, consequently expensive.  If we could never entirely defy cold weather by wearing woollen under-clothing, at least it was possible to mitigate the rigour of winter in an appreciable degree by doing so.  Wool sold by the ounce is now double the price it was less than three years ago, and this will hinder many from knitting the cold weather comforts they were accustomed to make either for their dear ones or for themselves: or, confine their efforts to the making of "hug-me-tights," vests, bed socks, and similar articles, rather than knit such articles as absorb a much larger quantity of wool. During the present week I was asked to repeat directions for the "puzzle-jacket " given more than once before: also for directions for making the tubular scarf, which, when desired, serves as a cap and scarf combined. Postage being paid, I sent the information by letter, but think it possible other correspondents may be glad of directions for making these very popular articles of wear.

Tubular Scarf.

Materials required :—Six ounces of fiveply. super-fingering; four knitting needles, size 9.  Cast on 100 stitches, 33 on each of the first two needles, and 34 on the third.  Knit plain as stocking until the work measures the desired length.  About one and a quarter yards [114 cm.] is a suitable length. Thus you will have a long piece of circular knitting, open at both ends; to close the end you are working at place the stitches on two needles, knit one from each needle, and so cast off.  To close the other end overseam the two edges.  A fringe three inches long may be added if desired, but for army purposes this addition is not necessary.  This article, as already mentioned, can be used as a cap as well as a muffler, serving as both, or either.  For use as a cap, push one end inwards as far as required; then fold back about three or four inches of the double fabric to form a brim. Anyone who has worn a muffler and cap of the kind will know how protective and comfortable it is, shielding as it does head, throat, and chest when they are exposed to bitter winds or keen, frosty weather. Properly arranged when first put on this scarf will remain securely in position to the end.

Puzzle Jacket ("Hug-Me-Tight.")

This close-fitting, zouave-shaped coattee can be worn under a thin blouse without in any wise affecting the fit of it; or, if required, may be put over the blouse as occasion demands. Nicely finished, and made in wool of a pretty colour, the zouave is presentable enough to wear indoors on chilly afternoons and evenings, when a little extra warmth is needed. Materials required: Four ounces of 4 or 5-ply fingering, and two bone pins, size 9. Knit backwards and forwards. Begin with the front; for this cast on 50 stitches, and knit 100 rows. Cast on 60 more stitches on a line with the 50 already on the needle, and on these 110 stitches, knit 96 rows.  Cast off the 60 stitches opposite the 60 cast on; then on the remaining 50 knit 100 rows like the other front piece, and cast off. The work now resembles the letter "T."  The standard part of this "T" forms the back, and the ends of the two front pieces are joined to 50 stitches up each side. Until worn, the shape is quite unlike a jacket, but fits nicely when the arms are inserted backward, and the knitting drawn across the chest. Crochet an edging all round, and fasten the front with buttons, and loops of crochet, in place of button-holes. These directions are for a zouave of rather small size; more stitches are required for medium, and still more for full figures. The centre of the straight piece of knitting is for the back of the neck; turn it down a little m circular fashion, and tack it to simulate a narrow collar.

Comforts for the Fifth Winter of War

From the Mid-Sussex Times, 8th October 1918.

MID-SUSSEX VOLUNTARY WORK ORGANIZATION,

Approved by the War Office & Registered under the War Charities Act, 1911.

During the month of September 2,277 articles have been received into the Depot of the above and 5,490 articles have been despatched.

Fifteen requisitions have been accomplished during the month, and these comprise— (1) "Comforts" to the A.N.F.O., Le Havre, and to the N.F.0., Kantara, E. E. F. [Egyptian Expeditionary Force] ; (2) Hospital requisites to the 19th, 33rd and 55th Casualty Clearing Stations, B.E.F. [British Expeditionary Force on the Western Front], to the 2nd Canadian Casualty Clearing Station, B.E.F., to the 5th and 74th General Hospitals, B.E.F., to the 2nd Eastern Hospital, Brighton, to the Horton War Hospital, Epsom, and to the War Hospital, Keighley; and (3) Hospital bags to the  Military Hospital, Grantham.

The numbers of articles received and despatched for this month are almost an exact reversal of the numbers for the month of August, but for the two months together the number despatched exceeds the number received by about 70.  It is, therefore, necessary to urge all the workers who can to increase their output of supplies. In a recent letter Sir Edward Ward says that "the approach of a fifth winter of war, with our armies still occupying the field, casts an even greater duty and responsibility than ever before upon those of us who are left at home to carry on our respective spheres of activity in connection with the different branches of war work. . . . .  If any incentive were needed to encourage the women of Great Britain to continue their work, it is provided by the magnificent victories—results of hard fighting—achieved by our splendid Army during these last weeks. . . . . It needs but a small sacrifice for every knitter to send to her Depot regular contributions of knitted 'comforts' each week during the next three months. Such support will provide all the articles required, and I am convinced that our great army of voluntary workers will see to it that nothing is wanting."

This appeal applies not only to "comforts," such as mufflers, mittens, helmets, sweaters, socks, footballs, games (indoor and outdoor) and handkerchiefs (dark shades), but also to hospital requisites, and among these latter there is a large demand, at present, for bed jackets, dressing gowns, limb pillows, pyjamas, pneumonia jackets, slippers (carpet and surgical), bed tables, bed cradles and bed rests.  Any of these will be gratefully received, and further information may be obtained at the Depot, Rural District Council Rooms, Boltro Road, Haywards Heath, from the Hon. Secretary, Miss M. Parez, or the Hon. Superintendent, Mrs F. Paine, during office hours, i.e., 10 am. to 1 p.m. on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.

Red Cross Workers Wanted

From The Times 17th September 1918. 

RED CROSS WORKERS WANTED.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE TIMES.

Sir,—May I ask leave to plead in your columns for further aid for the Central Workrooms?  During the three years of our existence we have, through our working parties, home workers, and workers in the Central Workrooms, been able to supply over 30 million garments and hospital necessaries to the joint stores of the British Red Cross Society and Order of St. John in Pall-mall, and to Red Cross hospitals in all the fighting areas.  It is, however, in the Central Workrooms at Burlington House that help is primarily needed.  Whenever a sudden demand for any special necessary arises it is to these rooms that the stores department first turns.  For instance, a thousand sand-fly and mosquito-proof sleeping suits were urgently needed in hospitals in Mesopotamia.  These were made by our workers at the rate of 250 a week.  Many such examples could be cited, and now that the autumn is here and the sick and wounded are daily increasing in number, we need more and more ladies to come and help us.  Machinists are especially welcomed, but all who can help are invited.  May we ask that many will volunteer for a certain number of days or half-days each week, remembering that this is an urgent national work, for the wounded will not be restored to health without the necessary comforts and appliances? 
Yours, &c.,
LOUISE GOSFORD.
British Red Cross Society and Order of St. John, Headquarters Central Workrooms, Royal Academy, Piccadilly, W.1.

Knitted Comforts for the Troops

From The Times, September 16th 1918.

WINTER COMFORTS FOR THE TROOPS.

REGULAR KNITTERS WANTED.

Sir Edward Ward has sent a circular letter to the Press, in which he says:— "The approach of a fifth winter of war with our Armies still occupying the field casts an even greater duty and responsibility than ever upon those of us who are left at home.  Thanks to the loyal support of large numbers of workers who have continued to knit during their summer holiday, I have already been able to meet practically in full the entire requirements for warm comforts of the Expeditionary Forces in all theatres of war except France, but it is in France that great numbers of articles will be required.  I have no hesitation in entrusting to the workers affiliated under the Army Council's scheme the privilege of once more helping our soldiers to those creature comforts which mean so much to the fighting men.  Under the scheme, thanks to the associations and individual workers who for the past three years have continually and generously supported my Department, both our Army and our Allies have benefited to an extent far greater than those who were responsible for the scheme ever dreamed of.
"It needs but a small sacrifice for every knitter to send to the depôt of their local voluntary organization or to the Comforts Depôt, 45, Horseferry-road, Westminster, S.W.1, regular contributions of knitted comforts each week during the next three months.  Such support will provide all the articles required, and I am convinced our great home army of voluntary workers will see to it that 'nothing is wanting.' "

Missions to Seamen

From the North Wales Chronicle, 6th September 1918.

MISSIONS TO SEAMEN. WORK IN THE NORTH WALES STATION. 

The annual report for the North Wales Station of the Missions to Seamen, just issued, states that the past year has been full of interest, and not the most confirmed "grouser" could complain of monotony or lack of opportunity.  Both at Bangor and Holyhead the work presented many new problems.

At Bangor the work on the T.S. [Training Ship] "Clio" had gone on under the happiest conditions, and the chaplain (Rev. C. W. Barlow) states that the ship has provided him with many a happy hour and oft-times proved a veritable tonic.  To meet an unusual demand, a Sailors' Club has been established in Bangor, under the auspices of the Missions.  The club is housed in a building admirably adapted for the purpose and lent rent free by the Dean and his committee, while for the usual accessories they thanked willing and generous friends.  All the men on the mine-sweepers were supplied with woollen comforts by the Bangor Women's Patriotic Guild.

Holyhead had provided much scope for, as the naval base grew, so the work of the chaplain (now appointed by the Admiralty as hon. naval chaplain) increased in like ratio.  It had been made possible by friends of the Missions to meet several of the more pressing material needs of the sailors, and, during the Christmas period, some seven to eight hundred warm articles were distributed to them, as well as some sixty plum-puddings.  In addition, a circulating library of five hundred to six hundred books had been established, and a number of gramophones loaned out to the ships in turn. The Stanley Sailors' Home at Holyhead had proved a great boon to many a sailor whose ship had been torpedoed.  It was not allowable to state the number of men cared for there; but, when the time came that such information could be made public, it would be seen that the Home had played no mean part in helping those who were in distress through the perils of sea and of war.  The Stanley Sailors' Hospital had also provided many opportunities for ministering to the needs of the sailors.

Farming Scholarships for Women

From the Essex Newsman, 25th August 1918.

Free Farming Scholarships for Women.

The Board of Agriculture are offering 10 free scholarships for women, tenable at the Midland Agricultural College, Kingston, Derby, for a combined practical and theoretical course in farming of about 22 weeks’ duration, to commence early in October.  The scholarships will cover cost of maintenance and tuition; preference will be given to candidates over 21 years of age suitable for the positions of fore-women, under bailiffs, instructresses, etc.  Only women who have had considerable practical experience on the land, and will undertake agricultural work for the duration of the war, will be eligible.

[I wonder what happened to the women who were awarded these scholarships when the war ended?]

Eating Corn

From the Illustrated London News, 10th August 1918. 

LADIES’ PAGE.

An excellent idea was that of inviting the children in many schools in England to write letters in their own words to the American Food Controller, Mr. Hoover, expressing their gratitude for the self-denial of the American nation by which we are being comfortably fed.  As President Wilson finely puts it: "America is eating at a common table with her Allies."  Under no compulsion, in millions of households in the United States, as well as in hotels and clubs, days of abstinence are, and have been for several months past, voluntarily observed, in order that the wheat and the beef and the pork done without on those days may come to save us and our Continental Allies from want.  Every school-child should at least be told clearly about this mighty effort of loving comrade-ship and self-denial.  It should weave a tie between us and our sister nation across the Atlantic for all time.

The American housewives use a great deal of maize meal, which is over there called distinctively "corn."  On their "wheatless days " for their Allies' benefit, it will be "corn bread" that will replace the more costly grain that they are saving to give to us.  We ought to try to make more use of maize ourselves. It will not make good loaves unless mixed in about equal parts with wheaten flour; alone, it is made up, usually mixed with sour milk and carbonate of soda, into flat cakes (especially griddle cakes, to eat hot), rolls. "gems," etc.  For corn loaves, this recipe is given me by an American lady, who tells me that she practically lived upon it for seven months, gaining in weight and strength, in a cottage deep in the great American woods: Two-thirds wheat flour to one-third corn meal finely ground.  Sift the corn meal, and boil it for seven hours (if slightly burned it does not matter); add salt to taste; knead in the wheat flour to a stiff consistence, and bake in large loaves in a slow oven.  This, she says, is very sweet, and keeps well.  The State Chemist of Massachusetts found that maize cannot be thoroughly digested and utilised in the human system unless it is cooked slowly for several hours.

[The recipe for corn loaves sounds very strange - boil for 7 hours. "If slightly burned it does not matter" - but it could very easily be a lot more than slightly burned after 7 hours' cooking.]

Wartime Cookery Hints

From the Brecon County Times, 8th August 1918.

WAR-TIME COOKERY HINTS.

BY A PRACTICAL COOK.

BAKED COD.

The chief objection to fish for the busy housewife is that it is such a trouble to cook.  Frying fish not only takes a great deal of the now very precious fat, but it takes time, and unless all the members of the family are in to dinner together, it soon spoils.  Baked fish is quite as tasty as fried fish, and far less trouble, and it can be put on one of the top oven shelves while cakes or pastry are being cooked below.  Well grease a baking tin, or better still, a fireproof dish.  Cut the fish into slices about one and a half inch thick, wash, and dry them in a cloth, dust over with fine oatmeal, and place them in the tin or dish. Sprinkle on them a mixture of pepper and salt and dried herbs, and, if possible, a squeeze or two of lemon juice. A few mushrooms or tomatoes or cooked potatoes may be put in with them.  Bake till the fish is nicely browned and serve with a thick white sauce.

MUTTON CUTLETS.

This is an excellent way of using up cold mutton, a rather insipid dish at the best of times. Boil till well cooked two ounces of rice, mix into it, in a basin, half a pound of minced cold mutton, two small onions minced or finely chopped, a pinch of mixed herbs, a teaspoonful of celery salt, pepper and salt to taste, and enough milk or water in which the rice was boiled, to make it moist.  A chopped tomato or two or a few chopped mushrooms all add to the flavour. Shape into cutlets. Flour with oatmeal or rice flour, put into a well-greased pie or baking dish, and bake until a light brown colour.  If a gas stove is available the cutlets can be browned under the grill burner, or they may be fried in a frying-pan if the oven is not being used.  Cauliflower with white sauce and fried new potatoes are good accompaniments to this dish.

CAULIFLOWER MOULD.

The allotment or garden ought to be supplying plenty of cauliflowers just now, and as these can be used in so many different ways, delicious dishes can be made at little cost which will largely save the meat bill.  One of the many tasty dishes is cauliflower mould, made as follows:  Cook in a fairly large sauce-pan one cupful of breadcrumbs and one cupful of milk, and stir over the fire until they thicken.  Add two cupfuls of cooked cauliflower, broken up into small pieces, and a tiny piece of margarine.  When the margarine is melted, take off the fire, add pepper and salt and the yolk of a well-beaten egg.  Then whip the white of the egg to a stiff froth and stir it in lightly.  Rinse out a basin, piedish, or mould, then grease with a little fat and dust over with breadcrumbs or oatmeal, and pour the cauliflower mixture in. Bake in a moderate oven till it has swelled and feels firm.  Turn out on a hot dish with sprigs of parsley round it.  If preferred, fried mushrooms may be served with it, or a thick brown gravy.  Boiled mashed potatoes, rather highly seasoned, are very good.

SAGO JELLY.

During the hot days of summer a nice attractive pudding appeals much more to most people than hot joints, and several puddings of this kind on the dinner-table will often be enjoyed much more and do much more good than the usual meat and pudding course.  Many kinds of puddings can be made with pearl sago or crushed tapioca.  This is a way in which any little scrap of left-over stewed fruit be used to advantage.  If the ball tapioca is used, it should be soaked overnight, but with the pearl sago or the crushed tapioca, this need not be done.
If there is no fruit to use, stew gently one pound of gooseberries or currants with enough sugar to sweeten, till it is nicely soft and pulpy but not overcooked. Boil the sago till it is transparent, then mix in with the fruit. Stir them well together, and, if liked, add a few drops of vanilla flavouring. Boil all together gently for a quarter of an hour.  Rinse out a mould in cold water and pour in the mixture. Allow it to stand overnight, and when turned out it should be a firm, nice-looking jelly.  Custard may be served with it.

ECONOMICAL JAMS.

The jams that attract us most to-day are those which require the least sugar.  As so much of the usual fruit this year is absent, a good many housewives will have to make up with any kind that can be obtained. Rhubarb is grown in most gardens and allotments, or it can be bought fairly cheaply from the greengrocer's. Cut into two-inch lengths as much rhubarb as is required for the jam, and allow for every pound of fruit four ounces of sugar and a quarter teaspoonful of ground ginger.  A good plan is to cover the rhubarb with the sugar the night before. Put the fruit mixture either into a double saucepan or into a stone jar, and place this in a saucepan kept three-quarters full of boiling water.  The jam will need to be stirred very little, though the scum must be removed from the top as it rises.  It will take some time to cook thoroughly, though lengthy cooking will help to make the jam all the sweeter.
Another economical rhubarb jam can be made by allowing four and a half pounds of sugar to every six pounds of cut rhubarb and one ounce of whole bruised ginger, with the rind of a large lemon cut very thinly.  Place in a preserving-pan and bring to the boil.  Boil gently till it sets nicely.  Before putting into pots, the pieces of ginger and lemon-peel must be taken out, or there will be some rather unpleasant mouthfuls.  This jam is also excellent eaten with cold meat as a pickle.

Games And Sweaters for the Men

From The Times, 13th August 1918.

GAMES AND SWEATERS.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE TIMES.

Sir,—I  could make a good job out of a bad jumble if your readers would kindly look out for me all their old cigar boxes.  It is a question of issuing the men’s indoor games, puzzles, and what not for the coming long evenings in base camps and elsewhere without expense, in a practical and comfortable fashion to last the winter through.  I could do with 2,500 boxes at the moment—and, of course, if they arrive full of games or bursting with cheques, tant mieux.  Boxes are best, but bags will serve at a pinch, so perhaps ladies will let me have any remnants of the treasure bags they are all making for Lady Smith-Dorrien, in the form of strongly sewn little bags 6in. by 5in. or under.  My Hepzibah, critical of mind and recondite of speech, avers that “bags don’t cut to waste.”  She further sends her duty and thinks that many more ladies might ask for the sweater and other patterns after the “to-do of having them done in print and all.”  I confess I thought the issue astonishing, but from what I hear of the coming need, I agree.

Will your readers kindly address the boxes, &c., to Sir Edward Ward, D.G.V.O., 45, Horseferry-road, and applications for any knitting patterns to me here as below?

Yours faithfully, 

JOHN PENOYRE.

8, King’s Bench-walk, Inner Temple, E.C.4. 

[I think that 'Hepzibah' was John Penoyre's housekeeper, or something like that. There are several posts in this blog about Lady Smith-Dorrien's appeal for cloth bags to hold the papers and other belongings of wounded soldiers.]

Feeding Tommy

From Woman’s Weekly, 3rd August 1918.

HOW I HELPED TO FEED TOMMY.

All About the Work and Pay of the Girl Who Joins under the Navy and Army Canteen Board.

HERE I am home again after a year's war work.  I have just got my seven days’ leave.  I have had—oh, such an interesting time!  I am so glad I joined up under the Navy and Army Canteen Board and am one of those helping to feed Tommy.  Of course, I know my other girl friends in different corps are doing splendid work, but I always think “comparisons are odious,” and as long as we are engaged on war work that is the chief point.  We are not all stouthearted enough for hospital work, or physically fit for the land; but my work is all right for a girl who has just ordinary health and strength, and there is no sad side to it.

We all like wearing uniform.  It is so nice not to have to trouble about thinking “What shall I wear?”  Indoors we wear khaki overalls and little “Sister Dora” caps.  For outdoors we wear a tunic or coat of khaki, buttoned up at the throat like the soldier’s tunic.  I go on duty at 7.30 a.m., and I go off at 9.30 p.m., and there is no time wasted changing frocks at all.

During the afternoon I get two hours’ leave, and once a week I get a half day off, and I can assure you I manage to have a fine time then.

THE UNIFORM IS FREE.
NOW I am sure you want to hear just what my work is.  I suppose it is because I am a woman that I start by telling you about mv frock—I beg its pardon, I mean my uniform—and then about my holidays.  Well, I am cooking.  This Board only started just over a year ago.  Now we are 8,000 workers, all women, and we have about 2,000 canteens.  We are for home service only, and wo do not have to bind ourselves for any special period of time.  If you are accepted as a worker by the Canteen Board, you have your uniform given you, and then, according to what work you are going to do, you are either sent to a school to train or else you go direct to your job.  The cooks and manageresses are trained, but the waitresses are untrained.  The Board will only take women who have had experience as the two former.  Fortunately for me, I have had a good bit of experience in cooking.  Mother always said every woman should know how to.  I spent a month (that is the training period) at one of the two schools in London.  There are several in the provinces as well.  Here we learnt, first, all about canteen cooking.  It means often working on a large scale, and frequently at great speed, for at busy times it just seems as if the whole British Army came tumbling into the canteen all at once, and, of course, everyone wanted to be served immediately.  Sometimes I wish some of the girls in the London tea-rooms could see how we serve our customers.  I always have coffee ready and plenty of hot water for tea.

Ours is cooking of light refreshments only.  Our light suppers are our strong point.  Thank goodness we dispense unrationed food only, so we have no brain trouble over whole or half coupons.  We have to be very economical, and no waste is allowed.  Woe betide you if an inspector came along and found waste in your canteen.

We cooks sometimes turn out new recipes—war-time economy ones.  It is quite wonderful what one can do with even the present-day food if trouble is taken.

PAY IS ACCORDING TO THE WORK. 
WE live either in hostels or in quarters behind the canteen.  Where I have been for some months we are at the canteen.  I cook for the other girls, and I get plenty of teasing over my “war recipes.”  Once a new recipe fell flat, and the result was we were rather supperless that night and had to content ourselves with bread; and, of course, it was all over the camp next day, and now they all call me “the chef.”  I just love my work, and I like to think out a nice, new little supper dish for the men.  I have a specially warm spot in my heart for the men just called up, and who have only just left their comfortable homes and perhaps a pretty little wife and children.  It must take some time for them to really get used to their new life. The girls who wait tell me they like their work so much, but I always think mine is more important. The manageress keeps all the accounts, and is responsible for the “housekeeping” for our large family.  It is necessary in such a big undertaking to have “red tape,” but it is not drawn too tightly, and we all like the life and the work very much.

Our pay is quite good.  We none of us wish for a fancy wage.  Our board and lodging is provided, and our pay is according to the work we do.  No girl is taken under eighteen.  There is no other age limit except for the manageresses; they are not taken over forty-five.  A reduction is, of course, made from our pay to cover our keep, as is the rule with all forms of war work.

DO YOU WANT TO HELP? 
THE Navy and Army Canteen Board have quite a large welfare side, so the comfort and care of the workers is well looked after.  They are suitably housed, well fed, and there is no side of their welfare that is neglected; but them is no undue restraint.  No father or mother need fear their girls joining up, although the work is situated in our camps all over the country.

I am in a camp “somewhere in England” just a few miles from one of our delightful old cathedral towns.

If you want to come and work for Tommy, too, send in your name to the
Navy and Army Canteen Board,
Imperial Court, Knightsbridge,
or go to your nearest Employment Bureau.

Corsets

From the Illustrated London News, 27^th July 1918.

LADIES’ PAGE.

Corsets are a necessity!  Yes, the fact is proclaimed by the Ministry of Munitions!  They have decided to release no less than fifteen hundred tons of steel to make busks, as it has been proved to the satisfaction of the august authorities that women cannot work properly at munitions unless they may have corsets. 

As far as the girls are concerned who have been brought up to encircle their bodies with a stiff support, this is probably quite true.  If a little girl be put into corsets, and brought up continuously so confined, the muscles that should support her upright form will actually never be developed.  I know a girl who was brought up without ever wearing any sort of stays; she has a beautiful figure, and remarkable health; she has often set out from the family home in Surrey and walked twenty-five miles to breakfast with her father at his London chambers; she holds the N.S.A. official certificate of having swum a mile without one stop, and so on.  This young woman simply cannot now wear corsets, even occasionally, because her naturally developed muscles, like those of the Venus of Milo with her twenty-seven-inch waist, fight with the steel and whalebone, and finally, after a painful contest, make bulges here and there in the stiff, straight garment! 

If the women of the future are—as there is reason to expect—to work hard for a living, they had better be brought up to rely on their own natural perfect development rather than on steel-and-whalebone-stiffened garments.  The present fashion in costume, hanging chiefly from the shoulders and made all in one piece--coat-frocks, one-piece robes, jumpers—does not in the least need corsets; and if this fashion could be maintained, and the next generation of girls brought up without artificial support—as surely Nature intended—they would never need any such thing, and would be enormously the stronger in physique and the healthier in function therefore.  But the women of the present day, for the most part, were not so brought up— hence fifteen hundred tons of good steel have to be spared from making shells to brace up their undeveloped forms.

Equal Pay for Equal Work

From the Illustrated London News, 27th July 1918.

LADIES’ PAGE.

"EQUAL pay for equal work" is one of the standing mottoes on the "feminist" banner, and the concrete demand is now being urged by the must compact and distinctive body of women workers that we have—namely, the women public elementary school teachers.  The men teachers do not want the women to have it; in their trades union, of which both sexes may be members, the men teachers have proved strong enough to veto the demand of the women for equal pay, so far as their opinion counts.  It is not easy to see why they should thus object.  The wiser trades unionists generally perceive that a great check on the employment of women is to demand that they shall always receive equal pay with men.  The passing of the Education Bill in the House of Commons was then made an opportunity to urge this principle upon Parliament, but it was there rejected.  No valid argument was offered against the proposition; but the Minister in charge of the Bill urged that, before ordering local education authorities to give what would amount to a considerable rise in the salaries of women, the Government itself must show the way—the women Civil Servants must first be given equal pay for equal work with the men.  Finally, the London County Council was approached by the women teachers in its employ with a large petition for a rise in the women's salaries so as to make them equal with those of male teachers.  The County Council have refused the request, on a Committee's report that the women assistant teachers in the London schools get an average salary of just under £200. with provision for an annuity at a certain age of £128.  Moreover, they add, there are posts available for one in every ten of the women teachers carrying salaries ranging from £300 to £450 a
year. The Council observe that "there is no other occupation employing nearly 12,000 women at anything like such rates of payment," which is certainly perfectly true.  And as these salaries are wholly provided from the rates and taxes—which have to be contributed to by the single working women with salaries smaller by far than those of teachers, and by middle-class parents who are also bearing the cost of the education of their own families themselves—it is praiseworthy for a public body to stand firm against all unreasonable demands for rises in the pay of their employees, both men and women.

I know of but one valid argument against "equal pay for equal work," and that is that the salary or wage of a man has to be based upon the assumption that he will marry and maintain a home.  His money, you see, must suffice to cover the maintenance of a woman and children.  To make this a fair argument, the men who do not actually undertake to "raise" a family ought to be taxed extra for the benefit of the women whom they have not married—the poor elderly spinsters!  There is one instance of a man seeing this for himself.  After the great San Francisco earthquake, in which thousands of women lost all their possessions by fire, a wealthy bachelor of the State voluntarily taxed himself a very large sum to supply a complete new wardrobe to several hundred women, giving as his reason for this novel benefaction that he felt himself responsible to society for the fact that he had never provided for a wife and daughters of his own.

The Modern Girl As Wife

From Home Notes, July 27th 1918.

THE MODERN GIRL AS WIFE.

One middle-aged woman tells you why she, at any rate, thinks Miss Up-to-Date will make a much better life-partner than her mother did.

I HAVE no patience with the people who pull long faces and affect to pity the husbands of the present generation.  One such woman said to me the other day, "I am really beginning to despair of the girl of to-day.  She seems to have lost all the feminine qualities that made girls so attractive when I was young—modesty, gentleness, the love of home, and so on.  Her great ambition seems to be to ape men in manner, habits, and taste.  And when she comes to marry, she will have scarcely a single qualification for the rôles of wife and mother."
Of course, this is all nonsense, and I told her so.  It is the habit of many middle-aged women to idealise the girls of their own time, at the expense of the modern mademoiselle.  Fortunately I have a better memory and more charity.
Now, what was the girl of a generation ago, in fact, and not in fancy?  With few exceptions she was jealously kept under the parental wing, and allowed to know as little as possible of men or the world outside her own narrow circle.
She was taught a few feminine accomplishments, from piano-playing to fancy-work; but of the arts of housekeeping she was kept profoundly ignorant.  She was given to understand that her mission in life was to get a husband, without the least idea, of what to do with him and how to manage his home when she got one.  And when she should have been out in the open air, she would spend her time in working samplers or shedding tears over sentimental novels, to the detriment of her health and nerves.
Both physically and mentally she was, speaking generally, just about as unfit for the responsibilities of married life as a girl could be.  And more often than not she was a hindrance and anxiety to her husband instead of a help.

Pal and Partner. 
Now look at her successor, the girl of to-day.  She has a hundred advantages her mother never enjoyed.
From early childhood she is, as a rule, allowed to mix freely with boys and, in later years, with young men. 
She learns to know them through and through, and has no sentimental illusions about them.  She knows their good and their bad points; and she learns how to manage them —knowledge which is invaluable when she comes to have one of them for husband.
The active, open-air life she leads strengthens her muscles and nerves, and lays the foundation of the health which is so vital to the future wife and mother.  And her free mixing with young men rids her effectually of all foolish shyness and false modesty.
Then, too, she knows her way about the world.  In very many cases she goes out into it to earn her living, the finest training possible for a wife; for she learns to rely on herself, to form her own judgments, and to submit to discipline.  And all this without losing a whit of feminine charm or attractions.  In fact, she decidedly gains—in the good looks that come from health, and in the frankness and unaffectedness that appeal so strongly to men.
Thus she has a far finer equipment for wedded life than her mother had.  She brings health and training and capacity to her new duties.  She is a support instead of a burden to her husband; for she not only relieves him of all anxiety about his home; she is able to help him with sound advice, often to share his work.
She is, in short, his "pal" and partner, as ready and able to fight his battles as to share and enjoy his successes.

An American Tea

From Woman’s Weekly, July 27th 1918.

AN AMERICAN TEA.

How We Raised Fifty Pounds for Our War Hospital Supply Depot with an Expenditure of One Pound!

Do you know what an American Tea is? Have you ever heard of a bazaar to which the visitors brought the goods for sale and then proceeded to buy the things back themselves?  It sounds a bright idea, doesn't it?—worthy of our American cousins.  Let me proceed to give you a full description of the whole affair.
Our Hospital Supply Depot was badly in need of funds with which to purchase more material, and as all the workers are busy people, devoting their leisure to making shirts, bandages, etc., for the wounded, they have no time to make bazaar articles nor to get up amateur theatricals in order to obtain money.  An American Tea has the advantage of requiring practically no preparation beforehand; all that is necessary is a supply of tickets and a few posters explaining matters.  The depot naturally has many friends and well-wishers.  One of those lent us a. hail for the tea free of charge; several ladies undertook to provide a simple tea, and all the workers at the depot promised to sell tickets.

THE MYSTERY PARCELS. 
TICKETS of admission cost sixpence each, and entitled the holder to tea and a seat at the concert.  They bore printed instructions which told the purchasers exactly what was required of them, namely, that each visitor was expected to bring a parcel to the hall containing some article worth one shilling.  This was to be given up on entering the hall, and on leaving each visitor was expected to pay a shilling for a parcel!  None of the parcels was opened, and you could choose whatever took your fancy, either a small or large one, from the pile.  Everyone entered into the fun of the thing, and on the day we had a crowd waiting outside the bail, each person armed with a parcel and the admission ticket.  As the people entered they gave up their parcels, which were placed on long tables at one side of the hall.  They were given tea, and then listened to the concert, provided by friends of the depot, and afterwards they went in for various guessing competitions, which brought in a lot of money, as you shall hear.

GUESSING THE TIME. 
ONE friend had presented a gold wrist-watch, which had been wound up and allowed to run down.  People were invited to guess the time shown on the watch, the person most correct getting the watch.  An entrance-fee of sixpence was charged, and we received in sixpences considerably more than the watch cost.
At another table we bad a large glass bottle full of haricot beans, and for threepence one was allowed to guess the number of beans, the prize being the bottle of beans and a book of recipes for cooking them.

THE "WHITE ELEPHANT" STALL. 
ANOTHER attraction was a "White Elephant" stall, for which we received many contributions.  As can be imagined, there was a most motley collection of things on it for sale.  One collector of "Goss" china had sent some specimens from her collection; servantless people had sent ornaments from their drawing-rooms; war-workers sent their sunshades and tennis-balls, which they no longer had time to use; one or two fans came from girls who had given up dances, and one lady sent a frying-basket, which was evidently her "White Elephant" in these days of restricted fat.  It found a purchaser, however—presumably someone who meant to keep until happier days came.
An hour after the opening of the hail we commenced to distribute the parcels to people as they left the hall, and you can imagine the excitement and amusement as the packets were undone.  In some cases the articles proved a little unsuitable to the recipients, as when a young man came upon a box of face-powder, or an elderly lady got a cigarette-holder; but some exchanges were made there and then, and in other cases the owners announced their intention of passing on their "prizes" to their children or friends.  Needless to say, all the parcels were well worth a shilling, and in some cases considerably more.

You can imagine the excitement and amusement
as the packets were undone.

The result was that we got £12 10s. from the sale of 500 tickets of admission at 6d. each, £25 for 500 parcels sold, £8 10s. for the wrist-watch, £1 10s. for the bottle of haricot beans, and £3 10s. from the "White Elephant" stall; total, £51; and the tickets and posters announcing the sale cost £1, so that our net profit was £50.  Imagine how long it would have taken to organise a small bazaar in order to produce this result!

[According to the Bank of England's inflation calculator, £50 in 1918 is the equivalent of £2700 now.]

Women Munition Workers

From the Huddersfield Daily Examiner, 19th July 1918.

OUR SPLENDID WOMEN.

THE WAR AND THE REVOLUTION OF THE WORKSHOPS.

(By a Correspondent.)

If you passed it on your bicycle you would never imagine it was a fuse factory.  If you guessed you would probably say “Technical School."  Built since the war, in the heart of an agricultural district, it seems far from industry; farther yet from the war.  Stretches of fields, grey, quiet country roads, peaceful farmsteads, the chirrupings of birds, and the indolent sigh of the wind are all about it.  It is a ruddy, glowing picture in the sunlight.  The workshops themselves are the airiest I know.  The women come of farming stock, and have brought their red cheeks and fresh complexions from the farm to the factory.
Very shy were they of the whizzing wheels in the beginning.  There was none of that inherited mechanical skill that the child born of textile workers soon manifests.  The change from cow milking to lathe minding was too great to be easily made.  So they started on hand lathes—just one or two of them—and as they saw their hurts were no more than a bruised finger or so they shifted to the power-driven lathes.  In that way they were won over.  At lunch time you may see them scurrying down the yard to the bicycle shed, and riding off to the farms for dinner.  Not all though; very many use the canteen, and indeed some—who lodge in the neighbourhood—find the food so good and cheap that they have all their meals there.

OUTPUT INCREASED.

One was not surprised to find that this factory held a record—out of 20,000 shells only seven were rejected.  At another works there are lathes being used that are over half a century old, and which were recovered from the scrap heap.  The manager said to me, "We have done with lathes what the army has done with men.  These oldsters who thought their part in life was played are doing their most important life's work."
At many of the factories you may find the men smoking, their eyes on their jobs, their pipes gripped hard in their teeth, the smoke spurting from their lips.  "It helps the job on," I was told, and although it is a war innovation it is doubtful whether it will ever stop.
But, of course, the great revolution of the shops has been in their employment of women.  The scoffers of 1915 are the enthusiasts of to-day.  A firm which originally employed only 833 women now finds work for 2,097, at another factory their numbers have grown from 45 to 2,000.  Their employment has been part of the dilution scheme, and the output has, generally, increased as a consequence.
Folk have been saying "The women are splendid" for a year or more.  They cannot say it often enough.  I watched a group of girls painting shells.  "How many to-day, Alice?" asked the manager.  "A hundred an' forty-six" was the smiling reply.  As we walked away he said, "Do you know, three months ago they were doing only eighty an hour, and we thought that was capital.  They get just the same pay now.  They're the most wonderful workers in the world."

LIKE KNITTING STOCKINGS.

I have seen-them, men and women, tens of thousands of them, in various factories toiling with an enduring patience and attention that is past all praise.  They are making, let me say, armour piercing bullets in an automatic lathe.  If you expressed astonishment they would probably say, "It's only like knitting stockings," just as one woman handling heavy shells in Liverpool said in her laconic way when asked if they were not too heavy for her, "No heavier than a babby!"
Next there is the first-aid room.  Most factories have one these days.  No longer is it necessary for men to extract bits of metal from each other's eyes with knife blades—as I have seen them do.  Now, a uniformed nurse, skilled, efficient, re-assuring, does the job.
And finally in many factories there are the practical "schools" on the premises, where the boys between 14 and 16 are taught one day a week something of the theory and more advanced parts of their job.  They get paid for that "schooling."  In one works the twenty best lads are picked out every year to attend at the nearest University.

[The ‘dilution of labour” scheme was proposed at the end of 1915 to employ semi-skilled and unskilled men and women alongside skilled workers.  Initially it was proposed as a way of maximising the output of skilled munitions workers, but it seems to have been overtaken by the demand for men to join the Army, so that women were by this time doing more skilled work than originally expected.]

Hendon National Kitchen

From the Hendon & Finchley Times, 19th July 1918.

THE

HENDON NATIONAL KITCHEN

OPENS TO-DAY
(19th July) at
147, THE BROADWAY,
WEST HENDON,

12 noon to 2 p m.

Bring your own utensils.

If you are satisfied TELL YOUR Friends,

if not—But there!  You will be.

*********************************************************************************

HENDON'S FIRST NATIONAL KITCHEN.

FREE SPECIMEN MEALS.

To-day (Friday) Hendon's first national kitchen is to be opened at  147, The Broadway, West Hendon.  Meals will be served each day (with the exception of Saturday) from 12 to 2.

At a meeting last night, held in St. John's Hall, complimentary dinner tickets for specimen meals were distributed free.  This meeting, which was presided over by Mr. J. H. Sturgess, J.P., chairman of the District Council, was held for the purpose of inaugurating the kitchen.  There was a fair attendance.

Mr. Spencer Cooper, chairman of the Kitchens Committee, explained that the cost of putting the premises in order and the equipment would be a charge against the kitchen.  The Government would advance the money, which would be spread over a period of ten years.  This would be the only dead weight.  It was the aim of the committee to give a really substantial meal at a small outlay.  They were not anxious to make a profit, and people could get food at cost price after working expenses and the small capital charge had been met.  They had secured the services of a qualified supervisor and cook, and assuming the committee did their work well, West Hendon people were the only folk that could make the kitchen succeed.  It was thought the kitchen would fulfil a want in the district.  They were out to save food stuffs, time, and fuel—to economise in everything that connected itself with a house kitchen.  It would enable a greater variety of food to be obtained than was possible in a small household.

Mrs. Crump and Miss E. C. Growse also spoke.

A Soldiers' and Sailors' Comforts Fund

From the Huddersfield Daily Examiner, July 15th 1918. 

COMFORTS FOR SOLDIERS AND SAILORS.

PROCESSION AND GALA AT BIRCHENCLIFFE.

A procession and gala, the proceeds of which are to go to the Birchencliffe Soldiers' and Sailors' Comforts Fund, was held at Birchencliffe on Saturday.  Fortunately, the inclement weather which prevailed on Friday cleared altogether away for Saturday, and a large number of people patronised the effort.  Birchencliffe was profusely decorated with flags and bunting.

Marshalled by Councillor Barnes, a procession, in which fancy dress wearers, a waggon decorated as a car on which rode Britannia and her attendants, and the Lindley Jiggerum-Juggerum Band took leading parts, went through the village to a field adjoining Lower Yew Tree Road, lent by Mr. E. Calverley, where the gala was held  Judging by Mr. A. Collins, ventriloquial items by Professor Land, a maypole dance by Birchencliffe children (trained by Miss Jagger), and children's races formed the bulk of the afternoon attractions.  In the evening the Delights Concert Party gave items, and Professor Land's Punch and Judy attracted the usual large audiences.  Selections were played by the Elland Silver Band, and dancing proceeded until dusk.  Games, houpla, etc., were included in the side shows.  A pillow fight proved an exciting spectacle.

A Hot-Weather Parcel For A Soldier

From Woman’s Weekly, July 13th 1918.

A HOT-WEATHER PARCEL FOR A SOLDIER BOY.

WITH the warmer weather the packing of our parcels for our dear ones in different parts of the world becomes a little more difficult.  One longs to send something that will be cool and refreshing, and there are many such articles that will keep in good condition for quite a fortnight, or even more. But everything depends on their condition when bought, and how they are packed.

APPLES WITH THICK SKINS. 
ALL fruit should be rather under-ripe than over-ripe, and soft fruit should never be attempted.  Thick-skinned apples, known as russets, are always safe to send; and if tomatoes are packed in either bran or sawdust, in small cardboard boxes, they will ripen nicely on the way. 
They may also be packed in cotton-wool, or very soft tissue-paper if more convenient. 
A cucumber, if home-grown or from some source where you can rely on its freshness, may be risked if packed in this way.  Cut it early in the day, and after removing a tiny piece of the skin, place it in water until 'wanted.  It will then be primed with moisture.  Then tie a small piece of wet sponge or a piece of damp cotton-wool round the stem, and wrap it in its own leaves, and pack on the top of everything else. 
Lemons are always acceptable whatever the weather, and they tuck so easily into odd corners.  Lemonade-powder  and sparkling lemonade tablets also take up little room.

OTHER LUXURIES. 
YOU may think your boy can always get such things as boracic powder, health saline, citrate of magnesia, etc., from the medical stores; but he may be miles away from such things, and, oh! so grateful for some kind of soothing powder for his poor, tired feet. 
I have given joy to a young sub by sending him out several tins of his special boot-polish.  It was unheard of where he happened to be.

THE RIGHT KIND OF SWEETS. 
IF you send sweets, let them be acid, lime, or other refreshing fruit tablets. General Joffre is a great believer in placing a sweet of this sort into the mouth when hot and thirsty, instead- of drinking so much water; and no doubt he is quite right.  The more you drink the greater your thirst, especially when marching. 
Can you imagine anything more refreshing than a small bottle of solidified eau-de-Cologne on a very hot day in the trenches?  A little of this rubbed on the forehead, wrists and behind the ears, has a wonderfully cooling effect.  Khaki is always so stuffy in the hot weather.  Anything which helps to keep one cool must be such a boon. 
When he is out of the line nothing is a greater luxury than a refreshing bath.  Pack a towel and a cake of toilet soap in the next parcel you send out. 
I have known a man ask for a few strips of old linen rag to be sent out to him.  A soldier thinks nothing of the small, everyday hurts, but he would appreciate a piece of nice, clean linen rag to bind them up with sometimes. 
One of the chief discomfitures the hot weather brings to our boys in the trenches are the bites from winged insects that abound there as soon as the sun becomes strong.  A little woman, who has herself travelled in hot countries, is sending out to her man in France yards of butter muslin.  Some of this she has cut into yard squares, and run a draw-string in a circle round them.  “He can slip his head into one of these and draw the string round his neck when he gets a chance for a good sleep,” she told me.  “I call them my miniature mosquito nets,” she added: " and I am sprinkling them with oil of lavender to keep these pests away.” 
A piece of rock ammonia to moisten and dab on the bites to allay the irritation is a welcome addition to any parcel for the front. 
If you are lucky enough to be able to secure films for your camera, make a point of taking some special snapshots to send to the front.  A corner of your garden will make a happy background. 
Soldiers in hospital are always glad of a bundle of Japanese serviettes; and do not think a little fan will be despised as unmanly.  Many a poor, pain-racked fellow was only too glad of one in the heat of last summer I noticed. 
A flat little bag filled with lavender or some other sweet-smelling things, such as lemon thyme, rosemary, lad's love, and balm, is always welcome.  Dried rose-leaves, carnation petals, and any other dried flowers that keep their scent may be added.  The writer knows these bags are greatly appreciated, or one man would not say to another:  “Let's have a sniff of your bag when you've done.” This is exactly what she did hear in a certain hospital last summer, when there were not enough of these little bags to go round.

[Some of the medical supplies are a bit baffling, but I surmise that 'Japanese serviettes' are paper ones.] 

The Life of a Woman Tram Driver

From Woman’s Weekly, July 13th 1918. 

ME ON A TRAM CAR!

The Adventurous Life of a Girl Driver.

WOMEN tram-drivers are not over plentiful yet, and though I have been at the job for a good many weeks now, folk still come to a sudden stop in the street to look at me, in much the same way that they would look if they found a cassowary bird sitting in the middle of their potato patch. 
And only yesterday two ladies preferred to walk instead of ride—"because one couldn't feel safe with a woman driver, my dear; a mere girl, too!”
That's by the way. Though it is true enough, some of the women drivers in our town top thirty, but the majority are “mere girls” of twenty or thereabouts.  Not inefficient girls, though—if I says it as shouldn't!  There's no escaping results.
At the outset I had no thought of driving a car.  The idea would have made me laugh once.  You see, I went on as a conductress—oh, more than a couple of years ago! —and I stuck it, though tram-conducting is nerve-racking, temper-straining, limb-tiring work for a girl, even if it is healthy from an open-air point of view.  At the beginning of the year, when nearly all our men drivers had to go into the Army or on war work, the Company asked for volunteers from the conductresses to learn driving. I was one of those who volunteered, though if you ask me what made me, I can't tell you.

LEARNING TO DRIVE. 
ANYWAY, my application was accepted, and I went out with one of the men, watching him and learning the how and why of tram-driving, and driving on my own while he stood by to supervise.  Finally, the great day came when I put on a natty blue-and-red uniform, and took a car out entirely on my own—a fully qualified and reliable driver.  Nervous, was I?  Well, some!  Sort of first night stage-fright; but it didn't last once the car was on the road. That was the beginning.  I've gone on ever since, and the more I drive, the more I want to go on.
It isn't easy work or work to be taken up lightly as “interesting war work for women.”  It wants steady nerves and strong physique, good balance and self-control, the power for brain and hand to act in unison—on the spur of the moment when necessary.  Moreover, tram-driving differs from other driving.  We've had one or two expert women motorists on trial who have been absolutely bunkered by the cars.  Women with the worry habit aren't any good either.  If you begin to think too much about being responsible for the safety of a car-load of persons—well, you will soon worry yourself out of driving and into an accident, for sure!

IT WAS AN EXPERIMENT. 
IF you ask me, all the members of the Tramways Committee in our town were rather dubious about girl drivers when we started. 
It was all necessity, and no choice which led to the innovation. But they are not so now—far from it.  At the last meeting there were no end of complimentary things said about the women drivers, and a friendly message was sent to the Tramways Council of another city (which had lately downed the suggestion of having women tram-drivers) to the effect that there was no reason for them to fear to make the innovation if they could get girls like our girls.  “Careful and conscientious; entirely dependable; interested in their work.”  I’m only telling you what they said!

Life for an Office Girl

From Woman's Weekly, July 6th 1918.

IS LIFE WORTH LIVING?

A Word to the Girl Who is Discontented and Sighs for Pre-War Gaieties.

“LIFE is not worth living these days” sighed the girl as she pulled the sheet of paper out of her typewriter with an angry flip.  “There is never anything doing.  The same old round, day in day out.  Up at seven, a hurried breakfast, and a scramble for a 'bus, working at the same old typewriter until five o'clock, another scramble for a 'bus home, a war-time meal, a dull evening—nothing to do, then bed, with the same old routine over again to-morrow, just to earn a living.  Is it worth it?”
She glanced angrily round the room at the other girls.  Some of them looked at her sympathetically, and the girl next her joined in.  “It must end some time!  If I thought this state of affairs was to continue I couldn't stand it.  You can't afford to have any enjoyment these days.  It takes all my money to feed myself.  I can't even afford the gallery or a theatre now they charge an entertainment tax!”
At that moment a girl entered the room from the inner office, where she had been taking letters. for the senior partner.  She came in smiling, walked quickly to her machine, and began to rattle off her work.  Her energy irritated the discontented girl, and after a few minutes’ silence she listlessly screwed another sheet of paper into her machine, and the monotonous click-clack was again heard in the room.

ONE GIRL'S PLEASURE. 
A FEW days later the discontented girl and her energetic colleague found themselves at the same table in a small tea-shop during lunch time.  Once more the grievance of the girl who found life dull and uninteresting was poured out, this time into the ear of the other girl.
“Don't you find the same old routine of the office and no fun too awful?” she asked.  “Don't you feel sick of not being able to afford any p1easure, and wonder why—.”
The other girl looked at her curiously.
“Why, no!” she answered.  “I hadn’t thought about it that way.  Of course there are not the same kind of enjoyments to be had as before the war, but we didn't appreciate those times so much when we had them, did we?  I believe in making the most of the present time.  You see, I like office work.  I used to be at home before the war, but I like being out and about much better.  There are so many interesting people to meet, and after hours — there's always that time.”
“But what can you do?”  asked the girl discontentedly.  “What do you do?”

HER WEEKLY PROGRAMME. 
“ONE night a week I help in a YMCA Hut.  I've met a nice lot of people there, and although it's a bit tiring, you do feel you are doing important work.  It's great fun.  Then I like reading—I belong to a free library, and I make my own clothes.  I get a lot of fun looking in the smart shops and copying a little idea at home.  I like looking my best, don't you?”
“What for?” asked the discontented girl.  “Who is there to see you these days?  There's nowhere to go.”
“Oh yes,” answered the girl.  “I go for long walks during the week-end.  Sometimes to a hospital, to take magazines I collect from my friends, and the parks are free.  Then I have two lonely soldiers to write to, and tell them all the happenings of the day.  I make a little diary, and send it once a week.  I work hard, then I play hard.  I don't give myself a chance to think much, and the time just flies.”
The discontented girl wondered if she was missing her share because she wouldn't take what came her way, but just pined for pre-war times.
For that is the secret of making life worth living—enjoy it—enjoy it in places, a bit here, a bit there.

HER HOLIDAY. 
“WHERE are you spending your holidays?” asked the beginning - to - be - interested girl.  “Fares have gone up and rooms outside the air-raid zone are prohibitive in price—but perhaps you have relatives?”
“No,” answered the girl, “I don't believe in spending holidays with relatives —not that I don't love them,” she added; “but you can't do what you want to do.  You feel you ought to study them a bit, and if they arrange a picnic you have to go when perhaps you'd just love a lazy day with a book.  No; I've thought it all out, and I'm not going away.  I am going to have a real holiday at home.  There are dozens of places I've never seen round the neighbourhood—historical places, museums, and picture galleries, and I can reach the country when I want to on the top of a 'bus.  I shall go to one or two matinees and picture shows, and when I feel like it I shall call and see a friend.  I shall get up when I like and go to bed when I like.  I am going to really enjoy myself, so that at the end of my holiday even work will be a change.
“I have one or two commissions for fancy work, which I shall do when I feel like it—embroidered collars and fancy bags, and the money I get for these will pay my 'bus fares and odd expenses, so my holiday will cost me hardly anything.  I get quite a lot of orders.  So you see there is a double reason for making pretty trifles for myself.”
The girl who thinks herself unfortunate because in these days her life seems all work should take notice of this little girl's philosophy.  Take life as it comes and be thankful for its blessings.
For remember it is a psychological fact as well as a Biblical one that to him that hath shall be given.  In other words, the more you make of what you have the more will it increase.