Desiccated Soup

From Home Notes, week ending March 2nd 1918.

Text:

No Queues

Instead of waiting in a queue for the meat you probably won't get, why not buy a packet of E.D.S., and save your time and money? 

With a packet of E.D.S. you can make a thick, delicious, nourishing soup, without any trouble at all.

Everything is in the packet.  You only add water and boil.

EDWARDS' DESICCATED SOUPS

E.D.S. is made in three varieties, Brown, White, and Tomato.

The Brown variety is prepared from best beef and garden vegetables.  The other two are purely vegetable soups. 

Serbian Clothing Fund

From the Huddersfield Daily Examiner, 26th February 1918.

SERBIAN CLOTHING FUND.

TO THE EDITOR.
Sir,—The secretary of the above fund has asked me to appeal to your readers for cast-off clothing, either men's, women's, or children’s outer and under garments: also gloves, socks, mufflers, shawls, mittens, babies' belts, and baby clothes.

They also require 12in. knitted woollen squares (these may be made of any number of various colours, the brighter the better): any scraps of wool may be utilised.  These will be subsequently sewn together to make blankets 6 squares by 4. Parcels to be sent to Mrs. Carrington Wilde, 5, Cromwell Road, London, S.W., who will also acknowledge them.  Anyone having scraps of wool and no time to knit them, if they will send it to me I can get them knitted, and then would forward them.  I do hope there will be a good response to their appeal for help for the destitute refugees.  Thanking you in anticipation of inserting this letter, I am, yours sincerely,

ANNIE BRUCE.
The Gables, Huddersfield. February 26th, 1918.

[Appeals for knitted squares to make into blankets for refugees and other people in need has a longer history than I suspected.  Perhaps this was already an established way to provide warm blankets?] 

The Girl Who Gets Promotion.

From Woman’s Weekly, February 23rd 1918.

The Girl Who Gets Promotion.

How it is managed.  Why one girl will get on while another will fail.

“NONE of us can think why Madge Saunders was pushed up into the job!” exclaimed a girl-clerk the other day, when she was telling me of an extremely good promotion which had been given to one of her colleagues.  "Everyone thought Miss Whitty would be advanced," she went on.  "She has  been at the office ever so much longer than Madge, and never makes a mistake in her work, and has all sorts of certificates.  It doesn't seem quite fair that Mr. Davis should have passed her over when this vacancy came along. "

INDIVIDUAL MERIT COUNTS. 
ON the face of things, it did seem a bit of a conundrum, but later on in the day the business man for whom the girls worked gave me the key to the mystery.

"It is all true, so far as it goes.  A good many people seem surprised at my choosing Miss Saunders for advancement," he said thoughtfully.  "Some people can't realise that promotion is a matter of individual merit rather than of length of service.  The fact is, Miss Whitty is an efficient worker without initiative, while Miss Saunders combines resource with trained competency.  Routine workers are all right as cogs in the business machinery, but one does not usually choose them for filling posts of responsibility.  It is the trained girl who can use her brain who gets on in the world."

WHY THEY "STICK IN THE MUD." 
IT is worth thinking about.  If you consider for one moment, it is not hard to see that the girls of the business world can pretty well be divided into two classes—the girls who progress, and the girls who stand still.  There are scores of well-trained girls who have been wage-earning for years, who have given up hope of making further headway in the world, and who think it is because "luck is against them" that they cannot find the key to open the gates of promotion.  Nothing of the sort.  The essential thing is to realise at the outset that training and proficiency certificates in shorthand and typewriting alone will not make a girl get on, unless she also has common-sense in dealing with everyday matters—and uses it.  Being a successful business girl is something more than writing letters correctly at dictation, being punctual at the office, and obeying orders.

A TRUE STORY. 
ONE girl obtained a first-class position through her tactful exercise of initiative.  One evening, after her employer had left the office, a telephone call came from another business man saying that he could not keep an appointment for the following day as he was going abroad in the morning.  The rule of the firm was for late 'phone calls to be kept until the next day, but in this case the girl used her common-sense, and herself carried the message to her employer’s private house, thereby saving him the loss of a most important contract.  Her action made the man watch her carefully.  He found that he never had to repeat questions or instructions to her, and that she never asked an unnecessary question; she was accurate at the work she was engaged to do, had a reliable memory, which she used, exercised resource, studied her employer's methods and peculiarities, and took real joy and interest in her work.  To-day the girl is in control of an important branch business.

Quite contrary was the case of a business friend who recently told me that: he wanted a private -secretary for some special work which he was about to undertake.  He would have liked to have given the job to a girl-clerk who had been with him for several years, but could not do so because "she seems afraid to do anything unless she is actually told to do it, and my growing work leaves no time for giving unnecessary orders.  If I ask Miss Blank to do something to-day which does not come in her ordinary routine work, she does it gladly enough; but it never seems to enter her head that she might do likewise to-morrow without my asking her."

Some girls are apt to think that this or that thing doesn't matter, because it "doesn't come in their actual work, " and is really a matter of no importance.  Or such girl systematically forgot that her employer took no milk in his afternoon cup of tea.  She was mentally marked by him as having an unreliable memory, and not to be recommended for responsible work.

Garlic for Flavour

From the Illustrated London News, 23rd February 1918.

LADIES’ PAGE

Food shortage will try many of our souls worse than bombs, because it prevents us from ministering properly to our families. No kitchen skill and no ingenuity in catering can make adequate food out of insufficient supplies.  I see Dr. Hinhede's cheap menus, published by the Danish Government, often now referred to in newspapers.  But those menus, as well as the usual vegetarian cookery-books, are quite useless for present circumstances.  Denmark was a great butter-exporting country; therefore it had left over quantities of skimmed milk to dispose of at home at very low prices; and eggs were produced and marketed there by a great organisation, which made them abundant and cheap.  Recipes like Dr. Hinhede's— which are based on freely flowing skim milk, on eggs at three-farthings each, and on margarine at eightpence per pound, with plenty of cheap wheaten flour and rye flour—are, unfortunately, of no use to us now.  What we have— potatoes and other roots, green vegetables, dried peas and beans, oatmeal, the farinaceous foods, such as rice, sago. tapioca—suffice partially to "fill the vacuum," so far as feeling goes, but it is not possible to make them either nice and palatable or adequately nourishing with-out the use of fats, or milk, eggs, and wheaten flour.  I know a number of recipes for making nice dishes from potatoes, but all need either frying in fat (and we know that margarine, even if we got enough, does not fry things properly), or mashing up with butter or with eggs, or coating with beaten egg and crumbs or flour.  Still, we must do the best we can, and use all available flavourings, diversified as much as possible. 

I strongly advise my sister housewives to put aside prejudice and try the family with garlic, without saying anything about it and without overdoing that strong flavour—a very tiny bit suffices.  Here is a ragout of potatoes.  Boil in their skins, not too soft, peel, and cut in moderate-sized chunks.  Have ready a sauce, of milk if possible, but otherwise of water, made to the consistence of double cream with flour or cornflour; season, and stir in a bit of garlic the size of a pea crushed up to mash on a plate.  Put potatoes in till hot again, and serve as a dish by itself.  If the family say, "Ugh, how horrid!"— well, you must give it up; but very likely they'll love it.

Another dish is the same, without garlic, and the sauce —made rather thicker—spread over the sliced potatoes in a pie-dish, well sprinkled with grated cheese, and browned in the oven or under the gas-grill.  A good variation of this is to omit the cheese, but flavour the sauce with dried thyme rubbed to powder, and sprinkle fresh finely chopped parsley over the surface after taking from the oven.  Potage Perigord, a delicious soup, is made by boiling a clove or two of garlic and either fresh or tinned tomatoes together in water till the flavour is extracted, strain them out, and thicken the liquor with cornflour, allowing one beaten egg in the tureen for each pint.

[Here's a quote from Wikipedia about Dr. Hinhede:  "Hindhede was the manager of the Danish National Laboratory for Nutrition Research in Copenhagen 1910 – 32 and food advisor to the Danish government during World War I.

On his suggestion, much of the pigs were sold off and the number of cows for dairy was reduced by one third. Alcohol production was also limited. The agricultural food freed that way was used for human consumption. With these measures, not only could famines be completely avoided during the allied blockade in 1917 and 1918, the death rate also sank to the lowest number ever. Germany had more food per capita, but a larger share was used for animal production, and famine was widespread in 1918.

I am surprised to read the advice to use garlic, and that garlic was available in 1918.  It was viewed with great suspicion in British cookery later on (see here, for instance) and not commonly used in kitchens, even after World War II, as far as I know.]

Is he married?

From Woman’s Weekly, February 16th 1918.

His Pay-Book Will Tell You!

MY DEAR FRIENDS. —I am going to quote this week from a letter I have just read in "The Times."  It is a warning that should be known to all girls in these days.  The rector of a coast town writes to say that a girl in his parish—one whom he had known for years—had had a narrow escape from marrying an overseas soldier who had already a wife in Canada!  The rector made inquiries and found out the truth.  The girl's people had never thought of doing this!

Since reading the rector's letter I have read another in "The Evening News," and it is so practical that I think it deserves to be quoted, as it may be of great use to many of my readers. 
Here it is:

"Evening News." Friday, January 11th 1918.

PAY-BOOK TELLS A TALE.

Writing to "The Evening News" on the subject of the warnings given to girls to make inquiries before becoming engaged to overseas soldiers, Lance-Corporal Hayman, of the New Zealand Force, says — "May I suggest for the benefit of young ladies that a man’s pay-book records whether a soldier is married or single.  Hence a girl would have cause to hesitate if a soldier fails to produce, among other identification papers, his allotment, next-of-kin, and his crime-recorder—namely, his pay-book."

I sometimes have letters from girls who are thinking of marrying soldiers from "Overseas."  Well, their fathers or mothers, or whoever acts as guardian to the girl, should remember Lance-Corporal Hayman's hint, and ask to see the pay-book.  So simple, isn't it?  It is a parent's duty in all such cases to act on this good practical advice. —Your friend,

MARY MARRYAT.

[Mary Marryat was the 'agony aunt' of Woman's Weekly.]

Getting an Allotment

From Woman’s Weekly, February 16th 1918.

HOW TO OBTAIN AN ALLOTMENT.

ALTHOUGH every one is talking about the “allotment movement,” many seem rather puzzled about how to obtain one.  First find out whether you have a Local Allotment Committee or any Horticultural Society in your neighbourhood, and, if so, apply to them.  If not, write to the Secretary of the Vacant Land Society, 17, Buckingham Street, Strand, London, and tell him what you want, and where.  If he cannot help you, he will put you in touch with some society who can.

Those who know the nation's food shortage are only too keen that every man, woman, and child should grow food, and all kinds of schemes are a-foot to get hold of land for this purpose, so something will be managed for you if it is possible.

I would warn you to have nothing to do with private individuals letting out on hire bits of land they call “war plots,” unless you know they are perfectly genuine.  You don't want to find that your ground is required for a cinema or factory just as the first fruits of your toil are coming to perfection.  This is exactly what happened in many cases last year, so be very clear about your terms of tenancy, whatever ground you take up.

Statistics on Women Workers

From the Huddersfield Daily Examiner, 18th February 1918. 

MORE WOMEN WORKERS.

The official “Labour Gazette” states that it is calculated that 700,000 women are now employed on munitions work and 650,000 on other industrial Government work.  There are now 40,000 engaged on work for the Government in commercial occupations and transport.  Over 1,413,000 men have been directly replaced by women.

“Wireless” Work for Girls

From Woman’s Weekly, February 16th 1918.

“WIRELESS” WORK FOR GIRLS.

THIS IS PERHAPS THE KIND OF WAR-WORK WHICH WOULD JUST SUIT YOU!

I HAVE learnt quite a new "war-work," something girls have never done before.  My friends, when they hear I am doing "wireless" work, of course, all think I am an operator, and spend my time sending and receiving important messages, state secrets, and all kinds of exciting things.  Well, they are all wrong.  I am not an operator.
But if it were not for me and my fellow workers there would not be any messages sent, so you see how important my work is.  My job is to keep in order and repair and clean the apparatus.
As you may suppose, the apparatus is of very delicate make, and has to be always in perfect working order.  Everything has to be always ready for the operator, and now that we have such a number of wireless going, it means keeping a big staff of workers looking after them, and, of course, in these days we women do the job.  It is very interesting, and it is quite light work.  Some girls cannot stand for such long hours others do, so it is just the right kind for them, for you sit while-you are at work — so different to standing at a machine all day.

SIX WEEKS TO LEARN. 
IT takes about six weeks to learn your job, and while you are being taught you receive 25s. a week maintenance allowance.  During this time you learn absolutely everything that is necessary for you to know, and then you are sent off to a post just wherever you are most wanted.
The "powers that be" are very well satisfied with the women already engaged on the work; they consider it is essentially woman's work; they think our "little" hands are suitable.  So that is satisfactory, at least that they think we all have small hands!

THE GIRL WHO GETS ON BEST.
THE girls who get on best are those with useful hands —those who know how to use their hands, and it wants brains, too.
If a girl is lucky enough to have learnt anything of physics at school, there are a few plums to be gathered.  Also if a girl can draw, so that she can make copies of the machines; but the ordinary worker will get not less than 30s., 32s., and perhaps more.
In this, as in many other branches of work, the girl who works well, and is worth it, will get the best pay.  The hours are about the ordinary war-hours—eleven to twelve hours; but do not forget you will sit, not stand.

NO SPECIAL UNIFORM. 
THERE is no special uniform worn, but it is usual to wear an overall or a long coat.  You can choose your own colour.  Butcher blue always looks smart, and is quite the engineering shade of peace time; but whatever shade you select, avoid too light a one, and be very careful, for work of this kind, that the sleeves are short. It is best to have them tight-fitting, and to button, so that your blouse sleeve is kept up too.  For delicate work it is fatal if sleeves get in the way.

WHEN THE WAR IS OVER. 
"WHEN the war is over, what is to be-come of us and our work?"  That is what you want to know, I am sure.  Well, we have learnt, and are engaged on the job as "war-work;'' all the same, it may continue for a limited number of us when peace comes.
Everyone expects we are to be quite a flying nation, and that aeroplanes will play a large part in the daily life of the nation, for carrying mails and so forth.  Well, the aeroplanes carry wireless apparatus, and this apparatus must be attended to then as well as now; although, of course, the number of women workers will be small, still it will employ a certain number of us.
We work now in various different parts, both in London and elsewhere.  The Air Service use us to a large extent, and where there is wireless our services are wanted.  There are certain centres—or shall I call them bases—where the sick wireless apparatus are attended to.  In fact, we are a kind of Red Cross V.A.D. detachment for apparatus, and it is, I find, a very interesting form of sick nursing—quite one of the best kinds of war-work — useful, interesting work; quite good pay and just ordinary hours.  What more can any girl want in war time?  So come along, and join up— any woman medically fit, between the ages of 18 and 40.  You can get all particulars at the nearest labour bureau, and then you can start training at once and in six weeks you will be doing your bit, like all your girl friends.
And, besides helping to win the war, you can think that maybe hundreds of lives are being saved by your doing this work.  Think of the boats that have been mined, and of the thousands who would have perished had the wonderful wireless installation been out of order.

[This is another article in the series on new jobs for young women which Woman's Weekly was running. This one is particularly interesting for the discussion of whether the jobs would still be available to women after the end of the war.]

Etiquette For The Subaltern’s Wife

From Woman’s Weekly, February 9th 1918.

ETIQUETTE FOR THE SUBALTERN’S WIFE.

Some Useful Hints for the Girl who Marries a Junior Officer.

WHEN Jack and I became engaged nobody was dreaming about war, and yet it was only six weeks before war broke out.  Jack gave up his job at once and joined the Army, and, of course, I was awfully proud of him.  But I was intensely unhappy when his regiment was ordered to France just a very short time after.  He was in France for fifteen months, when he got a commission and leave.  He was now a subaltern, and the next event was that he was wounded and sent home.  When he left the hospital he was sent to another battalion of his regiment, which was stationed at a big naval and military town in England, because the doctors said he would never be fit for active service again.  On his first leave from there we were married.
Because, like everything else in war-time, our movements were so uncertain, we took a furnished house.
I was very nervous, thinking of the new people I should have to make friends among, especially as I had never known anything of military life, and I had often heard that there are little points of etiquette quite peculiar to Service people.
Jack was not of very much help to me, for whenever I asked him to give me some idea of things he would say:
“Don't you worry, you’ll soon slip into it all!”

MY FIRST CALLER. 
A FEW days after we arrived I had my first caller.  She was a doctor's wife, and had lived in the place for a good many years, and told me quite a lot of things about life in a garrison town.  One was that I, being a bride, would not pay a call on the wife of the captain-superintendent of the dockyard (she is the most important lady, because the Navy is the senior service, and always takes precedence of the Army) and the colonel’s wife until they had called on me.  Had I not been a bride I should have had to call on both of them very soon after we arrived.
Every call has to be returned within a week or ten days.  Another thing that has to be remembered is that the colonel's wife is treated with just as much respect by the junior officer's wife as the colonel is treated by the junior officers.  A sure way for a junior to become unpopular is for him to attempt to take an important part in the regimental social affairs.  And any young officer's wife who talks of her husband’s regiment as "our regiment" is very much disliked.
Sometimes the ladies of the regiment are invited to dine at the officers' mess on what are known as ladies' nights.  Then the colonel's wife, or, if she is not there, or if the colonel doesn't happen to be married, the wife of the next most senior officer is the first to rise from the table after dinner.

WRITING TO THE PADRE. 
WE had such a nice chaplain in the regiment.  I wanted to ask him to dinner one night, but I was so puzzled as to how to address him.  Jack helped me out of this difficulty, though.  The correct way to address the "padre" as everybody calls him, is to put his rank first and then "The Revd."; in our case it was Captain, The Revd. R. W. Bruce.  It's so hard to know all these things if you've never known anything of the Army customs.
In peace time it was the custom, when writing to an officer who was below the rank of captain, to address him as esquire, instead of second-lieutenant or lieutenant, as we do now.
When introducing a second-lieutenant or lieutenant to your friends, you always call him "Mr."  But if the man you are introducing is a captain or major, you use this title.
I nearly committed an unpardonable offence not very long after I arrived.  My brother Bob, who had joined as a Tommy, wrote to tell me he was being transferred to Jack's battalion, and in my supreme ignorance, thought it would be so nice for him to meet the colonel at our house.  Bob explained the situation to me very quickly, and I learnt that such a thing is not done.  When entertaining Bob I did not invite any of his officers, because in the Army the rule is for officers and men to keep quite apart socially.
Whenever an invitation is received, whether it's private or regimental—for instance, the regimental sports and things like that—it must be answered at the very earliest moment.  The regimental invitations are always formal, and so, of course, are answered in the third person.  But if the colonel's wife writes a friendly note asking you to dinner, you, of course, answer in the same way.

IF you are out walking with your husband, and he is in uniform, never take his arm.
WHEN you have been shopping and have collected parcels, do not expect a soldier to carry them for you.
DON'T let a soldier hold your umbrella over you if you are out in the rain.

[The tremendous number of casualties amongst junior officers meant that many new officers were not from the traditional 'officer class'.  Hence, many women must have found themselves officers' wives without any background to teach them the arcane rules of behaviour.  But the situation described here, where an officer from a  non-traditional background was posted to a garrison town in Britain, and so was accompanied by his wife, must have been relatively unusual.]        

Learn to Drive a Motor Tractor.

From Woman’s Weekly, February 9th 1918.

Learn to Drive a Motor Tractor.

War-Work for Girls which Comes Next in Importance to Fighting.

“SPEED the plough!”  But how different the war-time plough from what will soon be looked upon as the pre-historic horse-plough!  How nice it is to think that with all the new, up-to-date methods of work, girls are asked to come forward and help in the very first place.
The new motor tractors for ploughing are a great success; so are the girl drivers, too!  They look so smart in land uniform, sitting on their seat on the tractor.  The girls were asked to come forward for the work so that the plough-men could fight the foes in foreign lands while the girls were preparing the ground for the harvest, and thus helping to fill the storehouses of England with food.
Their work is next in importance to actual fighting.

WORK MUST BE DONE.
THE land girl has to work in winter as well as in summer.  She must be prepared to stand heat and cold, rain or sunshine, for Mother Earth must be attended to if the crops are to grow, no matter what the weather is.  But the land girl never complains; no matter what mood the clerk of the weather may be in, she goes on driving her motor tractor undisturbed by anything.

PLENTY OF WORK.
OF course, sometimes our girl drivers may be called upon to help with other land work, if for the moment she is not wanted for ploughing.
In these short, dark days, an hour or so may be spent in the farmyard when it is too late for the open.  There is always plenty of work for a willing pair of hands to turn to.

LEARNING TO DRIVE.
TO drive a tractor is quite easy—when you know how; but, like most things worth knowing, it has to be learnt.  There are no fees to learn, and the course only lasts from four to six weeks.  At the end of that time a pupil will be an expert driver, and will know all about motor tractors that is worth knowing.
There is a special training school, hidden away "somewhere in England," where free board and training are given.  After the first four weeks, the pupil will receive 4s. a week for the fifth and sixth weeks.  Then she will be a fully trained motor tractor driver, able to take an appointment.  She will get 25s. a week at first, afterwards she may expect 30s. a week, if she is "all right."

HER "BONUS." 
THE ploughing world is very up-to-date, and after a month a bonus is given of 1s. for every acre ploughed, so that it is something to look forward to, if the work ever lacks in excitement!  There is no need to say how healthy the life is, for we all know there is nothing like an open-air life for making healthy men and women.  This branch of land work is not at all heavy either.
A nice, suitable outfit is provided free.  Breeches, two overalls, leggings, hats, and clogs are supplied twice a year.  A mackintosh is provided as well, but that is expected to last; so we see the driver has only to keep herself.
At present, board and lodging can be obtained in country places for 15s. a week.  Although some things are as expensive as in towns, home-grown produce is, of course, cheap.
The idea many people have that land workers are not required in the winter is quite a mistake.  So let the girl who wants to "speed the plough" inquire at the Food Productive Department, Board of Agriculture Office, in Victoria Street, London, and she will be able to gain any special particulars.

THE GIRLS SHE WILL WORK WITH.
ANY girl taking up the work must be willing to go to any part of the country; indeed, this is almost always the case with war-work.  The girl worker must not expect to pick and choose any more than the fighting man can. She will be sure to find a nice set of girls among the other land workers she is thrown in with, for only girls with grit in them turn to the land—the others are always on the look out for soft jobs.  Moreover, the authorities will only tale on a nice-class girl.  She must, of course, give satisfactory references as to character and so forth.  Town or country girls are taken on, provided they are suitable.  They must be strong, and willing to serve for twelve months.  The training is very interesting as during the four to six weeks' course they learn how to do all the necessary repairs to their tractor, as well as drive it.
There is no difficulty in obtaining accommodation in the villages as there is a system by means of which girls are suited.  There is a Registrar who can tell them where to go.

[I like the reassurance that only 'nice-class girls' would be allowed to drive tractors.   The 'class' of the girls seems completely irrelevant - even if the male tractor drivers they were replacing might have had more mechanical aptitude than most other farm labourers, they were still working class.]

Infant Welfare Centres

From the Illustrated London News, 9th February 1918. 

 LADIES' PAGE.

A great response is being made to the Duchess of Marlborough's appeal for jewels for a Fund to maintain Infant Welfare Centres.  Large numbers of ladies are sparing some of their ornaments to be sold to help the babies of poor mothers to live.  One of the most tragic features of our ordinary social life is the large infant mortality.  It has been quite the custom to ascribe all these deaths to "the ignorance and incapacity of the mothers," but this is most unjust.  Children born with tainted constitutions cannot live, and infantile diseases, such as measles and whooping-cough, which find their way to the most sheltered and tenderly cared-for infants, cause a considerable part of the deaths.  Above all causes, however, is sheer poverty; lack of wholesome surroundings, and of the food, always rather costly, that is alone suitable for young children.

Ignorance, in truth, exists amongst mothers, but if the Infant Life Centres did no more than try to instruct the poorest mothers about what they ought to do, the results would probably not be great.  But the Duchess of Marlborough and her coadjutors do more than talk.  They actually provide the milk (mostly now in a dried form) that the babies need, and also other kinds of helping food-stuffs, either free of charge or much under shop prices.  They maintain crèches, and have free and sympathetic periodical inspections of babies, with skilled advice and any necessary material help ready for them directly they are found to be at all unwell.  In short, the Centres are doing most valuable work, and any ladies who can spare a piece or two of jewellery cannot do better than donate it for this most womanly purpose.  The Duchess has arranged for a show of the jewels already given at Selfridge's during the week beginning Feb. 16, when her Grace, with Lady Henry, the Hon. Sec., and other members of the Committee, will be in attendance to receive personally further gifts of jewels or money.

A London Air Raid

From the Illustrated London News, 9th February 1918.

LADIES’ PAGE.

Here is a quotation from a private letter, written with no thought of publication, and therefore giving a faithful, unvarnished picture of London during an air-raid.  The writer is Miss Irene Miller, known both as a novelist and journalist.  She says:—

"I couldn't send you a card last night to say we were all right, for long before the 'All Clear' signal was given we were all in bed and sound asleep.  The 'All Clear' bugles just aroused me slightly, but only for half-a-second.  I was dining at the Club when it commenced.  The guns sounded very close, but nobody took any notice—nobody does now!  The diners went on dining, the waitresses went on waiting, and when it came to the speechifying, the speakers went on speaking—though I do think it must have been a bit of an ordeal to make a speech with that hubbub outside. 

"It was a very nice little meal.  First soup, and then an entrée,  something 'à la belle Otero,' which was baked potato with the top cut off, the contents mashed and mixed with cut-up oysters, and put back again and re-baked for a few minutes.  Then turkey—plenty of it, with potatoes and sprouts; then what they called Italian pudding, made of a thin sort of macaroni with preserved cherries, very nice; and dessert.  On the back of the toast-list was reproduced the cartoon from this week's Punch (Jan. 23)—one of Bernard Partridge's beautiful figures, attired as a knight-ess, on the top of a height, holding a banner marked 'Woman's Franchise,' and entitled, 'At last!’  It was said he was there: but I didn't see him.

"It was a bit of a job to get home afterwards, for the raid was not officially over, though we had heard nothing of it for about an hour (it was twenty to twelve now).  So I went in the Tube.  There were a lot of people taking shelter there, sitting about on the steps and platforms, but hundreds more were just going home in the ordinary way.  The trains came along packed full, and they seemed running quite frequently.  Lots of those taking shelter weren't really terrified.  I know, for they were loving couples, making it a sort of Hampstead Heath on Bank Holiday.  Each soldier and his girl spread a newspaper on the platform, sat down, and leant against the wall, with their arms around each other's necks and their heads on each other's shoulders (so to speak).  There were little groups of such, on the giggle, and enjoying themselves immensely; and, of course, Mother couldn't scold if one stayed out with one's best boy, and explained that it was all the Air-Raid, could she?  The firing recommenced very noisily after a while; and there were quite a lot of people out, but nobody took any notice, and when I got home the family were all comfortably in bed."

[An opening paragraph has been omitted, saying that although the 'hideous Germans' thought that Londoners were being cowed and terrified by the air-raids, it wasn't true.

La Belle Otero was a famous Spanish actress, dancer and courtesan.  She was in her 40s at this time, and lived to be 96.  According to Wikipedia, she had many aristocratic and royal lovers, including both the Kaiser and Edward VII.  It doesn't say whether she was particularly find of potatoes and oysters.] 

Bogus “Food Controllers”

From the Huddersfield Daily Examiner, 7th February 1918.

HOARD-SEARCH THIEVES.

BEDROOM RANSACKED BY "FOOD CONTROLLERS.''

Householders should be on their guard against bogus searchers for household food.  Two men yesterday went to the house of Mr. R. Hollington, Downs Park Road, Clapton, and boldly asserted that they were "food controllers,'' and were empowered to search the house for sugar.  The men were admitted, and they made an exhaustive search.  When they had gone Mr. Hollington found that his bedroom had been ransacked, and jewellery, including gold rings and a diamond and pearl necklace, stolen.  The police are now searching for the ''food controllers."  It was stated at the Ministry of Food yesterday that inspectors sent to examine premises all carry a search warrant in due form.

Ration Cards for Butter and Margarine

From the Huddersfield Daily Examiner, 7th February 1918.

BUTTER CARDS.

LOCAL SCHEME TO AFFECT 200,000 CONSUMERS.

The new card rationing scheme which is intended to operate in a wide area in and around Huddersfield has reached an advanced stage of preparation.  Cards should be in the hands of retailers tomorrow, and it is expected that the scheme will be commenced during the week ending February 23rd.  The scheme will affect a population of about 200,000 within the administrative areas of the following twenty-five Food Control Committees:—Huddersfield, Farnley Tyas, Thurstonland, Kirkburton, Lepton, Whitley Upper, Holme, Marsden, Kirkheaton, Denby and Cumberworth, South Crosland. Skelmanthorpe, Linthwaite, Meltham, Holmfirth, Shepley, Newmill, Shepley, Clayton West, Mirfield, Honley, Golcar, Scammonden, Gunthwaite and Ingbirchworth.

The new cards are in size 7in. by 6½in. and are printed upon white paper.  It is intended that in the first instance they shall apply to butter and margarine only, but it will be possible to extend their operation to two other commodities should circumstances necessitate that extension.  There are spaces along the top of the card for the applicant's name and address, and squares in which are printed the last dates of the twenty weeks from February 16th to June 24th, but it has been found impossible to bring the cards into operation next week, owing to difficulties of printing in the short period available.

From the Kirklees Museum Service collection

HOW TO FILL UP THE CARDS.

In the bottom left hand corner of the card is a perforated square in which the customer should fill in the name and address of the shop keeper at which he or she desires to obtain supplies.  On the back of the perforated piece the customer should sign his name and write his address, and by tearing off the perforated portion and handing it to the shopkeeper he performs the act of registration.  The customer should keep the remaining portion of the card and show it to the shopkeeper every time he purchases butter or margarine.  The shopkeeper will then obliterate the appropriate date and hand the card back to the customer.

It should be clearly understood that one of the cards should be obtained for each person in the family —it has been found impracticable to work a system of family cards.  The cards may be obtained almost immediately from the retailer with whom the customer is registered for sugar supplies.  But the customer can select any other retailer from whom he desires to obtain butter supplies.  Once having selected his retailer, however, he must go to him every week for supplies, for he will not be able to obtain them elsewhere.  One of the chief objects of the scheme is to prevent anyone obtaining double supplies, and so making it certain that someone else must go short.  It will be an offence either for a retailer to serve butter or margarine to a person who is not registered with him, or for the customer to try to get butter or margarine from a retailer with whom he is not registered.

¼ LB. PER HEAD.

By means of these cards customers will be entitled to butter or margarine not exceeding a total quantity of ¼ lb. [113g.]  per head per week.  The ¼ lb. may consist of butter, margarine, or a mixture of both, but the ration should not be exceeded. 

During the week the committee has commandeered 3 tons 19cwts. [just over 4000 kg.] of margarine, and distributed it in the usual way.

MEAT SUPPLIES.

It is probable that local meat supplies during the week-end will be only 25 per cent. of the October supplies.  Every attempt is being made to obtain increased supplies, but the outlook is not very promising.

What to do when the rations run out

From Home Notes, 2nd February 1918.

SECOND BESTS

IF YOU'VE NO MEAT 
introduce into the menu cheese (grated), haricots, and lentils, fish, especially herrings and sprats, eggs (for instance, one used in a pudding or vegetarian dish), or extra fat, if available, used to fry vegetables for soup or curry.

IF YOUR SUGAR'S FINISHED  
make up for it by giving jam, date, or fig puddings, chopped date, fig or prune sandwiches, stewed dates or figs.  Honey is so wholesome a substitute that for children (when obtainable) it is well worth its increased price.

IF FAT RUNS SHORT 
remember that sardines are packed in valuable oil.  Herrings and sprats are rich in oil, while oxtail, fresh ox-tongue, and the cheaper cuts of mutton, contain much fat, and will supply what is needful in a margarineless and drippingless diet.

SPIN FLOUR OUT BY 
using potatoes for scones to replace bread, for puddings, piecrust, dumplings, stuffings, thickening soups and stews, in breadmaking, and so on.  Remember that flour substitutes, such as oatmeal and maize, are included in your rations.

How to Help the Soldiers

From Woman’s Weekly, 2nd February 1918

LITTLE WAYS OF HELPING THE SOLDIERS.

You’re Sure to Find Something Here which you Could Do for the Fighting Men.

ALL of us want to help; that goes without saying.  But so many of us have little or no actual coin to give, so our contributions must be made in other ways.  Every woman, however poor or busy, can help in at least one of the little ways suggested here.  And many a mickle makes a muckle, you know!

YOUR OLD GLOVES. 
HAS it ever occurred to you that you can do better with your worn-out kid and suede gloves than to throw them away?  The Glove Waistcoat Society will be only too glad to have them, for by a magic of its own it transforms them into windproof waistcoats, which are the greatest possible comfort in the trenches or at sea.  All the good parts of the gloves are cut out and stitched together on to a shaped lining. and in this way thousands of cold-defying garments are made. 
They are glad of any sort of leather and any sort of fur, even the old scraps left from fur-lined gloves or old fur rugs, not to mention the worn leather from dining-room suites.  Every scrap is utilised in one way or another.  So please make up a big parcel, and address it to The Glove Waistcoat Fund, 75, Chancery Lane, London, W.C. 2.

OLD CIVILIAN CLOTHES. 
IN many homes there are good civilian clothes which were left behind when husbands and brothers stepped into khaki, and some of these, alas! their owner will never need again.  Could there be a better way of using these valued relics than by sending them to some unfortunate civilian who is a prisoner of war in Germany?  As we all know, captives in the hands of the Huns suffer many hardships, of which lack of warm clothing is not the least. Don't let those unused suits hang another season in the cupboard.  Send them to one of these addresses: 
Miss N. Cotton, Pinewood, Camberley, Surrey.
Lady Dodds, Devonshire House, Piccadilly. (These go to Ruhleben.)
Or if you have a fellow-feeling for the Indian soldiers fighting so splendidly by our side, send the garments, with any comforts you can spare in the way of mufflers, mittens, etc., to The Indian Soldiers' Fund, 11, Somerset Street, London, W. 1.
Have you a pair of field glasses?  You can do without them, but they would be invaluable to some Army officer who cannot afford to buy himself a pair.  Send them to The National Service League, 72, Victoria Street, London, S.W. 1.

SPARE-TIME SEWING. 
IF you have some spare time in which you could do some interesting light sewing for our wounded men, you couldn't do better than make some of the "gay bags" which Lady Smith-Dorrien sends out to wounded men in hospital.  They are just home-made bags of bright cretonne, and so simple that anyone could manage them successfully.  Every wounded Tommy gets one in which to keep his letters and other little treasures while he is in hospital, and it is difficult to tell you how much pleasure they give to our brave fellows.  This is a wee way of helping that ought to appeal to school-girls as well as to older people.
Make the bags ten inches long by nine inches wide, and pulling up at the top on a drawstring.  Please choose a nice, cheerful cretonne; a rose design some sort is what the wounded Tommies like best of all.  Then send your bags to Lady Smith-Dorrien, 21, Eaton Terrace , London, S.W. 1.

GAMES AND PLAYING-CARDS. 
OF course, everybody knows that books and magazines for the troops can be handed over the counter of any post office, but it is not such common knowledge that games, such as draughts, halma, chess, playing-cards, etc., are just as welcome. These cannot be transmitted through a post office, but should be sent to The War Library, Surrey House, Marble Arch, London, W. 1.  Lady Newnes's Fund, 83, Pall Mall, London, S.W. 1, is also very grateful not only for books, but for gramophones, to send out to the wounded in Egypt.

FOR THOSE WHO KNIT.
IF you have time to knit or sew comforts, over and above those for your own special soldier and sailor boys, don't forget the splendid work that is done by Queen Mary's Needlework Guild in sending out every kind of hospital requisite free to the hospitals.  Among their needs are ward shirts, pyjamas, socks, bed-jackets, and scarves.  Parcels should be addressed to The Central Depôt Surgical Branch, Queen Mary's Needlework Guild, 2, Cavendish Square, London, W. 1.

DO YOU USE WAR SEALS? 
DO you seal all your letters with a War Seal?  If not, please start this practice, and by doing so you will be helping to raise money for benefit of disabled soldiers and sailors.  The seals are brown and diamond-shaped and cost ½d. each— not much; but all the profits go to helping our brave broken men.  The seals can be bought at most big stores, but if you have any difficulty in getting them, write to The War Seal Foundation, Coliseum Buildings, London, W.C. 2.

Compulsory Food Rationing

From the Llangollen Advertiser, 1st February 1918.

FOOD CONTROL.

LORD RHONDDA AGREES TO RATIONS.

"INEVITABLE AND URGENT."

Lord Rhondda now states that he regards compulsory rations as "inevitable and urgent."  In the opinion of many this was so as far back as May last, but it has taken a good many demonstrations of workers in industrial areas to bring the Ministry of Food to the realisation of the fact.  The whole country, the Food Controller says, will shortly be covered by rationing schemes framed under his order by the local food control committees, and they will thus be developed into a comprehensive scheme.  Meat as well as butter and margarine will be rationed under the new scheme that comes into force on February 25 for London and the Home Counties, and there seems every probability of an early extension of this arrangement with the rest of the country.

WREXHAM BOROUGH COMMITTEE

The Wrexham Food Control Committee have decided to give priority in supplying of milk to children up to five and to invalids.  Parents unable to obtain supplies will be given an order by the Food Office under which a milk retailer will be required to give a supply of milk in preference to the customers.  Joint action has been taken by the Borough and Rural District Committees in carrying out a scheme for equalising the distribution of butter and margarine.  During the past week all persons requiring margarine and butter have had to produce their sugar cards before obtaining a 4oz. ration of butter or margarine.

Comforts from Denbighshire

From the Llangollen Advertiser, 1st February 1918.

War Guild and County Comforts Association.

The collection for the above was held on January 23rd, a week late owing to bad weather and indisposition the week before.  Collections will be fortnightly from this date in future.

The articles brought in were as follows: — 29 pairs socks, 32 pairs mittens, 40 scarves, 27 helmets, 3 shirts, 2 vests, 9 pairs bed socks, 39 bags, 3 various, making a total of 182 of which 96 articles came from Lantysilio parish.  The Pentredwr group has failed to contribute except once this winter.  Distributions have been made to Pte. R. S. Jones, Bank Top shirt, pants 2 vests, to Pte. Austin Roberts, Church Street, shirt, 2 vests, scarf, pair socks, to Pte. Downham 2 pairs socks, jersey, to Pte. C. Davies, Liverpool Regiment, scarf, to Pte. Lloyd Jones, Church Street, shirt, 2 pants, 2 pairs socks, to E. Mommens of the Belgian Army, 2 shirts, jersey, helmet, to the C.C.A. [County Comforts Association] 40 scarves 30 helmets, 30 pairs mittens, 30 pairs socks, 10 pairs bed socks. 

In a letter of thanks and appeal from Sir E. Ward dated January 18, he says “demands from the troops abroad are exceptionally heavy at the present time, especially needed are scarves and helmets for the Italian Expeditionary Force.”  The next collection will be on Feb. 6th.

[How shaming for the Pentredwr group, publicly denounced for only making one contribution of comforts during the whole winter.]