Richland Girls Out-Fundraise the Adults for the War Effort
A troupe of vaudeville performers helps local schoolgirls stage a military drill, proving that the youth are more effective at raising money than their parents.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
Through the kindness of the director of the International Vaudeville Co., who has been putting on performances in Richland for the past week, one half of the proceeds of the show on Wednesday evening was turned over to the Red Cross fund. In addition to this, members of the troupe trained seven of Richland’s most popular girls in a military drill which proved most beautiful and was highly appreciated by the audience. The girls who so ably took part in this feature of the program were Misses Velma Wheeler, Eva and Gladys Chellis, Hazel Williamson, Anna Eggers, Lola Reeder, and Marjorie Caldwell. The character of the Goddess of Liberty was very ably delineated by Miss Anna Eggers. The young girls of Richland are rather “putting it over” on the married women when it comes to raising Red Cross funds and it is up to the older folks to get busy or the entire fund will soon be the proceeds of the work of the younger set. They cleared $68 at the ice cream booth on the Fourth.
“The young girls of Richland are rather 'putting it over' on the married women when it comes to raising Red Cross funds.”
This reflects the massive social mobilization required during the First World War. It is interesting to see how the 'younger set' outperformed established civic groups in raising funds, a dynamic that often repeats in local grassroots organizing.
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