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to cook and preserve them. In the cities I should say that canteen work, like this, was the most important, and next to it social work in and around the camps. Of course, if there isn't any camp near by and the city is off the route of the troop-trains, the women had better do general Red Cross or Y. W. C. A. work, assist the Food Administration, or prepare themselves for clerical jobs. Most of the women here are helping in the food conservation campaign, are liable to be called for canteen duty any time, day or night, and are doing some other regular work besides. Mrs. Highbilt, for example, is indefatigable.”

"Incredible!" I muttered.

"It's true, nevertheless," answered Miss Pritchett. "You can't tell who is going to be the most useful person either or where you are going to find the finest qualities. Would you believe that Anna Highbilt was the most effective canvasser we had in our district in getting signatures for food cards? Well, she was! And she took more abuse than any one of us!"

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"Abuse?"

"Yes, abuse. Do you think it was all like taking candy from children? Not much! I was actually put out of five houses. In one instance the 'lady of the house' her name was Krauskopf, by the way -when she heard what I was after, yelled over the banisters: "Throw her out! Slam the door in her face!' Any number of them made themselves very

disagreeable. One fat old German wished to know if I expected him to go without food so that his relatives could be killed more easily by Yankee soldiers. I told him it was a pity he wasn't back in Germany himself, he wouldn't be so fat and we wouldn't have to worry over how much he ate! You'd be surprised, too, at the number of women who sent down word that they 'weren't interested.' Perhaps they didn't actually send that word, but that was what came back to us. Maybe it was just a ‘stall' on the part of the butler. On the whole, though, it was quite amusing the consideration we all got from the men servants."

"One doesn't expect much consideration from them," I agreed.

"I think there are probably two reasons for their change of heart," said Miss Pritchett. "In the first place the able-bodied ones that haven't gone to the front are rather ashamed of themselves, and want to show that their sympathies are with the Allies; and in the second place I think that the attitude of servants is changing, anyway. Good places aren't as easy to find as formerly. At least twenty per cent of my friends have given up housekeeping this winter. I suppose you read about the woman who discharged her entire force because they refused to sign the administration's pledge-cards when she asked them to?" "Yes, I did," I answered. "If the war has less

ened the tyranny of the kitchen it has done something for us, anyhow."

"It's done more than that," she asserted. "Look over at that table. Do you think that those women over there knew of each other's existence before war was declared? They didn't. You're a friend of Mrs. Highbilt, I know. Well, so am I-now. Her entire world consisted simply of her own social circle, most of the members of which had incomes of over a hundred thousand dollars a year-a scattering of young men-parlor snakes,' you know-drawing-room singers and artistic people generally who wanted her patronage, and the expensive men dressmakers, jewellers, and tradesmen with whom she dealt. She's told me so herself. She hadn't the remotest idea whether eggs ought to be twenty-five cents or a dollar and a quarter a dozen. As far as that goes, I'm not sure she does now. But she'll know soon enough, or I'll be very much mistaken. Anna Highbilt to-day is getting twice the fun out of life that she ever did before, because, although she's working twice as hard, she's doing something real. I don't suppose she ever got up at four o'clock in the morning before in her life. When you come to think of it, though, it isn't very much more of a strain on one's constitution to get up at four than it is to sit up until four, and she has done that often enough playing bridge.'

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Over at the improvised breakfast-table the canteen

volunteers were chattering away very much as if they were at an afternoon tea.

"Anna Highbilt isn't the only one, either. You know most women really haven't had a chance. You can't blame them for being ineffective and having what men think is a narrow point of view when they've never had any contact with people. I don't know whether you're going to vote for woman suffrage on November 6

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"I am!" I hastened to assure her.

"That's good," answered Miss Pritchett. "I hope you'll march in the parade, too. But let me give you an illustration of what getting out and mixing with other women has done for some of them. This is a true story. There's a very wealthy woman here in New York who, when the war broke out, made up her mind she wanted to do something for the country. She belonged to Anna Highbilt's class of course I'm not referring to Anna. This woman asked to be put on a committee engaged in some active work, and she was made chairman of her local unit. I won't tell you what line of activity it was, because I don't want to identify her any more specifically, although what I am going to tell you is entirely to her credit. She threw into the job all the energy and executive ability that made her what they used to call a 'society leader.'" Miss Pritchett laughed softly. Her laughter was contagious.

"I note," I commented, "that you use the verb in the past tense."

"Yes," said Miss Pritchett. "I don't think we shall hear very much about 'society leaders' in the future. Well, as I was saying, this woman had an enormous amount of vitality. She was capable, rather aggressive, and I'm afraid had a rather exaggerated idea of her own importance. Under her were a committee of about a dozen men and women. They were not 'society leaders.' They were just plain people who were making a good many sacrifices to do the work in hand. Everything seemed to be going along pretty well until one day I received a telephone message asking if I would see the committee if they called. Naturally, I was rather surprised, but I fixed an hour, and that afternoon the entire committee, with the exception of the lady I speak of, came to my house. It appeared that they couldn't stand their chairman another minute. She meant well, they said, but she was overbearing, inconsiderate, inefficient, and welleither she must retire or they would resign in a body. I saw that they meant business. I asked them to give me twenty-four hours. Then I telephoned to this woman and made an appointment with her for the following morning."

"Not very pleasant for you," I ventured.

"Pleasant? I'd rather have gone 'over the top' and across No Man's Land and tried to cut my way

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