MATES

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 202, 15 May 1918, Page 3

MATES

A WAR CRV-ATION. "Ifeop her running, irate!" TL< words came to me above ihe roar of thf engine of a lftmidry-v.vn outsido, as ] walked down my garden path. The driver straightened himself froir the starling-handle JlO had been swing nig tor some minutes, ran to the side ol the engine, and, judging I'rom the ensuing roaring and grunting, restored tc animation some of ils vital end refractory parts. Soon the steady purr of tin engino announced the "Ali clear." The bonnet was dropped into its place and the gleeful driver <u;:nbeo up to his seal at tlio wheel, followed bv his ''mate/ who jumped up lighth ,*side him. I rubbed my astonished tyes at thr sight of his "mato"—not ihe grimy aiiu I had expccted to see, but a golden haired slip of a girl, in the neat bin: cap and uniform of the Snow-whiti Laundry. "Eight away!" she said, with a glanci down the road behind (hern, and awaj they went. I followed the heavy van along th( sunlit road and fell to musing upon th< extraordinary camaraderie that ha; arisen between the men and womei workers of to-day. It is apparent everywhere, in every kind of work—in th< factory, the olhce, the garago, on th< railway, the road, and on Ihe laad. II is a spirit of comradeship far deepei than that which exists between man anc man; more sympathetic ;md understand ing than even the tender relationship ol lovers. I well remember the deep impressioi left upon me 011 the occasion of a recent visit, to a canteen where men and women tramway-car conductors and drivers were dining. There was a wonderful and—for want of a better word—foreign gentleness in the man, a new and delightful spirit of friendship among the women, l'ho consciousness >,f sex had slipped away, and left them simply comrades. Yet it had not robbed the women of thpir charm nor the men of their strength. Nor, indeed, lias this <krce association in work deprived Hymen of his victories. The girl who took my fare told me her husband, a returned soldier, was driving the tramway-car she was conducting—it was a romance "conducted" In the tram-way-car—and that many of her sister workers are young married women with soldier husbands at the front or working with them side by side. This new and broader outlook is making for a saner marriage basis, I thought, as I walked along, the busy thoroughfare; work offers 110 discouragement or hindrance to embarkation upon the Great Experiment. And in confirmation of my thoughts a taxicab drew up a few yards ahead of mc, and out stepped a bronzed, trench-stained, khaki-clad man from over, seas, followed by a "Wane" (member of the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps). The taxicab driver' smiled as the pair hurried into the tall, red-bricked office building with the words "Registry Office" painted on the dark-gauze screens at the window. "Another war-wedding," ho said, as I stood a moment noting with admiration the eas.v swing and healthy upright bearing of the khaki man and his "soldier" sweetheart. "There's plenty of them nowadays," he continued, with a chuckle, as I lingered around to catch another glimpse of his "fare." "There can't be too many," I thought as I watchcd thp happy, proud, khakiclad bride aii<i groom drive away—wedded mates.—By Heath Walton, in the "Daily Mail."