Evening Republican, Volume 19, Number 181, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 2 August 1915 — Kansas Girls Are Drilling for National Guard [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Kansas Girls Are Drilling for National Guard

WICHITA, KAN. —Kansas girls are trying to get into the state militia. They want to reform it and bring it up to a standard of which the state can be proud. During the last five years the Kansas National Guard has had a rough experience. Member-

ship has slumped considerably and companies in many of the larger towns have disbanded from lack of interest. Knowing these facts, twenty-four Walnut Grove girls, under the leadership of Miss Vera Snyder, have formed a cadtet corps with the idea of later securing the O. K. of the United States war department, making them officially a part of the state militia. The company is the first of its

kind in Kansas, but the interested young women declare it won’t be the iast Walnut Grove girls declare they are going to start a state-wide campaign to have similar corps started in other towns. At present the work of the company will be happy mixture of war and peace. Drilling and crocheting will alternate regularly. Darning and mending will be mixed with target practice and military drill. Along with handling a rifle the girls will be instructed in how to prepare a comfortable camp out of doors. There will be uniforms. They will be khaki, cut out on the latest military lines. Trousers? The girls decline to say a word about them. All they admit is that there will be uniforms, but whether skirts will be included or not, remains a mystery. It is thought trousers similar to men’s riding breeches will be the style chosen.