nd fro
between the different sheds, over the narrow wooden platforms, raised
from the ground to prevent them from carrying in on the soles of their
shoes any particles of grit, iron, steel, or glass, that might cause a
spark among the high explosives. So well did these women work that
near the end of the war in many places more shells were made in two
weeks than previously could be made in a year. The many women,
willingly risking their lives in these shops, made this work possible.
In England alone, where seventy-five out of every hundred men stepped
out to fight, seventy-five out of a hundred women and girls left their
homes and stepped in to work or to serve.

More tiresome were the long hours spent at machines in large closed
factories where army blankets and clothing of all sorts were turned out
for the use of the fighting men.

Out on the farms the girls could be seen in overalls, plowing furrows
in long, sloping fields, and planting potatoes and vegetables to help
feed the world. With hard work and small pay, they too helped win the
victory. One girl tells how on arriving home from work one night, she
found at the house a letter from a friend.

"How jolly it must be," she wrote, "and how you must be enjoying it!"
That day had been particularly cold and wet and windy, but the girls
had worked right through it. When they had finished, they were damp
and weary and only glad that it was time for tea. "I don't feel a bit
patriotic," said the girl, "and I don't care if I never plant another
potato." She was an artist and found farm life very different from
sitting in a quiet studio. But planting potatoes was more helpful to
her country and so the next morning found her up early and ready to
work again.

Like this artist many women, unused to common labor, gladly left lives
of ease and good times to help win the war even by drudgery. In the
case of English women this was particularly true, and would have been
true in America if the war had continued much longer. As it was, the
women of America responded to the call of service with the same spirit
which sent millions of men to the colors. Besides those positions
which, left open by men going into war, were filled by women, countless
services were performed by them to add to the comfort and happiness of
soldiers, sailors, and marines. Knitted articles were made for the
needy in the service, and for the destitute in the ravaged war
countries. Not a cantee