MERRY "WAACS"

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 267, 31 July 1918, Page 3

MERRY "WAACS"

Tommy's sisters in Franc® have a goodly streak of the irrepressible humour of their brothers, and tins is notably in evidence on the white doors of their sleeping huts. "The Nest of the Early Birds," reads ono neatly painted inscription—a silent und permanent reminder that the cooks are the first to rise. There is a favour o£ London town about' the hut that calls itself "Earl's Court," while the inmates of "The Biug Girls Atp Here" also hail from the same direction.

All the camp did a grin behind the inspecting general's back, when he stopped to read the subtle tide or the first hut:

"No Man's Land." lie titrated one humorous eyebrow in tip; direction of the administrator and pas.-itd on to "Somme Hut."

"Topholo" considers itself the show hut of the camp. Everything the girls can procure to make their Quarters live up to their name is employed. Dainty pink casements flutter at tile windows, loekers are covored with material of similar colour, lights gleam through rosecoloured shades, window-boxes are gay, and freshly cut flowers beautify the hut. Ail the huts are.alike in that over oach girl's bed is her little picture gallery of the home folk, the babies, the knaki boys, the father, the mother and sisters.

Life in camp is greatly preferred to house billets. Camp lifo arouses the girls' enthusiasm—it is a sjjot of their very own, something in -which to take pride, to beautify.

• The conversion of an ugly corner into a rockery, the! healthy look of the vegetable plots, the decoration of the new stage, .a successful dance—all these are matters of personal interest with the girls. They thoroughly enjoy living, working, and playing together. Fun and high spirits are universal among {.lie "Waacs," probably because they have never felt, or looked, so well in their lives—which is a tribute to' Army Tations and the excellent living and working conditions. At the end of the day the girls are ready for anything. Games and gardening attract some, but an impromptu open-air concert on the camp lawn appeals more strongly to' the majority on these long, light evenings. They are losing that appalling British self-conscious-ness here in France. ' "If anyone can do anything, get up and do it," 'say the audience. And up thoy get. While they prize the love-lorn soprano they value just as much their star humorists, of, whom thoy have several. A new Army repartee has sprung up among them, at times infinitely clever and witty, while the mixture of French phrases that has crept into the chaff ' which they are constantly interchanging is most amusing.Maybe their chaff and laughter occasionally camouflage inevitable attacks of homesickness, but one has only to look at their glowing faces, and to see the zest with which 1 they go about work and play, to learn whether the "Waacs" are hnpny in France. —Hilda Love, in the "Daily Mail." The engagement has l)?en announced of Miss Deborah Pitfcs Taylor, youngest daughter of the late Mr. W. Taylor and Mrs. Tayloi', formerly of Manawatu, to Mr. Richard E. Wilde, eocond son of Mr. and Mrs. E. 'J. Wilde, "Merfield," Marton. Private Wilde is at present in France. Miss Taylor has recently returned from No. 1 N.Z.G.H. Brookenliurßt, where she has been ambulance* driving for the past eighteen mouths. The Hon. .T. Hanan will address the Women's National Reserve gathering for mothers, to"be held in the Town Hall this afternoon. .He is expected to speak at about a quarter to four, and previous to the address several musical and elocutionary itoras will be given by various performers. 1 1 Tn the course.of a letter to Sydney friends an Australian soldier referred to the pronunciation of General Foch's name. "In France," he writes, "I havo often heard French officers referring to the General, and in every case the pronunciation was a long 'o' and the 'oh' was 6oft."