Munition lasses, six months as principal overlooker in danger buildings

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a. K. FOX WELL

MUNITION LASSES

{Frontispiece.

MISS LILIAN BARKER, C.B.E.
Lady[Superintendent.

MUNITION LASSES

Six Months as Principal Overlooker in
Danger Buildings

BY

A.,K. FOXWELL

M.A., D.LiTT.

■:,X^y-

HODDER AND STOUGHTON

LONDON, NEW YORK, TORONTO

MCMXVII

DEDICATION TO
THE CAP AND DETONATOR GIRLS

My Dear Lasses,

I dedicate this little book to you in
affectionate remembrance of our work in Woolwich
Arsenal in the Third Year of the War, from July 1916
to January 1917.

In the beginning of last year, as most of you know,
a few women were admitted into the Arsenal to work on
munitions. As the weeks wore on, these women proved
themselves capable and worthy of the trust reposed in
them, and earned the praise and confidence of those
in authority by their quickness at learning, their deft-
ness in the operations, their pluck and eagerness in all
their undertakings.

The six months'* work amongst you as Principal
Overlooker, under conditions hitherto foreign to our
experience and comprehension, has added a richness
to life, fraught with a deeper, sincerer knowledge of
humanity — a knowledge attained equally through the
pleasures and many-sided interests, as through the
anxieties and difficulties incidental to such work in the
Danger Buildings of the Arsenal.

And when, at the beginning of the year, I had

4

DEDICATION 5

permission from my chief to visit the other factories
where women were employed, I encountered familiar
faces wherever I went. Not only old friends presiding
over examiners' tables, and college chums acting as
overlookers in the "streets"*' of vast machinery shops,
but whatever factory I visited, in one workshop or
other, a flutter of excitement animated the workers,
and an eager whisper of " It's our P.O.," caused me to
scan the faces more closely, thereby discovering one of
my old Cap and Detonator Girls. I found you, lasses,
in Primer and in Fuse, in Cordite and in Trotyl, in
the Cartridge, and in the Fuse and Case Factories.
I feel, therefore, that I can address you all, wherever
you are in Woolwich Arsenal, as a memento of our
work together in the Arsenal.

So that in years to come, when you have your
grandchildren at your knees, you may tell them how
you supplied your fathers and husbands, your brothers
and sweethearts, with munitions by land and by sea ;
and by so doing helped to keep the torcl of Britain
alight, and the flag of her Empire flyingj free, in the
years of the Great War 1914 —

I am always.

Your sincere well-wisher and
Principal Overlooker,

A. K. FOXWELI.

Harrow-on-the-Hill,
September 19 17.

MUNITION LASSES

ABBREVIATIONS IN TEXT

L.S. = Lady Superintendent.

P.O. = Principal Overlooker.

D.P.O. = Principal Overlooker of Danger Buildings.

M.O. = Medical Officer.

PREFATORY NOTE

This little volume is intended to give the general public
an insight into the life of the Munition Worker — a life
which, while sympathetically spoken of by the nation at
large, and at last included in the nation's prayers, is
practically unknown to all but the initiated.

The reader will readily understand why the work is not
discussed in detail. Indeed, though every care was taken
to refrain from mentioning w^hat might be against the
Empire's interest to divulge, stars in several places denote
the use of the Censor's pencil. A time may come, at the
end of the w^ar, when I may be permitted to speak more
fully of the technical side of the woman's work in munitions.
Meanwhile I am ver}-^ grateful to the authorities for per-
mission to publish some account of life in the Arsenal,
whose sacred precincts have hitherto escaped the invasion
of the daring chronicler.

My thanks are due to Messrs Macmillan, and Sidgwick
& Jackson, for permission to quote from the poems of
Sir Rabindranath Tagore and Rupert Brooke respectively;
to the Panora, Tasma, and Fancy Dress Studios for per-
mission to use their photographs in illustrations ; and to all
those in authority, both men and women, who have given
me facilities for seeing factories, canteens, and hostels.

A. K. F.

CONTENTS

CIIAI'. PAGE

1 . GETTING IN 9

"They have their exits and their entrances."

Shakspeare.

2. THE MUNITION ARMY . . . .25

" But to this 'sembly runnying in the waye
My strength fayleth to reche it at the full."

Sir Thomas Wiat. .

fi. SHIFTING- HOUSE AND ARSENAL

CLOTHING . . . . . .56

" Oh, the little more and how much it is,
And the little less and what worlds away 1 "

Browning.

4. THE WORKSHOPS: MORNING . . 52

" Man goeth forth unto his work and to his labour."

Psalter.

5. AFTERNOON IN THE FACTORY . . 67

' ' As with the morn
The busy hours fly on, till afternoon
Fades into night." Atioit.

(). SLIGHT SKETCHES 76

"Sondry folk by aventure yfialle
In felaweshipe." Chaucer.

7

MUNITION LASSES

7. WOMAN'S WORK OUTSIDE OUR FAC-

TORY 85

" Here work enough to watch
. . . and catch
Hints of the proper craft, tricks of the tool's true
play." Browning.

8. TROTYL WORKERS, TRUCKING, AND

THE TAILOR'S SHOP .... 96

" J'ai plus de souvenirs que si j'avais mille ans."
Charles Baudelaire.

9. CANTEENS 110

' ' I have been so great a Lover : filled my days
So proudly with the splendours of Love's praise.

These have I loved :

White plates and cups clean gleaming ;
Wet roof beneath the lamp-light, the strong crust
Of friendly bread ; and many-tasting foods."

Rupert Brooke.

10. HOSTELS ....... 129

" Con pace ogn' opra sempr' al fin assalto."
(All things have rest upon their journey's end.)
Michael Angelo.

11. THE PAY OFFICE 139

" For the labourer is worthy of his hire."

Gospel of St Ltike.

12. CHRISTMAS 1916 AND NEW YEAR 1917 146

"The morning will surely come, the darkness will
vanish, and thy voice pour down in golden streams
breaking through the skies."

Rabindranath Tagore.

MUNITION LASSES

CHAPTER 1

GETTING IN

^'They have their exits and their entrances."

Shakspeare.

One memorable day last year, the Registrar
for the University Women's War Service
invited me to go to Woolwich, there to be
interviewed as a candidate for the supervision
of the women workers in the Danger Build-
ings of the Arsenal.

Finding that many ways led to the destina-
tion, Beresford Square, Woolwich, by train,
motor-bus, or tram, the train route was chosen
for the sake of speed ; though experience, then
and subsequently, taught that no route what-
ever could lay any claims to celerity.

The journey lacked tediousness owing to
the interest of travelling part of the way with
a Canadian, who was overflowing with patriot-
ism, and pride in England's greatness. As we

10 MUNITION LASSES

steamed out of Charing Cross Station and over
the river there came into view that majestic
scene which Wordsworth has described so
feehngly : ^

" Earth hath not anything to show more fair ;
Dull would he be of soul who could pass by
A sight so touching in its majesty :
This city now doth like a garment wear
The beauty of the morning ; silent, bare,
Ships, towers, domes, theatres, and temples lie. . . "

The Canadian scanned river and Houses of
Parliament, the stately pile of the Abbey, and
St Stephen's Tower, and as his eye caught
sight of the Union Jack floating over Big Ben,
he broke forth eagerly : " Ah, that little rag !
that there little bit of rag ; 'twill take every
Jack of our Navy, and every lad of us to pull
it down. That little rag floatin' there so free
tells us what we're in for."

These words brought home to me once again
what women "were in for " : making munitions
to keep our sailors and soldiers bravely fight-
ing on until the day of victory shall be ours ;
to keep that flag floating over our Empire's
Citadel, and to hoist again the flags of our
brave Allies.

Woolwich, as everyone knows, has its Dock-

^ "On Westminster Bridge" — Sonnet.

GETTING IN 11

yard, its Arsenal, and its Military College.
Since the war, however, Woolwich and the
Arsenal are interchangeable terms. Seen
from Woolwich Common, it has a certain
dignity ; approached by way of Powis Street
the main gates are sufficiently impressive ; but
nothing on this earth could prepare us for
Beresford Square, except Beresford Square
itself, and it bursts upon our vision with
greater intensity if we approach it from
Woolwich Arsenal railway station, cross the
road and turn left into the kind of " Petticoat
Lane " entry of the Square.

We are then in pandemonium, and before
us are the main gates of the Arsenal. Into
the Square at this point from four main
thoroughfares pours an endless stream of traffic
— omnibus, tram, and motor-lorry; but no
taxi, no private motor to be seen, only an
occasional Arsenal car driven by a khaki-clad
woman wearing on her shoulder straps the
letters O.F.

Except for a passage kept sufficiently clear
for vehicles approaching the terminus, the
Square presents at all hours a. dense mass of
humanity. Alongside and on the main pave-
ment, as well as on all sides of the Square,

12 MUNITION LASSES

are ranged on the roadway the covered booths,
where everything may be bought in the way
of clothing, household utensils, and food, pro-
vided that one's ambitions are not too lofty
in the matter of household needs, nor one's
ideas too delicate in the manner of dress.

The booths are constant and ubiquitous,
yet they increase at the end of the week,
supplying a greater variety of food and live
stock, when not only chickens and ducks,
but pets in the shape of dogs and birds are
on sale ; even parrots, and an occasional
dignified cockatoo with yellow crest may be
seen ; but one feels that these birds are
singularly out of place, and would willingly
see them transferred to the Zoo, or to some
destination providing a better school for
learning the English language in a less lurid,
more polite form.^

Every Saturday, and on Sunday morning,
the upper side of the Square presents a glow
of colour from the huge flower-booths set
up : booths suggesting so marked a resem-
blance to the street corner flower-markets
seen abroad that one concludes that a Belgian

1 Owing, doubtless, to Food Economy the live stock is
now strictly utilitarian.

GETTING IN 1^

or French market-gardener is plying her trade
here, and earning a livelihood for the period
of the war by selling flowers and plants to
the Arsenal munition workers.

These flowers and an adjacent fruit-stall
with its well-arranged piles of fruit relieve
the scene from sordidness; and so what first
repels, attracts, and the elements of flowers
and fruit are an earnest of what we shall
discover in the life of the Arsenal. Many
a story could be told of the ultimate experi-
ence of the flower-stalls : how one worker,
tired and fagged herself, buys a few flowers
to cheer an invalid mother, and in the buying
forgets her own fatigue ; how another carries
back to her hostel a handful of Michaelmas
daisies to cheer a sick mate ; how another
still, goes off proudly with a many-coloured
posy for her sweatheart, who is lying wounded
in the Herbert Hospital ; and sometimes
with footsteps sad and slow, and merriment
dimmed for a time, a group of workers chooses
a wreath or a cross for some comrade who
has died.

We must not linger too long in Beresford
Square, for candidates provided with green
tickets of admission from the Labour Ex-

14 MUNITION LASSES

change opposite the station, or with letters of
introduction from the Ministry of Munitions,
must proceed to the gate, a matter of a half-
penny tram fare. from Beresford Square. This
journey takes any time between three and
twenty-three minutes, according to the exi-
gencies of the traffic. The sight of ten or
twelve L.C.C. trams, motionless at either
side of a short single line, waiting for trams
to pass up and down alternately, is not
uncommon when the number of passengers
is excessive at the beginning and end of
shifts.

The fates are auspicious on this occasion,
and the entrance gate is soon reached. Here
facetious tram conductors call out : " This
way to Plumstead and bedstead" to the
weary but chattering workers, who stream up
the steps from the gate morning and evening.

To gain entrance to the Arsenal, the new-
comer must cautiously descend the wide flight
of steps partitioned off by iron rails into
sections. This rail is a necessity during the
ebb and flow of humanity at the beginning
and end of each shift.

Entering the gates beyond, severely scruti-
nised by sentry and police, who examine our

GETTING IN 15

admission passes, we turn to a shed-like build-
ing somewhat similar to a waiting room at
a wayside station. This is the office of the
Lady Superintendent, under whose organising
genius and powerful personality the arrange-
ments relating to the women in the Arsenal
are carried out.

A well-balanced temperament justly poised
between power and kindliness, strenuous effort
and womanly sympathy, she sets up a standard
of straightness and fairness which touches all
classes and reaches out to the farthest corners
of the Arsenal ; and she expects and obtains
from everybody around her the highest effort
and the best work. With a strong brain, a
firm hand, a kindly smile, and imperturbable
countenance amidst the greatest pressure of
work, she stands " four square to every breeze
that blows " — and, to follow up the metaphor,
it is not only a fair breeze, but at times a
strong sou'-wester — in dealing with the vast
organisation. This includes, beyond interview-
ing and placing candidates, their health, dis-
cipline, and housing, the social side, with
recreation clubs and classes, medical officers'
reports, and Welfare Workers. But the breeze
always subsides, for to every difficulty she

16 MUNITION LASSES

applies a fund of humour which brings her
triumphantly through.

The L.S. Office consists of a good-sized
room where candidates are interviewed, with
a small type-writer's office opening out of the
larger room. This small office communicates
with the private room of the L.S. Furnished
with Spartan-like simplicity, it contains desk,
chair, a side-table, and a few photographic
groups of the workers on the walls.

The scene in the Interviewing Room is
one of orderly disorder. A central table faces
a bench running alongside the wall close to
the door, where the candidates sit in batches
of sixteen. An outer shed shelters the surplus
number.

Like the fabled Mercury of the under-
world, a doorkeeper marshals the forces, keep-
ing back the crowd and gathering in those
fortunate ones whose turn it is to be admitted.
With the skill due to long practice he keeps
the interviewing bench supplied with sixteen
applicants, succeeding by alternate harshness
and kindliness in squeezing the correct numeri-
cal total into the available space. All goes
well provided the bench is filled with sixteen
average-sized women ; but, as in omnibus or

GETTING IN 17

train, one or two overweights cause a bulg-
ing in the Hne, and various countenances wear
anxious or chastened expressions as they are
partially submerged by one or two of the
more buxom type.

Above the candidates are shelves contain-
ing stationery. Over the stove on the door
side are more shelves filled with correspond-
ence files. Behind the central table a series
of small tables are occupied by clerks and
Welfare Workers engaged in writing reports,
making out discharges, or filing the blue
entry papers. The L.S. or her deputy sits
at the central table and interviews the candi-
dates in pairs.

Questioning proceeds somewhat as follows :

" What age are you ? " " Twenty-three,
miss." "And you?" "Twenty-one." "I
have no vacancies except for Danger Build-
^ings. Are you willing to enter and work in
mercury?" "Yes, miss." "Well, take this
blue paper, and you will be shown outside
how to fill it in."

Then the next two are called.

"How old are you?" "Twenty-eight."
"And you?" "Nineteen." (To the elder)
" Are you willing to work in yellow powder ? "

18 MUNITION LASSES

"What's that?" "Trotyl." "Well, miss,
I have my husband at the front, and my
children to look after ; I don't feel I ought
to run the risk." "There are other things
to do ; you look strong ; you might undertake
trucking." ^ " Yes, miss, and may my friend
work with me ? " " No, I can't put your friend
there with you, but she can go to the next
factory, and you will be able to take your meals
together in the same canteen." They go aAvay
content, with the blue paper to be filled in.

The monotony of interviewing new can-
didates is relieved by occasional demands from
some worker or other.

A woman who has been six hours in the
Danger Buildings says she cannot possibly
stand it. She is all of a tremble. No reassur-
ing statement that her fear is groundless dis-
arms her. One feels that she is better else-
where, doing work requiring no nerve strain.
Such an incident as this is extraordinarily
uncommon. The majority of our women enter
and take to their unaccustomed tasks as to
the manner born.

Another woman insists upon seeing the
L.S. She has been in the Arsenal one day,
and objects to wearing the regulation cap.

GETriNG IN 19

" The wearing of a cap is one of the regula-
tions," says the L.S. " This is where woman's
work comes in — not only doing the work
required, but willingly submitting to discipline.
We are His Majesty's servants, and, like
the men at the front, we must be obedient
to regulations." The woman goes away
silenced.

As a rule a kindly word or a smile restores
confidence. A remark such as, "You will
help our soldiers in the trenches by filling the
shells and getting the war over," sends another
candidate away proud in the thought that she
also is able to take her part in the nation's
need ; and this aspect of the case is new and
delightful to some workers, setting up an ideal
that lifts her above the sordidness of what has
been hitherto daily toil for the mere necessity
of bread to be earned.

The next candidate is one of the Sarah Gamp
type, with the central part of her physiognomy
flushed and a suspicious watering of the eye.
" How old are you ? " inquires the figure at the
central table. A plaintive look is followed by
an indignant expression at being questioned on
so delicate a subject, but no reply is forthcom-
ing. At a thu:d repetition, " How old are you? "

20 MUNITION LASSES

the grudging answer comes : ** Er, forty-five."
" What were you doing before you came here ?"
" Doin' ! I ain't bein' doin' nothin' ; leastways
for eight years ..." Her voice resumes in
more determined tones : "I bin doin' a bit
of washin' to keep myself together." Her
features settle into a fierce hostility, as if
daring contradiction. She receives a yellow
slip of paper and is told to come next week
to see if there is anything for her.

A Welfare Worker will probably investigate
her case. Such women, if they have merely
been unfortunate, may be set to do some good
work in scrubbing, and may settle down quite
successfully under a firm and kind hand.
They regain their self-respect in the know-
ledge of work honestly done with other workers
for some good end.

And so the candidates stream along, and
before the day is ended hundreds may have
passed through and gone on to be medically
examined. All classes and conditions enter:
the young, the elderly, the keen, the sad-eyed,
peer's daughter and daughter of toil, university
graduate and professional woman, all ready to
lift their burden in whatever form it may be
required.

GETTING IN 21

And all this work revolves round the L.S.,
whose splendid physique and cheery forceful-
ness dominates the whole staff. In the midst
of marshalling the candidates by the door-
keeper, the interviewing by the secretary at
the central table, the conversation of the
Welfare Workers over their inspection work,
and the monotone of one poor Welfare Visitor
who has to visit an absentee at her home in
Stratford, and, not knowing how to get there,
relieves her mind by murmuring at intervals,
** Oxford St., Stratford, E.," as she turns
over the pages of an A. B.C. and studies a
map of London : above all these minor sounds
is heard the firm tones of our L.S. : '* Now,
look at one another, you two." The remark
is addressed to two strangers just appointed
by her to the same factory. A general laugh
ensues, and she adds : " It's good to meet a
face that you can pick out in a crowd, you
know ; you'll be glad to recognise one another
in the factory to-morrow."

Sometimes, to the enjoyment of her staff,
our L.S. takes the central table. The candi-
dates pass briskly through her hands, though
not without interruptions, such as telephone
rephes, urgent questions from a Welfare Visitor,

22 MUNITION LASSES

or an immediate slight readjustment of can-
teen administration. Every candidate gives
her age and previous calling, and is appointed
to work suitable to her age and strength.

Occasionally, a timid question as to the par-
ticular dangers of Danger Buildings elicits the
remark : " You girls seem to think that we
have a little cemetery tucked away in a corner
of the Arsenal, where hundreds of people are
buried who have been blown up. We don't
have these excitements here. Sometimes a
girl burns her fingers when she puts them in
the wrong place, but you can do that quite as
easily at home." Then the cheery voice con-
tinues : " However, this is war work, so we
don't expect to get a leisurely job. Aren't
you willing to do your bit, like the soldiers
in the trenches? We mustn't expect our
work to be easy."

The candidate, seeing the matter more
clearly, assents ; and the next two, having
listened to the previous conversation, state
their willingness to go into Danger Buildings.

"That's the right spirit," comments the
L.S. " That sort of thing is going to end the
war." They are thus rapidly interviewed with
a manner and tone that fits each candidate.

GETTING IN 23

Those who are interviewed as Principal
Overlookers are sent on after a talk with the
L.S. to the manager of the group of factories
to which they are assigned. I shall not soon

forget the courteous manner of Mr X as

he chatted about the duties of Principal Over-
lookers in Danger Buildings. And as he set
forth his views of work and the need for an
optimistic standpoint, one felt in him a kin-
dred spirit. " While holding an ideal in
view," he said, "it is necessary to keep in
reserve a sympathetic tact for the actual
achievement, and never be unduly cast down
at the difference between ideal and achieve-
ment." Many a time his words proved help-
ful on difficult days, when hands were short,
machines troublesome, or gowns scarce.

The rule was adopted at the outset of drop-
ping every difficulty at the end of the day,
and starting the morrow perfectly clear, never
going back to what was past, unless neces-
sary. In this way a reserve of energy was
husbanded.

The business of entering His Majesty's
Service in the Arsenal is not complete until we
have passed the doctors and been registered.
Registration takes time. At length a regis-

M MUNITION LASSES

tered number and rule book is handed to us
with instructions to present ourselves at a
certain hour and place in the Arsenal the
following Monday morning.

The rule book is inscribed with the
factory to which we are assigned, and our
rank in that factory. We are now definitely
His Majesty's servants in Woolwich Arsenal,
and under penalties not to take work else-
where until we shall be properly discharged,
and have received our clearance paper.

For better or for worse we have joined the
Munition Army, and before us is the " Great
Unknown."

CHAPTER II

THE MUNITION ARMY

" But to this 'sembly runnyng in the waye
My strength fayleth to reche it at the full."

Sir Thomas Wiat.

The streams of humanity that flow in and out
through the many gates of the Arsenal arouse
a feeling of amazement, amounting to awe.
The gate through which the newcomer enters
might be termed the Labour Gate, for the
majority have their entrance there. Standing
on slightly rising ground, it affords to the
observer an extended and comprehensive view
of the outgoing shift as of a mighty river.
It gathers impetus as it nears the gate, fed by
the many tributaries and streams of workers
who enter the main road by more devious ways
towards the end of the journey to the Arsenal
gates, and thence home. The outgoing stream
is perhaps more turbulent, more swift of move-
ment, more oblivious to any obstacles in its

25

26 MUNITION LASSES

path than the incoming one ; for there are
trains to catch and trams to mount in the least
possible time in order to secure a few minutes'
more rest before the inevitable summons back
to labour. It requires a considerable amount
of force, or insistent pleasantry, on the part of
the women workers to gain a seat on these
occasions ; acrobatic accomplishments are also
a distinct advantage to the attainment of this
end. For those who cannot mount by the
ordinary method are not seldom seen to climb
the rail, or swarm over the steering gear, and
mount to the upper part of the tram by means
of the balustrade instead of by the stairway
itself, so eager are the crowds to return home
by the first available means of transit to their
breakfast, dinner, and bed.

For these reasons we were continually grate-
ful that supervision duties called us earlier and
kept us later, so that we were scarcely ever
drawn into this human whirlpool with its very
remote chance of obtaining a seat.

The incoming stream varies in its movement,
according to the time. The early comers
enter at a leisurely pace, but as the hour nears
6.30 and the bell clangs out, the pace increases,
and those who are late in starting or who

THE MUNITION ARMY 27

have been detained by congestion of traffic
and are anxious to pick up their ticket in
time, make frantic and ineffectual attempts
to break through the main human stream,
and hurry to their destination. The ticket
denotes the punctual attendance and the
presence in the factory of each worker. Those
who fail to pick up their ticket are returned
as late on the time-sheets. This rule is
adhered to even if lateness is enforced by
such reasons as breakdown of traffic, since it is
impossible to find out with such vast numbers
the reasons for lateness. To misquote a well-
known phrase, the Arsenal may be divided
into three classes of degrees of lateness, where
" Some are born late, others achieve lateness,
others have lateness thrust upon them."^ No
one escapes lateness in wintry weather, when
trains are behind time and trams break down,
while fog dislocates traffic altogether; others
again, prone to punctuality, through unwonted
length of hours of labour and shortening of
their normal time of sleep are at times unable
to rise through sheer exhaustion, at the
appointed moment.

The great anxiety of the newcomer is to

^ " Some men are bom great . . . them." — Shakspeare.

28 MUNITION LASSES

arrive in time, and it is a marked day in one's
experience to rise for the first time at 5 a.m.,
breakfast, and set off to work while the whole
world seems given over to repose. We find
ourselves at 6.20 on a summer's morning
gazing at the immense crowd. Being quite
ignorant of the next step, we consult a police-
man and are told that new entries wait for
the guide. So we watch the mighty stream
of humanity with bewilderment, if not indeed
trepidation. The great bell at the gateway
clangs out the final summons. It is a friendly
five minutes' call to those who work in the great
machinery factories near by, but its raucous
tones spell lateness to the workers whose
business lies far away in Danger Buildings.
The surging tide slackens, becomes an eddy, and
an official appears, saying, *' Come along, you
new entries, 1 wiil show you where to go. Now
then, women on one side, men on the other."
So we are divided, as it were, into sheep and
goats, and we are herded up a long road.

Railway lines run alongside, and cross and
recross our path at frequent intervals ; engines
scream along to our right, our left, in front.
Huge war-lorries bear down upon us and
scatter us. We think of Lady Macbeth's

THE MUNITION ARMY 29

injunction : '* Screw your courage to the stick-
ing-place," and derive comfort from the con-
vincing conclusion of her spirited "and we'll
not fail." So we brace ourselves somewhat as
follows : " Remember this is war work : no
indulgence in the matter of paved ways or
footpaths for pedestrians : leave out of calcula-
tion all that is not absolutely necessary ; we
are merely parts of a vast war machine that
must go as smoothly and as swiftly as possible
until such time as honourable Peace crowns
the nation's efforts. This walk is the outward
symbol of the stern meaning of war."

At the entrance to the Danger Buildings
the men undergo a rigorous search of pockets
for matches and tobacco. The women are
asked, as in crossing the frontier in those far-
off days of peace, " to declare," and we are on
the point of saying soothingly (as of yore to
those Eumenides of the Customs, who had it
in their power to render us abjectly comfort-
less, if such was their will), " Non, monsieur,
rien du tout, rien a declarer." The feeling of
levity is hastily subdued, and we proceed
onward to the women's Shifting-house a few
yards further away in the factory to which
we have been appointed.

30 MUNITION LASSES

This journey was a mild harbinger of the
twice daily, or nightly, route to be taken.
In hot August days the heat was stifling and
the dust suffocating; in the wet days of
October, and the rampantly torrential nights
of November, we waded ankle deep in mud
and water, arriving with shoes, stockings,
and goloshes soaked. Again, in parts of
December our footsteps rang hke iron on
the frost-bound mud, and our senses tingled
and our spirits rose under the exhilaration
of the keen frosty air. Then the blackness !
But this was no peculiar attribute to Arsenal
life, as everybody knows. The very occasional
lamps dazzled the eye with the unaccustomed
gleam, making us still more blind. The last
part of the way was a plunge through a
miniature lake of mud to the Ticket Office,
evidently built by some brilliant architect
a few inches above the surrounding level to
prevent its complete ; inundation. But here
as ' elsewhere, and always, the authorities did
their best to lessen discomfort for their women
workers. Holes were filled in and damaged
roads mended as quickly as it was possible;
but a more level roadway could never do
away with the Arsenal mud, which is historic.

THE MUNITION ARMY 31

" Here we are," a gruff voice might be heard
saying in the darkness, possibly proceeding
from a man of thirty years' standing in the
Arsenal : " Here we are, same old Arsenal
mud, same old mud-holes."

So you will see the way of duty had its diffi-
culties, as we have been taught ; but, unlike
the Scriptural context, it was very prone to
lead to disaster. Those, however, who have
trodden this way, grappling with their work
to the best of their ability, have felt the joy
that comes from struggling, in the thought that
because of these rough places they can claim
a part in real war work : that is, war work
shorn of comfort, luxury, or indulgence.
Such work wants no praise ; it carries its own
joy — the joy of difficult work accomplished.

" He that walks it . . .
He shall find the stubborn thistle bursting
Into glossy purple." ^

Those of us who have walked there and look
back in reminiscence, remember no more the
thistles, but see, all along the track, the
purple patches.

Other ways lead to the Danger Buildings :
the wide road with the pedestrians' platformed

^ "Ode to Wellington." — Tennyson.

3

32 MUNITION LASSES

side-walk, with a pleasant view of low-lying
country interspersed with streams, and a variety
of marshland vegetation. The third way has
some claims to natural effects, and might be
called the Historic Way. We enter through
the massive main gates fronting Beresford
Square, and, leaving the residential court, we
pass the inspiring statue of youthful Welling-
ton, which suggests virile strength in every
line of the figure, forceful purpose in the
poise of the head, noble resolve in every
feature of the keen face.

The Historic Way affords a glimpse of river
bank whose distant edge is fringed with low
scrub, allowing all the wealth of colour of a
fine sunset to be reflected in its waters —
water that takes on an opaline hue when the
masses of golden cloud settle down into broad
lines of crimson and purple ; when steamboat
and tug, small river craft and coal-barge appear
like " painted ships upon a painted ocean," in
that still period of evening when day, panopled
with subdued splendour^of colour, goes forth be-
yond the sunset ; and night, wrapped about with
dewy veil and star- wrought garment, comes to
brood over all, as Nature sinks into repose.

Many a Sunday evening in summer and

THE MUNITION ARMY 33

autumn we have felt the calm beauty of this

way, and sung an evensong with the rest of

Nature, enjoying the quietude before the noise

of many footsteps and the hum of voices called

once more to work. Another glance at the

river, then over the footbridge and away to

our factory. Though we lose sight of the

river, it runs parallel to us, and occasionally

we catch a pleasant glimpse of the tawny

sails of the river craft floating against a

background of sky like some graceful bird.

Thus our factory is richly endowed in its

surroundings. That tawny sail floating past

is on its way to Greenwich ; in the other

direction lies Gravesend. What a wealth of

historic association lies in and between these

two ports ! But four centuries ago. King

Harry at Greenwich was dividing his time

between hunting in the Abbey woods and

planning out his schemes with keen diplomatic

genius for the greatness of England, the

placing her side by side with her powerful

continental neighbours. And we remember

how his ambassador landed at Gravesend, and

posted up to Greenwich, breathless with news

from the Imperial Charles, to meet the King.

And on the way, he, Sir Thomas Wiat,

34 MUNITION LASSES

courtier, ambassador, poet, wrote the patriotic
lines in his exultation at reaching England
once more. ''■ Tagus, farewell," he exclaims ;
''for I go to meet the Thames, to seek my
King and country, alone for whom I live."
King Harry and Wiat began, what Elizabeth
in her palace at Greenwich saw consummated
fifty years later. Greenwich to-day wears the
ineffaceable marks of its pageant, and power,
and bravery, in the days of the defeat of the
great Armada : such days repeated under
Nelson, when its old glories were revived and
an added lustre given. And to-day our sailor
lads of the training school march proudly
through its streets, knowing that Greenwich
is one of the precious stones of our Empire,
ringing as it does with Britain's mastery of
the seas.

So along Straightway, and Broadway, and
Riverway the women munition workers pass
to their labour. Here and there on the way
lies some vast workshop where man-power is
still required for forge or for gunnery. That
forge, for example, with its huge furnaces
and ringing sounds of hammering steel, whose
interior vividly contrasts with the outer dark-
ness, might have given Turner a subject

THE MUNITION ARMY S5

symbolic of Light, Force, and Darkness, as
companion to his " Rain, Steam, and Speed " ;
or provided Dante with another passage for his
Purgatorio,

Two traits are noticeable in the munition
worker as she journeys to and from her factory
— an unquenchable flow of spirits, and a liking
for gay attire. Silk stockings and velvet shoes
happily gave way in the autumn weather to
more serviceable boots and gaiters. Great
attention is paid to the head-dress and the
arrangement of the hair ; and this is a re-
markable and delightful fact, because every
hairpin must be discarded on reaching the
Shifting-house, and there is no space for any
elaboration of toilet. It does the lasses credit
that everyone turns out fresh and neat, even
gay, at the close of the shift, in spite of
having no convenience and no aid for personal
decoration.

Every woman carries either an attache case,
or a light bag made of straw containing
provisions, and crockery for making tea, in-
cluding a special teapot.

The conversation up the Straight reminds
one of a game played as children with slips of
paper and questions to be answered, every shp

36 MUNITION LASSES

of paper changing hands after each answer.
The conversation, hke the game, generally
revolved round the questions : what his name
was ; what hers ; when they met ; what he
said, and what she said ; and the result of it
all. The reality, like the game, is pro-
vocative of much laughter.

Sometimes we heard hurrying footsteps
behind, and one of my girls cried out, " Good
evening, miss ; you're always early, aren't
you ? " and she would proceed to chat of her
work in the factory and her home life. Our
girls had a wonderful facility at conversation,
talking to and from their work, and at their
work, and never at a loss for a word. Some-
times a young mother would chat about her
little son, the image of his father in France ;
another would talk of her sailor brother, and
of her efforts to mother younger brothers and
sisters. So these talks helped us to learn to
know one another, and relieved the monotony
of the walk to the Shifting-house and the
twelve hours' work that lay before us.

CHAPTER III

SHIFTING-HOUSE AND ARSENAL CLOTHING

" Oh, the little more and how much it is.
And the little less and what worlds away ! "

Browning.

The Shifting-house of all Danger Buildings
is the threshold of the factory. By Shifting-
house alone are all employees admitted, and
thence pass out to their respective workshops,
when they have been searched and are suit-
ably clad.

The great machinery shops of non-danger
buildings engaged in such work as shell-case,
fuse, cartridge, and T-tube cases have their
respective cloakrooms adjoining the shops.
In one large factory near the gates, the cloak-
room opens out of the vast workshop, and
entry is first made by the workshop door.
There are also rows of pegs placed down the
entire length of the building, where the out-
door garments hang.

37

38 MUNITION LASSES

In the Tailor's Shop, that teeming hive of
sempstresses, machinists, and tailoresses, a light
apparatus furnished with hooks for holding
the outdoor garments is slung up to the
rafters, and hauled down at the dinner-hour
and end of the shift — a contrivance similar
to the airing apparatus in the kitchens of
private houses, and in laundries. The sling-
ing apparatus has the distinct advantage of
putting garments beyond the reach of pilfer-
ing hands ; for thefts sometimes occur in the
Arsenal, but, considering the vast numbers
and diverse population, the percentage of
theft is small.

Still, it is undeniably one of the grievous
results of war conditions that quite a number
of people regard as legitimate the annexing
of any property or material that is left about.
This aspect has been noted in various hospitals,
both in England and at the front ; and I well
remember, when in France, a chaplain saying
to a young orderly : " My lad, if you can keep
your hands off other people's property, you
will have gained a great victory."

There are many checks to theft in the
Arsenal. Shifting-houses are never left, and
everyone is liable to be searched at any time

SHIFTING-HOUSE & ARSENAL CLOTHING 39

under duly authoritative orders. If a theft
occurs in any factory, and the fact is made
known to the gate policeman, anyone may be
stopped and searched before they leave the
Arsenal. And the gate search may take
place at any time, on entering or leaving.

Every woman worker in the Arsenal dons
overall and cap. In non-danger buildings,
khaki or blue overalls are given to new-
comers ; at the end of the week they receive
a second, and are responsible for the washing
of cap and, overall and keeping them in a fair
state of preservation. Every worker is known
by her factory number. It is stencilled on
her overall, not seldom accompanied by her
Christian name or a nickname.

In Danger Buildings the Shifting-house is
an elaborate organisation. On entry, each
worker takes off outer garments, jewellery,
metal fastenings, combs, and hairpins. All
property, all metallic adjuncts, must be dis-
carded ; the only loose articles allowed to pass
over the barrier are a handkerchief and a small
hnen money-bag tied round the neck.

The Shifting-house is a long building cut
into two by a barrier painted red. This barrier
runs across the entire width, and divides the

40 MUNITION LASSES

" dirty " side {i.e. the side of entry) from the
" clean " side {Le. the side from which the
workers pass out to workshop). It is divided
longitudinally into three, four, or more
sections, according to the size of the factory,
by wooden partitions, furnished with rows of
numbered pegs. Each worker hangs her out-
door clothes on a peg on the " dirty " side, and
has a corresponding peg on the "clean" side
for her kit-bag, which contains Arsenal shoes,
gown, and cap, and is stencilled with her
number. Having hung up her clothing on
the " dirty " side and placed her boots in the
pigeon-hole below her peg, and delivered up
attache case and handbag, she advances to
the barrier. There she undergoes a careful
search by persons stationed at the barrier for
this special duty. When the searcher is
satisfied that no metallic fastenings, hairpins,
jewellery are worn by the worker, and that
the pockets are empty and sewn up, she is
allowed to pass over the red barrier. She then
dons gown, cap, and shoes, if she can find them ;
but, too often for the D.P.O.'s peace of mind,
she makes great lamentation over the loss of
one article or of the entire kit.

For in every Shifting-house in the Arsenal

SHIFTING-HOUSE & ARSENAL CLOTHING 41

there is a Puck, a mischievous sprite who
goes about between the shifts, taking a gown
here, a cap there, sometimes putting two or
three gowns into one bag ; but some bags he
neve?' touches. I knew many workers who
tied their kit-bags with care, and took some
trouble to hang them on high pegs, and they
seldom, if ever, lost their things. The girls,
however, never put it down to Puck, but
always to the Other Shift. This other shift
was responsible, in their estimation, for every-
thing that went amiss ; and the other shift
laid the blame of any untoward event to the
girls of my shift.

" Oh, miss ! " is a very common remark,
" the other shift has taken my shoes again " ;
or, " Miss ! " (tragically) *' my new gown : the
other shift has worn it, and it's quite black."

Enter the Shifting-house night or day at
any moment between 6.50 and 7.15. A scene
of wild disorder meets the eye. A sea of
heads and writhing bodies, and apparently
utter chaos. But order gradually resolves on
the " clean " side, in the shape of tidy figures
clad in creamy or brown gowns buttoned
up to the neck and close to the wrists, with
tightly- fitting caps which should conceal the

42 MUNITION LASSES

hair. But the girls who voluntarily hide
their hair beneath their caps are few in
number. Yet they looked quite charming
when the regulations were entirely followed
and my lasses of seventeen or eighteen ap-
peared in cream-coloured gowns with not a
wisp of hair showing beneath their caps, like
sedate little nuns.

The Arsenal has its fashions in the way of
wearing a gown and the method of donning
a cap. The ingenuity of the feminine mind
is always in evidence in this respect in ways
both droll and delightful, and is one of the
methods of beguiling long and exacting hours
of work. The cap, which is merely a circular
piece of material with a tape run round the
edge, would trick the uninitiated into thinking
that there were at least a dozen different
shapes of caps.

There are fashions also in relieving touches
of colour. Flowers were used in the summer
and autumn. Certain workshops chose special
colours. Tiny blush-roses were a favourite in
one shop ; yellow marguerites in another ; in
a third, sweet peas. But it is the D.P.O.'s
duty to unbendingly repress such ebullitions
of ornament, for, being in Danger Buildings,

SHIFTING-HOUSE & ARSENAL CLOTHING 43

nothing must enter the workshops which is
extraneous to the work. So throughout the
summer and autumn she made " war upon
the summer's velvet bud," confiscating these
decorations and placing them with Shifting-
house attendants, to be owned in the dinner-
hour. The confiscation was generally effected
without demur, by admiring the flowers, re-
minding the owner that nothing was allowed
in the workshops ; that flowers could be worn
in the dinner-hour, when they could make
themselves look festive if they pleased. And
the flower was handed over to the D.P.O.
with a smile and an assenting " I'm sure."

Since the wearing of flowers proved unsatis-
factory, ribbon was the next innovation. It
was cleverly introduced by exchanging the
Government shoe-lace for ribbon. The fashion
was introduced by the Cap Shop girls, who /
appeared one morning with bright emerald- A
green ribbon in their shoes. The other work-
shops in the factory looked upon this bold
setting of the fashion with admiring and envious
eyes, as the Cap Shop girls strutted about all
that day, delightedly self-conscious, the most
obvious part of their attire being the green
ribbons in their shoes. The following morning

44 MUNITION LASSES

the whole factory was in the fashion. Shoes
were tied with blue, pink, red, white ribbon;
with anything but the Government boot-lace
of untanned leather. The fashion spread to
the office : the women clerks paraded the plat-
form during dinner - hour with resplendent
shoe-laces. The attendants also followed
suit, and dear old Auntie Ellis,^ the senior
attendant, and a great favourite with our
women, was discovered wearing shoe-strings
of bright scarlet, and in answer to the cry of
'•How gay you are, Auntie!" she remarked
with a twinkle in her eye, '* I'm wearin' the
Government's red tape ; it's accordin'." These
shoe-strings had been procured from the strips
of waste which the Tailor's Shop used to tie
the gowns into bundles for delivery at our
factory. There was always a scramble to gain
possession of some of this " red tape" for girdles,
which was yet another method for the display
of fashion, and great were the efforts amongst
the workers to ingratiate themselves with
Auntie Ellis for this purpose. Auntie Ellis
was sworn henchman to the D.P.O, She had
a genius for contriving hiding-places for caps

^ The Shifting-house attendant is always addressed as
" Auntie."

SHIPTING-HOUSE & ARSENAL CLOTHING 45

and money-bags, which the D.P.O. doled out
to needy applicants at mid-day. And when
she understood the difficulties of the gown
question, she became a veteran in the art of
keeping a few gowns for emergencies, taking
charge of special overlookers' gowns, which by
reason of their newness were liable to dis-
appear either through the caprice of the sprite
Puck, or by reason of the necessitous and
impoverished " Other Shift."

And Auntie May, the other attendant, was
an able aide-de-camp. Both were cheery and
happy workers. They scoured the Shifting-
house until it shone again. Always busy and
dependable in their tasks, they were two of
the best workers it was the D.P.O.'s good
fortune to possess.

The Shifting-house is to the munition worker
what the eighteenth-century coffee-house was
to its generation, and more. It is the news-
room, the reading-room, sewing-room, place
for drinking tea (on the *' dirty " side). And
here the tired worker, after carefully balancing
herself on a twelve-inch-wide bench, will sleep
happily and dreamlessly until the hootah and
the determined voice of the D.P.O. rouse her,
sending her forth once more to the workshop.

46 MUNITION LASSES

Nowadays there are canteens and rest-
rooms, but the women still look upon the
Shifting-house as the home part of the estab-
lishment, especially in the older factories,
where for some months it was their only
shelter for meals and rest.

The D.P.O. is on duty during the dinner-
hour to give passes for caps and gowns and
money-bags, to listen to any personal matter,
and to deal with permits for early leaving.
Women who are soldiers' wives must have
facilities for drawing their pay once a week,
or a mother needs to take her sick child to
hospital ; there are parcels to send to relatives
who are fighting or prisoners of war. These
are legitimate cases for granting leave half-an-
hour earlier, and these must be carefully sifted
out from reasons which are not necessary. So
the dinner-hour passes like a flash, as the
D.P.O. deals with the small but numerous
demands of her workers.

The rules are read in the Shifting-house on
the first day of every month. They are daily
explained to the newcomers, but the Danger
Building regulations are so important that
they are constantly recapitulated. How we
all pack ourselves in is a marvel on these

SHIFTING-HOUSE & ARSENAL CLOTHINCi 47

occasions ! The D.P.O. mounts to a place of
vantage whence she can view the sea of faces
below her, with the overflow squeezed round
the doorway and on the platform outside.
The sensible take the rules with a shrug ; the
rebellious mutter " Rules again ! " ; the incor-
rigible murmur amongst themselves until they
are called to order ; and all are reduced to
"^ respectful silence except an occasional laugh
elicited by a facetious thrust from the D.P.O.
And when it is over they hasten out once
more, all talking at once, and saying to the
D.P.O., " That's over for another month."

Lastly, the Shifting-house is the place where
clean or new gowns are given : an event
which lacks interest to the general reader ;
but to the Principal Overlooker the whole
jJiriife and temper of the factory hangs upon the
question of gowns. The overlooker, or head
of each workshop, must be kept tidy. The
filler's gowns must be changed often, because
they soon become impregnated with powder.
The mercury and compo workers need a
weekly change as a preventative against con-
tact, and every worker needs a fortnightly
change.

Now, the desire and ambition of the factory

48 MUNITION LASSES

is to obtain a new gown ; for the fireproof
material is soft and glossy in appearance when
new, but its colour changes to a brown shade
and it loses its gloss w^hen washed.

When new gowns arrive, the news speeds
round the factory, and the majority suddenly
discover that their gowns are dirty, or mis-
fits. The D.P.O. is waylaid with breathless
demands for new gowns. " Oh, miss, I've^
never had a new gown," says one ; " I've been
here four months and never had a new gown,"
says another ; and a third says insistently,
" You promised me one." " No," replies the
D.P.O. to the last supphant: "I never pro-
mise gowns, because I cannot regulate the
supply. Like you, I must wait patiently, and
distribute the gowns fairly in the order they
are due, when I receive them." New gowns
are supplied to overlookers and fillers only,
as a rule. But when a large batch of gowns
is sent, it is sometimes possible to clothe an
entire shop in new gowns. The Tailor's Shop
works night and day to make and renovate
gowns, and the supply of washed gowns is
adequate for the general w^orker. But there
is no insistent demand for a washed gown ;
and the persuasion, even the command, of the

SHIFIING-HOUSE & ARSENAL CLOTHING 49

D.P.O. is required to effect a change from
a dirty new gown to a clean washed one.

Thus a large portion of the D.P.O.'s energy
is spent in administering gowns, selecting and
rejecting, and adopting a system of impartiality
in dealing with two hundred applications or
more when there are forty or fifty to be
distributed.

The workers beg, demand, beseech, accord-
ing to their temperaments. One gently says
she does not wish to worry, but . . . ; another ^
affirms that she has waited long enough ; a (
third complains that the factory laughs at/
her patched gown ; and a fourth ingeniously\
requests a new gown because she is going toy
be married. ^

The only way to deal with our lasses is by
infinite patience and good-humour, and dis-
cernment in selecting the deserving cases.
Sometimes the D.P.O. exclaims: "These
gowns of yours, lasses, will be the death of
me ; if I don't appear one of these days, you
will know that I have succumbed to the
gowns."

" Oh, miss, we know it's not you," they reply
in contrite tones. It is not to be wondered at
that a few workers out of a number of five

50 MUNITION LASSES

hundred must wait their turn, considering we
are only one factory of many. The gown
supply became quite normal, and the marvel
is that the Tailor's Shop manages to meet
the great demand.

My girls are never so happy or look so
radiant as on the red-letter days when they
acquire new gowns. And their happiness is
completed with a new cap as well. How they
laughed when the D.P.O. visited them the
other day, when from force of habit two
girls jumped up saying, "Oh, miss! may we
have a new gown ? " Two instances of real
self-sacrifice must be recorded. A worker
gave up a gown to someone who needed
it ; and another girl allowed a filler to have
the new gown which had just been assigned
to her.

In the New Year, the excitement of garbing
the carriers in a special rational uniform made
the general worker forget her attire for a time.
The women carriers appeared with belted over-
all reaching to the knee, gaiters fastened above
the knee, and divided skirt reaching below
the knee. Mackintosh overcoat and cap
completed the uniform. Very serviceable
and workmanlike these uniforms are, for the

SHIFIING-HOUSE & ARSENAL CLOTHING 51

carriers must be out in all weathers, and the
ordinary length skirt and gown is not only
an impediment, but a menace to health. It
is now worn in parts of the Arsenal where
women are employed as carriers or truckers.

Much has been said about Arsenal dress,
because it is both the preparation and the
precaution for the business in the workshop.
Being suitably equipped, the workers leave the
Shifting-house, and we will follow them to
their respective workshops.

CHAPTER IV

THE WORKSHOPS : MORNING

"Man goeth forth unto his work and to his labour."

Psalter,

From 7.15 to 7.30 daily and nightly the
D.P.O.'s exert all their energy, all their force
of will, all their patience, and not a little of
their wit in getting the girls to their work-
shop. The phrase, '" Come along, girls," is^f^
incessantly on their lips, the reiteration varied
only by the stress. The command of the
D.P.O. is (literally) enforced by the driving
power of the attendants. Auntie Ellis's voice
is heard : " Come along, you gals ; this way
for the up train," with a further admonish-
ment: "Now, then, what yer doin' up there
all of a heap ? — out you go." So by dint of
continually calling and propelling, the house
is cleared by 7.30, and the door closed.

Once in the workshop, away from the
temptation to gossip, or snatch a forbidden

52

THE WORKSHOPS: MORNING 53

hasty meal on the dirty side of the Shifting-
house, or to rest after the journey there, our
women start work with energy. The out-
going shift must leave the shops clean and
tidy. It is the business of the incoming shift
to set up and burnish all machinery and tools.
On cleanliness depends our safety. The three
commandments of the Danger Buildings are
Cleanliness, Gentleness, Punctuality, and on
these principles depend all the regulations.
The first two ensure safety, the last speeds
munitions to the front, and will shorten the
war. These three words might be written
large in every Shifting-house in Great Britain,
to impress it on all workers, as we endeavoured
to impress it on our lasses.

The most acutely busy time of the shift for
the D.P.O. is from 7.30 to 8 o'clock. She
goes swiftly from shop to shop, noting absen-
tees and arranging the gangs of workers for
the operations. The filling shops must be
kept to their full strength. Vacancies in these
shops entail drawing from minor operations,
or appointing new hands. Discernment must
be made between what is vital and what is
expedient. One operation leads to another,
and if we are held up in one direction, the

54 MUNITION LASSES

work as a whole is affected. Moreover, the
work of the previous shift must be balanced
by the following shift.

The foremen and D.P.O.'s are therefore
engaged, as it were, in a game of chess, the
factory being the board, the workers the
pawns, and the other shift the " friendly foe."
At the end of the week, when the exacting
work necessitates a rest for some of our
women, the volunteer workers are a great
boon, in keeping gangs up to strength and
preventing any lowering of the output.

It should be understood that workers are
safe, as long as they follow out instructions
and work to rule. Directions are printed in
every shop. It is the overlooker's duty to
see that the workers are following these
directions, and the D.P.O. must see that every
shop is working exactly in accordance with
such regulations. She must be constantly on
the alert to note any deviation whatever from
the directions, and to watch for danger signals.
She must be satisfied that the machinery is
running smoothly and correctly, and if in
doubt go to the experts. The men D.P.O.'s 5||f
supervise, correct, and adjust machinery, and
make constant tours of inspection. Still the

THE WORKSHOPS: MORNING 55

yjfwoman D.P.O. is responsible for the women,
and she cannot relax a moment in watchful
guard.

By 8 o'clock the filling machines must be
up and running, the mould trays and plates
must be thoroughly clean, the shop must have
its complement of hands, the absentee lists
must have been collected and signed by the
D.P.O. and sent up to the office, and the
programme of the day in working order.

On the night-shift work continues without
a break until 11 p.m., the dinner-hour. On
the morning shift dinner is at midday; and
light refreshments are served in the canteen
between 8 a.m. and 9 a.m. Every worker is
allowed ten minutes : five minutes to go to
the canteen and back, five minutes for refresh-
ment. At 9 a.m. all stragglers are called in,
the canteen is closed to workers, and inspection
of workshops begins. The D.P.O. visits every
shop, in more leisurely fashion than the first
round. She watches the work, points out
errors, notes the progress of new hands, in-
spects the supply of hypo and eye lotion and
towels in the filling shops. The inspection is
followed by a visit to the wash-houses and
adjacent buildings, and to the Shifting-houses

56 MUNITION LASSES

to see that everything is in a clean and
sanitary condition. Lastly, reports are made,
requisitions drawn up, and the ambulance
baskets overhauled and depletions made good
before the "turn-out" hootah sounds at midday.

Starting on our morning's rounds, we enter
the Can Shop. This is the largest shop in
the factory ; hence it appears to De the most
busy. There is constant movement here, as
the girl carriers go backwards and forwards
with the plates for the different processes
and operations, all of which are begun and
completed in this shop.

The Cap Shop is always full of life. The
girls sings their special Cap Shop songs and
ragtime ditties. The row of merry faces
round the star-turning table is one of the
bright corners of our factory, while the bounces
of bright - coloured shell add a touch of
picturesqueness to the scene. It recalled to
the memory a little fairy tale called the
'* Pot of Gold," describing the quest of a boy
and girl for the golden treasure that was
hidden at the foot of the sunset, and after
many adventures they climb a mountain below
which the sun is setting, and they fall asleep
and dream they are laving their hands in

THE WORKSHOPS: MORNING 57

streams of gold. But the fairy tale is more
of an allegory ; for every boy and girl, every
man and woman sets forth to find that
treasure, though some lose themselves by the
way. But those who search are so taken up
with the attractions on the road, and find such
glories on the mountain top when they have
scaled it, that almost before they are aware
they near the sunset, and go down with it to
learn the glowing mystery of what shall be
revealed beyond. And sometimes, at different
crossroads, there are partings from friends ; but
at every parting there is a trail of light, and a
bright spirit remains with them, more real than
the bodily presence they parted with, because
the body is merely the semblance of the spirit
and the soul.

The majority of the filling shops are staffed
with women. The mercury shops have men
overlookers, with women as second-in-charge.
The shops, divided in three portions, are not
large, owing to the nature of the operations,
but each worker in the shop has an important
process to carry out. These shops are remark-
able for the happiness and general appearance
of good health among the workers. Singing
is the usual accompaniment to their work.

58 MUNITION LASSES

The latest songs are introduced, but some
songs which are rich in harmony remain
favourites and are sung week in and week out
with tireless energy. Carols were introduced
for the Christmas season. *' Noel " and ** King
Wenceslaus" were the favourites, and were
sung with a spirit and tunefulness hard to beat,
while the machinery made an undercurrent of
rhythmic sound.

Many a time I have desired to sketch these
workshops, but the limitations of perspective
would only permit a portion to be seen ;
whereas it is the whole effect, the "tout
ensemble" (as our friends across the water
say) of rhythmic work and tuneful song that
appeals to eye and ear. Though every filling
shop is similar, each has its distinct char-
acteristics to the initiated. The energetic

overlooker of the shop was always

wrapped up in his work, planning out the
best possible arrangements of his workers, in
order to add to the output, putting a machine
in order at one moment, taking up a filling
machine at another, giving a woman-pupil
a lesson, making out attendance lists, talk-
ing over the work with the D.P.O. — never
wasting a moment, and always engrossed in

THE WORKSHOPS: MORNING 59

some plan ahead of the work. Foremost
amongst those who help then* comrades, he
aided the Red Cross Fund with much zeal,
and at the Christmas season subscriptions
were given from his shop sufficient to buy
an adjusting-table for the St John's Relief
Hospital. The woman second-in-charge ably-
supported him, and the whole shop following
the tone of their leader, were known for their
good work.

The next shop to them worked in close
unison and friendly rivalry. Where one was
in advance, the other essayed to lead. The
overlooker was formerly a sailor and kept his
shop as taut and clean as a ship's deck.
^rThe shop was noted, too, for its enthusiastic

women-in-charge. Little Miss C , beloved

by all the workers, was sunny, sweet-tempered,
and absolutely loyal to work, but eye-trouble
necessitated transfer to another factory, to
our mutual regret. Her place was ably filled
by another loyal worker, who inspired the
girls under her to good work. She is now
overlooker in another shop.

Another shop was conspicuous for the
number of fillers it turned out. There was
always a prospective pupil here, willing to

60 MUNITION LASSES

learn, and it had the honour of supplying
fillers for other shops. The overlooker was
a woman, supported by a man-filler of large
experience. The other fillers werp wnmpn.
with a long record of steady work. There
was always in this shop a steady cheerfulness
in the face of obstacles. The overlooker was
ready to throw herself in the breach when
emergency arose. Hence she inspired her
workers, so that one saw a hand quietly going
from one operation to another if there was
any need, with no grumbling and no assertion
that "it wasn't their place" to help in the
operation required.

J^It was the aim of the D.P.O. to see that
the hands in filling shops should be capable
of turning from one operation to another.
In this way much time is saved, and the shop
is generally in a higher state of efficiency.

Another shop was distinguished for its
women-fillers, who had a very long record
at their work ; and they were respected by
all the workers of the shop. One of these
has since become overlooker of the shop,
and she has the good wishes and support of
all, because we feel that she will make a loyal
and good leader.

THE WORKSHOPS: MORNING 61

On the first day of the New Year, we
opened the half of a new filling shop with
much eager interest. Thither we brought
picked hands from the old shop, and some
promising new hands. The shop famous for
its fillers supplied a hand for the filling
machine. But one thing was lacking, and the
D.P.O. was asked with some diffidence if

H were not coming down. Now H

was a bonny lassie who had worked in the
old shop for eleven months — ever since the
shop had been open to women, in fact. For
this reason she was an integral part of the
shop, and we were dubious of removing her.
But when the D.P.O. went to see, she was
confronted with a' wistful face, and a sorrow-
ful voice begged to be allowed to go to the
new shop. " Let me go as a worker," she
said ; **1 do not wish to be second-in-charge,
but just to be allowed to work there." My
friends X, and Y, and Z are all there, and I
shall feel more at home with them in the
new shop." We sympathised, and felt that
she deserved a reward. Twice during the

eleven months her eyes Ha^Z^EoScI^ignsof
trouble, and we wanted^ to remove herri)ut
she had begged hard to remain, so we care-

62 MUNITION LASSES

fully watched her until the eyes became
normal again.

We considered that her long service merited
the reward she asked, so, having received
the master's assent, we took H — — down to
the new shop, triumphantly presenting her to
the workers there, to the great contentment
of all.

We paid a flying visit to this shop the
other day, and found proudly happy faces.
The work was pursued with great vigour to
show us how well the shop was running.
And the overlooker said in quiet tones : " All
is well here ; and next time you come to see
us we hope to have the other half of the
shop working."

j^The D.P.O. must keep a vigilant eye on
the appearance of the workers during her
daily rounds, noting especially the eyes and
the skin, and inquiring into the state of teeth
'and gums. Experience has proved that care-
ful watching and taking care of contact cases
in the early stages has a most beneficial result.
I Some workers are better if left in the shop
\ under surgery treatment; others, again, are
fetter removed on the slightest symptoms.
Some are immune, having remained for

THE WORKSHOPS: MORNING 63

ji-months without becoming contact. The pre-
ventative measures have greatly decreased
the number of cases. tT^po for the hands
and face, and eye lotion are placed in every
mercury and compo shop, and workers can
;top their work to use these preventatives
at any moment during the day. Increased
ccommodation for washing and hot and cold
water laid on in the shops, together with the
free distribution of milk at every shift, has
done much to raise the general health of our
workers.

From filling we pass to finishing. The
operation needs delicate handling and skilled
labour : deftness of touch and a trained eye
are essential. The work is particularly adapted
to ^vomen, and overlookers and hands are
women and girls who have reached a very
high standard of efficiency and dexterity. The
overlookers of both the filling and the finishing
shops must be thoroughly experienced. They^»
need to be observant and resourceful, with s\ T^
taste for machinery, and must, moreover, he)
swift and dexterous in manipulation.

There is always something new to learn,
some fresh difficulty to cope with, some slight
amendment to try ; hence the work is absorb-

5

64 MUNITION LASSES

ingly interesting. The discs, their measure-
ments, weight, thickness, and the variety of
metal used, is a science in itself, as applied to
the particular branch of work in these shops.
The D.P.O. must watch closely, satisfying
herself that the work is performed strictly
to the printed rules of the shop. The total
amount in a shop must never exceed a certain
limit, and it must be constantly carried
away.

The work of the Carriers is most important
in relation to both the filling and the finishing
shops. They carry away the finished work
and supply the finishing shops with fresh work.
All work must be removed as soon as it is
finished, and it is often necessary to put an
extra carrier on at busy times, when there is an
increased amount to carry away. Detonator-
carrier duty is popular amongst the women,
and, now the carriers wear a rational uniform,
they are prepared for all weather. They like
the out-door life. A worker who has been
suffering from contact with mercury often
becomes quite well again under the out-door
life : others again are so sensitive to mercury
that the duties of a carrier immediately set
up dermatitis, and they must be removed.

THE WORKSHOPS: MORNING 65

We finish our brief survey with the Examin-
ing Shops. The workers here are either
permanent examiners as a reward for good
service in mercury, and their subsequent
contact with it, or they are mercury workers >
who are taking their weekly rest in the ex-\
amining shop; the following w^eek they will\
return to mercury, and other mercury hands
will take their place for a week. It is hoped
thereby to lessen the cases of contact, and
the plan is working well. The examining
shops are the quietest in the factory. Much
responsibility devolves upon each worker; it
is their duty to separate any imperfect or
faulty specimen in the finished work brought
to them. To pass a defective cap or detonator
means the spoiling of a cartridge or a shell ;
the women know their obligation, and carry
out the work with a gravity and quietude
befitting their responsibility and the trust
reposed in them.

At another examining shop the overlooker,

Mr H , cheerily greets us, and is ready to

show us all flaws that it is possible to detect.
Jl^This work is the most highly trained in the
factory. All defects are put aside to be recti-
fied if possible. The examined work is sent

66 MUNITION LASSES

on to the official examining department, where
it is again minutely examined and tested.

This shop employs picked workers only.
Long service, good records, and special ability
for the work is essential. Women are placed
here, as a rule, in reward for past services, and
it is one of the best-paid operations."*

Morning inspection is not complete until
Shifting-house and the various offices have
been visited. Bright rows of taps and well-
scrubbed boards meet the eye in the wash-
houses. At the door of the Shifting-house a
strong smell of disinfectant is noticeable. At
the call of " Mrs Ellis," an answering voice
replies, " Here I am, miss, on my knees agin,"
and a cheerful figure emerges from a dark
corner whence a moment before sounds of
scrubbing were heard. A hasty survey, and a
talk about supplies of gowns and shoes, a
glance into the medicine cupboard to see that
it is well stocked, and it is time to return to
the platform for the turn-out.

Standing at a point of vantage on the bridge
where the shops can be surveyed, the foremen
and D.P.O.'s watch the workers as they stream
out, at the sound of the hootah, to their dinner
and well-earned rest.

CHAPTER V

AFTERNOON IN THE FACTORY

" As with the morn
The busy hours fly on, till afternoon
Fades into night." — Anon.

The settling of the workers after the dinner-
hour is not quite such a strenuous business as
the morning routine. The changes are slight,
the absentees few. There is time to note
natural effects which we are so fortunate in
possessing. The workshops stand far apart on
their own small grass plots, where an occasional
tree casts cool shadows in hot weather, and
their bare branches in wintry seasons add a
touch of beauty to an otlierwise barren land-
scape. The girls work away all the afternoon
in fine weather with the wide doors flung open
in view of the grass plots. When our workers
are transferred they realise more than ever their
good fortune in having belonged to our factory.

" Oh, miss," they come to tell us, " I wish I

67

68 MUNITION LASSES

were back here ; the work's all right in the

factory, but it's not the same as ours,

not 'arf ! " However, the preference for their
own factory is not peculiar to our girls. Visit-
ing others, I found the same (proper) spirit in
them. " Of course," one would say in a com-
miserating tone of voice of regretful patron-
age, "your shaped buildings are on the old
design. We are delighted with our picturesque
style, and are glad to be in one of the new
factories." We admired the buildings, adding
thoughtfully, " But we in our factory have our
glimpses of water, and sometimes see those
tawny- coloured sails floating past. . . ." The
subject was hastily changed, each one smiling
at the humour underlying the other's point
. ^of view.

^ Pacing the platform on a fine afternoon,

V ^ there were many little corners of the original

^^^ marsh ground almost untouched. In one

* y, xtjuiet corner, for example, was a small plot of

^ / reeds and flowery grasses. Just such a place

^ V that Pan delighted in and made sweet music

/ from the^reeds he plucked from the river side.

K There were dragon-flies too, and water-beetles :

/ nor was bird-life wanting, for the trees scattered

/ over our area harboured hosts of sparrows:

I sparrows who were tame enough to lodge in

AFTERNOON IN THE FACl^ORY 69

the canteens ; and it was a customary sight
for a sparrow to fly in and hop about the
canteen floor, picking up crumbs with non-
chalance like that of the pigeons at the
British Museum.

Fringing the ditches and on the mounds
between the shops, flowers were plentiful in
summer and autumn. The small yellow antir-
rhinum covered some slopes near our Shift-
ing-house ; wild geranium, marsh daisies, and
many herbs were plentiful ; and in the winter-
time two mounds were covered with bright
crimson berries which had ripened from a small
creeping plant, which had established itself
firmly in this particular spot.

The ditches have their colour effects, for
here the waste of chemicals and steam pipes
collect — great splashes of indigo variegated
with the rainbow tints, sometimes taking
strange shapes similar to the weird designs of
the Futurist school so prevalent before the
war. And I often thought they must have
based their designs on the gorgeous effects
which masses of water take on when certain
chemical combinations are introduced, though
in applying the principle to an art they seemed
to lose all the natural beauty of the original
designs.

70 MUNITION LASSES

The clothing of the boys often adds a rich-
ness to colour effects. Small figures are to be
seen on the platforms clad in trousers and cap
of a rich velvety bronze brown ; some of
them possess features not unlike the cherubs
of the Sistine Madonna, and one exclaims,
" Oh, had we a Raphael or Angelo here, what
colours, what gestures would be fixed for all
time ! "

Everyone knows that the cherubs of the
Sistine Madonna gazing upwards adoringly
were an inspiration, an afterthought of
Raphael, on seeing two little Roman urchins
looking up from the foot of the scaffolding to
gaze upon the " Madonna and Bambino," then
nearly completed.

There exists in the factory many such
chubby-faced boys with glowing eyes and
sunny countenance, their hair ruffled with work,
who in picturesque garments bend lithe arms
and bodies to their machines, whose behaviour,
alack ! often belies their seraphic expression.
One day I found such a youngster in a fill-
ing shop, where his duty consisted of putting
empty shell into the moulds. He was the
picture of health, being the living counterpart
of Greuze's " Child with the Apple " ; and thg^
likeness was only too complete, for he wa^

AFrERNOON IN THE FACTORY 71

munching with intense enjoyment a large
rosy apple.

Oh, that apple ! A very stringent rule for-
bids " any eating whatever, except in certain
appointed places." This rule refers to all
ranks whatsoever. Enjoyment gave place to
fear when I sternly demanded the apple and
questioned him about the rule, made, like
every other rule, for the safety of the whole
factory. After a talk I told him that I should
not report him now, but should expect him to
help me in keeping the rules from henceforth.
We made our compact and kept it. The lads
knew that the D.P.O. allowed no wavering
in the matter of rules, and was known to be
overstern in this respect, than otherwise. From
that day, the boys of my shops were always
helpful, and willing in various ways. The^
boys were not controlled by the Women
Principal Overlookers, but they liked to be
included in any schemes we planned for the
women, and smiles of welcome and cheery
salutes were always ready when we met them
in workshop or platform.

In the afternoon we visit the workshops on
the other side of the factory. The X shop over-
looker is an expert with a vast knowledge of
his subject, and is always completely absorbed

72 MUNITION LASSES

in the science and interest of it, and in the
arranging of the women workers according to
their abihty. His ideal is to make his work-
shop perfect in technique, and the quantity
of his output correspondingly satisfactory.
Many a pleasant half hour was spent in getting
initiated into the variety of operations in the
shop, and in learning to know the girls.

The usual routine of visiting and inspecting
is varied in the afternoon by visitors in an
official capacity. The D.P.O. conducts the
women M.O.'s and Welfare Visitors on tours
of inspection, reporting and explaining by the
way. These visitors generally exclaim at the^
cheerfulness and well-being of the shops, and/
we reply that everyone is happy, and owing toJ
the many preventative measures adopted, the;
are usually very well. It took some time t<
get these measures into smooth working order,
and it was a proud moment when our M.O.,
paying a flying visit, said, " I really have noth-
ing to criticise to-day : your workers are in
excellent health, to judge by their appearance,
and your arrangements are in good working
order." We both understood that this report
did not mean any relaxation in watchfulness.
It is only unflagging attention and continual in-
sistence upon the use of preventative measures.

AFTERNOON IN THE FACTORY 7 3

and the hourly inspection of shops, that keep
in abeyance the number of contact cases, and
improve the health of the workers. Unflag-
ging interest and continual care are the two
watchwords of the D.P.O.'s.

A few minutes before the hootah sounds
for tea, we must be on the platforms, and at
the observation post. For if no foremen or
D.P.O.'s are about the factory considers it
has scored in turning out too soon. There-
fore, whatever happens, the D.P.O.'s must be
at their posts to see that order is kept. The
overlookers are responsible for their workers,
and any laxity in this respect means severe
reprimand. The D.P.O. gives the signal to
the overlookers, and each overlooker turns
the shop out at leaving time. Great watch-
fulness must be observed to keep order on
the platform : haste is firmly repressed, for
no running is allowed on danger platforms.
Every worker, however, wishes to get to
canteen or Shifting-house as quickly as
possible, so all the officials are on the alert
at different parts of the factory to see that
this rule is observed.

After tea the shops are visited, and absen-
tees noted. The remaining hour or two is
occupied with technical details. The D.P.O.

74 MUNITION LASSES

generally repairs to the office which is jointly
shared by men and women, between the
hours of five and six o'clock, to make out
reports for the Principal Foremen, and bring
the surgery list and absentee lists up-to-date.
Any small points of adjustment in organisa-
tion are notified to the following shift. A last
visit is made to the workshops, to see that
all is in order before the leaving hootah
sounds ; and we found that this was a good
time, when other points of routine did not
claim attention, to ascertain whether the
workers were in receipt of their correct
shares, and to note the day's changes in the
occupations of the women.

When the workers have once again streamed
out, and are safely in the Shifting-houses, it
is necessary to visit the X and Y shops, to see
that they are left clean, and that nothing is
remaining in them contrary to regulations.
Then comes the summing up of the day.
The woman meets the men P.O.'s, and the
day's work is totalled up and discussed : sug-
gestions made for improvement here, correc-
tion there, in work or worker. The men
overlookers generally come in to give their
verbal report and discuss the difficulties and
successes of the day.

AFl^ERNOON IN THE FACTORY 15

And now the platforms, that were so silent
during the previous half hour, begin to hum
with life. Overlookers of the night-shift are
hurrying to their shops ; workers are strolling
leisurely to their various occupations, chatting
as they go. It is nearly 7.30 and time to leave,
so we exchange Arsenal for outdoor shoes, and
have a word with the D.P.O. of the night-shift
before our departure.

Once out of the factory, we realise that we
are hungry and weary. If the night is fine and
starlit, there is solemnity and peacefulness in
the walk through the now quiet Arsenal.
Walking along the way that teemed with
many thousands and resounded to the tramp of
hurrying footsteps but a short while since, we
revolve in our minds the various incidents of
the day, and realise the .comic side of some
event that at the time of happening obliged an
attitude of gravity, if not of sternness.

Scrutinised by sentinel and policeman, but
unmolested, we at length reach the gates that
we entered at 6 a.ni., sufficiently thankful for
space to walk in, and a seat in a tram. So
we look forward on our homeward way to
the cheery chat of friends at the dinner-table,
and beyond that, repose.

CHAPTER VI

SLIGHT SKETCHES

" Sondry folk by aventure yfalle
In felaweshipe." Chaucer.

Lest the reader should have fallen into the
grievous error that the D.P.O. is in supreme
command, we would note that after the
All-powerful Head comes the Controller, in
charge of groups of factories ; the Manager,
responsible for a single group ; the Principal
Foreman, head of one or more factories, and
the foreman of a single factory. Latterly,
women foremen have been appointed, but in
our time the D.P.O. was directly responsible
for the women, and whatever appertained to
them.

The Manager of our group of factories was^
a man of over middle height, blue-eyed and of (
ruddy complexion, as courteous a gentleman f
as one could wish to meet in a day's march./

An optimist and believer in ideals, he main-

76

SLIGHT SKETCHES 77

tained that to do good work it was necessary
to start with the aim of reaching one's ideal.
He has a way of listening to, and giving
decision upon a question of the women's
organisation as if it were of the most vital
importance, giving the matter his whole atten-
tion ; but before leaving the table, when the
interview is over, the face has already settled
into grave lines of thought, and the eyes are
looking into space, over some vast question
of importance with far-reaching effects. The
secret of his success lies in his power to
grapple and deal with large issues, together
with a belief in the importance of detail —
two qualities that are seldom found together.
Possessed with clear vision and straight aims,
he gives the lead to those under him, and they
are encouraged by the knowledge that what
he expects of others he first of all carries out
himself.

The Master is long-limbed and lean of body,
grey-eyed and square of jaw, his clean-shaven
face allowing every line of his purposeful
and determined character to be in evidence.
Yet the stern lines of his face can relax at
times into the kindliest of smiles, and with
a rare faculty of understanding points of view
which differ from its own, he shows a sympa-

78 MUNITION LASSES

thetic insight into the difficulties that underlie
all work that is honestly shouldered. He
can, moreover, detect with unerring exactness
that which savours of slackness or want of
straightness.

His energy drives an undertaking through,
which others might find too difficult or prob-
lematic to achieve. He puts all his power
into the need of the moment, all his resource-
ful energy into the exigencies of a particular
experimental operation. His own energy acts
as the driving power, the electric spark to
those who work under him ; and more than
once a brilliant inspiration has carried an
experiment to a successful conclusion, result-
ing in an increase of facility, with a minimum
of danger, to the special operation under in-
vestigation.

A word of censure from the blaster is not
lightly regarded ; his rare word of praise
immeasurably elates. He has the respect
of all who work under him, and we never
approach him concerning any problem on the
welfare of the women without satisfaction as
far as it is possible.

There was also a worthy man called "Charles."
He had seen service in the Arsenal for some
fi ve-and-forty years, and knew its constitution

SLIGHT SKETCHES 79

and its foibles. A somewhat shrewd character
was masked by a benevolent countenance,
and still further softened by a fund of humour
that welled up in the grey-blue eyes, and
twinkled out as the precursor to some droll
story reminiscent of Arsenal life of yesterday.
His method of criticism was "to point a
moral and adorn a tale." He combined this
accepted twofold method in such a way,
however, as to leave his audience in delighted
enjoyment of the humour, with a fine dis-
regard of the moral to be drawn.

He was the most popular element in the
factory with our workers, and they lived in a
state of expectation for a good anecdote when-
ever he came amongst them. A favourite
way of preparing a reprimand was by asking
and answering the following question : " My
lads " (he generally addressed us in this way
by force of long habit) — "my lads, what
is it that consti-tutes a gentle-man ? Do as
you would be done by." (Each syllable of
the answer well emphasised). Reprimand
would follow, concluding with an anecdote,
providing the matter were not too grave.
But at times both twinkle and anecdote were
absent, and not until he left the shop, with
the workers greatly subdued by this deliberate

6

80 MUNITION LASSES

omission, did the genial humour flash out
again.

Promotion took him from us, to the regret
of all, and we hear that he is rapidly becoming
as popular in the new factory as he was in
the old.

We had a shipman in our company slsoM
who supervised machinery. He was very
quiet and retiring, but always at hand to give
substantial help when needed, in an unostenta-
tious manner. His gravity was partly the
result of great experience, having travelled arid
seen life in every part of the world, and partly
a dislike of the glamour and noise of publicity.
He had a quiet humour and could tell a good
tale with great enjoyment in the rare moments
when amenities of life were possible, for he
was, as a rule, deep in the management of his
machinery. We were fortunate in having his
services on the night-shift during the long
winter watches, when his quiet helpfulness was
welcome on more than one occasion.

The senior Principal Overlooker on the day-
shift was the great chess-player, with the
factory as the board, and the workers the
pawns. From morning till late at night he
was arranging his pieces, and always with the
utmost good temper. He was one of the

SLIGHT SKETCHES 81

hardest workers in the factory, yet always had
time to explain a problem to the less initiated.
However busy he might be, he switched off
his mind in the dinner-hour on to the topics
of the day and our position in the field of war,
eagerly scanning the papers and commenting
on the events. The junior P.O. was generally
his companion at these times, and it was in-
teresting to hear their views and ideas of life.
Both were sincere and kindly. The junior
P.O.'s work lay in the same direction as ours
for some weeks, and he was always the same ;
with a liking for fair dealing, he was very help-
ful in giving his opinion on points of factory
organisation, and it was with real regret that
we parted when our work lay in different
directions.

Typical characters included the Sg^itcfeiuiy*.
One of the early workers in the Arsenal, she
was promoted to our factory as P.O. on the
other shift, and speedily became popular for
her bonnie face and merry smile, besides a rare
capacity for the manifold duties required of
her. My women have said at times, " Oh,
miss I it does you good to look at her." And
certainly she seemed to bring into the factory
with her a breath of her own moors. She was,
latterly, promoted to the office of forewoman,

82 MUNITION LASSES

and well deserved the honour for her length of
service and her physique^ which carried her
triumphantly through work and weather of
all sorts. She is now in France.

The P.O. of her shift was a lady with a
heart of ''gold." Very clever in household
management, she brought all her skill to bear
on Shifting-house and dining-room administra-
tion. j|per great ambition is to achieve a
scheme'^or a perfect Shifting-house, where
there will be no lost gowns or kits, and where
order shall everlastingly reign. When we left
she was still planning for a millennium. It
was a continual pleasure to have her on the
other shift; for it is this spirit alone, a de-
termination not to be baffled, and ability to
devise schemes, that will eventually bring
about the highest measure of success possible.

The Water Carriers were familiar figures
on the platforms. One large motherly person,
about the size of three ordinary women, made
a most excellent police- woman at the barrier,
as nobody could possibly get past her without
notice. Her companion was a short, stout,
merry woman, who was never happier than
when she was scrubbing.

The two special carriers of my shift were
thoroughly dependable good workers. They

SLIGHT SKETCHES 83

supplied the shops with hypo and lotion,
filling up their time with cleaning ; their rows
of burnished taps and well-scrubbed floors
were always a welcome sight during the
morning's inspection.

And to conclude our "celebrities," there
was Auntie EUis. She made the Shifting-
house a home for our girls. She combined
affection with a very fine wit, being the em-
bodiment of the Shakspearean type of nurse,
and carried the likeness to a startling degree
by the use of Shakspearean epithets. She was
untiringly ready at every demand for caps,
shoe-strings, and tape. " Now, Cock," she
would say to one lass, " what are you waiting
for ? Clean cap ? You had a clean cap yester-
day. D'you think the Government put me
here to give you a clean cap every five minutes.
You go away." But the girl receives a piece
of stuff for a girdle to send her away happy.
" What " (to another), " you want a new
gown? Where's the P.O.'s order?" "Oh,
the P.O. said I might have one," says the girl
airily. "No ! " says Auntie Ellis, " I'm not
givin' any gowns without the P. O. 's order. " At
that moment the P.O. enters and the girl retires
with discomfiture. Presently another worker
enters with a beaming face and a signed order.

84 MUNITION LASSES

"A new gown, Auntie: a new one, mind."
"All right, matey," replies Auntie; "now
you're goin' to be fine." She suffered from a
troublesome cough in the winter, and when
asked how it was, she used to say, "Oh! I'll be
shot of it soon. You wait till Sunday : my man
will look after me, and I'll do fine." We shall
all remember, I think, in years to come, the
homely corner of that Shifting-house brightened
j^by the motherlj^ person of Auntie Elhs, clad
in neat black gown,"" wEicK, when tiicKed up
for scrubbing, revealed a fine purple petticoat,
and Arsenal shoes tied with the Government
"red tape." A purple knitted jacket com-
pleted her attire at about four o'clock, when the
work and the scrubbing were done ; and with
sraoothed-down hair and general tidied-up-ness,
one would hear her crooning an old ballad
while she assisted Auntie May to get their
cup of tea before the shift turned out.

CHAPTER VII

woman's work outside our factory

" Here work enough to watch
. . . and catch
Hints of the proper craft, tricks of the tool's true play."

Browning.

Our factory is but one of a group of Danger
Buildings, fronting moor and marsh, with
the complexity of the Arsenal labour city
behind us.

Contiguous to our buildings is the Cartridge
Factory, with which we share a canteen. The
Cartridge Factory employs many thousands
of girls. Here, in a series of workshops, the
caps turned out by the factory are deftly
placed by hand into the cartridge cases ; so
swift and dexterous is the operation that the
only approach to it is the play of a Chinaman's )
chopsticks as he picks up grains of rice. ThisC
work is paid by the piece, so that the more(
dexterous a girl becomes^ the more she earns. J>

The macEmeiFy used here is interesting.

86 MUNITION LASSES

Streams of cartridges pass along a narrow
gangway, and get filled in the process. They
then make a circular tour on round trays, and
at a particular point, each cartridge has a
bullet inserted which falls from a groove above
into the neck of the cartridge below ; then it
passes on to the finishing stages. At intervals
along these workshops are the gaugers and
examining tables.

The final stages of packing and trucking are
carried out in adjoining shops, This factory
is a busy hive of incessant labour : the work
is emphasised by the combination of sound.
The noise of the machinery mingles with
the clatter of cartridges as box after box
is turned out. The decisive click of each
cartridge as it falls from the filling machine,
and the chatter of the girls dominated by
the orders of overlookers, all make up a vast
volume of sound.

The non-danger factory that supplies the
cartridge cases is some distance away, near
the gates, and is one of the largest workshops
in the Arsenal. This huge shop has rows, or
"streets," as they are technically called, of
machines worked by girls. Every ten or
fifteen machines has an overlooker ; the opera-
tions are cartridge cases and bullets. Every

WOMAN'S WORK OUTSIDE OUR FACTORY 87

street is supplied with fitters and tool-setters.
I^There are many women tool-setters, and their
numbers are on the increase. A^^omen whoy
show special ability for machinery — and it is\^
interesting to learn what a number of women (
have a special aptitude in this direction — are )
taught the work. Some tool-setters, again, are
university students specialising in science or
mathematics.

Close at hand is another vast workshop,
where cases are made for the filling factories.
One of the chief operations here is the making
of the fuse. Some of the finest machinery in
the Arsenal is employed for the fuse head.
After the first process of roughing out, the
many operations are performed on one machine
of shaping and inserting the thread. This
wonderful machine has a central mechanism,
and by a spoke of the wheel the fuse is
brought into position on the one machine for
every succeeding operation, when the previous
one is completed. The machines are clean
and shining, and the women are thoroughly
proud of them, and realise their good fortune
in having such interesting work. Every part
of the operation must be most carefully tested,
and the fuse must be correct to the xwo P^^t
of an inch. In these case shops there is

88 MUNITION LASSES

generally some rivalry, more or less friendly,
between fitter and worker, or ganger and
worker. Workers don't like the gangers to
find mistakes in their work ; this makes them
exceedingly careful in their own gauging, for
they endeavour to make sure that the work is
true to gauge before it leaves their hands.

As for the Fitter, he is, as it were, a race
apart. The fitter maintains that so??iehody
must set the machine, whereas anybody can
run it. But it is mostly bantering, and helps
to pass the hours away, while both fitter and
worker know in their hearts that both are
needed ; both are carrying out important work,
and each is wanted. The fitters have their
special corners in the workshop, and their
own attitude towards life in general and the
workshop in particular, but as a rule they
graciously unbend, and are very helpful indeed.

Recently a wag of the Arsenal compiled a
humorous set of laws called the Fitter's Ten
Commandments. I quote the Tenth, with
acknowledgments to the compiler : " Thou
shalt not covet thy fitter's job, nor his wage, nor
his beer, nor the hours of rest that are his."

A machine won't work, and the fitter says,
** She's obstinate to-day " (a machine, like a
ship, is feminine) : "just like a woman, won't

WOMAN^S WORK OUTSIDE OUR FACTORY 89

go unless she wants to." And we keep
golden silence for eloquent reply, merely
glancing round this gigantic workshop with its
many thousand machines tended by women
and girls "all wanting to." And the fitter,
having heard the reply which is shouted in his
ear through the golden silence, smiles, and the
machine goes on again " wanting to " like all
the others.

■^ Oh ! in a vast shop like this with its " street "
upon " street " of machinery, we realise faintly
what it all means. Women who have seen
their men go forth are close behind them,
'^putting themselves into the breach for any
work that is to be done, realising, at first dimly,
and by degrees fully, the glory of patriotism
even to the dying for one's country. And not
only munition workers, nurses, women on land
service, but the women in the home tending
their children and nursing their babes are no
less in the van, for these children ate the
citizens of to-morrow, the men and women
who will take their part in service for the
Empire when these dread times shall have
passed away, and our land shall have come
through the ordeal of suffering and learning, and
emerged wiser, happier, cleaner than before.
It is worth while glancing at the self-feeding

90 MUNITION LASSES

machines for making the screws for the fuse.
Brass rods of various diameters pass along,
insert themselves into the mouths of their
respective machines, are bitten off in certain
lengths, pass through the machines, and are
cut, shaped, and threaded on the way, and
finally drop out into receivers as screws of
various sizes.

We were loth to leave this fascinating shop.
At the lower end of the building were the
gangers' tables; and the assembling tables,
where the parts of the fuse are put together
after very careful testing. The forewoman,

Mrs H , who spent some hours in most

kindly conducting me through the factory,
was an eloquent guide, having a thorough
technical and practical knowledge of each
machine. She was specially distinguished as
having entered the Arsenal for mechanical
training in the autumn of 1915, before women
had received any appointment there, and she
was among the first to be appointed. She is
now one of the Lady Superintendent's most
able lieutenants.

The fuse case, when complete, is sent on to
the filling factory, whither we may follow it to
a factory near ours. Arriving at the women's
Shifting- house, we receive a pair of overshoes.

WOMAN'S WORK OUTSIDE OUR FACTORY 91

and find ourselves in one of the oldest factories.
The workshops open off very high platforms,
giving the factory an appearance of a Sv^iss
village, for snow was everywhere, and the
workshops were raised high from the ground.
We passed through the Dissembling Room,
wliere the fuse is taken to pieces, and pro-
ceeded to view the various operations of
filling. It is a very complex business, and
varies according to the different type of fuse.

Passing over the communicating bridge lead-
ing from the platforms to the — — Factory, we
found ourselves on more accustomed ground.
Here the platforms were about two feet from
the ground, and the workshops were very far
apart, with wide spaces of green plots between.
Seeing a woman's figure in the distance and
making sure she was the P.O., we hailed her,
much to her astonishment. Hurrying over the
intervening space we showed our credentials
and were welcomed by her. " I've met you
at the right moment," said she, " for I'm just
going round the shops, and it might have taken
some time to find me had you come later."
So we made the tour together. Shell-filling is
the main occupation. We passed through the

\

92 MUNITION LASSES

packing and loading shops, viewing with awe
an enormous shell just completed and waiting
to be trucked. Then we inspected a series
of shops engaged in shell-filling, all done by-
women. In another set of shops were men
and women engaged in a special part of the
filling operation.

y^ It is astonishing to see the ease with which
the women lift the shells. We tried to lift a
35-pounder without success, until we were
shown how to lift after the style of levering.
Women can lift a 60-pounder single-handed.
They were very anxious to show us the art of
lifting shells, and seemed proud to do it. Then
one woman, who acted as spokesman for the
others, said, " Please don't forget to say that
we lift our own shells," and they lifted them
off and on the bench with an ease only learnt
by long practice. It is certainly heavy labour,
but women of strong build are employed here,
and they enjoy the work.

It was in this factory that it was said, '' A
miss is as good as a man," for the women lift
and manage, single-handed,^-^helLs-jip tn....6Qz^
pounders. It takes two men to lift a 120-
pounder, so that " a woman is at least as good

WOMAWS WORK 01 TSIDK OUR FACTORY 93

as one man," it was laughingly averred. As
usual, we find the girls and women thoroughly
happy and contented, and there was thorough
good fellowship between the men and women
workers.

Time had sped: it was nearly dark, and

bitterly cold. My guide, Mrs K , insisted

upon giving me a cup of tea, and we spent a
happy half-hour together, chatting over various
details of organisation, and finding it most help-
ful to have the experience of a P.O. from another
factory. I wished then that the P.O.'s could
manage to meet sometimes ; it would be helpful.
The difficulty is the arranging any time, as
every moment is occupied when on duty.

I wished Mrs K good-bye, promising

to come again, and hoping to meet her on
some later occasion. The wind nearly swept
me off the platform, an event to be carefully
avoided, since, according to regulations, the
ground is " dirty," and the person who leaves
the platform and lands on the ground must
wait until fresh shoes and overall is provided
before she can climb on to the platform again.
The bridge was reached in safety, however,
and the Shifting-house gained, the overshoes
returned to the overseer, and arrangements
made to visit another factory.

94 MUNITION LASSES

The next morning the roads were impass-
able owing to a heavy fall of snow. But the
morning after we ventured forth to the firing
ground, in the face of a biting north-east wind,
and melting snow which was fast turning to a
sea of mud. Attired in high boots, short skirt,
and coat buttoned up round throat and ears, we
reached our destination, and found the assistant
foreman superintending the arrangements for
firing various forms of explosives. We were
taken to a fireproof hut, where a very welcome
fire was burning in a stove in one corner, and
a small window set in the thick wall allowed
a good view of the operation. The hut might
have been a backwoodsman's hut in the far
West ; it contained merely the rudiments of
furniture, in the shape of a small table, chair,
and high bench, one or two cooking utensils,
and a kettle slung by the stove, and round the
wall on pegs were various articles of storm
clothing, coats, mackintoshes, and caps, and in
two corners of the hut top-boots. The wild-
ness and solitariness of the marshes outside,
and the roughness of the hut, suggested a
locality far from England. But the hut was
friendly and warm, and the preparations
outside most interesting.

WOMAN^S WORK OUTSIDE OUR FACTORY 95

We were going on to lunch at a canteen
near the gates, where three of our friends were
running it. The assistant foreman walked
part of the way with us along the pedestrian
platform in the Broadway. A remark on
types of character disclosed the fact that he
was a Dickens' lover, and we chatted about
his works. Our guide recited passages of
his favourite Mai^tin Chuzzlewit, which he
was in the habit of reading to his wife in
moments of leisure. The marshes reminded
me of parts of Great Expectations ; and we
noted that many of Dickens' characters, which
appear sometimes over-characterised to the
uninitiated, may be found, to the life, in the
Arsenal at this moment. One remembered
that Dickens, in the early part of his career,
had worked in a factory, and many of his
characters were doubtless the result of that
experience.

CHAPTER VIII

trotyl workers, trucking, and the
tailor's shop

" J'ai plus de souvenirs que si j'avais mille ans."

Charles Baudelaire.

One sunny morning in the New Year, after a
heavy fall of snow, we started on a visit to
the trotyl workers. Under a blue sky the
world lay white and glistening. Our way led
past the old Plumstead Church and a foot-
bridge across the marshes. A few minutes'

walk brought us to the Gate. Crossing

another footbridge we were once more in the
Arsenal, and a few yards further brought us
to our destination at the Shifting-house.

We were expected, and shoes were awaiting
us. We were soon on the platform, where
we found the JNIedical Principal Overlooker
looking out for us. This factory is one of
the largest and newest in the Arsenal, and is

staffed almost entirely with women. Besides

96

TROTYL WORKERS 97

the manager, foreman^ and assistant foreman,
there are only a few expert workmen here. A
large staft* of forewomen and Principal Over-
lookers carry out the supervision and organisa-
tion of the women. There are three sections
of P.O.'s : first, women who are responsible for
the output ; secondly, those acting as medical
P.O.'s ; thirdly, those who are responsible for
Shifting-houses and gowns, and details more
or less domestic. Through kindly guidance
we were conducted through a series of work-
shops standing far apart from one another.

We arrived at an auspicious moment, for
the medical P.O. was making her rounds,
distributing the green veils, about which we
had heard much and had long wished to see.

The interest, however, lay in the faces behind
those veils, and in the hands so busily em-
ployed all day, or all night, long.

The trotyl shops are small. On entering
one sees a table on either side of the doorway.
Each table has six or seven workers, wearing
green veils, which are fastened round their fire-
proof caps. Fire-proof gowns are buttoned
from throat to hem, and fastened at the wrists.
All wear respirators. The worker at the
head of each table has scales in front of her.
Three women work at either side of each table

98 MUNITION LASSES

with small wooden boxes before them contain-
ing the trotyl powder.

Every bag is examined before it leaves the
shop, and again when it reaches the packing
shop. All loose bags are returned to the
respective shops that issued them. The good
bags are packed, and after labelling and dating
are disposed of by the truckers. Some are
taken to the shell-filling workshops in the
factory ; others are sent off for transit outside.
Careful observation and research for pre-
ventatives, and remedies against ill effects
of trotyl upon the workers, have done much
S for their amelioration. As in the mercury,
^neasures are largely preventative. The care
of the health, good, freshly cooked food for the
midday meal, the drinking of milk which is
given to workers, and the use of disinfectants
for hands and face, all contribute to the de-
crease of trotyl cases. Moreover, the same
plan is adopted that we inaugurated in mercury,
of giving workers a few days' rest on another
operation after a spell in trotyl. The workers
in C.E. have the same operation to perform as
those in trotyl, but there is less liability to
contact. Yet some workers are immune from
trotyl and are highly sensitive to C.E. Others,
again, can work in C.E. and are highly sensi-

TROTYL WORKERS 99

tive to trotyl. The same experience was
noted at our factory. Compo hands were
highly sensitive to mercury, and some mercury
hands became contact in compo. Hence we
early devised the plan of keeping compo and
mercury workers quite distinct, and not send-
ing our women promiscuously to compo or
mercury. By keeping the two classes apart
we gained very considerably in our shift,
•^^^he trotyl workers are noticeable for their
high spirits and their merry faces. Some
workers showed signs of dermatitis ; others )
had complexions varying between pale lemon V
colour and deep gold, but the majority looked (
thoroughly healthy. When removed from'^
trotyl, the skin soon regains its normal appear-
ance, and the use of a special lotion supplied to
the shops helps in a great measure to counter-
act the effect of trotyl upon the skin.

One bright-faced girl said, as we paused in
one of the shops, " Do you see how I'm wear-
ing my veil, miss ? " Indeed, I had already ob-
served that she was wearing it twisted carelessly
round her neck, and her face was uncovered.
But the P.O. smiled, saying, " Oh, she is quite
immune ; she has been in it for months, and
/? nothing hurts her." And the girls laughed
^ gaily, regarding it as a great triumph for this

100 MUNITION LASSES

particular shop to have, as it were, a mascot
amongst them.

There is something curiously uplifting, mov-
ing about these small shops chatting with the
workers, while their busy hands move cease-
lessly amongst the powder and the bags, they
are so merry and light-hearted, and appear so
happy in their work. They go on filling these
bags day after day, in thousands, and many
hundreds of thousands, while the ceaseless
stream passes on, and there is always need
for more. Bidding the workers good-bye, I
told them that I should have liked a photo-
graph of them wearing their veils and respir-
ators, if that had been possible, but I should
carry with me the unforgettable impression of
the brightness of the life in their workshop, a
sketch set in tones of yellow and green.

In my small experience of Arsenal life I had
found that the British lass, like the British lad
at the front, is ever the lighter-hearted as the
work is the heavier or more risky.

We paid a visit to the Sewing Shop. It was
arranged on the same lines as a linen store of
a Military Hospital, having parallel partitions
filled with deep shelves down the length of the
shop, leaving corridors between for gangways.
Here is stored all the woven material used

TRUCKING 101

for the various processes of the factory, besides
being the workshop for cutting out, making,
stamping, and dating, the supply of trotyl bags
in the various sizes required.

Shell-filling is another operation ; but we
did not stay long here, as time had sped,
and we had akeady viewed the process under

Mrs K 's guidance in the X Factory ;

moreover, we were anxious to spare a few
minutes to watch the truckers at their work.

Trucking is an important part of the work
in this factory, for the shops are spread over a
large area. Consequently, a large number of
women are engaged in trucking.

Their dress is similar to that of our carriers,
consisting of tunic over a divided skirt, leggings
reaching about the knee, and mackintosh coat
and cap. We constantly met the truckers
about the platforms, and we noted some
picturesque groups. One in particular con-
sisted of five truckers round a trolley, their
black waterproof coats smeared with patches
of red where they had come in contact with
the paint on shell or case in the process of
hauling and trucking. Three were busy about
the steering gear ; the remaining two were
leaning, one on either side of the trolley, and
bending forward with hands lightly resting on

102 MUNITION LASSES

the boarding. These figures, set in a back-^
ground of glittering snow- covered roofs and
platforms, made a vivid picture, enhanced by
the smiling faces of the truckers, who were
glowing with their exertions and the exhilara-
tion of the frosty air. As we lingered, noting
the details, my guide said, " You must see the
truckers after lunch."

The factory was already moving out for
the midday meal. We had lunch at the New
Canteen, and our after-lunch coffee in the
Principal Overlookers' rest-room, where those
who were off duty assembled to rest, chat,
or write letters. After a short rest in a most
comfortable lounge chair, we set forth again
to see the factory enter and pick up tickets.

We then turned to a point of vantage to
see the truckers start. They moved off in
a long line to their various destinations for
loading up, their trucks painted white with
lines of red, while some were merely trolleys.
The trucks and trolleys are loaded up ; the
cases for transit outside are brought to the
railway loading shed ; the others go to various
destinations in the factory.
.)f Trucking is hard work. Heavy weights
must be hauled and lifted. Women of stout
build and strong muscles are chosen. The

TRUCKING 10^

life is thoroughly healthy, and their rational
dress protects them in all weathers. The
truckers looked the picture of good health,
and their happy faces bore testimony to their
enjoyment of the work.

r Trucking and shell- lifting are two examples
/'of hard work done by women, which at the
( beginning of the war did not seem suitable.
But, as the need has arisen, women have
generally and steadily applied themselves to
tasks which had to be done. There is very^>
little work that has not been experienced by/" s
women, and done effectively and efficiently./
The sudden accession of strength for the task
has certainly become apparent, because of the
will to do it, the need for women to do the
work. Yet it should be remembered that
in certain classes women have always known
what hard labour is. The women who have
been obliged to wash and mangle and scrub I
for their own families or in service, know all 1
that is to be learnt of hard labour. The
number is pitifully large, too, who have been
forced to carry out their arduous duties at
the same time as child-rearing, because they
were the sole, or the partial, bread-winners.

The success of the women in munitions and
on land service lies partly in the fact that

104 MUNITION LASSES

they are uplifted with the thought that they
are working for their country, that they are
in fact needed ; secondly, their way of living
is healthy and regular, and they are nourished
with good food at stated times ; and thirdly,
where women are employed in State-directed
labour, there are supervisors and Welfare
Workers whose main duty is to look after
the health of the women, and see that they
are doing work proportionate to their strength.

Rest-rooms are provided, and a trained
nurse. The factory is one of the best in its
organisation for women. It was started for
women, and it was easier to begin on the
right lines for dealing with women ; where-
as in the older factories great praise is due
to the heads of the Arsenal that so much
has been done for the women who have taken
the place of the men.

Many of my own girls are here. The
worthy man is also installed here, where he
received promotion, and has rapidly won his
way to popularity amongst the workers and
staff. There are many links that bind us.
The special health rules for the workers ; a
certain amount of risk in both factories ; the
means taken to prevent contact cases ; the
providing of milk, and the equipment of

THE TAILORS SHOP 105

workers, require from the Principal Overlookers
of both factories a series of responsibilities over
and above the general supervision and organ-
isation of the women.

We did not say good-bye, but promised to
come again soon, for it was impossible to see
half of the working of this vast place in one
visit. So we are still hoping at no very distant
time to return.

On our way back we pay a visit to the
Tailor's Shop. The Tailor's Shop provides all
gowns, shoes, and caps ; the blue serge fire-
proof coats and hats of Principal Overlookers ;
the overlooker's badge or armlet, besides all
the men's clothing.

The overlooker's blue armlet is of special
interest to us, because we had petitioned for
a distinctive armlet. The proposal was con-
sidered, and we further suggested that the
armlet should be of the blue serge like the
Principal Overlooker's coat, to show a logical
gradation between overlooker and P.O. The
question was raised as to the need for every
factory in the Danger Buildings to haye
the same badge for the overlooker. At
length the proposal was carried, and on the
very day of our leaving the blue armlets
arrived, and were eagerly put on by the men

106 MUNITION LASSES

and women overlookers. The blue armlet is
easily seen on the cream gown or coat, and at
once shows the official who visits the factory
whom to address as overlooker.

The Tailor's Shop is an immense building.
Streets of tables with very narrow gangways
between are filled with women — machinists/
tailoresses, sempstresses, cutters-out — all the
large and varied gangs necessary to make^
mend, and enlarge all the Arsenal clothing for
men and women, and mark the covers and bags
for the various processes in the factories where
woven material of some sort comes into the
operation. Every worker in the Tailor's Shop
wears the mark of haste. Unlike the Danger
Buildings, where every operation must be care-
ful and sure, the workers are possessed with
one aim, to turn out as much as possible in
the least possible time. The sewing machines
gallop, the scissors of the cutters- out fly along
the material, the very atmosphere is laden with
haste, and on every face we read that time
flies and we must hurry. The very idea of the
numbers they must clothe is stupendous ; the
practical execution of the demand is amazing.

The Paper Shop is similar in size, and in
the haste with which they perform their work.
Cardboard cases for fuses, and cardboard boxes

THE TAILOR^S SHOP 107

of various sizes for packing explosives — what-
ever is wanted in the way of paper or cardboard
in the Arsenal, either in the actual operation
or for packing — is carried out here.

Besides the garments and the paper, the shoe
factory for the Arsenal shoe has its place here.
The shoe department is part of the Tailor's Shop.
It turns out hundreds of thousands for all the
men and women whatsoever who work in
Danger Buildings, as well as the overshoes
that any chance official who enters wears, to go
along the platforms and visit the workshops.

In concluding this brief and inadequate
glimpse of women's factories, one may mention
the number of women of standing who have
hidden their identity and thrown in their lot
with the great army of women workers.
They are to be found amongst the workers
and overlookers, as well as on the staff of
the different factories. These women are '
doing very valuable work beyond their actual .
duties at their machines by setting up certain (
standards of living, by example and by sym-^
pathy. The ordinary worker does not wish
to be obviously taught, far less preached to,
but, being a reasonable being, and endowed
with quick observation and critical powers,
she sums up her neighbour by her actions,

108 MUNITION LASSES

and will note when these actions are unob-
trusive yet kind and generous.

The woman who first shows sympathy,
and has aims diiFering from the ordinary
worker, may be classed as a fool and be
watched with suspicion for a short while.
When time passes, and no self- interested
motive appears ; when a kind action rather
lessens the giver's chances of comfort, and no
obvious benefit accrues to her but the satis-
faction and happiness of helping a fellow-
being, then full confidence is established, and
the workers give her their whole-hearted
affection and respect. And those workers
who are not hasty in giving their confidence
are the more staunch, the more true when
once it is given. A typical example comes
to my mind, but in any part of the Arsenal
it may be found.

One who is a sculptor by profession has
shut up her beautiful house in the west of
England, where artists and sculptors went
to dream and to plan out the masterpiece
of their lives in the happier days of peace.
She went through a course of machinery,
and passed successfully. She was appointed
as overlooker, and for some months worked
through the long hours of day or night shift,

THE TAILOirS SHOP 109

encouraging and looking after her girls, and
inciting them to enthusiasm by her own
spiritedness and kindness.

I can see her now, coming home in the
evening after a day bristling with small diffi-
culties which she had triumphantly conquered,
whether it were troublesome machines, which
nmst be correctly adjusted to a special gauge,
or new contract work which must be put
through at a given time; or perhaps it is a
question of gaining for her workers an extra
few minutes beyond the hour at midday, to
allow of their going to and returning from a
new canteen which has been opened, and which
takes some time out of their rest to reach.
Though fatigue is too plainly visible, the
spirit is wholly undaunted, and one sees the
steadfast gleam in her eye, and the humorous
smile breaking out as she chats of the day's
episodes before settling down to write to her
son at the front.

And her girls have learnt the meaning of
that steadfast look, and will work their hardest
to exceed their tally and earn her "well
done " ; and they have experienced the sym-
pathy and kindness and womanliness of that
undaunted spirit, and devotedly love and
respect her.

CHAPTER IX

CANTEENS ^

^' I have been so great a Lover : filled my days
So proudly with the splendour of Love's praise.

These have I loved :

White plates and cups clean gleaming ;
Wet roof beneath the lamp-light, the strong crust
Of friendly bread ; and many-tasting foods."

Rupert Brooke.

To-day, if any visitor who has no work to
perform in the Arsenal is allowed a peep into
its activities, he would say, perchance, of the
canteens, " Here is God's plenty."

Large canteens are in proximity to the
factories, and as fast as one is finished, the
increased numbers of women demand yet
another. Satisfactory work can only be ac-
complished if the body is properly nourished ;
and the canteens are a striking monument
of the thought and labour w^hich has been
expended to equip the human machine with
sufficient potential energy to carry through the

^ See views of Canteens facing pp. 118-119.
no

CANTEENS 111

long hours of work required in the speeding
up of munitions.

When women were first admitted to muni-
tion factories, I was asked on my return from
Red Cross work in France to undertake
the supervision of women workers in a private
factory. Special stress was laid on the
necessity for proper nourishment and the
arrangements made for the satisfactory work-
ing of meal hours. All went well during the
day work ; but at the end of a few days,
having learnt several machines, we were asked
to take the night-shift. For a week we
worked, all being amateurs except one elec-
trician, and we got out the tally. But after a.
few days every woman was feeling exhausted,
because no arrangements had been made for
meals during the night. The management
merely presented each worker with a cup of
tea and a halfpenny bun after five or six hours'
work, and there were no means whatever of
providing anything further until the breakfast
at the usual time in the morning. The strain
told upon all of us, and I was obliged to come
up to town to see a specialist on account of
eye trouble. This prevented me from con-
tinuing the work. But the need of solid meals
at night for night workers was made a necessity.

112 MUNITION LASSES

and after one or two initial difficulties the food
question has been successfully grappled with
wherever there are munition factories.

In the Arsenal the canteen adminstration
is under the Welfare Committees and the
Y.M.C. A. Our Lady Superintendent receives
any complaints made at the Welfare canteens,
and pays the girls a friendly visit at times,
while Lady Henry Grosvenor presides over
the Y.M.C. A. canteens. Welfare Visitors are
constantly in attendance at all canteens dur-
ing the meal times, testing the quality and
quantity of food, inquiring into any com-
plaints that the workers make, and using their
time partly in getting into touch with them.
They give information to our girls about the Re-
creation Clubs, and distribute bills of concerts
and meetings in connection with the Arsenal
workers. The dinner-hour in the canteen is
the great opportunity for meeting the workers,
and arranging schemes for their general wel-
fare or recreation.

Every canteen has a system of tickets from
the value of ^d. to 8d. Books of tickets may be
bought for 2s. 6d. or 5s. No money is handed
over the counter or paid for anything bought
in the canteen, but tickets are given up to the
attendants to the value of the food that is bought.

CANTEENS 113

In the recently built canteens, for example,
the ticket offices are circular erections placed
at intervals down the middle of the canteen ;
the solid meals are served at one end from
windows in front of the kitchen, which is
partitioned off from the canteen. Here the
women present an eightpenny ticket and
receive a dinner of meat and vegetables. At
another set of windows on the same side
puddings are dispensed in return for a two-
penny ticket. At the other end of the canteen
tea, coffee, milk, fruit, biscuits, and cakes are
served at an open buffet. This arrangement
relieves congestion, separating the crowds who
want their dinner into different parts of the
building, and is a great improvement on the old
plan of having the ticket windows and all the
dispensing of the food on one side of the canteen.

Every canteen has a portion partitioned off
for the overlookers' room. In a recently built
canteen which supplies meals to a very large
factory with a correspondingly large number
of Principal Overlookers and forewomen, the
space partitioned off is for Principal Over-
lookers only ; but there are several canteens for
light refreshments in this factory, and over-
lookers are provided for in another canteen.

It is essential that canteens should be bright,

114 MUNITION LASSES

airy, and scrupulously clean. An army of
scrubbers are employed for floors, forms, and
tables, wnich are scrubbed daily and nightly,
looking spotless immediately after the scrub-
bing ; but they become woefully dirty as soon
as many thousands of feet have passed through
for the midday meal, and have left again at
the call to the workshops.

The canteens are lit by many windows, and
those recently built have extra lights in the
roof; they are painted white and green inside,
so that they have a very fresh and airy appear-
ance. As the workers steadily increase, so
the canteens become more crowded, until the
pressure is removed by opening a new one
for the surplus. Thus we are ever increasing,
ever advancing.

Recently a new canteen has been opened,
which includes accommodation for our factory,
and the majority of our workers now patronise
the New Canteen, which is excellent in every
respect.

The Old Canteen has always been a favourite.
T^he food was always well cooked, and served
thoroughly hot and in an inviting fashion.

Presided over by Mr M , the whole

canteen staff — manager, manageress, chef,
and attendants — all did their wiirk~witfe-«n

CANTEENS 115

air of unity and good fellowship. Nothing
was a troubTeT The chef used to make us
special cakes and pastry for the breakfasts we
sometimes gave to the several workshops when
on night duty. We chose the night because
it was the only time when a little extra work
and seating-room could be arranged from the
ordinary curriculum. Every moment is pre-
cious, every seat occupied, every attendant
busy during the day-shift, making the giving
of parties impossible.

The manageress added to an excellent gift
of organising, ready tact and good-hearted-
ness. One day, to quote an instance of
general kindliness, there were no cups to
be had in the overlookers' room when 1
ordered tea, except those supplied to the
workers, of an amazing thickness. So she sent
me a special cup presented to her by her staff,
which was a valuable and beautiful thing, so
that I should have my tea out of a nice cup.
The act and kind heart which prompted it
made the meal a feast, and turned weariness
to joy. When I was specially tired, the cup
would appear. I am still looking for a plate
after the same pattern as that cup to present
as a memento of that pleasant experience ;
but in order to present it, I must journey

116 MUNITION LASSES

down to the New Canteen, where the trotyl
workers are fed, for there the staff has been
recently installed, and a Welfare staff has re-
placed them at the Factory. We had a

pleasant surprise on the day we visited the
trotyl factory. Our guides took us to lunch
at the New Canteen, where I was led to
expect that the management was excellent.
There was a special dish of chicken and rice
that day, served as we used to have it in the
Cartridge Canteen. 1 remarked on this, and
suddenly discovered that our old staff was
established here ; a moment after the manager
came forward with a smile of welcome and
asked if I had come down here also. No,
I replied, I was taking a holiday, but should
like to come and work at this factory
ultimately.^

Meat and vegetables can be bought for eight-
pence. At some of the Welfare canteens the
price was sevenpence, and still remains so in
spite of the general rise of all food. The
Lady Superintendent tells me that they are
paying their way as well. This is the highest
tribute that can be paid to canteen management
in the Arsenal. The meat course sometimes

1 See a group of this Canteen, with Lady Henry
Grosvenor^ facing p. 118.

CAiNTEENS 117

includes poultry : there is always a choice.
Steak pudding or pie is one of the favourite
dishes, but roast pork is facile princeps. The
canteen staff has an uncomfortable time with
latecomers, so great is the annoyance when
pork is on the menu and it has all disappeared
by the time the stragglers enter. Still worse
is it when those who have waited in the
queue for their turn find that pork is off
when they are at length served.

The Canteen devised a solution of this

difficulty by placing on the bill of fare two
favourite dishes together, or two ordinary
ones. So that when one dish gave out, the
other favourite was still to be had, and
grumbling was reduced to a minimum. It
might be a good plan for all canteens to work
on this principle : it prevents undue dis-
appointment among the workers.

Many a time some of my workers have
accosted me oi;i the platform, saying trium-
phantly, " Oh, miss ! we had a lovely dinner
to-day : roast pork and apple sauce : it was
good." Hardly had I time to sympathise and
congratulate them before more women arrived,
looking dejected, even angry, and breaking
_ forth, *' Miss, it's a shime ! all the roast pork
^was finished, and we were obliged to have

118 MUNITION LASSES

mutton " One terrible day they approached
me in the canteen, saying they could get noth-
ing but bread and cheese. On inquiring we
tound that an extra factory had sent down about
one hundred workers, and the extra numbers
had caused a meat shortage for the moment
Durmg the six months, I only heard of one
such occasion. Difficulties are quickly solved,
and inequalities balanced.

Besides the Canteen Committee, there are
the Welfare Visitors, who see that the workers
have no cause to grumble, and carefully sift
complaints which have no real foundation ; for
the workers at times are both captious and
capricious ; they are, however, proportionately
grateful when arrangements are to their satis-
faction. There is also a representative com-
mittee elected from the munition workers by
the several factories using any given canteen.
The workers hand in suggestions and com-
plaints to these representatives, and meetings
are held at stated intervals. It will therefore
be seen that every effort is made from within
and from without to give the best that is
possible for the munition workers in regard
to the canteen management.

Besides the paid staff a number of voluntary
workers are attached to the majority of the

A Canteen, Danger Buildings.

A Canteen, Non-danger Buildings.

[To face p. 118.

Workers as Girl Guides.

The Elthai

The Pageant : Joan of Arc and Warriors.

The Pageant : French Peasants.

The Pageant : Joan of Arc and Knights.

A Group of Workers, X Factory.

A New Canteen, Danger Buildings.

CANTEENS 119

canteens, who give either partial or whole
time. As a rule they give their services at
meal times, when there is great pressure, and
devote their time to serving.

A piano is to be found in nearly every
canteen, and affords a means of recreation
that adds the last touch of happiness to the
re^t time, providing for amusement in the
shape of singing and dancing. There was in
my time one little canteen known to the
Arsenal as the model. It was always clean,
always cosy, and always managed to pay its
expenses. Close to the X Shop, it provided for
the workers from that busy hive, and also fed
the Y Factory. The canteen is divided into two
parts — the clean side, communicating with the
factory, and the dirty side, which opens on
to the roadway and admits the shop workers
in their outdoor garments. The secret of the
excellent management could be traced to two
causes. First and foremost, the three friends
who ran it lived for the canteen alone ; all
their thought and all their energy was ex-
pended on it, and their enthusiasm incited
every attendant on the staff to look upon it
as a sailor does his ship — a thing to be kept
burnished and scrubbed and exquisitely clean.
Secondly, meals were served at separate hours

120 MUNITION LASSES

on the clean and on the dirty side, so that all
the energies of the whole staff were devoted
to one side or the other, and thus they
met • the difficulty of coping with enormous
numbers.

Enter the canteen at the dinner time. The
seats are filled by figures clad in creamy
gowns, all looking supremely contented ; for
were they not in their own ^c!Fan7"*^lnbdel "
canteen, with kind waitresses to serve them,
and food most invitingly cooked ?

Facing the door is the buffet : behind the
counter are the tables for the dinner course to
be cut up and served, and further back, along-
side the wall, are the arrangements for cooking
in bulk : huge steamers for puddings and vege-
tables, cauldrons for making soup, and a series
of cooking and heating ovens. The counter is
invitingly laid out with piles of apples and
oranges, pyramids of cakes ; and at intervals
are the brightly burnished urns ; and serving
here are the three ladies who manage the
canteen with their voluntary staff, who are
clad in heliotrope overalls and dainty little
black silk caps. The pantry and store branches
off from the kitchen. Everything is in its place,
and the books are kept from hour to hour.
Everything taken out is carefully recorded.

CANTEENS 121

and the book is balanced before the canteen
is closed. In the store room, standing against
a background of oranges and apples, biscuit
tins and flour barrels, 1 saw the cook a little
later in the afternoon, counting out kippers
for the teas and piling them on to a snowy
wooden platter. She herself was clad in
butcher blue, with a white lace frilled cap,
and I exclaimed to my friend, " I should like
to sketch this interior." But the cook, with
merry blue eyes aglow, said : " Oh, if you do
take me, I must hold something important :
let it be a sirloin of beef or a turkey, as it is
the Christmas season." " No, no," I replied ;
'' nothing in the way of important joints could
make up for the bright silvery hues of the
scales contrasted with the red of the kipper
on that snowy board, carried with such grace
by the picturesque figure with the sunny
countenance." At this reply she fled, and the
next moment was busily engaged in getting
us the cosiest and daintiest little tea I ever
had in the Arsenal.

Besides the canteens which supply dinners
and teas for the workers, there are many ** short
meal " establishments, where tea and coffee and
anything in the way of light refreshments or
tinned goods can be bought. At these places

122 MUNITION LASSES

the workers bring their own food, making
up with fruit, cakes, and hght refreshments.
Such canteens have boilers and ovens where
workers can make their own tea and heat
their own meals. At different parts of the
Arsenal there are coffee stalls outside the
factory, but these are for the men.

The canteen management in the Arsenal
deserves high praise. The problem of feed-
ing these vast numbers has been solved in
such a way as to allow good food at nominal
prices to be served in pleasant and, generally,
airy surroundings, thanks to the many men
and women who have brought their experi-
ence to bear on the matter, and to the many
hundreds of voluntary workers who have
gladly given their services to feed the women
who feed the machines, and thus feed the
army at the front with munitions. The volun-
tary workers have performed a noble work,
for it is not work that brings immediate thanks
or reward ; it is thoroughly hard, and often
seemingly unappreciated, but the workers
become devotedly attached to those ladies
who look after them, as well as all the atten-
dants who supply their needs.

The workers at times are not easy to please.
They come in tired and exhausted, and the

CANTEENS 123

least thing sometimes draws forth ill temper,
whether there are grounds for complaint or
not. At one canteen there was one day a
choice between mutton and liver and bacon.
All wanted liver and bacon, and the remainder
grumbled at receiving mutton when all the
liver and bacon was served. A few days
after the same choice was on the bill of fare.
A plentiful supply of liver and bacon was
prepared. All chose mutton, and the re-
mainder grumbled at the liver and bacon.
An inquiry led to the statement that the liver
and bacon a few days previously was not nice.
Now the L.S. happened to be there on that
particular day, and tested the liver and bacon,
finding no just ground for complaint. So
there is a certain margin of capriciousness to
be allowed for. This is one of the difficulties
in every canteen ; but difficulties here or else-
where are made to be solved. The best
solution is that already given : to provide on
certain days dishes which are equal favourites,
and on other days dishes which are moderately
liked.

The workers may ask for special dishes, if
they bring an order from the doctor to that
effect. Some require fish, others certain
dishes which are provided if they are genuinely

124 MUNITION LASSES

needed, on receipt of a doctor's certificate.
At one canteen a worker asked for chop and
chips ; it was not on the menu, and therefore
not forthcoming. On stating that it was
doctor's order, she was told that an order from
the doctor would receive attention. A day or
two after she produced the order for chop
and chips, and for months she has received this
dish day after day with complete satisfaction.
In every canteen fish is served at least once a
week for dinner, and kippers or bloaters are
to be had for tea, when fish is procurable.
The fish dinners at our canteen were always
very good and very much liked.

After the meal there are deck chairs to be
had at most canteens, where the workers rest
and sleep, while others cluster round the piano
and sing, and the remnant clear a space near by
and dance. Paper and envelopes are procurable
at the Y.M.C.A. canteens, and many workers
employ their time during dinner or tea to
write their letters to husbands or other re-
latives at the front.

The canteen is thus the centre of the life of
the workers during the brief periods of rest.
There are a few who like to retire to the Shift-
ing-house, but it depends upon their affec-
tion for the special Shifting-house, and for

CANTEENS 125

the attendants who look after it. They are

encouraged to use the canteens, which are so

s bright and cheerful ; and so much is done

'^ for them that they do not require much

/_persuasion.

The canteens have been the scenes of a
more stirring, more anxious occasion. We
remember one special night, when all our
workers and those of a neighbouring factory
had assembled for dinner. The majority had
received their dinners, some were still waiting,
when all lights were switched off, and there
was utter darkness. To the discomfort was
added the annoyance of losing dinners, for
in the darkness some were lost, others were
dropped and smashed. For a short space
^confusion reigned, but no one attempted to
move, for it was safe to be in the dark, safe
to be in the canteen ; they all had seats, and
could at least rest. Calm was soon restored
by groping to the piano, and finding somebody
to play. A popular song was started, and
soon about two thousand voices were singing.
One song after another was sung, until at
length, as the hours crept on, excitement and
weariness induced sleep, and more than half
leaned their arms on the tables, or slipped on
to the floor underneath the tables. We were

126 MUNITION LASSES

very proud of our girls that night. We walked
up and down the gangway chatting, and cheer-
ing them, now comforting a mother who was
anxious for her children at home, now clasping
a hand stretched out in the darkness. And
once before dawn, some fruit was thrust into
my hand, and a whispered voice said, " It's
good fruit, miss : you've had no dinner."

They are fearful before the coming of an
air-ship or Zeppelin, but when it is in the
neighbourhood they are perfectly calm and
quiet, though some wish to sing, and others
like to be perfectly still. All enjoy the singing,
however, and it is the very best way to keep
them occupied, as it has been found in all
factories, I believe.

It was almost worth while to have the re-
sponsibility, on this particular night, to realise
how bravely our lasses could hold themselves ;
and when their voices rang out in the singing,
we felt at one with our gallant sailor-lads who
sang as the water closed over them ; at one with
our soldiers in the trenches who sang in the fury
of an attack, or an advance. Here there was
unity from end to end of the Empire. And
so we waited, while the cannonading could be
heard all round us, and in the midst of us.
Right across the sky was the gilded Thing

CANTEENS 127

which shot across our vision, riding high in
the heavens ; a moment after a smoke bomb
hid it in volumes of cloud, and it vanished in
an easterly direction. But the cannonading
continued fierce, incisive, incessant ; another
hung in the sky, found and held by our search-
lights. We hardly dared breathe as shell aftei
shell from all sides rose to a hair's-breadth of
that death-carrier. Suddenly it pitched head
foremost, turned, and was straightened again,
then dived over and seemed to burst from the
centre into a great crimson red flare shot with
gold and jagged blackness all round ; then
down, down, increasing in size and in the
multiplicity of flaming light until the whole
heavens seemed ablaze. A moment of intense
silence that seemed eternity, then from myriads
of unseen voices wave upon wave of cheering.
We realised then that this was not an episode
of the Arsenal, but all the millions in and
around London had looked on breathless at
the struggle, and their pent-up feelings were
now having vent.

So it fell, as Satan fell when there was war
in heaven and Michael and his angels conquered;
it fell as morning was breaking over the earth,
and shafts of light were dispersmg the darkness.
And the stars of the morning sang together,

9

128 MUNITION LASSES

and never had the earth seemed more lovely,
never had the heavens enfolded us with such
security, never had the Everlasting Arms
seemed so near, as darkness and the terror,
and the nearness of death passed away, and in
one's heart and brain rang the notes of the
glorious chorus, ** Watchmen, what of the
night ? The night is departing, the day is
at hand." And all creation seemed to pulse
with the exulting notes of the concluding
hymn of praise, " The day is at hand."

Then we turned to normal things, and
superintended the distribution of boiling tea
and cocoa to the famished and cold women
and girls. Half an hour later, at 5 a.m., we
paid our usual rounds to the workshops. All
operations were in hand, and the only differ-
ence to be detected from the normal was the
tense expression on the faces of the elder
women, and the whole-hearted energy in the
work of the younger ones. And one spoke
the mind of the whole factory when she said
to me, **We must work our very hardest
to make an end of those Zeps."

CHAPTER X

HOSTELS

''Con pace ogn' opra sempr' al fin assalto."

Michael Angelo.

("All things have rest upon their journey's end.")
Trans, by J. Addington Symonds.

The housing of the women is no less im-
portant than the feeding of them, and to a
certain extent the organisations coalesce.
Many hostels have the catering part managed
by the Y.M.C.A. Committee. This arrange-
ment is a saving in many ways. The same
method is observed in dealing with supplies ;
and those who have the provisioning of the
canteens can best judge numbers and quanti-
ties, and also know what the tastes of the
workers are.

Apart from the catering, a good deal of wise
management is required in looking after the
workers during their hours of rest and recrea-
tion. One large hostel called the "Joan of

129

130 MUNITION LASSES

Arc " is capable of housing 700 munition
workers. The Eltham Hostel is built to provide
for 2500. Round and near Woolwich Common
are Y.W.C.A. houses, and boarding-houses
adapted for workers. To-day there is no
difficulty in finding rooms, as the early workers
experienced ; but a little over a year ago
rooms were scarce and proportionately dear,
and there were one or two regrettable ex-
periences, where a lodger found, being on the
night-shift, that her room was let to someone
else when she was not in possession. But the
hostels were built in a surprisingly short time,
and the care of hostels includes some of the
most cherished schemes for the health, comfort,
and happiness of working women. The Queen
Mary Hostel was opened in the autumn to
accommodate many of the ladies who came
from various parts of the British Isles, as well
as our Colonies, to help in the management
as superintendents of canteens, principal over-
lookers, and overlookers, or as voluntary
canteen workers.

The hostels are built on the principle of the
large military hospitals. The whole building
is a settlement of bungalows connected by
streets of corridors. On either side of the
corridor are the workers' rooms. The middle

HOSTELS 131

of the block is occupied by a dining hall con-
nected with kitchen and its accessory offices.
The dining hall connects with another room
running the entire length. In the case of the
Queen Mary Hostel, this room is fitted up
as a lounge, with plenty of really comfortable
chairs and sofas. Windows are on three sides,
fireplaces at intervals on either side of the
room. There is artistic colouring, and the
mode of decoration is similar to an old manorial
hall, the arched roof composed of oak beams ;
electric lights are suspended from them by
chains, and silken shades of warm tones add
a charming touch of colour. These were the
gift of a friend, and were much appreciated.
All through the winter lovely flowers were
sent us. Clusters of show chrysanthemums,
winter roses, and masses of Michaelmas daisies
cheered the weary guests when they arrived
after their day or night's labour. Lady Henry
Grosvenor is now in residence here, and
personally supervises the arrangements for the
comfort of all. We had the good fortune to
meet with kindred spirits on our arrival last
September. A lady, well known for her social
charm, as well as her intrinsic merit, welcomed
us and looked after our comfort with the
geniality of a hospitable hostess and the sym-

132 MUNITION LASSES

pathy and thought of a mother. We founded
an Arts table. It included a niece of Thomas
Carlyle, an artist, a sculptor, a writer or two,
a niece of Lord Morley's, and later, a relative
of Sir Oliver Lodge. Many of the original
members dispersed for other duties as time
passed on, but the Arts table is still kept
sacred, and when any original member returns,
we always move to that special table. One
charming Belgian lady is with us, doing
munitions while her relatives are fighting on
the Somme front. The great hour of the day
is tea-time, when sundry groups gather round
the various fires and make toast, feeling as if
college days had returned.

The inmates of the " Joan of Arc " are mostly
young working girls. They have an abund-
ance of spirits and like plenty of amusement.
The directress has done much for them in the
way of very able administration and sym-
pathetic insight into the character and needs
of the girls.

Twice a week recreation takes the form of
a dance, when the workers may invite a friend
in khaki. Invitations are by card only, and
are sent out from the office. Both guest and
worker are responsible for the mutual good
behaviour, and they haye responded to the

HOSTELS 133

trust reposed in them ; for the dances, initiated
as a social experiment, are a complete success.
The band of the garrison is lent on these
occasions, and " official " visitors, including the
Iw.S., Welfare Visitors, and others of the staff
often join in the amusement of the evening.

This hostel was the first to have a chapel,
which was established through the personal

endeavours of Miss M , the directress.

Time has proved what a boon this is to
many of her workers. Simply and tastefully
furnished in tones of blue, the chapel is open
at an early hour in the morning. On Sundays,
too, when the khaki " boys " come to tea with
our girls, they often join in the simple service
afterwards. The need has been felt elsewhere,
and chapels are being placed in other hostels.
The Archbishop of Canterbury has also
recently arranged for a chapel to be added
to the Queen Mary Hostel. It is now being
built.

Above the Joan of Arc Hostel flies the
flag with their Patroness heroine emblazoned
thereon, copied from the original at Rouen.
On p. 118a a group of girls is shown standing

round their flag, with Miss M and Miss

P in the foreground. The group is of

especial interest, for the girls are wearing

134 MUNITION LASSES

their uniform of Girl Guides, recently insti-
tuted in this hostel. Thus the spirit of service
and patriotism inherent in the name Joan of
Arc permeates the whole building.

A fine opportunity came at the time of the
fete in July for the workers to show their
zeal. A pageant of Joan of Arc was arranged
and carried through with great success (see
p. 118a). The heroine, who is a P.O. and has
been an inmate of the Joan of Arc Hostel since
its opening, had the time of her life in learning
to ride a splendid horse lent by the garrison,
and riding it, in the guise of the illustrious
girl-warrior, on the day of the pageant.

The arrangements are slightly different at
the Eltham Hostel. Workers need dinner and
tea at the Arsenal, and many like to come home
and have a light meal before going to rest.
The Eltham Hostel does not cater for dinners,
but provides food as it is wanted ; and many
girls prefer this way of living, for they pay for
their room, and buy on the spot any food they
require. In the other hostels breakfast and
dinner is provided, and the Sunday's meals.
Since a good, wholesome dinner is provided
in the Arsenal, and tea or breakfast, which
can be made into a high tea according to the
needs of the workers, this arrangement of the

HOSTELS 135

Eltham Hostel seems a satisfactory one, and
is of course less expensive for the worker who
is not receiving high wages.

The Eltham Hostel occupies a large area.
It is now divided into two sections. The near
side continues to be used as the residential
quarters for women munition workers ; the far
side is now open for men workers.

Each side has its administrative block and
residential quarters for its staff of women and
men respectively. The whole organisation is
directly under the head of the Welfare Com-
mittee in the Arsenal, whereas the other
hostels are under Y.M.C.A. management.

A group of the Eltham Hostel is in-
serted on p. 118a, showing in the foreground
the principal members of the Welfare Com-
mittee, including the Superintendent of the
Arsenal, the L.S., and various officers of the
Eltham Hostel staff.

As usual, the hostel contains streets of
bungalows, with the workers' rooms on either
side of the corridors. It differs, however, in
possessing a sitting-room and writing-room on
every corridor. This is a recent addition and
is much appreciated.

There is a general recreation room, and a
large canteen instead of a dining-room. The

136 MUNITION I ASSES

canteen possesses a stage, and half the canteen
can be curtained off when necessary to form
an auditorium when entertainments are held.

A chapel was opened here in July. The
Government provided building and seating.
Each corridor contributed to the furnishing,
and much labour and ingenuity was shown in
the contribution of kneelers, and cushions for
the chancel-rail, all done by hand. The altar
furnishing was also contributed, and the dossal
and lectern hangings made by a member
of the staff. The latest addition is a new
harmonium, the combined gift of the hostel.

The Welfare Workers are in touch with all
the hostels. They visit individual girls when
occasion arises through absence, or some other
cause. They also visit the hostels when any
special concert or dance is given, and join in
the festiv^ity. Besides the individual hostel
recreations, there is the Women's Recreation
Club, specially founded for those living in the
hostels ; for the hostel inmates are near at
hand, whereas those who live in their own
homes are often too far away to take part in
any amusement after the hours of work. All
kinds of classes are arranged to suit the wishes
of the workers. The girls learn gymnastics,
dancing, singing, elocution: they have asked

HOSTELS 137

for Firsfc-Aid classes, dressmaking, and em-
broidery. The L.S. is willing to arrange any-
class when it is asked for by some eight or ten
members, and she always finds a keen and
willing exponent to run the special class when
formed. The club hours are arranged between
the shifts, so that night workers can attend for
an hour before going to work, day workers can
enter before returning home. In connection
with the club, occasional concerts are arranged,
and weekly Sunday concerts were started in
the New Year. There is latterly an endeavour
to form a choral society, but the difficulty
of getting the required voices together at the
same time is somewhat of a difficulty, as the
hours of recreation are so short. As the
weeks pass there is always some new scheme
being added for the benefit of the w^orker
when she has finished work, just as inside the
factory there is continual advance for the
health and general well-being of the workers.
The year 1917 has seen steady progress in
every part of Arsenal life without and within,
the two special outside features being the
great Fete in July, with the Joan of Arc
Pageant, and the Mission in September, In-
augurated by the Archbishop of Canterbury,
four hundred Missioners, including several

138 MUNITION LASSES

Bishops, have carried out a Crusade ; and
Beresford Square has been the unwonted
scene of a gathering for prayer and sacred
song for the crowds that habitually gather
there.

The Welfare Workers are the people who
weld the work-a-day life with the home life,
getting into touch with the workers, and
learning to know them in shop, in canteen, in
the hostel, and even in the home. So we are
preparing for the future, that when the war
ends our women and girls will be the healthier
and the happier, and more able to make
cleaner and brighter and purer homes for
their men folk when they return.

CHAPTER XI

THE PAY OFFICE

" For the labourer is worthy of his hire."

St Luke's Gospel.

Arsenal life is not fully known until the
weekly concourse has been observed in the
large spaces at the back and front of the
pay office, where the factories are paid in
groups.

The handing over of the pay to each worker
once a week is the last act of a series of
processes involving many hundreds of clerks,
who are busied day and night with checking
attendance lists, totalling the number of
hours worked, marking changes in rates and
shares, according to the occupation. The
shifting of a worker from one shop to another
often involves a difference in pay.

Work-takers are appointed to every factory,
who visit each workshop during the morning

and the afternoon, checking the attendance

139

140 MUNITION LASSES

lists, noting absentees, and inserting the
occupation of every worker. Every shifting
from one occupation to another must be re-
corded, in order to obtain the correct time-
sheet, and the pay resulting. The D.P.O.
must know the rates and shares of every
occupation, and see that every worker is paid
accordingly. The D.P.O. must advise the
office of any change, increase, or decrease
arising thereby, and any question must go
through her to the pay office representative,
who visits the factory once or twice a week.
The pay office, then, has a complex task in
exploring the ramifications of the pay-sheets.
Besides the weekly pay, there is the sick and
injury pay ; and the weekly pay includes such
adjustments as extra time, Sunday time, night-
rate work, war bonus, the subtraction of hours
for lateness and for absence. The picking up
of the ticket in the morning denotes presence
and punctual attendance : the late comer finds
the ticket office closed. The attendance is
marked at the assembling in the workshops
by the D.P.O., and her list is sent up. Any
discrepancy between the D.P.O. 's list and the
people who fail to pick up their tickets is
noted. The work-takers go their rounds and
mark attendance. So it is quite impossible

THE PAY OFFICE 141

for any absentee to escape notice. The same
routine is gone through after the dinner-hour.
The D.P.O. sends up her absentee lists. The
worker-takers go their rounds, mark attend-
ance, and occupation of each worker. After
tea, the D.P.O. makes her final round for
absentees, and sends the list to the office.
Those who leave at tea-time are obliged to
hand their tickets over to the attendants.
By this method the attendance and hours of
work are exactly compiled.

The representative from the pay office
makes his rounds during the week, and any
difficulty is unravelled, any question answered
involving rates of pay and value of shares.
More than one half-hour was spent going
through the intricacies of the time-sheet with
him, when he explained the method of totalling
up the week's payments and the various cal-
culations required. I always left him thankful
that my duties did not include the compilation
of the weekly payments ; but he carried his
duties with a cheeriness that was never clouded
by pressure of work, or dimmed by the various
demands made upon his patience. He was
one of the pleasantest of the number of kindly
people it was our good fortune to meet
amongst those who had come together to

142 MUNITION LASSES

work for the period of the war in this great
centre of labour.

Every Thursday afternoon one noted an
air of pleasant anticipation throughout the
workshops, intensified as the hour drew near
for departure. The hootah went ten minutes
earlier to give time to change and reach
the pay office by 6.50. The women were
divided between anxiety to get to the pay
office and the desire to look their best, for
on pay night they often went shopping, or
met a friend and spent the evening at some
place of amusement. The D.P.O. could not
wait until the Shifting-house was empty on
these occasions, because her duty was at the
pay office, marshalling her women into lines
before their respective doors in numerical
order. The worker is paid by her ticket
number and not her name, and she receives
her ticket number on a card with the amount
to be paid to her before she leaves the factory.

Arrived at the door, the scene is like the
early doors at a favourite theatre, only one
must imagine a large number of theatres close
together, and innumerable queues waiting at
the long line of doors and windows outside the
pay office. The casual observer will see nothing
but a confused sea of heads, and what appears

THE PAY OFFICE 143

to be a tumult ; but inside the crowd it will
be noticed that the knots and groups are dis-
entangling themselves, and finding their right
places in the queues that are being formed
The D.P.O. walks down the lines receiving
the number of each woman as she passes, and
inspecting the tickets, which everyone must
hold in her right hand in readiness to show
and give up in return for the pay. It is
necessary to carefully watch for the new
entries and for late comers. The former lose
their heads completely, and want to dive into
any place that looks easy of access, and it
requires a good deal of piloting and urging
on the part of the D.P.O. to get her correctly
placed. She is then told to notice who is in
front of her, and to remember to keep the
same place on future occasions. The late
comers, anxious to be paid, will rush up to
the door and try to squeeze through, in their
desire to be paid without undue waiting.
They also are put in a place apart, until the
others have been paid, and they are then
hurried through by the courtesy of the pay
office officials, and by the importunity of the
D.P.O., who has no desire to wait until the
next factory is paid, before her erring late

workers get their pay. Prompt passing

10

144 MUNITION LASSES

through always helps us ; for if we have a
minute to spare out of the ten minutes allowed
for our factory, we pass our late arrivals
through. If the time for payment is past,
and the next factory is due, it would be
necessary to wait. But during my six months'
duties, we never had to wait for any defaulters
of our factory, and very few women were late.
For we always came through the pay office
with a minute or half a minute at least to spare,
which gave us time to clear off late workers.
This satisfactory state of affairs was largely
due to the help of our men colleagues.

The twenty minutes at the pay office is
certainly one of the most exciting periods in
the "week. For ten minutes chaos is being
reduced to order with every faculty and every
atom of energy we possess. It must be done
with lightning speed. The next ten minutes
is spent in taking them through, and bundling
the late ones through on the heels of our
queue. With a cheerful sense of a task ful-
filled we bid good night to the foreman and
pass out. On pay day we are one of the first
to leave the Arsenal, for we hurry to catch an
early tram or train ; whereas on this particular
night of the week the women collect in front
of the pay office and look at the amounts to

THE PAY OFFICE 145

see that they are correct, and chat with their
friends before they saunter out of the Arsenal.
The younger and noisier ones generally sing
lustily ; the older women are quiet as a rule,
anxious to get to their homes and their children ;
but all look upon Thursday night as a break in
the routine of the week and a time of meeting
and relaxation — either for a few minutes, or
for the whole evening. Pay day to the general
worker is a milestone of life. Every Friday
begins a fresh period until the following
Thursday, which culminates at the time of
payment.

CHAPTER XII

CHRISTMAS 1916 AND NEW YEAH 1917

^^The morning will surely come, the darkness will
vanish, and thy voice pour down in golden streams breaking
through the skies." Rabindranath Tagore.

Our lasses began to talk of Christmas and
to sing carols over their work as early as
November. The burning question on the lips
of all was whether there would be a holiday,
and, if so, how many days.

This question was asked " ad infinitum," and
was at first met by that most disheartening
reply, "We must wait and see." But as the
question was repeated day after day, we used
to say : "It will certainly depend upon us all.
If we are never late for the next few weeks,
and take no time off whatever, and work our
very hardest, we may be rewarded. For we
must be quite certain that the country cannot
afford to do without munitions for some days,
unless between now and then we manage by

absolute punctuality to put out the extra

146

CHRISTMAS 1916 147

munitions, so that the hoHday may not be
detrimental to output." The few weeks pre-
ceding the New Year were certainly marked by
very good attendance. The Welfare Workers
demurred at my failing to send in a list of
absentees for inquiry, and I replied that the
attendance had been exceptionally good, and
only two cases needed attention. There were,
however, two disastrously foggy days which
stopped traffic, and many who tried to walk
got lost. An amusing story was told of a
foreman who knew the factory thoroughly.
He stumbled across one of our women who
had lost her way in the Arsenal between the
entrance gate and the factory. " Come along
with me," said the foreman ; " I will put you
right." An hour and a half later two forlorn
people found themselves at a distant gateway
of the Arsenal, more than a mile away from
the factory, but by perseverance they at length
reached the factory, and entered like heroes
about nine o'clock in the evening.

Two volunteer workers also on that night
left our factory about seven o'clock, and some
hours later they entered again asking, ** Is this
the Arsenal gate ? " having wandered round
and returned to the starting place without
knowing it.

148 MUNITION LASSES

The good attendance was also partly due to
the fact that the workers wanted full over-
time pay. They had Christmas presents and
dinners to send to their dear ones at the
front ; they had parcels to send to their prisoner
relatives ; and they remembered that if they
were going to get a holiday, there would be
some days without pay.

At length the great news was posted up on
the Arsenal gates and in every Shifting-house.
Government had fixed a holiday for munition
workers from the 22nd to 27th of December.
How elated everyone was ! Our shift dis-
covered with much glee that they, being on
day-shift, would be able to leave on Thursday
night, and would not return until the follow-
ing Wednesday night for the night-shift. So
it seemed that they had nearly a week, and
great was the satisfaction. The weather
changed too. The week before Christmas Day
was bright and frosty, and we all enjoyed the
walk up the Straight on the frozen ground, our
senses quickening with the exhilaration of the
keen air.

The w^eek was marked by a general giv-
ing and receiving of presents amongst the
workers. It was their first Christmas season
in the Arsenal ; it might be, as everyone

CHRISTMAS 1916 149

hoped, the la't under war conditions. So they
celebrated the event. And it marked their
happiness and general well-being in the life
spent in busy work and pleasant intercourse.
All the workers knew that they were going
to have their Christmas holiday in their own
homes, but these few days served as their
Christmas together in the Arsenal. They
arranged tea-parties, and when the week had
adv^anced to Wednesday, there was a feeling
amongst them that Thursday, the day ap-
pointed for the holiday, must be specially
kept and be made as festive as possible.

At dinner-time the canteen presented a very
festive appearance: special decorations, and
festive extras at the buffet in the shape of
mince-pies and Christmas fruits.

The L.S. came down, and was in time to
carve the turkey, which was supplied for a
slightly extra charge. She then visited each
table and spoke a word of seasonable greeting
to the diners. Nobody dawdled over dinner,
for they were bent on making merry. A
crowd formed at the piano, and songs and
dancing began. Before we were aware we
were drawn into the festivity. The L.S.
laughed merrily as she caught sight of us
being whirled round by eager dancers, but a

150 MUNITION LASSES

moment afterwards she, too, was caught and
joined the merry throng. And we all enjoyed
it, and the girls, realising that, were corre-
spondingly happy.

The factory was divided throughout that
afternoon by the desire to work well, the
feeling of subdued excitement at the approach-
ing holiday, and the immediate happiness of
their last meal in the canteen at tea-time.
Many were the little festive tea-parties
arranged, with mince-pies for the special dish.
Numerous invitations were pressed upon the
D.P.O. to have tea with them ; and to every
invitation she replied that she w^ould come
down, though she inwardly wondered what
quantity of mince-pie and what amount of
dancing could be experienced for the happiness
of her workers, without complete prostration
upon the actual Christmas Day, on which
occasion her small nephews and nieces regard
her as their special property.

We gathered in the canteen, every lassie
wearing a sprig of mistletoe, were it only a
berry or a single leaf. Not a moment was
wasted, and in a very short time tea and hot
cakes and mince-pies were eaten, while the
D.P.O. greeted the various tables, and had
tea here and a mince-pie there. Everyone

CHRISTMAS 1916 151

adjourned to the piano, and a small concert
took place. In the midst of a very sad
song, thoroughly enjoyed by the audience,
the hootah went for return. The D.P.O.
mentioned that it was time. Nobody stirred,
and a request was made to have the last verse.
It was the one festive night of the year to
these lasses, so we sang the last verse, and the
D.P.O. joined in. Then " God save the King "
was sung. Three cheers were proposed for the
lads and relatives at the front, and the canteen
rang again to the response. Then they struck
up a two-step and danced madly in long lines
hand in hand. But their faces were towards
the door, and in two minutes they were out
and on their way to the workshops singing and
crying, "Three cheers for the D.P.O."

A few minutes later we went the rounds,
and they were all quietly at work, only their
faces were radiantly happy, and at our entry
they started clapping.

We wished them a Happy Christmas, say-
ing, in the trite way, that it only came once
a year. They understood that the especial
privilege was for that night only, and they
did not take advantage of it. They were just
thoroughly happy, and had enjoyed to the
full their little festivity together. The hootah

152 MUNITION LASSES

sounded for leaving, and away they went.
At the door of the Shifting-house we shook
hands with all, wishing them a pleasant
holiday. Auntie Ellis and Auntie May were
gladdened by a literal Christmas box in which
everyone dropped pennies, and this gave them
a substantial Christmas present. The two
water-carriers had a similar box, so all went
away really happy, with the happiness that
innocent enjoyment brings. We knew that
every soldier and sailor would do his best to
have a good time at this season, and in the
quiet solemnity of that evening's walk to the
gates it seemed as if Heaven had decreed an
armistice for the whole world, for the coming
of the Christ Child, that Peace might be once
more upon the earth for a brief season.

Friday was spent in arranging the Christmas
gifts contributed by the workers' Christmas
donation to our Red Cross Fund. The table
for St John's Relief Hospital was purchased,
and two convalescent soldiers from St John's
met it at the station and carried it delightedly
up the hill. One soldier ate his Christmas
dinner off it, and the others used it at the
party in the evening.

Gifts were also sent to the Red Cross
Hospital in Florence, which bought electrical

NEW YEAR 1917 153

apparatus for special treatment. Letters were
received in the New Year from members of
the Committee and from the Secretary ex-
pressing gratitude for the thought and gifts
of the munition workers. And the next gift
required is a chair for one of the French
hospitals to be sent through the French
Emergency Fund, in memory of the undying
glory of the French at Verdun ; and we hope
to make this our next Christmas gift. Mean-
while, more crutches have been sent to both
English and French hospitals with the balance
of the Fund.

Once more we gathered together in the
Shifting-house on New Year's morning to
hear the rules. The New Year had dawned
brightly, and it was a world of sun and blue
sky as the day advanced. A cheery crowd
had assembled, and the D.P.O. climbed aloft
as usual in order to face her audience. She
wished them a Happy New Year, and hoped,
when the year was old, the war would be
over and every lassie in some good employ-
ment. Then the rules were recited, repeating
and dwelling upon those most liable to be
broken. Once more good wishes, a responsive
cheer, and the crowd flowed out along the
platforms to their respective shops.

154 MUNITION LASSES

A few days later they called me to the Shift-
ing-house, and when I arrived, it was they
who had chmbed into posts of eminence to
see and to talk to me. And the words of those
lasses went straight down to my heart, and
there they remain " too deep for words." And
I have their precious gifts, and constantly use
them. In fact, this book has been written
with the pen, and the MS. has been carried
in the beautiful little case for the last few
months. And each one of their faces I
remember, and shall not forget. We had
come to the end of our six months together,
and had learnt much from one another. In
their own words, they " have got used to me," ^
and, knowing that, it is with much regret that
we say good-bye, and go on to the fresh work
that calls. For we must all work, not for the
end of the war only, but for the great settling
and arranging of our land when peace shall
have come. The end of war will be but the
beginning of that period, and we shall all be
needed to do whatever work is then most
desired from us, whether it be in the home
or work outside.

In that beautiful old Greek story of the

^ To get used to^ in Arsenal language, is a highly
complimentary term.

NEW YEAR 1917 155

wanderings of Ulysses after the Trojan war,
Penelope, the wife of Ulysses, cared for her
husband's estate, brought up their son, worked
and kept faith with the absent one through
long years of trial, while might tried to conquer
right, and she was beset without and within.
At length Ulysses returns in disguise and
realises with a great passion of love how
Penelope has worked and waited and loved.
And he throws off his disguise and breaks
the power of might, utterly conquering the
enemy. And after that there is a great
cleansing of the house that it may be worthy
of Penelope, and they settle down in happy
contentment to manage their home and estate.

So with us: every home must be brighter
for the welcoming of father, husband, or
brother. And if every home is more lovely,
then England, Britain, our Empire, will be
more happy and more true.

In that glad day the bells will ring out
once more over our Empire, and in temples
made with hands, as in all nature, one joyous
song of thanksgiving shall be sung to the
King of kings. And Britain, the mother
country, joining hands with her sons and her
daughters across the seas, shall settle down
once more to her responsibilities and to the

156 MUNITION LASSES

managing of her great estates. And in the
Houses of Westminster, with the flag floating
free above them, the voices of the representatives
from the over-sea Dominions shall mingle their
voices with Britain's leaders, working together
for the common weal of the Empire, and for
the mutual prosperity of our brave Allies. So,
for all who will work well, and love well, and
keep faith well, *' the morning will surely come,
and the darkness will vanish, and the golden
streams will pour down breaking through
the skies."

PRINTED IN GREAT BRITAIN BY NEILL AND CO., LTD., EDINBURGH.

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