oy.^^ >: t>>. HKESKXTKO liV X A Aiia AlUr (Zhtttlr jjiiLL^iiy{iMiiyjiti^?Ttlt7Ttl?f^lff^^ff?=^l^lff^l??^l??^l?;^l??^l??^l?f^[^ FOREWORD Friends of the writer are asked to remember that these letters were dashed off at a high rate of speed, often at the close of a busy day. There was no thought of polishing them for publication, even if there had been time. One letter ends with the words : "I have been three hours writing this letter. It is now 12:30, and I am going to bed. As I write, one thing tumbles out on top of another, and I sometimes feel that there is an unconscionable lot of stuff for you to wade through. But I write what is hap- pening to me, and I assume that you want it all." H. M. T. &€\F9? U CHAPTER I Paris, the Queen of Cities — Armistice — Red tape — Notre Dame — Champs Elysee — Old papal palace — France gives us gratitude that belongs to Belgium — Delightful walks — King and Queen of Belgium — Baths in Paris — seeming lack of poverty — Piano practice on a "tin pan" — Dinner at a Y. W. C. A. hostess house — Hotel des Empereurs — Funny things seen in Paris — Hints of homesickness. "^lll^ARIS, Nov. 12, 1918. — We arrived just in time to jI^J see Paris celebrate the signing of the armistice. It ^§^ is a wonderful thing to have seen. Paris is certainly the Queen of cities, and now she is working herself up into a perfect frenzy of excitement. I had to go to head- quarters about 4 o'clock, and had a hard time getting through the dense crowds. It had the Rose Festival beaten a mile. I wish you could see the amount of red tape one has to go through with. I have never before in my life signed so many papers, or given so many of my photographs. To-day I had a delightful walk along the Rue de Rivoli, to the Place Hotel de Ville, across the Seine to Notre Dame Cathedral, and then across the big Place to the police station. Notre Dame is not like Antwerp Cathedral and others, so hemmed in that it can hardly be seen. I can imagine no finer setting than that of Notre Dame. It is a matter of increasing wonder to me, the hundreds and hundreds of acres, right in the heart of the city, devoted to wonderful buildings, parks and open places. Berlin, as I remember it, is a crude and upstart country town, com- pared with Paris. It is an amazing thing to see the way Americans are regarded here. It is "Vive I'Amerique" wherever one goes, and the great trinity of flags which one sees everywhere is of France, England and America. I am grateful for what the gods send. But I feel that we are usurping a "Y" GIRL OVERSEAS place in the affection of the French people that rightly belongs to Belgium. ;|: * * * H< To-day I walked the length of the Champs Elysee. Our entertainment headquarters and the library for the soldiers — the A. L. A. — ^are in the old Papal palace, on the Rue d'Elysee, right across the street from the mansion of the president of the French republic. Nov. 14. — I saw the King of Belgium this afternoon. We got caught on one of our errands by a procession, and saw both the King and the Queen. I should like to be here when President Wilson comes ; I want to see the eft'ect it will have on the thousands of Americans here. The amount of khaki one sees on the streets is really uncanny. It is funny to hear the Americans discussing baths. Those who used to have a hot bath at night, and a cold shower every morning, now get out a brass band, so they Siiy, whenever they take one. This hotel is a good one, and yet not only do they have no rooms with baths, but they do not even have a bath on every floor. * * * It is interesting to notice the seeming lack of poverty and deprivation here in Paris. I presume in the war zone it is very different. But every one looks well dressed and well fed, and no beggars are to be seen. At all table d'hotes, meat is served twice a day ; and as I notice the prices, they seem about the same as at home. On the whole, vegetables are cheaper, but fruit is out of sight. You wouldn't see such apples in Oregon, even as windfalls. And prices are away up. Lemons are 12 cents apiece. On the other hand, I hear that England has been denying herself everything, for the sake of the people of France. Conditions there are much more acute. Instead of twice a day, meat is served there twice a week. "Y" GIRL OVERSEAS Nov. 21. — I am getting along, making the best of things, and am contented. But if I allowed myself to, I could be very homesick. I had my first piano-practice this morning on a tin pan at Y headquarters. This noon I went to a hotel that used to be called the St. Petersbourg. It had the reputation of being very gay. And the humor with which Fate frequently guides the affairs of men has ordained that it should now be managed by the Y. W. C. A. It is a delightful place — no tipping, and meals which cater to American tastes. To-day, for five francs, we had mussels, good-sized portions of veal with onions and mushrooms, creamed potatoes, celery with tomato sauce, and bread and cheese. It was a delicious meal. Nov. 2"]. — I have finally moved from my cold and gor- geous hotel. I have found a small room in a little hotel, with no lift, but nice and homey. I am supposed to have heat in my room, and all for four francs a day. I had a good night, on a comfortable bed, last night. Then I have also found a little restaurant in the neighborhood, where they serve for 2.75 francs a dinner which would cost four to five anywhere else. My noon meal I take at the Y. W. C. A. Hostess House. It costs me five francs, but it is worth it. I enjoy the atmosphere there, h: * * Later. Two other Y girls have followed me to this hotel, and so we make quite a nice little party. The people are all so pleasant, it is a welcome change from the surliness of the Central. I judge from what the young woman at the desk said, that it is a little old-fashioned place, where they have had the same clientele for years and years, and so do not make much of an effort to cater to transient trade. There is a darling little salon, with two pianos, both rather out of tune, but doubtless better than we shall have in the future ; and we can practice here, without trotting about. "Y" GIRL OVERSEAS from Dan to Beer-sheba. It has the magnificent name, "Hotel des Empereurs." Nov. 29. — We hear that we are to be sent to the south of France as the best place to become acclimated. It is as much to the interest of the Y as to ourselves that we be kept in good condition. They don't want us to come down with pneumonia or bronchitis (as some of the entertainers have done lately) and have to be sent home. * * * One sees some funny things in this town ; for example, a big two- wheeled cart, wheels perhaps seven feet high, with a great load, drawn by four big horses, all tandem. And trailers to trucks, twenty or thirty feet long, on two wheels. And I saw one tiny auto, about a third the size of a Ford, look- ing like a scared baby buggy in the general jam. My previous training abroad is going to stand me in fine stead. I shall suffer far less than most Americans from differences and inconveniences. Of course, I wish I were home ; but that is something to look forward to. And how I shall appreciate it when I get back ! I am alreadv at a place where I should be glad to cook again, if onlv I had a chance. And as for getting my hands on the steering- wheel of an auto — ! When I get back, you may be sure I shall appreciate things ; and after my term of service here has expired, I shall not stay one split second longer than I have to ! St. Naz.mre, Dec. 6. — We gave nine performances in seven days before leaving Paris. We have found our work very mteresting. I am accompanist for the others. I play solos when the piano is good enough, and I shall also give readings. We have had all sorts of experiences; hospitals where we performed in the wards ; rooms where the bovs "Y" GIRL OVERSEAS were sitting on tables, and we were on the same floor level ; huts where there were several hundred present and where we had foot-lights ; and officers' clubs where everything was on a grander scale. We have gone by train, by Ford truck where we were nearly jolted out into the mud, and in a beautiful Packard limousine. We have dressed behind packing cases in the cold, with dough-boys darting through, and in luxurious hotel rooms. We have eaten with soldiers of the ranks and with officers. The work itself is very interesting. The boys make a very inspiring audience, they are so fresh and enthusiastic and seem to enjoy so much what one does for them. Our work is on the order of a good concert program, and as a rule, of course, they don't get many of that sort. They have more vaudeville. A certain element doesn't care for the sort of thing we bring, but a large element does ; and in every audience there are many who know good things and are hungry for them. There are always officers in every audience, many of them with West Point training, and certainly they should not be entirely ignored. After we had finished our program last night, we had to wait over an hour for our car. While we were waiting, I suddenly heard the strains of the Rachmaninofif prelude I had just been playing. I afterwards talked to the boy who was playing. He really played remarkablv well, and was playing Chopin's Funeral March when we at last left the place. It shows the sort of thing one has to face in entertaining in this army. In the roughest crowd, there is one who knows. Wherever we go, we hear of some fine singer or pianist ; and yesterday some professional stage people were in the audience when I gave my readings. It is a most peculiar condition. The mass of the audience is rough, and you have to handle them as carefully as you would an audience of high-spirited school boys. And yet, among them are such good judges of your best efforts. "Y" GIRL OVERSEAS Our name is the Victory Company. We were not respon- sible for that name, and feel it quite a task to live up to it. Other entertainment units also are stationed here. St. Nazaire, Dec. 8. — Our food has been arranged for in a wonderful way. Five francs a day gives us three square American meals. At the Y hut they give you a big dish of mush, a buttered slice of white bread, a large cup of coffee or chocolate, and a good portion of jam (not unsweetened stewed fruit, which the French call confiture and charge unholy prices for), but good American jam — all this for breakfast, for one franc. Lunch is a good- sized meal for two francs, bread, meat, potatoes, a drink, fruit, and little cakes. Dinner at two francs is similar. It is a soldiers' canteen, but Y workers have their meals there, too. They must serve hundreds of boys each day. It is a Y canteen, and the workers all seem to be horribly over- worked. The canteen at meals is interesting to watch. An hour, or an hour and a half before the windows are opened, a line of soldiers begins to form. By the time the windows are opened, there is an extremely long line. On Sundays it doubles back and forth, and about fills this very large hut. Perhaps the meal consists of "meat pie" (but with no crust it is really just beef hash), mashed potatoes, cabbage, chocolate or coffee, and bread pudding. The food is served as in any cafeteria, and the line moves quite quickly. There are many tables, and the only trouble is that sometimes the food gives out. There is always that possibility. For the meal described, two francs is the price. It is a godsend to us. We tried one day getting into line with the soldiers, but an M. P. was so perturbed at the idea of ladies standing in line, when they were supposed to be served first, that "Y" GIRL OVERSEAS we finally went up to the front. Now we simply step into the line at the source of supplies, and the boys step back for us. I don't like it altogether, but there are only five or six of the women entertainers here, and it seems to be an understood thing among all the boys. They always step back smilingly for us. It is also the understood thing from the Y standpoint. I feel it is better to do it that way, than to be remarkable. 10 A "Y" GIRL OVERSEAS CHAPTER II Entertainment work in Paris and St. Nazaire — Good concert work vs. vaudeville — Character of audiences — Victory party — Food at Y canteen — An amazingly good time — Transportation problem — Horse-back riding a preparation for Lizzie 'bus — ^Problems of heat, mud and drinking water — Wine and cigarettes for French children — German kindness to our soldiers — Washing barge — Christmas eve — Christmas packages — Canteen girls overworked — Christmas dinner at the Y — Worthless coal — Y secretary from Jerusalem — Negro prob- lem — Wrist watch and darky — Programs at officers' club and motor- base camp — Kittens — Camp guarding German prisoners improved by Y — Cake made by Miss S. — Soldier from Beirut — "The Call of the Wild" — "I bet she could play jazz" — Creative small audience — Program in mess-hall. T. NAZAIRE, December 15. — Of course, there are many things which I should prefer to have changed in my present Hfe, but I am really having an amazingly good time. The transportation problem is not an easy one. I should think that the Y man who has charge of it would lose his wits completely. He is a harried-looking man. I have seen something of his trials. Funny as it may sound, my horseback riding is now standing me in good stead. We occasionally ride in a dreadful old Lizzie 'bus, solid tires and no springs, benches that are not fastened down, and only curtains at the backs, so that if a big jolt comes — and it always does — one is in danger of going backwards through the curtains. The roads are sometimes terrible, and the result is that every one complains most bitterly. Last night, when we reached home, Miss S felt almost ill from the jolting she had received. But I can save myself. I may go up in a hurry, but I can come down when I choose. A horse does not always tell you beforehand just what he is going to do. When you have the necessary mental and muscular quick- ness to keep in the middle of his back, no matter whether he jumps up or sideways, you are much better prepared for a jolty machine and an awful road. I did not say so to Miss S., but I enjoyed the ride. It was bad enough to be funny. Our one problem is heat, and it doesn't get verv cold A ««Y" GIRL OVERSEAS 11 here. I forgot. We have two other problems. One is drinking water, which we have to buy in bottles, at quite a good price, and the other is mud. St. Nazaire is the muddiest place on earth. And the middle of the streets is like nothing you ever saw in your life. There is, of course, a solid road bed, but on top is a coating of thick, rich pea soup, which beggars description. Half of the men go around in their hip rubber boots, worn in the trenches. Passing trucks splash mud clear up on the windows of the houses, and sometimes on passers-by. No one attempts to keep his shoes clean. As to the drinking water, it is perfectly awful ; has to be treated heaven knows how many times, before it is fit to drink ; and then it tastes perfectly vile. I can understand how it is that people are driven to wine. It is said by those who claim to know that there is a distinct deterioration in the French mental processes to-day, due both to the amount of wine they drink and to the cig- arette habit, begun at a tender age by the children. And as to the children, they have all been spoiled and turned into inveterate beggars by our good-natured soldiers con- tinually giving them coppers. * * * j^^st evening I was talking to a young fellow who has just come back from Coblenz. He said the Germans there treated them royally. I said that that was more of their extremely effi- cient propaganda. He said that the common people with whom our men came into contact felt that the x\mericans were their deliverers from the harsh masters they have had. I was also talking to a Y man just back from the front. He says what the boys there most need is entertainment, and their letters from home. * * * j watched a wash- ing barge one day. It was in a muddy, dirty river, and they brushed the garments with soap, rinsed them in this water, the color of the Chicago river, and hung them up to dry. No, thank you. Not for my clothes. The water we get here is queer. It is very yellow, and heaven only 12 A "Y" GIRL OVERSEAS knows how my things will look, after three months of this place. * * * Like every one else here, I am counting the days until I can be at home again. Saint Nazaire, Dec. 26. — On Christmas eve, after our program and dance, we were brought back home in the Major's car, at 12 o'clock. The car was a sedan, but I am ashamed to say I didn't see what make. We saw about 200 boys going to midnight mass in the church here. It seems that the church was packed, about a third of them being French. Then we went to bed, and I went to sleep. During the night I was vaguely conscious of a commotion outside the window, and a voice shouting things, and then I promptly went to sleeep again, and slept till it was time to get up. Miss S. didn't sleep at all, so she says. The noise outside was so terrific all night. It seems, judging from her tale, that the whole American army gathered underneath our windows. And the riot they made quite frightened her. Then they began calling off men into com- panies, and one after another the companies marched off. She can't imagine how I could have slept as I did. Sleep- lessness is not one of my troubles, just at present. Nor is lack of appetite. I am always hungry. And speaking of Christmas, I must tell what the boys did near Vannes. On a hill overlooking the camp they built a huge cross, laid two miles of wiring and put in two hundred electric lights. We saw it illuminated. You can imagine the effect. I helped to tie the Christmas par- cels at Camp One. In each parcel were chocolate, chew- ing gum and two kinds of cigarettes. At that one camp they were making up five thousand of these parcels, all from Y money. There was a terrific amount of work connected with it, which falls on the Y force. The money sent from home is bv no means all of it. When I see how these can- A "Y" GIRL OVERSEAS 13 teen girls have to work, it makes me turn pale. They do indeed have to be as strong as horses to stand it. Last evening at the Y we had a most gorgeous dinner, roast chicken, gravy, peas, potatoes, bread, cranberry sauce, nuts, raisins, chocolate, and some rare little things that looked like croquettes, about two inches long, filled with fondant, covered with chocolate and chopped nuts. Each one had two. The Y said that if they took in enough to pay for the chickens, at four dollars apiece, they would be doing well. In the evening we went to a camp and gave two short entertainments. To-day is the third day of sun- shine we have had, and we are revelling in it. * * * I have had a walk of about two and a half hours this morning, and have seen some very beautiful country. The birds are singing as if it were a spring day, and, best of all, the mud is drying up. * * Our present supply of coal is worthless. Miss S. has spent the entire afternoon struggling with our fire. I have simply paid no attention to it, sitting in the other room, and going for a walk when I got cold. The weather still continues delightful, and I consider my way of warming up much better than hers. Dec. 2^. — Last evening we went to a camp of loco- motive engineers. After our program, we watched the rehearsal of a very good darky minstrel show. It was being coached by a lieutenant with rather a fine face. Then, as we were waiting for our 'bus, we visited the secretary in his room. He was a most interesting man, a Syrian, with a college education, and a slight accent in his English, wiiich is otherwise perfect. He was born ten miles from Jerusalem. * * * Yesterday we went back to a negro camp we had visited shortly after our arrival in St. Nazaire. They were then a very delightful, responsive audience. Yesterday they were dull and unresponsive. The mistake had been made of telling them some time ago that they 14 A "Y" GIRL OVERSEAS were going home at once, and now, as we were told by their secretary, they are very restive. Miss S., being a Southerner, understands negroes, and she says they are just like sulky children. She said that when a "nigger" won't sing, things are very radically wrong, and she tried to get them to join with her in singing some plantation songs, but they would not respond. It is certainly a prob- lem how to handle these men of elementary minds, who can't reason things out, and only know that they want to go home, and can't. Dec. 28. — This week we have three performances to negroes. Miss S. says that this would be almost impossible for her, were it not for her Christian Science and her natu- ral feelings of right and justice. Southerners would ordi- narily about as soon go out and put on an entertainment for horses in the stable. Not that they don't like the blacks, but they consider them a lower order of intelligence. And this happened, last evening. An entertainment party that was in our 'bus went to a certain camp and, seeing negroes there, concluded a mistake had been made, and wandered about until they found a white hut. A program was already in progress there, and it happened that Mr. B., our chief, was there too. So the spokesman of the party, a woman from Texas, announced, with a flash of her eye, that she would entertain no negroes. The argument waxed long and hot, but eventually the lady changed her mind and the party went back to the colored hut. Their frame of mind can be imagined. I hope the negroes did not feel it, or the good that should have been done would have been turned to harm. I imagine that many entertainments are being sent these negroes, probably quite a bit more than usual, because of their particular restiveness. About twenty thou- sand negroes are in this vicinity. Before I play. I always take my wrist watch off and put A "Y" GIRL OVERSEAS 15 it on the piano. Heretofore, I have always remembered to pick it up when I finished, but to-day I forgot. On reach- ing home I missed it, and rushing right ba'ck, I arrived at the hut and walked up to the piano, where a negro was playing. I asked him if he had seen my watch. He hesi- tated for a few seconds, and then drew it out of his pocket. Whether his hesitation was due to a slowness of wit. or to a quick survey of the situation from all its angles, of course I don't know. But it is quite possible that if I had not gone immediately, I should never have seen my watch again. There seems a sort of fate following that watch, first stolen by a house burglar, and now taken care of (?) by a darky! The best hotel in Vannes, where we recently stayed for a week, is simply alive with negro lieutenants. And Miss S. — a Southerner ! She sputtered about it every little while, but of course they were not doing us any harm, so I simply laughed at her. They were many of them fine looking fel- lows, and behaved in a perfectly civilized way. It is really very pathetic when one thinks about it. Here they are, receiving attention from the French people — French girls usually prefer the attentions of a negro officer to those of a white private — are ordering white servants about, and are seeing what life is like to white people. They must now go home, and with that memory behind them take their place again as inferiors. We recently gave a program for an officers' club. Mr. C. and I both felt that they made an ideal audience. I felt that I did better than I had done for a long time. But the others felt that they were cold and blase! Perhaps I mis- took those two qualities for mere undemonstrativeness. Be- ing undemonstrative myself, perhaps I imagined a greater interest than they felt. But the response seemed to me ample, and the well-bred quiet was a joy after some of the restless crowds we get among the boys. A few weeks ago we went to a motor-base camp, and 16 A "Y" GIRL OVERSEAS the audience appealed to me at the time as a particularly fine one. They are stationary, not shifting, as so many camps are. Last evening we went there again, and changed our program entirely. I tried for the first time, '*J"''''> Eaten by the Lion," and it seemed to go. I also give Kipling's "If," as well as the parody thereon, a short Service poem, and "The Birth of the Opal." Mr. C. was screamingly funny in his recitations. The secretary said that our pro- gram had improved fifty per cent. He is not of the flatter- ing type, and had done something himself in the entertain- ment line, so I judge from what his sister said. She is, helping him in the canteen, and is a very nice woman. After the program we had to wait for about an hour for our 'bus. and so I sat by a nice warm stove, with a most adorable kitten curled up asleep in my lap. One evening at another camp we were invited into a little back room, after our per- formance, for chocolate and macaroons,and a prettv little black kitten soon made its appearance. I picked it up and stroked it, and found out that French cats like just the same sort of things that American cats like. It displayed great content and purred and tried to kiss me. Last evening we went to a camp where German pris- oners are guarded. When we have been there before, it has been cold and most unattractive, with candles only for light. Since then the Y has taken charge of it. Now it has a secretary, a little canteen and three stoves, and is brilliantly lighted ; with a good piano, as pianos over here go ; and instead of gloom and dirt, there is an atmosphere of warmth and light and cheer. The audience was very nice, and included six or eight officers. After the program we had a perfect spread at the officers' quarters. Last night Miss S. conspired with the secretary, the corporal, and the sergeant, as to making them a home- made cake some time soon, they to furnish the materials. It seems cake is her specialty. She is not much of a cook, "Y" GIRL OVERSEAS 17 she says, except for a few fancy things. But eggs are almost impossible to get. I shall help eat the cake. '•' * * Later. The cake turned out a perfect poem ; but in making it Aliss S. broke all the rules I was taught to observe. This morning at breakfast I met an interesting young- soldier. He spent three years in a missionary school in Beirut, and three years ago he went through Turkey, Aus- tria and Germany, with German troops, a two months' trip. The Germans have been so short of rubber, he says, that thev have used steel tires for their trucks, with a clever contrivance of springs. Last night at dinner I had a little talk with a young fellow. As he left, he said he was so glad to have had the talk, the first for six or seven months with an American woman. How often that is said to me ! Dec. 29. — Last night we gave a program to a very wild and noisy bunch. I gave Service's fine poem, "The Call of the Wild." I was amazed at how silent they sat, and how thev took it. If you understand them, you can "get by" with lots of things. And on another occasion, after I had given this same poem, I was talking with a boy from Colorado, where, eighty-five miles from a railroad, he had three hundred acres in a valley 9,000 feet high. He spoke of enjoying the Service poem so much. It is indeed true that this army is made up of all kinds of men. He said! he hadn't spoken to an American girl for months. At an- other time, we gave our evening program to one of those delightful small audiences, who are so creative in their influence, when they gaze and listen with such rapt atten- tion. The "Call of the Wild" was really the only serious thing on the program. The feeling that came to me as I was giving the poem was peculiar. I seemed to enter into its meaning as I have not done for many months. At the last, I felt most distinctly moved. I could hardly finish it. Afterwards, one of the Red Cross women, a lady who has 18 A "Y" GIRL OVERSEAS a strong feeling for wildness and nature, spoke of how well I did it. and that I could never do it as I did unless I knew the wild well. It seems that one boy there, of a com- mon, ignorant type, rough and uncouth, came up to another of the canteen ladies, and singled out that number as being the finest on the program. It seems he couldn't stop talk- ing of how fine a thing it was. To me, that was very note- worthy, particularly when the number in cjuestion is so fine a thing. We have heard a good deal lately of the soldier wanting rag-time. This is a confirmation of my previous ideas on the subject. He is probably not the only one who has felt the appeal of that poem. The fact that I have not heard of it before is nothing. It is hy chance onlv that I heard this time. A chance word from the outside often means much to the performer. Sometimes he needs encourage- ment the most, when it is least suspected. After our program at the Red Cross the head asked me if I would play for them to dance. It seems they haven't a single pianist in their canteen, which is very unusual. I told her I would do mv best. And so. with a cornet at my side and a violinist scraping merrily in the rear, I played for perhaps an hour and a half, while Terpsichore held her joyful sway. I seemed to do it all right ; at least I heard no complaints. Really, with the other two instruments, I don't believe any one knew whether I was playing or not. Afterwards I heard that one young fellow, speaking of me, said, "Gee, that lady sure could tickle the ivories. I bet she could play jazz just great." In his mind, jazz is the supreme form of high art. We left at midnight, and I was tired. * * * The other day I played before one of those small private audiences, which draw out one's very best ; a few ofificers, a few privates and four or five ladies. The Miss W., who had enjoyed the "Call of the Wild," had a sister, who studied with MiacDowell and other well-known men. A "Y" GIRL OVERSEAS 19 She has evidently been accustomed to money, culture and Society, spelled with a capital, but withal is thoroughly natural and delightful. She loves the French, too, and has great faith in them, as individuals and as a nation. She came to me afterwards, with tears in her eyes, and said the Prelude, the last thing I played that morning was the last thing her sister had played before she died. And she thought I did it magnificently. She meant the word, as a mature woman of cultivation would use it. It was not the meaningless superlative of a girl. I felt that a compliment worth having. I hope this letter does not sound too ego- tistical. You said you wanted to have me write such things home. Dec. 30. — Last evening we went to a near-by dock, and found that they were not expecting us. The mess hall (a great barn of a place, with tables and benches, a stairway running up one side, and a big open door which let in all the wandering breezes of heaven), was where we had to perform. The piano was fair, but the lighting was very poor, so candles were placed around. The audience was fine, attentive and appreciative. There were many disturb- ances from upstairs and outside, but when the audience is listening, that is all I care about. The boys were sitting on the stairway, on the tables and benches, and around behind us. After the program we had a little talk with a few of the boys. One sergeant told me that it was the first time in five months that he had spoken to an Amer- ican girl. It seems that this is the first entertainment they had had there by ail-American talent. They were a nice audience, and I enjoyed it. One nice thing about our work is that we usually get home by nine. All these boys have to go to bed early, so we begin our programs at 7:30. 20 A "Y" GIRL OVERSEAS i5 CHAPTER III Nantes — Joy rides — Ford wreck — Three fine secretaries — Camp ot engineers — Marines guarding picric acid — Tlie performance, the decorations, and the Ford — St. Jean de Mont.s — Jelly, beds, ward- r° m"^-^'"*^ colonel thirty years of age— Cold ride in truck from L,a Trinite — Interesting men — Mass in Nantes cathedral — Bordeux cathedral — Sea voyage, since censorship is relaxed — Life-boat drill a farce — Burning of new hydroplanes at Le Croisic — Lovely walks — Roads — Flowers— Speech — Ben Greet actor — "All kinds "in this man s army" — Walk on the beach at La Trinite — Spring green be- ginning — Naval station — Stories of the ensign in command — Cuckoo Song — Miss S. and I— More fine walks. ANTES, FRANCE, January 4, 1919, — In my last, I told about the Ford that broke down with us at Vannes. We have had some weird rides, and I am glad I am still alive. I remember one we had in St. Nazaire with an extremely youthful French driver, in a G. M. C. truck. I don't exactly understand it ; I have never yet been killed by a French driver, but thev always make me nervous. A doughboy can do anything he wants to, no matter how wild it seems, and I don't get nervous, for I feel instinctively that he will get away with it. But the French give me the impression of losing their heads when a crisis comes. Instead of doing the right thing instinc- tively, as the doughboy does, they wave their arms and jabber. So I was in a frame of mind for disaster before our vehicle ever staited. Our party started from head- quarters, and then we went to a hotel to pick up some other entertainers, not of our unit. The boy forgot them until we were about a block away, and then he proceeded to back up. He backed at full speed right across a well- traveled street intersection, where he couldn't possiblv see what was coming from the right. Providence guarded us, and so nothing hit us. After we had picked up that party, we went after another unit, consisting of a French woman with a violin, and a Frenchman with a full-sized harp. We were then ten in the 'bus, and the harp was balanced pre- cariously on the edge at the rear. This particular 'bus was the hardest riding one in the garage, and was always taken A "Y" GIRL OVERSEAS 21 out on the longest rides, where the roads were the vilest. So we bumped along, at about twenty miles an hour, over chuck-holes and in ruts, until we came to a camp where the driver mistakenly thought we were going to get out. And in turning around he backed over the brick edging of a well-kept little lawn, and had to make four or five attempts before the machine would go back over the edging. Each time he failed, we would be brought up short with a sicken- ing jolt, which would certainly have landed the harp in the road if the Frenchman's language hadn't been strong enough to keep it in. The two French people were swearing in a highly efficient manner in their mother tongue, and the American men were doing the same in their own tongue, and altogether the situation was such as to recjuire a better vocabulary than mine to describe. However, we finally got away from there, and as we bumped along all at once the seat on the other side of the 'bus — a long wooden bench — broke down, and the girls, in their light entertain- ing dresses — to say nothing of the men and the harp— were precipitated on the floor. More oral pyrotechnics. Our last adventure was when we arrived at the camp which was our destination, and our 'bus began skidding and just hesitated several times on the brink of a ditch so deep that it would have meant a very serious accident if we had gone over. However, to return to our muttons — in this case the stranded Ford in \'"annes — that experience was quite differ- ent, and to me enjoyable. You see, our driver was an American ! And while we waited for the other car to come and fetch us, we sat around a nice warm fire in the back room of a Y hut with three very interesting secretaries. One is a church organist in New York, who knows intimately the composer Charles Cadman, and the negro composer Burleigh. He seems a fine man. Our driver is another. His name is Hunter, and at the front this fall 22 A "Y" GIRL OVERSEAS he was wounded three times in one day. He lav out in No Man's Land for ten hours, from early morning, and said he never expected to get out alive. About noon a Red Cross man came to look after him, but he sent him to the other boys. He said that when it was a question of his going over the top, the Colonel came to him and said, "Now you are unarmed, and we are not supposed to let you go over. You'd better stay behind." But Mr. H. insisted that he had been with the boys all along, and nothing- short of a positive order would keep him back. So the Colonel patted him on the back, and told him to go ahead. While he was lying in No Man's Land he wasn't afraid. He felt that if he lived, he would go back to his mother, and if not, he would go to his Father, and it made very little difference which. When he came out of the hos- pital, his nurse said he would not be able to do anything for a month. But he went right to driving a car, has been doing it now for about three months, and says it would be hard to find a healthier specimen than he is. He takes out parties every evening, and much of the time gets soak- ing wet, but you hear no complaints from him about the climate, or about catching cold. He loves the out-of-doors in all its phases, and is very fond of Brittany. He is thor- oughly efficient and, no matter what happens, is alwavs cheerful. * * * On that evening when our Ford broke down, we had been due at a little party, on our return, where we were to give a short program. It was given for some Y people, and some M. P.'s. We were due at about nine, got there at the fashionable hour of eleven, and stayed until about one. This afternoon we w^ent to an engineers' camp where they are shut in and hungry for entertainment. As an addition to our program, a young lieutenant sang two songs and a cjuartette sang two. We had a wonderfully enthusi- astic audience. We enjoyed it very much. A "Y" GIRL OVERSEAS 23 Jan. 18. — Tonight we had an interesting experience. We went to a small camp of marines, gnarding a supply of picric acid. There are only fifty of them. There have been various efforts to send out entertainment parties, some of which have been lost, and one party got stuck in the nmd, and it took twenty German prisoners to pull them out. So last night they sent in a young fellow who showed our driver the way. The trip was about six miles, through a beautiful country, with one of the most wonderful moons I have ever seen, and a balky Ford. The moon doesn't often shine here, but last night it was full, and one could almost have read by its light. After we got out of town we passed through lovely, quiet country lanes, and saw what looked like ruins, every now and then. It was really a scene of transcendent beauty. Our Ford would run a few 'blocks, knocking and pop- ping the while, and then would sigh, and die. Then our reliable American driver, the head of the transportation department, would get out, and he and our guide would take turns in cranking the beast, until finally it would make up its mind to go another few blocks. Of course, we were late in arriving, and as a finishing touch to its performance, the Ford ran into a mud hole, which took quite a time and a lot of man power to evacuate. You see, I am acquiring military terms. We v.ere warmly welcomed by an audience which had heard us coming for a long time. The night and the coun- try was so still that I imagine we could have been heard for miles. A lieutenant afterwards told us that he had said, of the noise, "It is either a motorcycle, an airplane, or a Ford." The whole camp was thus notified that we were on our way, and we found them seated, and waiting expect- antly. We were afterwards told that the room had been empty, up to the time that Lizzie had announced to high heaven that she was coming. There was no piano there, so Mr. C. gave eight or nine 24 A "Y" GIRL OVERSEAS short readings, whistled one thing, unaccompanied ; Miss S. sang" five or six songs, and I gave two Service poems, several other numbers, and an O. Henry story. We ended with our ensemble number, and two or three familiar songs, in which the boys joined. Then, after a little chat, we started for home. Both the room and the audience were the smallest we have yet seen. The room was beautifully decorated with holly. Many people talk about the woman's touch making things so attractive. But I have found that many men do quite as well, if not better. Candles were stuck around plentifully,' and made a beautiful, cheerful effect. The room was warm, too, rather a novelty for us, and altogether was as attractive a place as I have seen for some time. I enjoyed my numbers in that hall. It was small enough so that I did not have to center my chief attention on being heard at the back, and was thus able to bring out some fine points, other- wise lost. And the numbers were certainly appreciated. These men are marooned in a lonesome spot, and get very few entertainments. So what they do get are the more appreciated. And they are a particularly nice set of men, anyway. Well, as to the return : Lizzie had had time to con- sider her wrongs during the show, and the more she thought of them the greater they grew. So she finally refused to budge at all. About a dozen marines succeeded in pushing her out of the mudhole, where she had sulkily buried her nose, and after she had been turned around, we got in, and these same marines pushed us about a quarter of a mile to a shed ; and there the machinist of the lot got some tools, and a kerosene lantern, and held it right inside the engine, with gas fumes terribly thick. It was the first time I had ever seen it done, and it made me a bit nervous. But noth- ing happened, and I suppose they knew what they w^ere about. While these operations on Lizzie were taking place, a verv nice young lieutenant spent the time talking A "Y" GIRL OVERSEAS 25 to the two ladies, so we had a good time. He had helped push us, that far. It was discovered that the feed pipe had become clogged, and when it was blown out. and the engine raced, Lizzie forgot her wrongs sufficiently to proceed homeward. She still muttered and complained, but we arrived at our hotel at about 10:15. St. Jean de Monts, Jan. 10. — I have just had a won- derful breakfast, including a saucer of jelly. A French- man whom I met had much to say about the jelly ; it seems it was made of saccharin and gelatine. But I don't care, it tasted good. And one thing the French understand is beds — their beds are all delightfully comfortable. And at this little summer hotel, I have a place to hang my things. Our rooms usually have fine wardrobes with beautiful mirrors, but when you open them, you find rows of shelves, with no place to hang anything. * * * Last night, before our program, I played in the officers' club, and Miss S. sang. The Y women here are most delightful and entertained us royally. The Colonel at the head of the camp is only thirty, and they say the boys all idolize him. The army car with a fine driver brought us back to Nantes. It was a lovely ride of about fifty miles. As I said before, I am having a fine time. But I wish I were home just the same. If I could come home to-morrow, with no sense of work undone, wouldn't I jump at the chance! Nantes, Jan. 14. — To go back to that long, cold ride in the truck from La Trinite, I don't think I went into details. I was not dressed very warmly. For some reason, the front seat was cold. A draft caught one fore and aft, and from both sides. It was a cold day, and before long it began to rain. It was a trip of at least an hour. The delightful secretary who had us in charge insisted on the two ladies sitting in front, as being the best place. After 26 A "Y" GIRL OVERSEAS a while, Miss S. moved into a back seat, where it was warmer, and I stayed alone with the driver. Before long, had I consulted my own inclinations, I would have gone back, too. But I stayed on account of the driver. The sec- retary had told us about him, an awfully nice boy, but with- out the glimmer of a sense of humor. When such a person gets cold and wet, he is liable to feel injured. I felt that so long as I sat there, he would not feel quite so deserted and alone. And besides, if I at all represented American womanhood to him, which I might well do, under the cir- cumstances, I did not wish to appear to be a quitter. On arriving we performed in a cold hall, and not onlv was there no fire, but for the program we had to lay ofif our wraps. And coming home, I again sat with the driver, and got wet, and thoroughly chilled. Perhaps my attitude seems funny, but I believe it was well taken. On the way home, the driver began to complain a bit about how cold he was, sitting in a pool of water ; he was on the windy side, and so was worse off than I. I could see he wasn't feeling happy. Then, after a bit, we started to talking, and he was at last very cheerful when we got home. That was six days ago, and so far as I am concerned, T'm all right yit." Nantes, Jan. 15. — Last night I went downstairs to write in what one might call the lobby of this hotel. \^ari- ous interesting people congregate there. I had a chat with an American lieutenant of engineers, whose parents are both Roumanian. He had lived in Roumania until he was eight. His English is perfect, with no trace of accent, I also had quite a talk with another man, about fifty years of age, a Y secretary, here temporarily. He had been a Congregational missionary in China. This morning, Sun- day, I went to the Cathedral, and spent about an hour, listening to the service and absorbing the atmosphere of the place. It is a very beautiful structure, and at the begin- A "Y" GIRL OVERSEAS 27 ning of the war a contract had beeen let to an Austrian firm for its repair and renovation. Of course, the work stopped immediately, and the scaffolding, weather worn and gray, is still there. The service was beautiful, the organ has a very pure tone ; and in the large spaces the big choir had a subdued effect. The costumes of the differ- ent men and boys in the procession were most interesting, one high dignitary being clothed in magenta, closely fol- lowed by two in scarlet, and some were in white and gold. A. number of adorable little boys wore scarlet, with white capes ; some older boys were in purple, and the men were in black, with edgings of red. The choir wore black robes with their white accordion-pleated capes, and the lace worn by the dignitaries was beautiful indeed. This Cathedral is of the fifteenth century. I had no such thrill there, however, as in the cathedral at Bordeaux. Of course, the cathedral was very beautiful, but I imagine the difference was more in my frame of mind. I never before had the tears start at the beauty of an interior, as happened to me in Bordeaux cathedral. That was at the beginning of France for me. Now I have settled to a more commonplace frame of mind. There are some interesting facts about my trip over that I have not written, until the censorship should be relaxed. Our boat was the Espagne, fast, narrow, and about fourteen thousand tons. Out of New York harbor, we were escorted for about twelve hours bv three hydro- planes. Each one at first was a speck on the horizon ; it looked like an enormous dragon-fly. Then we heard a faint whir, growing louder and louder. They went around us in great circles, sometimes flying off for a mile or so, but always coming back. One, in paticular, made great swoops downward, passing close to where we were. Thev were large planes, holding several men, and the roar thev made was one of the most thrilling things I have ever heard. To 28 A <'Y" GIRL OVERSEAS see these gigantic birds, endowed with human intelHgence ; to realize the menace below the waves ; to feel that they were protecting the great ship ; to hear that wonderful crescendo as they came near and dipped toward us — all this I shall never forget. After they left us, we had no convoy until one day out of Bordeaux. Then a destroyer picked us up and trudged along in our wake. It was com- forting to see. but there was no thrill about it. Perhaps it was because it had no spectacular quality and lacked romance. They say that no French liner has been lost during this war. Certainly they were far less particular about convoys than other ships. One young woman with whom I talked, came over before we did. and had no sign of a convoy. Various reasons are assigned. They say that the French carry the Swiss mail, verv valuable to the Germans ; and that the Kaiser had some shares of stock in French ships. * * * Our berths were $i6o each. '■' * * In the steer- age, a party of perhaps two hundred Polish soldiers were going over to fight. Just as we were getting into the danger zone on this side I heard the comforting news that we had a lot of ammunition on board. One of the nine Y girl enter- tainers on board died about six days out. She was a nerv- ous wreck from the Michigan fires, had a weak heart, was horribly seasick, and had had a touch of flu. The body was taken on to Bordeaux. We had with us some inter- esting people. A Dr. A., of Pittsburg, reported to be a multi-millionaire, who was an evangelist "because he liked it." He was breezy, energetic, fat, something of a bon vivant. He was very nice to me, and when I felt so ill, the first day, he would come around the deck and make some jokes, and I'd feel better at once. He was in the Y service. We also had on board a French Ace, wearing the gorgeous French uniform. He was in reality a New York boy, aged nineteen, of very common lineage. And A "Y" GIRL OVERSEAS 29 lastly, we had Sarah Bernhardt. She kept her cabin dur- ing the voyage, and rumor had it that she was on her way to a serious operation. She was carried on and off the boat in a chair. I saw her, at close range. With her was her granddaughter, Lysianne, about whom so much has been written. I do not call her a beauty, as others have done, but she has an exceedingly interesting face, mobile, intelli- gent, and temperamental. I imagine, judging from her rather imperious expression, that she would be a fiendish person to live with. She is tall, svelte, and wears an anklet. '^ * -" Our life-boat drill was a perfect farce. We were told what to do, in a crisis, but given no opportunity to practice. When we had our bad storm on the Bav of Biscay, and I looked at the ocean, I realized the utter impos- sibility of any mere landsman going down the rope ladder, and getting into any bobbing cockleshell in that wild waste. And now for another piece of news : When we went up to the little village of Le Croisic, shortly after reaching St. Nazaire, we found that a lot of brand new hydroplanes, built by America and never used, were being burned. The French had refused to buy them for more than the price of raw lumber, and rather than be "skinned"' in that man- ner, the Americans burned them. It would have cost more to send them home than they were worth, we were told. Nantes, Jan. 17. — Many things have happened since I last had time to write. I shall return to the two lovely walks I had long enough to say that I saw some real Scotch broom, open pods and all, as well as some dead brakes, and a quantity of blackberry vines, all of which made me think of home. Both mornings a sense of overwhelming hanpi- ness came over me. which is very rare. The roads here are metalled with a beautiful, trans- lucent stone, that looks like marble. It is rusted by the elements into wonderful shades of buff and brown. It 30 A "Y" GIRL OVERSEAS seems that this white stone is really poor for road-making, being too soft to be durable ; and the reason the roads are so good in Brittany is that German prisoners arc kept at work on them all the time. * * * There is a plant much like Scotch broom, in blossom now. It is spiky, blooms in great profusion, and they say that in April it clothes everything in yellow. It blooms somewhat all the year around. It is called gorse, or furze. As good holly as ours grows wild here, but is straggly from lack of priming. After a recent performance of ours, some boys who were having a little party asked us to remain. We stayed per- haps an hour, and were called on for speeches. I had the sense to say little, but I think what I said was good enough. It came to me as a sort of inspiration after I got on my feet. The idea of making an ex tempore speech nearly turned my knees to water. The boys themselves did a few stunts, all to the accompaniment of chocolate and wafers. It transpired that one of them had been with Ben Greet, and has lately been the manager of some well-known actor. Truly, there are all kinds in this army. The next day I spent in bed, eating nothing, until just before I left for our evening's performance, when I had a few cookies. For that day, at least, I was very much under the weather. We were then at La Trinite. a little fishing village on the coast, which has some beautiful summer cottages. On Sunday I got up fairly early and, the weather proving favorable, I wandered about for about three hours and a half. I picked up some wonderful snail shells on the beach ; I skipped along the sand dunes, and watched the imitation surf. I talked to a fisherman who was digging in the wet sand. He was after fish bait, and had a shovel that would have been just the thing for clams. And for some time I watched a figure in khaki that was trying to get over to me. For some time I hadn't noticed him. his coloring was so like the sand and the rocks. It was a lonely spot, A "Y" GIRL OVERSEAS 31 a mile from anywhere in every direction. Between him and me was a little stream that emptied into the ocean. He finally went away up stream, and so got over. He was a most adorable boy from Pennsylvania, who has for nine months been at the front, five of them in a hospital. He was now at a hospital two or three miles away. He and I had a most delightful talk and walk. The walks I have at these places are a great joy to me. To-day I saw spring green making its appearance. At our hotel a typically continental thing happened. We three of the Victory Company sat down to the table with three Frenchmen, one a man of perhaps fifty, and two young soldiers, his sons, both of whom had the croix de guerre, and other decorations of distinction. We talked English among ourselves, and at last one of the Frenchmen spoke to us in English. They all three talked it well. The father was a ship owner in St. Nazaire, and they were away from home for a few days. In that out of the way place, we ran upon the English language. We have been where the ordinary tourist never goes. On Sunday evening, after our program was over, we w^ere taken through the kitchen and bakery of the navy mess. We had given to us a loaf of white bread, which was about the best I have ever eaten. Then we went over to the Y rooms, and the two ladies, the two ensigns, and the two Y men sat and talked till eleven thirtv. The ranking officer at this naval station is a most inter- esting man. He has been ten years in service, and has seen all sorts of adventures. In the Philippines, in the Moro insurrection, he was left on the beach to guard the boat in which twelve men had pulled ofif from the ship ; and of those twelve, all were badly injured, later on, and most of them killed by the natives. One morning in Hawaii, he overslept, and so lost the car which should have taken him on time to his submarine ; and when he got there, it had 32 A "Y" GIRL OVERSEAS gone oft on its trial trip, and never came back again. He told in a most graphic way the sensations of a deep sea diver. He himself has gone down 240 feet, the record being. I believe, less than 300. At sixtv feet one gets nose bleed, and sort of strangles, and the ears ache. At 100 feet, the joints ache. At 200 the air pressure drives the air into the jjores of the skin. When the hydrogen gets into the blood, it is held there in solution, making the whole anatomy feel more normal. On coming up after a long dive a man must be put into a tank under pressure, and come back to normal very slowly. Latelv he has been in the air service, connected with the navy, and showed us manv pictures of the elephant balloons. He spoke of one curious thing. He has always been a little uncertain on heights. On the top of a mast, for example, he would be apt to get the impulse to throw himself down. But in a balloon or airship one has no such feeling. One feels that the earth is simply receding, while the stationary thing is the machine, or the basket in which one is. He savs that what makes this difference is the being disconnected with the earth. He is a truly interesting man. He told of all his exjieri- ences in the matter of fact way in which people usually speak who have really done big things. While we listened to his talk, we were sitting by a delightful fire, and the charming gentleman who was our host in these Y rooms was feeding us American chocolates, and we were getting warm after our experiences of the afternoon. The next day we went back by a Ford ambulance to Nantes. Miss S. sings Liza Lehmann's "Cuckoo," and it has a verv funnv effect on the boys. After the third or fourth cuckoo, the boys begin to laugh, and she is indeed lucky if she can get through the song without having them, all over the audience, joining in the cuckoo. Whenever she comes out on the stage again, even when I appear, they A '«Y" GIRL OVERSEAS 33 join in the delightful new chorus. Sometimes, days after- wards, if we meet a bunch of boys, and they recognize us, we again hear the cuckoo. This morning we were waiting for the train with some soldiers who had heard us the night before. And as soon as Miss S. hove in sight, they began it, all up and down the platform, and kept it up at intervals for fifteen minutes or more. All this shows what boys they are. I am having a much better time than Miss S. is. She is far less adaptable, and demands more. She is, of course, a Southern girl, and is accustomed to more attention. She resents it when she is treated by secretaries with strict justice, as if she were a man. Because she is a woman, she feels entitled to more consideration. If she finds that some one else is getting something she is not, she gets it herself, or becomes disagreeable. As for me, I may not get quite all that some people do, but I get quite sufficient ; and I remember that those who insist on things for them- selves frequently make some one else suffer. In our case, the already overworked secretaries would be the ones to suffer. I have known them to work themselves into the hospital. It is always the conscientious ones who have to carrv the burdens of the shirkers. Nantes, Jan. i8. — This morning we stayed in bed late, and after a rehearsal I set out for a walk. I walked along the road we took last night, for about three miles, and it was one of the most wonderful walks I ever had. The road was fine, the weather lovely, the scenery about like the fens of England, and the peasants most interesting in their queer costumes. I saw a lot of cows, mostly poor looking milkers, of Holstein coloring and Ayrshire horns. I saw seven or eight small "caterpillars" trundling along amid much clatter, driven by Americans, to the scandaliza- tion of every Breton horse they met. I saw some magpies. 34 A "Y" GIRL OVERSEAS This morning Miss S. and I also wandered into a wonder- ful old church, and heard part of the service. There was a beautiful toned organ, and I certainly enjoyed it. St. Nazaire, Feb. 2. — On my walks lately I have seen fruit blossoms. They looked like some kind of plum. Every morning it is frozen in spots, but I am not suffering from the cold. They have a Y library here, on the shelves of which I often look with longing, but my days are too full. I get scarcely any time for reading. This evening a bomb was sprung on us. We are to leave St. Nazaire, presumably for good, in three days. We are going to Brest. Everyone to whom we have talked on the subject says that St. Nazaire is the worst place on earth, with one exception, and that exception is Brest. However, I don't care how much it rains, if it only isn't cold. And I don't imagine it gets very cold any- where on this Atlantic coast ; and, anyway, it will be February when we go there, so winter won't last much longer. They say there are twice as many troops there as here. "Y" GIRL OVERSEAS 35 CHAPTER IV Calvaire near Pont Chateau — Boys like youngsters at a picnic — Morning work at canteen — Horses — Trip to Brest — Pontenezan — Dr. B. and his good influence — Meeting fine people — Programs in an old theater and in a leaky tent — St. Brieux — Story of "Humphrey Ward situation" — More walks than art museums — Horse fair scene — R. C. canteen and the hundred reformed soldiers — Orgies of work per- formed by R. C. women — Pathetic cases of drunken soldier boys — Advice to boys on buying gifts — Brest streets and grim chateau — Program in hospital with the dog — Long walk — Rain — Art gallery — Drunken darky and M. P. ^SlTT LAST we have received an invitation for a trip ^J we have long- wanted to take. The Y secretary •^"^ seems to me a very fine man; a college man, a minister from Texas; he entered the army at the be- ginning of the war, as a lieutenant. When hostilities ceased, he got transferred to the Y. He says that in his Y hut out there, there is not a single "Don't." He does everything for the boys that he possibly can, keeps his canteen open all day long, so long as any boy wants anything (most canteens have regular hours) and tries to serve them in every way he can. He says he is there for service, and I think he is. When he went out there, no one had any use for the Y. In fact, they felt bitter towards it. And he says that you never saw a more lonesome, forlorn set of men. Now they all swear by the Y, and are developing a good, homey spirit. Well, all this is a prelude to the statement that he had prepared for the men an outing for today — Sunday. (I have just heard an American locomotive whistle, and let me tell you that after the shrill toots of the French engines, the rich, minor triad of an American locomotive does the ears good.) We went out to Calvaire, near Pont Chateau. This is a pilgrimage spot for devout Roman Catholics from all parts of France. On our way out, our driver was friendly, but not loquacious. We followed the other truck quite closely, 36 A "Y" GIRL OVERSEAS a Liberty five-ton, and the boys piled in on benches ; some of them facing us looked so happy and dear that I wanted to hug the lot of them. They were just like youngsters, out for a picnic. One of them was the nice lad who afterwards acted as guide and chewed gum all the way with the industry of a sheep. Forty acres, possibly, are laid out in a beautiful park, w^here various artificial grottoes contained wax figures, or reliefs of the Christ story. At one end was a facade (with no building back of it), reached by a long flight of steps. One must here go up on one's knees or remove one's shoes, after which, combined with certain prayers, one receives certain absolutions. In this really beautiful facade were various reliefs. And scattered all over the grounds were scenes from the Crucifixion. It took forty years to complete this work. It is modern, but I don't know the exact date. The grottoes are made of that same beautiful stone I saw around Vannes, which looked so like marble, when broken, and rusted in the elements so beautifullv into buffs and browns. There are scenes where Christ falls with the cross, where he comforts the mothers of Israel, and so on, all leading along the rocky trail, the way to the cross. On the top of a hill, the only one for miles around, the three crosses stand. They are plainly to be seen at a long distance. The view of the lovely, peaceful country, with its rounded trees, its windmills and church spires, the sunlight gleaming on the water and the gray-blue distance, was very lovely. The figures are about life size, and I don't know what they are made of. I incline to the belief that they are of clay, baked and painted white. No one seemed to know. I presume all this might not meet with the approval of a hyper-sensitive art critic. I am reminded of the Sieges-Allee, of the Berlin Thier- Garten. Here the setting of the figures is much more "Y" GIRL OVERSEAS 37 natural and graceful than there ; and the subject is one of devotion, rather than the aggrandizement of the Hohen- zollerns. Lacking the solid green background of trees, these figures are much less startling and abrupt; but in various ways it rather reminds me of the Sieges-Allee. Some of the faces struck me as being rather good ; that of the Christ, never. But this thing I particularly noticed : the quiet and reverential manner of everyone. The nice boy who liked my Russian music, acted as guide for me and a few soldiers. He had been there before. And in his boyish, inarticulate way he commented on its impressiveness, and the way the story was brought home to one, after years of unrealizing Bible study. He also spoke of the way he had come to a realization of what church stood for in a man's life. He was a min- ister's son, and had had to attend church twice a Sunday. He had often rebelled, and, as he expressed it, "played hookey." He said that the thing he didn't like about some Protestant churches was the rowdyism. Those were his words. We had just come out of a beautiful little chapel, and I had commented on the fact that, although I was not a Catholic and did not approve of all their teachings, yet my aesthetic sense was moved by the dignity and beauty of their service. However this Calvaire may affect art critics, I be- lieve it does common folk (of the grade of cultivation of myself and these soldiers) a great deal of good. It is undeniably impressive, and might well make many a thoughtless person ponder. I believe there was not one of the boys who was not made a little better for the afternoon's experience. Now this was what the secre- tary had arranged for them. It served the double purpose of taking them for an outing, to see one of the sights of the neighborhood and. without making it too apparent, bringing a little religion home to them. 38 A "Y" GIRL OVERSEAS St. Nazaire, Feb. 6. — I got up this morning at half- past six, to help with the canteen work. I have just come from the dock, where for two hours we helped to serve chocolate to the soldiers embarking for home. It is peculiar, the effect that line of boys has on me. It is very touching to see them coming, whether their faces are young and boyish, or whether they are older, seamed faces ; they take on an entirely different quality in the line from what they have when one meets them singly, on the street. It is something childlike and appealing. Every now and then some clumsy fellow, impeded by his many burdens, gets sort of tangled up with his pesky pile of packages, and has to be straightened out. And he is so submissive and grateful that it goes to one's heart. My work undoubtedly lies in the other direc- tion. And, of course, I do get an occasional chance at this. But I wish I were strong enough for canteen work. However, each to his own task. The entertaining is usually considered the more desirable.* Brest, Feb. lo. — After a recent performance, we talked to the officers till our 'bus came along. One of them was telling of the horses there. He said that there were animals there ranging in value from $i,ooo to $50,000; that some horses there had pedigrees it would take two days to run off. I asked him why they used such fine horses in the army. As he expressed it, the thorough- bred has a "heart," and in a crisis always knows what to do, is reliable, and so on. Whereas, you can not depend on the scrub stock. The horse-lover knows that at the front the life of a horse is something like a week. And, also, •(It will be remembered that last winter Mrs. Theodore Roose- velt and Mrs. Vincent Aster came home from most efficient canteen work in Prance. And well known names in the entertaining work of the Y are Mary Garden, Mary Anderson, E. H. Sothern and Walter Damrosch; also the daughter of the President, Miss Margaret WMlson.) A "Y" GIRL OVERSEAS 39 the finest Percherons that the French government had are now at work on the dock at St. Nazaire. Horses here have to be treated for mud fever ; and glanders, too, is here, and is apt to prove serious. On the trip to Brest we had, as usual, first-class tickets. But after we changed cars, we were in a second-class car, with French people only, the most of the way. This was unusual and did not appeal to me. Mr. C. had a place somewhere else, and we two women were in a com- partment for ten, which was frequently full, at one time having twelve occupants. However, they were courteous, and during the evening, when they left our car only par- tially lighted, we went through a beautiful country with very strong moonlight falling on it. It was very beau- tiful, and much more so because our car was not lighted. For the forty minutes before our change we had an in- teresting conversation with a young American major and a Belgian lieutenant. The American was very young, but very self-possessed, with a slow, quiet manner, and an ex- ceptionally nice, friendly face. He had spent a year or two in Russia, quite recently, and he said he had been converted by that to national prohibition. He had never believed in it before, but when he saw what it had done for the Russian people, he was heartily in favor of it. I do not know what branch of the service he was in. His coat covered all insignia, except the sign of his rank, which was pinned on each shoulder, and on his little overseas cap. The Belgian, who talked excellent English, was intimating that the Americans made officers too fast. In his army it took seventeen years to become a captain ! This was, to say the least, in bad taste, with the extremely youthful major opposite him. The American was a gentleman, and the argument did not become acrimonious. But neither showed himself in the least convinced by the other. 40 A "Y" GIRL OVERSEAS We stayed in the train till 10:30 p. m., a ride of twelve hours for a comparatively short distance. At Vannes, where we spent so delightful a week a little over a month ago, two soldier boys brought us each a cup of cofifee from a free Y canteen at the station. It was extremely good coffee and was very thoughtful of them. It w^as an idea right out of their own heads. * * * We are to appear seven times each week, and shall prob- ably be here four weeks. Last evening we went out to Pontenezan, where there are barracks for something like 100.000. It is immense, of course, and very muddy. It has seven or eight Y huts. Yesterday and today I have had long and very in- teresting conversations with a Dr. B — , a Congregational minister from a little town twenty-five miles out of Chi- cago. He is a fine man. He was telling yesterday of the way he had hunted for and found a wounded son. He knew him to be badly wounded and had not heard from him for a long time. The search was most inter- esting — I mean the story of his search. The boy himself has a remarkable record. This morning. Dr. B — was telling me of the campaign which started among the colored troops and has been spreading among the whites along lines of morality — what they have to fight, and how they are doing it. I have certainly been meeting some very fine people, and having some wonderful opportunities to hear things. I wish my memory could retain it all. Dr. B — has a warm human quality in his sermons, and seems of a deeply spiritual nature. I imagine he would have a wonderful influence for good on everyone he met. Brest, Feb. 11. — When we were stationed at St. Nazaire we went several times to a remount station, and gave our performance in an old theater. It seems that at one time the casino was rather well known, and now A "Y" GIRL OVERSEAS 41 there is a delightful courtyard, a place where "Bains de Vapeur" are still advertised. The acoustics of the place were wonderful, but it was cold ! Of course, there was no heat in the theater, and a draft always came from somewhere. Was I telling about the performance in the tent, the other evening, when I was the only woman on the program? It was cold, and the piano not at all a bad one) was down in the orchestra pit. I had to climb up a high step, each time I went up for my reading. More- over, the tent leaked, and when I came to put on my coat it was too wet to wear. It had been right under the leak. But I had my cape along, and so was all right. " * * At the big barracks, at Pontenezan, where 75,000 men can be accommodated, there are many huts, and we go there time after time. One young fellow heard our program at one hut. and came the next day to a neigh- boring hut, to hear it again ; he liked it so much. He was telling Miss S. afterwards. Of course, one is bound to get commendation or condemnation, depending on the individual. St. Brieux, Feb. 12. — This is a very picturesque town of 30,000, not so very far from Brest. It has some in- teresting churches, a museum and other points of interest. A deep valley runs along the edge of the town, and every square foot of ground along the sides of the valley is utilized by terraced gardens. At the bottom is a verv talkative stream, and the ravine is spanned by several unusual and beautiful bridges. From one point one sees the valley ; in the middle distance, a loftv and airv bridge ; and beyond, a hill, topped by a half ruined tower. The destruction dates from Henry of Navarre's time. The Red Cross lady who directed our tour of inspection, wit- tily referred to him as "Ornery Cat," "Henri Otiatre." 42 A "Y" GIRL OVERSEAS It was a satire on the kind of French so many Americans speak over here. I had a chance to take a lovely walk over this big and picturesque bridge, towards the ruined castle. It seems that the noble who owns the tower, and the hill on which it stands, and who is presumably the aristocrat of the region, has built a mansion just below the tower. Strange to say, he has placed it on the land side of the hill, away from the sea view. He has deserted his English wife for another woman. The wife, a lovely and refined woman, idolized her father-in-law, who took her part in the quarrel. A week ago he passed away, after a year's illness, and now she is left entirely alone. She has been very kind to the Americans at St. B — , and has be- come much interested in a certain officer. Our informant pronounced it quite a Humphrey- Ward situation. This Englishwoman has wealth and position, but seems to have nothing to live for, and is very unhappy. At all these places, I wager, I get a better idea of the surrounding country than most tourists. As to museums and the life, I left Nantes, as I left Vannes, without seeing all that I wanted to see. I had a nap, on two or three afternoons, and I had a fine chance to practice there, which I do not always have, and which I was glad to improve. If I had consciously chosen, however, I should have done as I did. I had the walks at Vannes, and the hour in the cathedral at Nantes. I have been both amused and disgusted by a sort of horse-fair scene I have been watching from my windows. Seven animals were led out, some mature horses, some colts, perhaps two years old, most of them with good draft blood. One iron-gray colt was particularlv good. The plan, as I afterwards found out, was to tie them together in bunches of three, one to another's tail. The iron-gray was honored by being by himself. Naturally, "Y" GIRL OVERSEAS 43 the horses protested at having their tails used as leading ropes. The French method of bringing a refractory horse to time is to stand in front of him with a stick and beat him violently in the face. It is evidently assumed that any horse will then know what is expected of him, and will at once execute his master's desires. He will at once pull the too heavy load, or will become resigned to having his caudal appendage meddled with. By dint of tourniquets around the upper lip, various refractory ani- mals were finally subdued, and the string at last got started. I thought the facial expressions of some of the animals most ludicrous. They looked demure, or mis- chievous, or taunting. Horses must have a sense of humor, or they couldn't laugh, as they so evidently do, at the beings who torture them so. Yesterday we paid a visit to a revolutionary prison. The building is six hundred years old. We saw the place where the prisoners had been killed, etc., etc. The roof had long since fallen in, and ferns were growing on the rocks of the balcony. We climbed still higher, and saw a group of German prisoners. The French peasant woman who was showing us these sights was much impressed with these Germans' "taking off all their clothes, even in cold weather, and washing themselves all over." The stone walls of this prison are very high, and, ordinarily speaking, would be impossible to scale. The Red Cross canteen at St. Brieux will be one of my most delightful and sunny memories. They enter- tained us for three meals, and absolutely would not accept any remuneration. They said that it is a joy, occasionally to meet an American woman. Even they feel it, you see. They are as fine a set of women as I have ever met— wholesome, cheery, sweet-tempered, poised. Their most spectacular performance is the regular supplying of troop trains, going through to Brest, with coffee and sandwiches. 44 A «'Y" GIRL OVERSEAS Once they served fifteen hundred in thirteen minutes. Sometimes the strain has been so great that several have fainted. They talked as if the whole thing were simply one glorious good time. But we knew better. After- wards, we heard some details from a Y man. But this supplying of troop trains is, to my mind, the least part of their work, judging from the standpoint of actual good done. There are about one hundred soldiers in this town, sent here as a punishment for hard drinking — at least, that is true of most of them. Before this canteen came, they were gloomy, absolutely without amuse- ment, and felt marooned and desolate. Now, a most de- lightful spot of sunshine has been provided for them, and they are not drinking at all. A good many of them loaf around the canteen most of the day, ostensibly to help. And they really are a tremendous help in the regular canteen duties. But now a feminine home influence is being provided, which is keeping them straight. When we walked in, the day we arrived, at three in the afternoon, having eaten nothing since breakfast, these women treated us like long lost friends. I am reminded of a most attractive Y. W. C. A. waiting room, near St. Nazaire, with a beautiful big fire- place and a piano-. There we talked to a most interesting woman, head of certain Red Cross departments. She has lived in France for twenty-one years, and loves the country and people. On August 2, 19 14, she entered the French Red Cross. Since then she has been continually engaged in one kind or another of absorbing activity. At one time she had seventeen thousand refugees under her care, and she bought hospitals, factories, etc. She told of the per- fect orgies of work she had undergone during "flu" con- ditions, some six months ago, where she worked like a slave for five days, with her own temperature at 104. Out of three hundred and six cases she lost but one. As "Y" GIRL OVERSEAS 45 I understand it, all these people had for doctor and nurse, onlv herself and another woman. She told of the poor little children, whose fathers and mothers had been killed before their eyes, and they themselves driven out into the fields to starve ; of how their little minds had become affected, and the abject terror with which they would watch everyone. She talked of the children who, born shortly before, or during this war, had known no happi- ness, nothing but sorrow, and of the car-loads of toys she was able to dispense to them. She is a fine type of woman, with a clear, keen, intelligent eye, and a force- ful and decisive manner which at once impresses you with her efficiency. We talked with her for about an hour, while waiting for our 'bus. Brest, Feb. i8. — Yesterday I saw three more pathetic cases of drunkenness. Two were sailors, just boys, one of whom had a foolish grin on his face, and the other inclined to be quarrelsome. The third was a soldier, who is said to have been a very wonderful pianist, and he has gone completely to pieces. They all came into Y headquarters. I suppose it is really remarkable one does not see more of it, under the circumstances. As to health: when I contrast the way I am living, and the way I live at home ! Much of my day is neces- sarily spent in bad air. I am continually with people who have colds, etc. However, I don't come into contact with flu. In St. Nazaire, in our hospital work, we did some little entertaining in flu wards, but aside from that, so far as I know, I have not met it in more than two in- dividuals. I am certainly having an entertaining time, and if little vexations come up, that is merely some- thing to overcome. I have been far freer from them than many people. * * * Today, while I was in the Y rest rooms (it is warm there), reading a very entertaining 46 A "Y" GIRL OVERSEAS book on the selection and care of horses, a most attrac- tive and exceedingly young first lieutenant came up and asked me — me, mind you — about some lace he wanted to buy as presents to take home. He had heard that some woman had them to sell, and wondered what I knew about it. I told him the truth, which was that I knew nothing about the woman, and nothing about the laces, but wished him success. So after a short time he re- turned with four pieces, three of very elaborate Irish crochet and one of Brittany lace. He had paid $25, and wanted to know whether they were worth it. I admired them, and told him I thought they were. They really were beautiful pieces, and he wondered which he had better give to his girl. It seemed that there was nothing settled between them yet, and another man was taking her shawls and things. He was such a boy, and such a dear, I hope he'll get the girl, if she is worthy. He ex- pects to go home right away. I had an interesting walk this morning. There is an old chateau here, looking very big, grim and forbidding. They say the walls are fourteen feet thick. A very fine stone wall is built out from the chateau, and along this runs a boulevard, wide and handsome. Brest is hilly and very picturesque. It is paved with Belgian blocks, so one doesn't get so muddy as in St. Nazaire. And while there are an awful lot of Americans here, it does not seem to be so possessed by them as every other place we have visited, except Paris. There are still quite a few French- men visible. Many ships are lying in the beautiful harbor. Feb. 19. — Last evening we were taken in a Dodge for a nice, long ride to a hospital, where we gave a pro- gram. There was so much noise that it was hard work, and there was a dog. It was a very attractive fox terrier that escaped from one of the boys on the front seat, and "Y" GIRL OVERSEAS 47 trotted up on the platform. Both times I was the "goat." The first time I was giving a reading, and he came con- fidently and nuzzled up to me. I could feel his little nose tickling my ankles. Of course, it roused some merri- ment. If I had been giving something comic, I might have stopped and petted the dog. But as it was, I kept right on, and he eventually left. Again, when I was giving a piano number, I noticed considerable commotion, and when I turned around, here was the dog again. After the program, we were requested to give a short program in an oflficers' hut, close by. We each did some- thing. In the meantime, you can imagine my surprise when a young fellow came up behind the scenes. His name was Tuttle, and he had lived in Portland, Oregon, for sixteen years. He now lives in California. * * * This morning I went for another long walk. The weather is something wonderful, sunny, still, and rather warm. I was gone about three hours. Coming back, as I was getting into town, I lost my way, and was very glad I did. I got into a perfect maze of old-world streets, narrow and winding, went down some stairs and through an archway perhaps twenty feet thick, that was as pic- turesque as anything I ever saw. Brest is quite a large place, and very hilly. Streets are sometimes exceedingly steep, and sometimes are merely long flights of stairs. One can never get seriously lost, because there is always an S. P. or M. P. to show the way. I wish we could continue to have weather like this, and I shouldn't ask any more of fate. But I presume it will soon begin to rain. * * * I have been meeting the greatest number of Southern people here. It seems as if every person I meet is either from the South or from New York. The other day I went to the Brest art gallery. I have heard it called a good one, but I came away vastly unimpressed. I saw nothing that was not modern, and 48 A "Y" GIRL OVERSEAS the names were such as I had never heard of before. Some lovely pictures, of course, but only one or two that seemed to my novice's eye to have any claim to great- ness. Brest, March 7. — Yesterday was a perfectly wonder- ful day, and I had two walks. In the morning nothing particular happened. But in the afternoon I was standing by a high wall, looking on the traffic below me. The harbor looked very beautiful ; the houses were picked out by the sunlight ; on the water were streaks of green and lavender, and little fishing boats with dark red sails, lean- ing gracefully away from the light breeze. Down below was an M. P. directing trafific. That was supposed to be his entire job, but a Negro claimed his attention, and for ten minutes I had an interesting pantomime to watch. The darky was drunk. Apparently the M. P. had told him to sit down on a pile of scrap iron and wait. But the darky tried to amble off in a casual manner ; and the harried M. P. would have to make frequent dashes for him, between his directions to trucks, touring-cars and motorcycles. It was highly amusing to watch the darky, who seemed to want to argue the situation, and the M. P., who with each succeeding minute became more wrathful. He had, evidently, sent word to police headquarters by one of the machines, and after the afore- said ten minutes a patrol came and removed the darky. "Y" GIRL OVERSEAS 49 CHAPTER V Social life of Y entertainer — Teas at St. Nazaire and elsewhere — Leave at Trez-Hir — Vacation joys — Some of my nights in France — Dancing — Walk to French fortress — Various characters encoun- tered — Picturesque entertainments of the winter — The silver slippers and the velvet cloak — Hotels in France — Places where we have per- formed — Polish soldiers — Scenery of France — Opportunities for meeting people — Chaplain in Ordinary to the King of England — Young Southern gentleman — His knowledge of French society — The German submarine — Day among the rocks and caves — Piano with faulty pedal — Comparison of audiences in huts of the Y and the K. of C. — Playing to music lover whose wife had studied in Dresden — Prohibition — Reflections on the future of the A. E. F. w I REST, March 8. — A "Y" entertainer over here has a great deal of social life. It is partly what she is sent over for. I have indeed heen having a gay and giddy time lately : music with one bunch of boys, walks with an- other lot, entertaining twice a day, and dancing to close with. It is evidently the object of the Y to provide the men, in their inaction and ennui and their universal and deadly homesickness, not only with entertaining programs, but also with the society of good women. I have been dancing and joining in teas and long walks, as well as in parlor quoits and billiards, and I have had an oc- casional hand at bridge, explaining "the down and out echo," "the rule of eleven," etc., to youths who have good card heads. I also lend a sympathetic ear to the out- pouring of their troubles ; and have been asked to pass judgment on the selection of gifts for the sweethearts at home. There is a Red Cross rest room near here ; a most delightful place, large, well decorated, with a most homey atmosphere. There is a tea given there every Thursday by the head of this Red Cross division. This tea is for soldiers and sailors, as well as for our women ; and there is a grand piano there that it is a joy to play on. And, speaking of teas : at St. Nazaire during the winter, Miss S. and I had two cozy rooms over a lace shop, where on Sunday afternoons we used to have tea 50 A "Y" GIRL OVERSEAS for such friends in the uniform, both men and women, as our Httle salon would hold. We had a tiny fire-place, ornamental, if not useful ; two balconies, one window, two French doors, and a view of the ocean ; we also had music late every afternoon, by the American band on the square below\ We gave tea, and a warm welcome, and for the rest, whatever came handy. The less said about the style of these teas the better. Once we had tea, and pie ! This was one of our ways of trying to cheer homesick boys. Various fine French hotels have been taken over, with all their luxury and beauty, as Y. M. C. A. rest places for tired men. One such is at Trez-Hir, on the western coast. The flowers there and the artistic decorations are verv lovelv. I have been there several times. Trez-Hir, March 15. — This is the spot in all France that is nearest home. It also commands a view of all the ships, going both ways. On March 13th I had the stirring sight of the big convoy, escorting President Wilson back to France. I am having my leave here, of more than a week. Today I have been having vacation joys. The meals out here are wonderful ; and, furthermore, I have a wonderful room, alone, with two big beds, and four windows ; and I also have a wonderful view of the ocean. Yesterday it was marvelous : shades of green, blue and royal purple ; little brown velvet sailing boats, purple hills, white clouds in a blue sky. Last night I opened three of my windows, and after studying the moonlight on the water, making the sand look like snow, I went to bed, and for eight hours slept the sleep of the just. For three nights my sleep had been sketchy : two nights sitting up in a train, and one night on a mattress, with no pillow except a blanket, no sheets, and all my clothes on. This, because I was unlucky enough to be obliged, A "Y" GIRL OVERSEAS 51 in peace conference time, to spend a single night in Paris. So great was the congestion in the hotels that this mat- tress, in the Y. W. C. A. hostess house, in a dormitory for ten, was all there was to be had. And at that, I fared better than my first night in Paris, just before the signing of the armistice. Then I was one of thirty girls to sleep in our steamer rugs, on the floor of a hotel par- lor. It was a lark, and I slept amazingly, considering. Since extremes meet, in Paris as in the rest of the world, the next day my room mate and I were given a room where we stayed for several weeks. It had in- deed its drawbacks, having hot running water, to be sure, but no other form of heat, while there was ice in the fountains outside. But it did have large spaces and three windows and two enormous beds, and much gorgeousness in the way of furniture. There were many mirrors, and hangings and bed draperies of satin. And when we were too cold we could always look at ourselves in the mirrors. This afternoon the weather has been as wonderful as my meals, my room and my view. I played four pieces to a very whist and appreciative audience, and now I am dressed, awaiting the Saturday evening concert and dance, which is a feature of Trez-Hir. They always pre- pare for seventy-five. There is a French girl of eighteen who acts as hostess here ; and she makes an amazingly good one. She is perfectly impartial, treats all the soldiers and sailors alike, and is very charming and very clever. * * * Two Y men and I had a walk of nearly ten miles yesterday. We started to follow the coast line to a certain promontory, but before reaching it we became entangled in some very modern fortifications. Mr. F., who has been in all sorts of wars : Cuban, Boer, and others, knew enough not to monkey around where he wasn't wanted. Not until the other man saw a guard was Mr. F. willing to go in. 52 A "Y" GIRL OVERSEAS We went along for about a quarter of a mile, the guard meanwhile having disappeared. Then Mr. F. and I were both too much worried to stay longer. But the other man remained, and at last came out without adventure. Mr. F. said several times that I had been where he could swear no other Y girl had ever gone. Of course, I saw many things and didn't know what I was seeing. But there were eight 8-inch guns, apparently in fine condition, which could have been completely ruined in two minutes ; and many shells by each gun, unlocked ammunition dumps, and not a sign of a guard. It was most peculiar. After all, peace is not yet signed. We entered the other fort by a key, left hanging where any dunce could get it. If that is the way French fortifications were guarded before the war, no wonder Germany walked through as she did. I like this Mr. F. He makes maps for our govern- ment, and inspects the construction of big steel buildings. He has traveled all over the globe, and expects soon to be sent to Siam. He is an intensely interesting talker, and seems to have enjoyed his life exceedingly. I have not seen President Wilson. You know how I am about celebrities. I did not take the trouble to see King George, when he and I were in Paris. I only saw King Albert by chance. This morning when the man had finished my shampoo, he said *'Good-night." An amusing variation of the eternal "Good-bye" one hears from all the children. Speaking of King George, a naval officer on the train was telling an amusing tale. I have forgotten all the attendant circumstances ; perhaps the King was inspecting an American ship. But, anyway, a big American sailor walked up and said, in a friendly, not an impertinent fashion, 'T always wanted to shake hands with a King — put 'er there," and the King, being an Englishman and a good sport, "put 'er there." A "Y" GIRL OVERSEAS 53 This case has come to my notice. A young non-com had lost his stripes through drink. At home, he said, he had always been a social drinker, and had never thought much about religion. But having seen what he had seen at the front, he was going home to work for prohibition the rest of his life. He also said that every man that had been to the front, whether he would admit it or not, had learned to pray. It was true of them all. And another case : this boy was one of those born comedians, whose chief aim in life seems to be to act like a congenital idiot. He was so loud about it that frowning disapproval was written on the faces of al) the men around. It usually takes a lot to disturb them. He acted tough, and at first I didn't like him. But, aftei a time, we fell to talking about front-line experiences, It is a good thing I am not sensitive, or some of the tales these boys tell would haunt me forever. They are out before one could stop them, if one wished. But I don't wish to do so. Because, when they have lived through them, I should be very lily-livered if I weren't able to listen to them. They never tell them just for the sake of telling horrors. It is always to point a moral. This tough youth had been through it all ; and, perched on the arm of a chair, after his effervescing, he came down to serious things. And with his beautiful brown eyes gazing earnestly into mine, he told of what he had been through, and what he had gained from it. And this was the way he ended : "How I ever got out of ii alive is a mystery. Men killed all around me, and I never got a scratch. I wasn't worth it, God knows. And it was no goodness of mine that brought me through. It was my mother's and father's prayers that did it. If I had lived up to all my mother wanted me to be, I'd 54 A "Y" GIRL OVERSEAS be a lot better fellow than I am. But I know it was just their prayers that saved me." All this, mind you, to two people on whom he had never laid eyes before, and before a third youth who looked "hardboiled," but who, instead of making fun of him, as he would doubtless have done three years ago, agreed with him. Then the man at the head of the entertainment work in Paris has told me his problems, and troubles, at length, together with a part of his history. He was overworking, and knew it, and was afraid his health would fail. And the other evening I was alone in the library, by a bright fire, and a Y man, an utter stranger, came to me and poured out his story. It was a particularly pathetic thing to see a man of his sort so sunk in the very dregs of self-pity. He was particularly well set up, with a fresh skin and clear eye. and had impressed me as being a forceful, self-reliant type. He had been a teacher of psychology at home, and was now in great need of human sympathy. He was perhaps thirty-five years of age. At first, in France, he had overworked, going fourteen months with no rest. Then he had had the influenza and pneumonia ; then insomnia and deep despondency ; he had been crushed by the censure of the Y. M. C. A., and at last had taken to drink. His memory and mental concentration were now impaired. If a man of his sort had come to such a pass, one may well ask, "How has it been with the young doughboy?" And one also sees that listening to these stories is not the easiest thing a Y girl has to do. As I look back on them. I realize that some of the enter- tainments I have attended during the winter have been most picturesque. There was the time, on Christmas eve, when our Victory Trio, arriving to give our program, found ourselves in a huge building, of iron, glass and cement. "Y" GIRL OVERSEAS 55 usually devoted to the testing of auto trucks. It contained a crowd of about four thousand of our men, with a sprinkling of French girls. As we were late (a common occurrence with us, through no fault of our own), danc- ing had already begun. Most of the men were dancing with other men, or were just looking on. After two or three musical numbers, Miss S. and I, the only American women present, came down from the platform and mingled in the fray. My first partner was a graduate of the University of Oregon, where I had given a program less than a year ago. And the band was playing "The Stars and Stripes Forever." Then, shortly before New Year's, Miss S. and I at- tended a dinner of fourteen covers, the guests being seven Y girls and six non-commissioned officers. The host, a sergeant, who was from Detroit, had spared no money on this banquet, and in spite of the famine prices gave us as elaborate a menu as he would have ordered before the war. Each guest had flowers and a souvenir, mine being something in oxydized silver. There were also several wines, including champagne. The ladies threw their influence against wine in the army by leaving theirs untasted. And here is another one of the most rarely delightful times I have had. After our performance, we were asked to stay to a little party. The curtain was let down, shut- ting ofT the main body of the house, a candle was shaved up and dropped around on the stage floor, all the scenery was moved back, and we settled ourselves to a dance. There were eight or ten couples, canteen girls and their particular friends among the boys, mostly sergeants and corporals. One of them was the young fellow from Detroit who en- tertained us so elegantly just before New Year's. We had a few musical numbers. After the dance we went to a back-room and had a marvelous spread. Each guest had 56 A «'Y" GIRL OVERSEAS a bunch of violets, and a rose, in a lovely little bouquet. We had hot buttered toast, lettuce leaves with omelette and jelly, coffee and two kinds of fudge. The young fellow who waited on the table was one of the hosts ; and he is also said to own three hotels in San Francisco. The fudge was made by a Y secretary, now stationed at this hut. After one of our performances in an officers' mess kitchen we had another little spread. The officers opened cans of sardines and jam, had on the table bread and hard- tack, and served fine coffee in huge mess cups of tin. It was all very impromptu and delightful. There was one rift in the lute. There were many horses at this camp, and I had the offer of a ride. The fact that I had to decline it made me feel positively ill. But I had no riding habit. There was also the dinner at an officers' club. The invitation was of several days' standing, and so I wore my best white cloth gown, and white satin slippers. Arriving, I felt as conspicuous as a camel. The other ladies had sensibly worn their uniforms. The food was indeed de- licious, and the menu elaborate. But we were in a mess hall with earthen floor and board seats, and the table service was of any old thing that came handy, even aluminum and tin. The style at this feast consisted in the music — by German prisoners. For me, my costume was the onlv thorn to the rose. And here I may record the story of the silver slippers and the velvet cloak. They both belonged to Miss S, my room-mate, and the soprano of our trio. Her lovely voice was trained in Chicago and New York. She is a Southern woman, of charming and magnetic personality. To en- hance all this, she brought with her three trunks full of lovely clothes. And as she has gone about in France, she has been in great luck if one of the trunks has not al- wavs been missing. Furthermore, the ladv's maid to A «'Y" GIRL OVERSEAS 57 which she must have been accustomed at home, did not come with her to France. So Miss S. was sometimes in trouble. As to the silver slippers, these are what she had to walk home in, high heels and all, one winter's night, because the little Ford that had taken us to the place where we gave our program, never came back any more. I had changed my slippers for shoes, and did not object to the walk in the least. And the lovely velvet cloak and big picture hat, witli no hat pin, were what Miss S. w^ore one evening, expect- ing that a covered 'bus would be sent for us, as indeed was sometimes done. But on this particular night, when it was raining gustily, what appeared was again a little Ford, without side curtains. When we reached our desti- nation, ten or twelve miles away. Miss S. was thoroughly chilled, and felt that her clothes were ruined. And, after all, the sacrifice had been in vain, for the electricity in the hall was off, and the only light came from a few candles. The way she went ahead and sang was one of the pluckiest things I ever saw. But her voice almost broke in the first number, she was feeling so discouraged. On the way home our car broke down, and we had to wait an hour for another. In thk North of France, March i6. — I am having a far better time than Miss S. today ; she is down and out, exhausted and disgusted. This place is none too clean, and she is acutely affected by dirt. But I am feeling fine. One is much happier if one ignores what one can't help. I am not sure my bed has not been slept in before. But, at any rate, my top sheet has a pair of embroidered initials that any American housewife would be proud to own, and the sheet is of heavy linen, double hand hem- stitched. As to linen sheets, by the way, they can be the very 58 A <een to me like wine. This young Southerner (and I never knew there were so many of them as I have been meeting lately) is really remarkably good as a player, although he has taken no lessons since he was twelve years old. He is a de- lightful personality, absolutely lacking in self-consciousness, very sweet and unspoiled, and with a background of much culture and many traditions. He belongs to a soldier entertainment unit of nine. * * * Last evening, after our entertaining was over, we met again and had another feast of music. He played for me a new thing he had just found, with which I was much struck, and which I shall get before I come home. Then I played and we both talked a lot, to the accompanying click of billiard balls at our very elbows. A lively game was in progress, and there was hardly room for all of us. To continue about this Southern boy : no one can den\ that our dear country has its faults, as well as its virtues. They are both of them the attributes of youth : the breezy friendliness, which at its worst deteriorates into pushing impudence : the tremendous energy, which sometimes manifests itself in restlessness and lack of poise ; and the splendid self-confidence, which may degenerate into blatant egotism. These will cease to be national faults, perhaps, as our country grows old. And, in the meantime, it seems an excellent thing that there are por- tions of our southland where old-world traditions have been kept in their finest flower, among them the qualities that A "Y" GIRL OVERSEAS 63 go to the making of a gentleman. This young non-com is just that. He speaks fluent French, and this, together with his music, has given him the entree to various French homes of the better class. ***** This morning, when I was waiting in headquarters for the machine to take us to the station, I heard the Chopin Berceuse. I walked nearly up to the piano where young H. was playing. I hadn't the heart to disturb him, he was working with such concentration, and so I walked away again. He is working it up to play for me on our return to Brest, bless his heart. He has been associating with all sorts of high-toned French people. There is a certain chateau near Brest, the residence of a French Colonel, who is a count, I believe. They have generals as their guests. Young H. has been entertained there at various times, and yesterday after- noon he played for the wedding of the daughter of the house. The wedding occurred in a chapel connected with the chateau. I am not clear as to the details. He says he finds the older French women more attrac- tive than the girls. They are more natural. To be comme il faut, a French girl must be demure, so utterly sup- pressed, that considering the French temperament, she is very unnatural. After marriage, she has more liberty to behave as she pleases. The only French girl he has ever known who displayed the slightest particle of American "pep"' was despaired of by her aunt, and dubbed uncon- trollable. This boy, though only a non-com, as I have said, is seeing the better class of French society. It is de- plorable that so few of our army have this opportunity. Young H. calls it good, but still stands very loyal to American society. And to go on about Southerners : today I was talking to a private from Louisiana. He spoke French before he 64 A "Y" GIRL OVERSEAS came over, and enjoys French people, by whom he is fre- quently taken for a Frenchman. He has a French name, and is undoubtedly of French extraction. I was inter- ested in his volunteering the information, quite unsolicited, and apropos of nothing in particular, that he wouldn't marry a French girl. He was rather inarticulate, as so many people are, and couldn't tell just why. It just didn't appeal to him. I am indebted to this adorable Southern boy, young H., for an exciting adventure. He succeeded in getting permission from the Prefect of Police in Brest to visit a German submarine ; then he took me and another friend along. The first guard let us through ; the second pro- tested, but finally let us all through on the one pass. So I have been where many of the A. E. F. have longed to go, but where very few have been. We went out to the submarine on a series of floats. When we came to a gap, I had to cross it by a running jump. And while the two boys, both Southerners, tried at first to smooth the path for the lady of the party, it soon became a case of each person taking care of himself. To get into the submarine we had to descend through a man-hole (about the size of a man-hole in the street, or smaller), down a perfectly per- pendicular ladder, for about ten feet. The interior was complex and crowded to the nth degree. I should have understood better what I was seeing if I had known more of machinery. I saw the place at the end where the tor- pedoes were sent out into the water, and saw the torpedoes there. Near the subs the water is covered with oil. The color combinations, reds, browns, yellows, blues, are marvelous. One could study just those effects indefinitely. They form a lovely pattern of changing arabesques on the water. I got one small grease spot on the front of my uniform. A "Y" GIRL OVERSEAS 65 Brest, March 18. — Today I had a day that will long live in my memory. In weather it was one of the most beautiful days I have ever seen. I had a beautiful walk of two or three miles. We went to an old ruined church (Gothic) of the 13th century. The roof was almost en- tirely gone, and green grass was growing around the mossy and weather-beaten columns of the nave. I found it won- derfully beautiful, and most impressive. And then we had the sort of thing that fills my soul with joy. It is a rocky coast, and for about two hours we clambered around over difficult rocks. It was low tide, and we went out to the wreck of an old tug boat. We went into innumer- able caves, all of them exquisitely beautiful. One large cave had an arched vaulting, and the most wonderful pastel shadings of lavender and green. And the pools had the most amazing effects, whether from the stones, sea life, or vegetation, I don't know. One had all the colors of the rainbow, mingled as in some exquisite piece of oriental mosaic. From one cave, with colorings of green and deep velvety red, we had a view of the ocean, through a chasm in the rocks, bridged by a picturesque arch of old masonry. It was very beautiful. I had one of the most rarely de- lightful times I have ever had. And now, after a day of peerless blue sky, lavender hills, and blue-green water, it is raining again. It has been a day that will long live in my memory as one of the most perfect I have ever spent, every moment a joy, and not one thing to mar it. I shouldn't want to go again, unless I had as pleasant com- panions. We were an ideal company, of one Y girl and seven young soldiers and sailors. On the way back to Brest I had the escort of a fine sailor lad, with whom I became quite chummy, although we had not met before that da\". When we reached the tram, he insisted so masterfully on buying my ticket (something under two francs) that there was no possi- 66 A "Y" GIRL OVERSEAS bility of my declining. And his further tribute to Amer- ican womanhood was the gift of a fine box of chocolates. He was a lad of only nineteen, as full of youthful spirits as anyone I ever saw, and really a dear. Two months ago he had helped to save four or five people from a wreck. Later. — Today it rained hard, but I reallv enjoyed it, the air was so fine and the coloring brought out in the water so wonderful. On this rocky coast, the breakers dash one hundred feet or more up the cliffs, where I had a delightful walk of nearly three hours. When a wave rolled in, the foam would be caught by the wind up to the top of the cliffs, and fly across the land for hun- dreds of yards. I saw two battleships putting out to sea. I passed ruined stone houses, and crossed desolate moors, covered with stunted gorse and heather. The sun occasion- ally shone out, creating streaks of green, and yellow, and purple, above the great waves rolling in, unhurried, ma- jestic, inevitable, and curling over in a delicate shade of green. It was certainly something to create one anew. I met only a few peasants, and some children. Most of the time I was quite alone, with the sky, the wind, the rain, and the sea. Brest, March 20. — In our audience last night, one very funny thing happened. The piano was a good one, but had one fault, the pedal kept getting unhinged. A young fellow set it right for me just before our performance began. It lasted for about half of the program, and then I had to get hold of him once more, anl he fixed it up again. Later on a place came where I was not using the pedal. This boy was on the platform, right next the piano, with his legs swinging over the edge, and I sup- pose he thought it sounded rather thin. So as I was playing, I saw his head and shoulders come around the A "Y" GIRL OVERSEAS 67 corner of the piano, and his hand reach out for the pedal. I took my foot away, kept on playing-, and managed to keep a straight face, which was not easy. He arranged things to his satisfaction, and then I put my foot back again. Truly, after I return to civilized life, nothing that could ever happen on a concert platform should be able to confuse me. When we came home, I went into Y headquarters with two boxes of candy that had been given me (each lady had been presented with a big box of chocolates and a box of Jordan almonds) and I had a pleasant time w'ith my particular set of boys. We danced and finished up the two boxes of candy. Last evening's performance was in a Knights of Colum- bus hut, with a very attentive and well-behaved audience. The Y men will let the disorder get rather dreadful be- fore interfering, and then are not so peremptory as the K. of C. secretary, who rises and shouts "Order!" when anything approaching disorder occurs. I think the Y men are right in considering the soldiers rather than the per- formers. It seems that Miss S and I are the first women en- tertainers who have been in this building — a very nice place, by the way ; and aside from a few old French women who come to the Sunday services, the first women who have entered the building, which is interesting. And we had a number of officers in the audience, which doesn't always happen. Brest, March 21. — As I was waiting in the Y head- quarters the other day, a fine-looking soldier walked up to me and asked for some music. I played for ten or fifteen minutes, and he drank it in like one parched with thirst. It was so long since he had heard any good music, he said. As I finished, he said his wife had studied two 68 A "Y" GIRL OVERSEAS years in Dresden, and he had understood I had studied six years in Leipsic. One thing that has been taking my attention lately is prohibition. So many of the soldiers that I hear talk say they are sore that they were given no chance to vote on it. One fire-eating fellow was saying yesterday morning that the returning soldiers wouldn't stand for it ; there would be a revolution, etc. He evidently thought that the re- turning soldiers would all stand together. Brest, March 22. — Of course, every experience which gives us joy will cause certain regretful retrospection. One day, recently, as I was standing at the top of the great fortification wall which surrounds Brest, watching streams of American trafific going in all directions, two or three hundred feet below, it came over me very forcibly that when we all get home, particularly we women, who are being made so much of, and who must be quite wise to keep from being spoiled, there will come to us in after years a poignant wish to be back again, witli the finest flower of our land all around us, bound to us, and we to them, by those ties which only those can feel who are in exile. The spirit that sent these men over here, cheerfully and unflinchingly to face death in the cause of righteousness and justice, has given them something many of them never had before. With all of them it has brought near to the surface certain spiritual qualities, which one seldom finds in ordinary polite civilian life. It does not matter whether they went to the front or not. The big sacrifice was made when thev came, and they will never be the same again. A "Y" GIRL OVERSEAS 69 CHAPTER M Paris — Many Y women coming over — Acquaintances — Congestion in Paris hotels — Versailles — Uniforms — Trip to Coblenz — Chateau Thierry — Metz station — Montabaur sceneiy — Grotesque church at Arenberg — Hotel in Coblenz — Melancholy waiter ex-officer in German army — Trouble in the billets at Montabaur — -The efficient young sergeant — Salvation Army canteen — Officer's story of German who failed to salute our flag — Russian strong man — Program in a chil- dren's school — Schloss "W^allendorf — Comfort of warm rooms — My German landlady and her gifts — Nice officers — Appreciative audience with uproarious manners — Dinner and supper with officers — Man- sion of German millionaire — Pair weather and a happy time — Program given alone — French aviation camp recalled — Removal to Neuwied — Hotel Zum Wilden Mann — Swearing — "The Oregon army is waiting for you" — Recalls the French experience with Simpson's "Beautiful Willamette" — Can't ride horse-back — Behavior of Ger- man officers to the Americans. "^II^ARIS, March 23. — After my winter's work, I do "jCi "°^ '^^^ Paris at all. Irritable taxies honk at me, ^[P^ and follow me up, trying to kill me. But I go to bed early and I am getting back some of my lost vim, which I didn't realize I had lost. I only knew that Paris affected me most unpleasantly ; but now I no longer expect a violent death every time I cross the street. There seems little prospect of my getting away from Paris. I still, as of yore, spend much of my time waiting in different offices. A great number of Y women have just come over. Paris is overrun with them. Many of them have been trying for a long time to get over. On our way to Ver- sailles we fell in with a young woman from Tacoma, who thinks she heard me play there. She signed up in July, and has just come over. Whereas, I signed up Septem- ber 30, and arrived November 10. On the other hand, while they have seemed to rush through the entertainers, one that she knew was delayed as long as she was. And so many girls who signed up for canteen work have been transferred, that a girl will not admit she can play the piano at all, if she really wants to do canteen work. It seems that not a single canteen girl can be got to say she knows what a piano is for. 70 A "Y" GIRL OVERSEAS It is amazing how many old acquaintances one meets in Paris. The other day I met a Red Cross girl who came over on my boat. She has been all this time in Paris. She is doing office work under rather disagree- able conditions. The man over her is not a gentleman, and she has quite a time. Another thing that interests me is the large number of Knights of Columbus men who take their meals in the Y cafeterias. It is an undeniable fact that a large part of the Y criticism has had its inception in the K. C. ranks. It seems rather poor taste for these men to reap the benefits of what the Y has done. In a Y cafeteria yes- terday, a Y man sat directly behind me, and behind him sat a K. C. man. The latter was complaining about the cutlery not being clean. To my great joy the Y man said, "There are other eating places if you don't like this." It costs me about thirty-two francs a day to live in Paris. The congestion here is something awful. Last evening I heard of an English girl who knows the town pretty well, who had hunted over forty hotels and hadn't found a thing. I was talking with a Y girl who has been here over fourteen months, and she thinks it quite natural for the French to hate us, as she is quite sure is getting to be the case — we overrun everything so. As to the K. C. men. in that body as in all others, there are all sorts of men. I have met some of them I have thought particularly fine, sincere, hearty and big, who would not stoop to anything mean. The Y has a special train every day for the trip to Versailles. It is all free, and it was intensely entertain- ing. Of course, the Versailles part was well worth seeing. But to be one of four hundred and fifty-four members of the A. E. F. was something that I wouldn't have A '