Evening Republican, Volume 19, Number 95, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 22 April 1915 — BRING WARM NOTES [ARTICLE]

BRING WARM NOTES

Mufflers Start Romances Between Soldiers and Maids. Quaint Replies Received to Missives Enclosed in Articles Sent by College Girls to Wounded in HospitalsNew York. —International romances have been interwoven with the legwarmers and mufflers knit by the maids in the dining room of Whittier hall. Teachers’ college of Columbia university, and every mall that comes from the other side brings warm missives from the soldiers convalescing in the hospitals of England and Scotland. No sooner had the needs of the soldiers in the field become known in this country last autumn than Mrs. Marie Seger, who is in charge of the dining services at Whittier hall, devised a scheme to improve the few leisure minutes the waitresses had and also to assist the warriors. With generous contributions of money made by the young woman students, MrsSeger bought a large quantity of gray wool and knitting needles. She gave a quantity to each of the waitresses, hinting that when they had nothing to do—which frequently occurs when some of the girls miss their meals or come late to them —they might knit leg-warmers or mufflers. The waitresses heartily fell in with the idea and the quantity turned out was an excellent tribute to their nimble handiwork and the fine spirit with which they accepted the suggestion. When the goods were being packed for shipment, someone jocosely remarked that they might send along a noth or two to cheer up the soldiers. Mrs. Seger saw no objection to this and half a dozen of the waitresses penned brief notes “to whom our presents are given,” enclosing their names. It was around Christmas that the first shipment was made. Now the thanks of the wounded are coming in with both serious and flippant

replies to the notes of the girls. Some of the letters from the soldiers are written in Glasgow, some in Edinburg, but most of them are from St. Andrew’s hospital, Dundee. Most of the knit goods containing the letters were distributed there, hence the interesting notes. One of them read: Dear Fannie : Your note came just in time to make me change my mind. When I got shot on the Alsne I was reported dead. My old girl, hearing of this, up and married a lad that was not man enough to go to war. First I wanted to eat a big enough bullet to make me croak. Then I got mad because I thought if she didn’t care for any more of a man than she married she must have thought I was a fine snicker, too. So now, I want to write to you a lot; Send me your picture when you write again. JOHN Another read: “Dear Maggie : From your name I think you are Irish. From your wit I know you are. From your tone I know you are a nice girl. lam Irish and I am married, but I am going to hunt up a nice Irish lad for you and make him write. And I will make him tell the truth, too. “PATRICK .” Still another, brief but explicit, ran: Dear Jennie : I would like tc marry you, but have two Scotch lassies and three laddies in their kilt# awaiting me home. What’s more, there’s a wee wife, and then sometimes I drink too much Scotch, and nice girts like you can’t beat me like my wife can. SANDY No engagement rings have been received as yet, but then all sorts of romances are woven around Whittier hall, and the maids -now are talking of trips abroad to hunt up their soldier boys when the war is over.