1
to believe him.
rescue.
me-down furniture with noth-
nants of a tattered dignity.
The name of the Red Cross
field director was J. F'. O’Brien.
Sitting behind his desk in the
Red Cross house—a few steps
from the ferry slip servicing
Governor's island and Fort Jay
—he heard the boy through
without a word. Now he asked
questions, then picked up a
phone. Subsequently it all turned
out right; that figurative cavalry
troop, underwritten by the Red
Cross, did gallop to the rescue
O'Brien contacted the Red Cross
chapter in the town where the boy's
father lived, instructing the chapter
to verify the boy's story (routine)
and advance money at once.
r
Melodramatic Finale.
So the old homestead was saved.
And the doughboy repaid O’Brien
out of his pay, and O'Brien repaid
the chapter. It was the sort of job
other Red Cross field directors in
other military posts were doing all
over the country that same morning
for enlisted men of the army, navy,
marine corps and coast guard.
This Red Cross help for the en-
listed man and his family is an am-
bitious undertaking. It began when
the country entered the World war.
Now more than 60 men like O'Brien
are stationed throughout the nation.
These trained workers and their as-
sistants ‘“‘cover’” 206 army posts and
8 army general hospitals. They cov-
er 408 coast guard stations; 127 navy
and marine corps stations; 10 navy
general hospitals and St. Elizabeth's
hospital in Washington, D. C.
O'Brien leaned back,
“Just what do we do?" he echoed
my question thoughtfully. ‘Well,
we act as link between the enlisted
man and his superior officer. And
we also act as link between the en-
listed man and his family. When
the boys get in trouble, they come
to us. They know that their confi-
dences will never be violated!"
“Sort of an anti-A. W. O. L. agen-
cy,” I suggested,
“Not exactly. Although there
would undoubtedly be a lot more
absent-without-leaves if it were not
for the work we do.”
“What,” 1 asked, “are some of
the contributing factors which cause
a man to pick up and walk out—
without the formality of asking per-
mission?”’
“Trouble at home, for one thing.”
“Trouble at home?”
O'Brien thumbed through the pa-
pers on his desk. “Here's a job
we did yesterday. A boy whose
sister was critically ill. We ar-
ranged a furlough so he could go
home and give a blood transfusion.
Now if we had not arranged the fur-
lough, I dare say he would have
made the trip anyway—with unfor-
unate results.”
Romance is Rescued.
I asked O'Brien to givé me an-
other example of a Red Cross field
director's routine and he told me
about the doughboy, newly married,
who was to be transferred from Bil-
boa, the Canal zone, to Fort Devons.
The army paid his expenses, natur-
aily, but what about the young wife
who must remain behind because
there was not money enough? Yes,
the Red Cross again.
It seems that the Red Cross is of
equal help to the military authori-
ties. Human nature is human na-
and skulduggery sometimes
and brass buttons.
There was a prepossessing lad who
a distant post on the grounds that
he wished to be near his ailing fa-
ther. It seemed the human thing to
do, but the field director—O'Brien
in this case—asked the Red Cross
chapter in New York to check the
story before taking action. Investi-
gation showed that the boy's father
En
Harvey Bruggie, former Purdue
Appia 5 »
John O’Brien, Red Cross field di-
rector at Governor's island, New
York, hears from Lieut. Thomas J.
best serve the enlisted man,
States disciplinary base, and the
I was introduced to Major Christ-
adjutant of the prison, and
heard from him what the army
thinks of the Red Cross.
“The army couldn't along
said.
get
he
Mr. O'Brien and
your other field directors supply the
touch which it is
not feasible for the army itself to
1 ad
Red Cross and the Navy.
To further pursue my investiga-
tion of the anti-A. W. O. L. artillery
island and went to the New York
navy yard at Brooklyn, There Red
Cross Field Director Henry W. Rog-
ers told me that peace-of-mind is
as essential as discipline in the pro-
duction of efficiency.
“If our bluejackets
ing over family and personal trou-
bles,” he d, ‘they can't do the
job they enlisted tice!"
I found Rogers in his st: om
on the receiving ship, the old U, 8S.
S. Seattle. He had just finished talk-
ing with a sailor whose wife, in Tex-
as, had been shown the door by her
own mother. As a result, the sailor
start worry-
+ 1, $11
0 GO J
ater
football star, hears the grief of an
was at the address given, right
enough; but that, since the address |
was a cemetery, the unfortunate |
parent had ceased to ail for a good |
many years. i
To my mind, one of the most
worthwhile things these military
post Red Cross men do ig contact
the family of newly enlisted men.
A card sent to a mother, and picked
at random, gives this information:
“We advise that your son has
enlisted and has been assigned
for duty with the infantry in
China. He is now at Fort Silo-
cum waiting to sail which will
probably be January 6, 1938, and
until then address your letters
to him care Overseas Recruit
Depot, Second Recruit Co., Fort
Slocum, N. Y. After he sails,
address your letters care Com-
manding Officer, U. 8. Troops in
China, American Barracks, Ti-
entsin, China. If further infor-
mation is required, return this
card with your query.”
Last year the Red Cross at Gov-
ernor’'s island sent 10,006 of these
cards to next-of-kin of men recruit-
ed for overseas service. There is
no measuring stick to tell what
these routine notifications mean to
the folks back home, but the reply of
one mother is a conservative indica-
tion. “Your card gave me the will
to go on living,” she wrote. “My
boy just disappeared, and not know-
ing he had enlisted, I thought he
was dead, or alone and sick.”
I talked with O'Brien a while long-
er, then went over the island's pris-
was about crazy with worry, be-
cause what could you do in Brooklyn
about trouble in the Panhandle?
Rogers had already set the machin-
ery in motion which would send a
sympathetic representative of a
Texas Red Cross chapter to see the
young wife and help plan an in-
telligent solution of the problem.
There is a lot to this business of
defrosting a soldier's “worry ap-
paratus’’ every so often if he is to
be kept at peak efficiency. A flight
commander at an air base told how
a pilot endangered not only his own
life but the lives of other pilots. Be-
cause of an unaccountable and sud-
den inability to follow instructions,
he was a particular liability in for-
mation flying. Before an accident
occurred, he was grounded, and
questioning revealed that concern
over a distant mother who was
gradually losing her mind was be-
hind his unaccustomed inefficiency.
The Red Cross handled the case:
and when the pilot knew that all
that could be done had been, he
became himself again.
The men who hold down these
Red Cross posts at military sta-
tions are in themselves remarkable.
Each is carefully chosen. O'Brien,
for example, is small, nimble-mind-
ed and emotionally sympathetic.
Rogers, at the Brooklyn navy yard,
has been through the mill; he knows
all the answers; he sits up late
nights, wondering if there isn't
something else the Red Cross can
do on some particular case.
© Western Newspaper Union,
HOW» §
i
i
i
By
RUTH WYETH
SPEARS
ITHER crochet cotton or wool |
yarn in two or more colors |
may be used for a knitting bag or
{| purses of woven fillet crochet. The
| foundation is made in the lightest |
| color. The knitting bag in the
sketch is white fillet with navy
| blue threads woven through, as
| shown. The zipper purse and van-
| ity pouch are ecru with carmine
{ and Delft blue woven stripes. The
| plain spaces between the stripes
| are made by weaving through the |
| fillet mesh with matching thread.
| To start the fillet foundation,
{ make a chain the length of your
| bag, then chain 5 more, turn, and
the 6th
| stitch from the hook. Chain 2,
{| skip 2 and make a double crochet
in next stitch. Repeat to end of
row, then chain 5 *Make
a double crochet in the top of the
and turn
last double crochet. Chain 2. Con-
tinue across the row, then chain 5
and turn. Repeat from * until you
have enough of the fillet mesh to}
make your bag or purse. The]
weaving is done with double!
thread and a large blunt needle.
Work across and then back
through each row of the fillet mesh |
as shown. When a new weaving |
thread is started, hide the ends in
the edge of the crochet.
NOTE: Mrs. Spears’ latest book |
gives complete directions for mak-
ing many other things for your-|
self and to use as gifts. It also!
fully illustrates ninety embroidery
stitches with interesting varia-|
tions. You will use these again |
and again for reference. Ask for
Book 2, enclosing 25 cents (coins
preferred). Address Mrs. Spears,
210 S. Desplaines St., Chicago, Ill
AROUND
the HOUSE 3
the
askets can
Clothes Basket, —!
be kept clean
Line
Clothes |
Try This and Please Hubby.
A tablespoon of bx in the
wa
Pick Up Sharp Objects.—A vac
er should not pick ug
pins, broken glass, us
harg pieces, for they
ciear
ta or
3
metal
Make Lace Bolero
In Jitty-Crochet
A—
AND §
poke holes in tl just bag.
ch A of balance
. »
Improving Cookies.—The flavor
of cookies is improved and they
stay n ionger if one 13
ingel-food
Kea
Slow Oven for Sponge Cake.—
mge and i cakes
d be ba
WwW oven
Soft
washes
Pillows. — One housewife
11 the discarded silken
he household, cuts
pieces and uses
] They are
iy, besides cost-
illows
Mealy Baked Potatoes. — To |
make baked potatoes dry and]
mealy, when they are tender put |
a fork at least twice into each po-
Outdoor Fireplace. — Backyard
center for fam-
during summer
corn roasts, |
and marshmallow toasts are only
a few of the many reasons for
building one.
* * *
As You Iron.—Stack your clothes |
ily recreation
clothes are sorted and need not be
handled twice.
-
Cream Cheese Substitute.—Cot-
Pattern 1745.
Dress-up your daytime or sum-
in
two strands of string. Pattern
1745 contains directions for mak- |
ing bolero; illustration of it and |
Send 15 cents in stamps or coins
(coins preferred) for this pattern
Dept., 82 Eighth Ave., New York,
N. ¥.
Please write your name, ad-
of cream cheese if it is pressed |
through a fine sieve to remove the
moisture.
A Glorious Inheritance
If we do our best! if we do not |
magnify trifling troubles; if we
look resolutely, I will not say at |
the bright side of things, but at!
avail ourselves of the manifold |
blessings which surround us, we |
can not but feel that life is in- |
deed a glorious aheritance 21
John Lubbock.
Ask Me Another
@ A General Quiz
The Questions
1. What continent is lmown
he land astride the equator’?
2. How did the United States
Minnesota?
3. What ball player pitches
as
ac~
“Minnesota
How many planes
the U. 8. aircraft carriers
6. Is hari-kiri practiced by t
battle?
state
means what”
4.
5
7. Of what was Kentucky
8. Where is the ranch that is
land?
9. Who gave the name “Rough
Riders’’ to Theodore Roosevelt's
women are there
legis $10
iegisialive
10. How many
in the
bodies?
various state
The Answers
1. Africa.
2. Part of it by the Revolution,
and the remainder by the Louisi-
ana Purchase.
3. Under the Cy
Young on 1904, pitched
the first perfect game—no runs,
no and nobody reaching
modern rules
WA our r
May 0,
“Land of the
Sky Blue Wa-
ter.’
5. The Navy department says
that there are about 80 planes on
each of the United States navy air-
craft carriers.
6. When Japanese officers are
wounded and unable to carry on,
they either si
rs :
commit hari-kiri,
100t lves or
‘
g to a
’ 3
accorain
the Jananece
184] apanese a
pokesman for
7. Virginia.
8. The King
Texas cons
Recipe for Popularity:
Keep Notes on Fair Sex
A
nas
rr
popuiari
keeps
senator from
revealed the
concerning wha
she dressed her
ne meets
“Yes.
Clly, you we
low dress with
No wonder the t
for him at election time. Any
who yearns to be liked by the
frail sex can profit by us
solon’s system.—Liberty |
ner again,
indeed, 1
re i
vole
ladies all
man
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« « « Everybody can enter simple, easy
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NEWS ITEM CONTEST
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HERE ARE THE SIMPLE RULES
I. Clip the most unusual or comical News
Hem from your paper or ine,
Complete this sentence in 10 words or
less “THE ONE THING | LIKE BEST
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