To-day there are 64 hostels and 30 bungalows at Gretna, and Miss Cotterell has an army of assistants, clerks, matrons, and factory supervisors. The former wilderness is now inhabited by a well-housed community, organised in all details with a thoroughness and practical care which speak volumes for the genius of its moving spirit.
When the workers came to inhabit the convenient and attractive homes prepared for them, they found that equally enlightened plans had been formulated for their welfare. Miss Cotterell has kept careful watch of the leisure hours of those under her charge, and she has seen that every opportunity for rest, recreation, and improvement is open to them, and facilities for reading, writing, playing games, and attending classes. Periodic entertainments are given—sometimes by the “Gretna Ramblers,” a troupe of munition girls who have been trained in singing, dancing, and recitation.
The added responsibility of having the girls entirely resident, as at Gretna, entails serious problems. The whole work of catering, and the domestic arrangements of the hostels fall on the Welfare Department. Another of its duties is to file the record of every girl in the factory; and the procedure for discharges, leave of absence, transfers, or sick leave, all passes through this Department—a considerable task when, at the rate at which the factory is increasing, as many as 200 new girls arrive in one day. Inevitably, difficulties of administration are not unknown, even in a model community. There has been occasional shortage of furniture, dampness of new houses, or girl workers unaccustomed to discipline who decline to obey orders. But difficulties seem to vanish under Miss Cotterell’s experienced touch. Her wise administration is already responsible for a marked improvement, not only in health and physique, which good food, clean housing, and regular employment have brought to the workers. Her influence is also noticeable in a greater regard for truth, honesty, and duty.
This outcome of women’s munition work will mean much in the future developments of their industrial life. Women like Miss Barker and Miss Cotterell, in attempting a great achievement, have accomplished an immeasurable one.
IV
MISS C. E. MATHESON AND THE VILLAGE LAND WORKERS
Early in 1915, when recruiting for the Army was beginning to draw men away from agriculture as from all other work, a first effort was made to substitute women for men on the land. Although she knew nothing of agriculture, or the management of live stock, and was unaccustomed to hard manual work, Miss Matheson determined to offer herself as one of the pioneers. Before the war she was known in a very different sphere, for as a promising authoress of the younger school she had already attracted wide popularity. On volunteering, Miss Matheson was sent for a four weeks’ agricultural training course to a Farm Institute to learn to milk; to make butter; to harness and drive a team; to clean, dress, and prepare land; to plant and hoe; to clean stables and cow-houses; to feed cattle; to disregard backaches, weariness and blistered hands; and to live a new, hard life.
MISS C. E. MATHESON AT THE PRINCE OF WALES’ STOCK FARM IN CORNWALL
Wynferd Swinburne