HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Seaforth News, 1943-04-22, Page 6TIIE SEAFOrall NEWS
Women in Uniform
lit September, 1039, a British news-
paper hail' a gnestionnaire fox` its
readers, They were asltetl what they
dieliked most abotit the: war. In these
days there was not much war to die-
like, so the proffered list was most-
ly home, discomforts, `'ripen the rc
plies were published, the- alleged sta-
tistics revealed that of all di.lekable
wartime measures the British public
Put "women in uiform" first, Evert
the blackout came second.
There is something to be learned
from that far•off foolishness, Women
wearing khaki, Navy blue or Ar Force
blue, soon ceased to be aroused of
"dressing -up." The public recognized
their purpose long before it recog-
nized the natioual need for woman-
power to supplement ittuu•puwer,
But -among civilians you will still
find plenty who jib at the mere fact
of'uihiform. They say "Why is it nec-
essary?" "Couldn't it be more at-
tractive?" "Isn't it a pity " and 'I'm
sure men hat it," (When I was a pri-
vate a gi$otny lady in a small pro-
vincial shop told me that it was
"against nature.")
All the contents except the last
sound frivolous, but we must deal
with them. The answer to "Couldn't
it be more attractive?" is that of
course it •could, and so could army
We, only that does not happen to be
the basis for prosecuting a war.
"Isn't it a pity " Or course it is,
of epportuuityle narrow,' She can no
longer get away with runs fu her
stockings by wearing a gay hat. She
has one set of 'clothes, conforming to
one pattern, inevitable; uneomprising,
hot.' designed espeeiaiiy to suit her
leeks. Therefore site will -Work shard
to get ilia beat results from the limit-
ed material.
The big reason can be understood
fully only by those who serve in tate
forces, Uniform is the outward ex-
presstott of military discipline. And
dlseipliue means the community. The
recruit learns this lesson on the bar-
rack square, lh the lecture -room, in
the slut, in the'N',A,A.F.1. canteen and
oft clturoh parade. She learns it all
day,
She learns why she is no longer
reasoned wholly as au. individual;
Site can see the'contmuttity, of which
she is a part, widening out from te
platoon of thirty, to a company of
two htmdred, to an army of a hund-
red .thousand, She learns that each of
these bodies is more important than
herself, yet dependent on her. Just
as she can disgrace the platoon by
appearing on parade with dull aloes
or straggling hair, so she begins to
understand that she can lower the
reputation of the whole A.T.S. by let-
ting civilians see her 'dirty or untidy,.
Just as her smartness on the agnare
is a good mark for her company, so is
]ler smartness in the street a good
mark for the service,
If you ask her at this stage Id ex-
plain why uniform should `make for
and so is a war. the better discipline of a community
Nevertheless, the psychological ef- she may not be able to tell you She
feet of ugly clothes on a woman is al-
ways bacl, is the effect of uniform
bad? Let us try to discover.
What is the effect? It cannot be
stated in one sentence nor one para- couldn't do the job if you didn't wear
graph. It has several stages. We will it." And that is perhaps the nearest
take the first stage and concentrate that the civilan will get to the truth.
on khaI h
The girl who reports for duty at a
training camp wear civilian clothes.
From the moment that she lines up
with fifty other young women wear-
ing civilian clothes, she begins to varied crowd — their walk. They all
feel self-colscious. She may have walked badly, Watch today's young
hated the thought of wearing khaki. women going by in uniform, and you
Her one desire now is to get into it will see that they all walk well. They
as soon as possible. move easily and they hold up their
This is a new world, and all the heads. Their backs are straight.
scurrying shapes who live its neyster- You can conclude that this is be -
play say vaguely, "Oh well, it helps
you to feel that you're all together
and all part of the show," And Prob-
ably she will add, "Anyway you just
If you ever stood watching a pre-
war mob of young British women
pour out of a subway station on the
way to their offices,, you must have
been struck by one similarity in the
sous life and know its obscrure ways,
wear khaki, Only the recent arrivals
dress the way they dressed in the old
world. And she feels wrong. Not
cause they are fitter physically and
because they have at last been per-
suaded to wear net sensible shoes.
But this new carriage is due partly
merely because she is identifiable as to a state of mind: to the quiet pride
a "new girl," but because civilians that cones to the young woman who
show up so oddly on the background
of a camp.
It is an unfamiliar layout, drawn in
straight lines. Straight lines of asph-
alt, straight lines of hut and barrack -
square and ablution -block. It is bleak, she to it. You, in the clothes of your.
but it means something- In a laud-
seape of this significant character,
private clothes, colored clothes, per-
sona] clothes have no place,
That is the first stage, It has pass-
ed when she struggles out of the
guar t ermaster's stores dressed, or
half-dressed, as a soldier. Auxiliary
Territorial Service regulations lay
down that uniforms issued to auxili-
aries mnsi be of a "tolerable fit,"
Anyhody who takes this to mean that
A.T.S. Nothing is dished out haphaz-
ardly, shobld spend a clay in the
stores. Patiende, kindliness and irrtel-
ligende would seem to ne the three
gratifications for a glat'ternaster's
job.
I was one of an intake of two Iun-
dred. The day after my arrival I
limped a little when coming off the
barrack -square, I was unused to drill.
A corporal from the stores happened
to see ane limping• and chased me all
the way to my but. The corporal said,
"What about those shoes? You would
have that small six and I still think
you would be better with a large
six."
The tailoress gives gives as much
attention as that to the refitting of a
.uniform. It cannot be perfect every
time. But the results, taken by and
large, are pretty good. So that when
the auxiliary emerges into the out-
side world she need not feel ashamed
of herself. Nor does she. Generally
speaking, she feels proud. A11 recruits
admit that they get a kick out of
khaki for its own sake,
has served in the forces for a while.
She will not tell you htat, She i$
now at the final stage when she takes
uniform fon' granted. She cannot like
it nor dislike it. It belongs to her and
The young woman is now at the
second stage, Uniform is not yet fa-
miliar. She is conscious of it. She is
learnt. gall the tricks; how to burn
the. surface lacquer off new buttons
to get a good polish; how to lay her
cap on a wet flannel to make the top
of it firm and fiat; how to tie her tie
in a small knot; how to make detach-
able collars look better by starching.
As she walks down the street eine
knows that people are looking at her.
This is not her imagination, This is
a fact, People don't stare at women
)n uniform any more, but they look,
Even the earliest training of an aux-
iliary' impresses upon her the import-
ance of neatness and smartness. If
she is a girl who always took a pride
in her appearance, she will take more
pride now, If she is an untidy sort: she
will learn to take this pride as she
neVe:r did when she was in Civvy
Street. Why? For two reasons, ,
The emoiler reason first. Icer held sults,
private choice, area little strange to
hen
IIer behavior in public is better
than it ever was before. Automatical-
ly she stands well, sits neatly, re-
members her obligations to the serv-
ice without realizing that she re-
members them.
Yon will recall that the gloomy
lady in the small shop said that
bleak' was against nature. So it is. So
are all the aspects of war, But hu-
manity shows up nobly after a night
of heavy bombing. Fine qualities
grow from the unnatural soil of army
life, British women put on those
qualities when they put on the tough
khaki clothes, the thick woolen stock-
ings and the other outward signs. It
is only the outward signs that will be
hung up in a. cupboard when the war
ends.
Growing Green Ducks
In tem ,weeks time the ducklings
on the standard ration averaged 5,4
pounds each and had consumed 3,2
'pounds of feed per pound of duck at
a:eost for feed of 7.07 cents per
pound, The ration containing the
vegetable protein produced chicks in
ten weeks averaging G pounds .atttd
consumed 8.0 pounds of feed per,
pound of duck at a cost of 8.01 cents
por pound of duck. Where annual
protein feeds are ,difficult to get
these vegetable proteins can snake
up the shortage with almost as good
gains in growth.
Frequent feeding promotes rapid
growth, Feed six times daily from
the start until 'the ducklings are
three weeks old, and five times daily
until they are ready for .market,
Duck mashes should be moistened
with water before feeding.. It is beat
to moisten the mixture about two to
three hours before feeding, 'so that
it may become swollen , and more
easily digested. Add sufficient water
to make the mash quite moist and
let it stand for a few hour's. When
ready to feed it should not be sloppy
,but just wet enough that it will stick
together. Sprinkle coarse sand over
the mash before feeding. The sand
serves as grit, and aids in the pro-
cess of digestion. Feed only what the
ducklings will eat up clean at each
feeding.
Finely chopped greed food should
be added to the mash after the duck-
lings are four to five days old. Fresh
cut clover or alfalfa which has been
chopped fine makes excellent green
food. Start with only a very small
amount and increase the green food
gradually until it represents about
one fifth of the ration.
When the ducklings are about sev-
en weeks old the green food should
be gradually eliminated and fat
forming feeds such as cornmeal or
barley meal increased in amount.
By the tenth week the ducklings
Growing green ducks is a special-
ized side line in poultry keeping and
is becoming popular with many poul-
trymen and farmers. Profits received
for money invested are attractive,
and the turnover is rapid. The grow-
ing of ducks in wartime with the ob-
ject of increasing the supply of
poultry meats presents an opportun-
ity for gainful employment which
will speedily produce meat at low
cost and without highly skilled labor,
says A. G. Taylor, Poultry Division,
Contras Experimental Farm, Ottawa.
A brief summary of results of ex-
periments obtained at the Central
Experimental Farm would indicate
that ducklings of the Pekin breed
make the hest gains with the least
amount of food, When properly
handled, ducklings of this breed
make ane pound gain in weight on
3.2 to 3,5 pounds of feed consumed.
The standard cluck ration recom-
mended consists of equal parts by .
weight of cornmeal, shorts and, bran,
with ten per cent beef meal added,
There is also 2 per cent fine oyster
i shell and 2 par cent fine salt included
I in the ration, In 1042 a mash was '
made up using vegetable protein and
leaving out the meat meal, This ra-
tion had 5 per of alfalfa leaf
meal and 20 per cant of soya bean
oil meal to make up the protein con-
tent, The two rations were tried out
on an equal number of ducklings
and both rations gave excellent re-
THiIRSPAY, APRIL 22, 1:943
Men Off to War, -Girls ,Become Punchers
7P
rirliESE punchers are in a tele-
graph office and not on the
western plains, as the name might
suggest. Girls are now -being trained
to become operators of automatic
transmitters, but as the purpose of
the machine is to perforate, or to
"punch" symbols through a paper
tape, the term "puncher" is now
generally applied to all who work
on these keyboards. Owing to the
very large number of enlistments
of Wren operators the Canadian
National Telegraphs are calling on
women to replace men now in the
armed forces. To train these opera-
tors, schools have been established
throughout Canada.
The course continues for twelve
weeks after which those who have
become proficient in the use of the
perforator machine are transferred
to one of the operating rooms of
the Canadian Natioga1 Telegraphs
where they begin to handle "live"
traffic under the supervision of a
senior operator.
These girls are efficient touch
typists, the keyboard they operate
being similar to that of the office
typewriter. The real test for the
tyro "puncher" is to maintain a
typing speed of fifty words a min-
ute during a ten-minute period.
The "punch" is more than sym-
bolic because, the perforating
machines require a heavier touch
thanis necessary for a typewriter.
The upper photograph shows:
A C.N.T. mstructress, who knows
all the "do and don't's" of tele-
graph language, at the blackboard,
just like school, stressing the ele-
mentals of a telegraph message.
Below, a pupil "puncher" practic-
ing at the keyboard of a perforator
machine, These exercises, like the scales for
piano pupils, are designed to train the fingers
to find the "note" by touch. The first Zine
reads: "IVZ WVUTS ROAULKJ IHG'F-ED
BCA," which is not code but one of a number
of lessons designed to impress upon the student
the position of the letters on the keyboard
should be in excellent flesh and have 1 cording to the thinness of the turf.
developed their first coat of feathers. l After the seed has been uniformly
At this time there should be no delay ! scattered over the area, it may he
in marketing them. If kept • longer covered by raking or by the applica-
they will change their feather's, tion of a thin layer of screened top -
which will slow up development and I soil, after which the seeded areas
reduce profit. The profit made in the should be rolled.
raising of green ducks is directly de- Except for the rolling after seed-
pendent on the successful marketing ing, only one rolling is necessary
of the product at the proper time.
How to Maintain
each year, and then only in districts
where frost has caused heaving. The
rolling should be done after the frost
is out of the ground and before the
the Lawn in Spring soil becomes too dry.
The indiscriminate use of fertilii-
ers on turf is not recommended, be•
The spring maintenance of lawns
should start as soon as the snow cause as much as possible of the
melts and the soil becomes suffici-
ently
available fertilizer should be resew-
ently dry to permit work, states 3. I3.
Boyce. 'Forage Plants Division, Cent-
ral Experimental Farm. Ottawa. The
first operation is to rake the lawn to
remove the winter's accumulation of
twigs. leaves, nad other debris. Any
perennial weeds that can be detect-
ed should he pulled or cut out at this
time: The sail on thin and bare areas
should he thoroughly raked in order
to prepare a seed bed. These areas
should then be seeded with an adapt-
ed seeds mixture at the rate of 2 to
4 pounds per 1,000 square feet ac-
ed for food production. If a lawn 1s
in a vigorous, healthy condition fer-
tilization may be greatly reduced or
eliminated -Without injuring it seri-
ously.
Lawn mowers should be repaired
and sharpened well in advance of the
growing season. Mowing should start
early and at no time should a. long,
heavy growth of grass be permitted.
Cutting back such a growth always
gives the grass a severe _setback.
The grass should never be cut to a
height of less than one inch. A height
of 11/ to 2 inches is ntucll to be pre-
ferred, particularly louring the weeni-
er months,
Why Canada Needs
Many More Sheep
Members of the armed forces of
Canada and the civilian population,
require annually approximately 125
million pounds of wool for clothing,
while food requirements reach 45%
million pounds of lamb and mutton,
says James A. Telfer, Assistant Chief,
in charge of sheep end .-wool produc-
tion,. Dominion Department of Agri-
culture.
Canadaproduced in 1842 nearly 18'
millian pounds of shorn wool and five
million pounds of pulled wool, malt-
ing a total production for the year of
about IS million pounds or approxi-
mately 14 per cent of the total re-
quirements.
It is estimated that 'a 30 per cent
increase111the sheep population has
been realized. Such increase will
greatly augment the annual produc-
tion at woo] in Cansda, and at the
sante time furnish the base from
which an increased supply of lamb
and mutton may be det''ved for fut-
ure use,
In lamb and wool production a
great amount of capital is not neces-
sary for the building of suitable
shelter for sheep, and the land used
for grazing purposes is largely mar-
ginal, lower in value and more -suit-
able for sheep than for other types
of farm animals. In sheep raising
labor is not a serious problem; the
care and management of a flock of
sheep, aside from shearing, may be
handled by Llhe young people, the wo-
men of the farm, and the men of ad-
vanced years. Careful management of
the flock is, however, essential to
success,
111 the production of wool care
should be shown in connection with
the growth and development of the
fleece It should be kept free of burrs,
chaff and all foreign material, so as
to increase the returns by several.
cents per pound.
Dentist (after extracting a tooth) :
"I'm surprised at a hefty man like
you screaming. I thought you had
at least a little nerve•"
Patient—"So I had but you have
it now!"
4t
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