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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 ;i,'G`s 'iv`w 31'r' 'r+• �.. �ounter Chock Books We Tire Selling Q',uality ' Book Books are Well Made, Carbon is Clean and Copies , Readily. All styles, Carbon Leaf and Black Back. Prices as Low as You Can Get Anywhere. Get our Quotation on Your. Next Order. • The Seaforth SBAI ORTH, ONTARIO, News 0