THE KHAKI GIRL.

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 5, Issue 179, 2 June 1916, Page 3 (Supplement)

THE KHAKI GIRL.

A STRIKING PRODUCT OF THE WAR.

BUILDING I.X GLAND'S GLORY

By BREXDA GIRYIN, n the

Di.ily .Mail"

I h.iv.' worked beside lier lor five montlis, and so I know her well.

She is a war product tins Khaki Girl —who until the late Summer found her vocation as a general sevvant, a nursemaid, a laundry hand, or. in any other of those walks in life which until recent events ?et tiie whole world topsyturvy, were worsens' natural occupations.

Now she takes a man's place in a munition factory and turns out a shell with a hand as practised as his own.

The machinery has no fear for her. She stands befor; her lathe and starts the belting whirring with as nonchalant an air as once she trundled a perambulator down a street. She can gauge and tile and change a tool. She can tell you if her machine is running high or low, and sooner than wait for a mechanic, if he be occupied, will set it to rights herself.She can fill lier arms with 18-pounder. shells and toss a projectile from one hand to the other as lightly as a ball.

She is (-ailed the Khaki Girl because she once wore a Khaki overall. For reasons of economy authorities have changed the colour of the overalls to black; but the colloquial name still sticks to her, and probably will remain her heritage as long as she is a shellmachinist. A TOUCH OF ROUGE. It you were to meet her out you would not fail to recognise her. She carries a brown or green attache case. It contains her meal for the shift, powder, a mirror, and a rag of tewelling. She would not be seen travelling home with a speck of grease upon her face. Even during the tea break—half -in hour—she will dicss her hair again, and before the bell sounds you will see her fetch out that mirror and turn so that the light may I'.i'l upon it to jxnvder her nose and put a touch of rouge upon her checks.

Tlk' Khaki -Jul is intensely proud of her appearance. Her dress is gay. She likes tout lies of bright colour—a purple muffler, her h ack ami wliite check coat, piped with orange, a bright pink ion l in her black velvet hat, which is .small in simp", but large in size, the brim, if there is one, crushed down on to her forehead so that her eyes disappear beneath it. The tilt of the hat permits one of her many com is or hair slides, much bejewelled, to peep out. Otherwise so "'dressy/' she fails in footwear, for her black boots are i'l-fitting and wmn shabby. Her vocabulary is not as yours. It is de>criptir- 1 , r.evcrand she would lose much of her (harm wore her turn of conversation to be taken from her. If you behave foolishly von are a "cock-eved onion"' or a '; lilbt'cd haddock." Her friend is her ''mate,'' and her fiancee is her ''friend.'-' Jf ynii oli'er her a chocolate she never says "Ye-, j,lease. ' It's "I don't mind if I do." " (iet>wli : zz ! Law! Swelp!" beloiiir to her hourly Use, but only once have I heard her use a swearword, and "hat was it a moment of srreat apprehension. If she has never been to work b.'lorc she is a 1; dy, but once she has been paid sh'e no longer lays claim to this title of distinction. She has a nickname for ovory;i(!TUn FOOL." There is the 'Rabbit," the foreman with the elongated teeth. "Spots" is the sotter-up wiMt an unhappy tendon-

cy to pimples; 'His Koyal Highness Good-for-Nothmg,'' a iiew and very young mechanic with a smiliig and unpleasant manner. 1 myself am "Miow" (all the lady works are "Miowt"), and the canteen worker is the "Grub Fool.'' Her faults are many.but they are on the surface. Tl ere is no fake pride about the Khaki Girl; no pretence, no seeking to make you believe she is other than she is. She is there for you to take or leave, just as you will.' If you "take her/' well and good; if yon "leave her." she docs not car.' at all. She is a sulky creature if she is displeased. She never sets out to mak" n good impression, but troats von when you first- make her acquaintance with an air of resontfulness, as ;f you are there to take her tools, to trke the ion s portion „f the shells if [he supply bo low, to push before her into tea, to talc the first turn at the urn. So she hides your grease, your gauge: shrugs her shoulders when you pass, makes no preten-o to hide the fact that she is out to dislike you. But von *ow her that you, Loo, have your r nd of th" stick to keep up. You take hack your grease and your gauge r.nd die respects vou.

I'hen as the days go bv she begin.-, to understand that you are not there to take from her, only to share with her, to pile up shol| s , "which in their turn will help to build up the pinnacle of England's glory. HIS PHOTOGRAPH. She like-; yon, and wlivn fihe likes you she shows you her good qualities, and they are many. Next, she will confide in you. "This is his photograpn,'' and she holds out the locket she is wearing round her nock. This is his badge. It is pinned on to an overall—a great beass medallion. She has hi button on her coat, and another of hi:, badges on her hat. Her "friend'' is in the Persian Gulf. She has not had a line from him for three months, and lie ahviys wrote once a week. The panic sad little story that one hears so often: the weariness of watching and waiting for the "Missing/' She I olieves, though, that some day she will hear again. She smiles and works. She is full of indomitable courage—the Khaki Girl. 1 am very fond of her.

In some ways she is worldly-wise as a grandmother; in others as childish as :i little girl in a nursery. She has a saucy tongue mid a ready wit, and is prompt with a "return answer." She is emotional, and her heart :'<; full or sympathy. There is no balance in hecharacter. She lacks stea ifastness. "Gay" is the word which best describes her. She is extraordinarily gay. She is never too tired t.i laugh, to singshe is always singing—to pe.t a mate with orange peel. She keeps '' going though the black tr.igs round her cy?s show that she is v»-:y i'red. ■ When I no loi ger work lieside her I shall miss her. Someone who has crept into my heart wiil ;ir.ss out of my life. She is such a very human thing—tin Khaki Girl.