GE six THE MIChICAN DAILY
PIECING LIFE TOGETHER:
War Memories Symbolized
By Skirts Made of Scraps
I
The war left the world with the
task of piecing together the rem-
nants of life-like sewing differ-
ent scraps of cloth on a lining to
make them whole.
In fact a recent visitor here,
Mme. Adrienne M. Boisevain of
Amsterdam, the Netherlands,
started a movement among the
women there to make skirts out of
scraps as a symbol of the united
world to come.
IT ALL STARTED during the
war, Mme. Boisevain said in an
interview, when she was in the
resistance movement.
Her sons were working in the
basement of their home to make
weapons for the Dutch under-
ground.
They repaired small arms that
the Germans had discarded, made
explosives, and devised a way of
connecting a hidden radio to the
telephone so they could listen to
British broadcasts.
THE HOUSE became a head-
quarters for more than 100 mem-
bers of the resistance movement.
A secret bureau was set up on
the second floor to find housing
for Jews who had to disappear
from the German and for Allied
parachutists who landed nearby.
Men often had to be hidden in
small spaces between the ceiling
Books, Music
Available in
CoedLibrary
The League Library provides a
storelouse of good books and also
features fine musical entertain-
ment.
The League Council invites
everyone on campus to attend the
classical record concerts held each
weekend. Programs of coming
concerts are printed in The Daily.
Usually the library's facilities
are open only to women but men
are urged to come to these pro-
grams. Last year similar concerts
were held every Sunday afternoon
on the second floor of the League.
At the beginning of this semester,
houses were canvassed and the re-
sponse and demand for continu-
tion of such programs was strong.
* * *
THE LIBRARY also holds a
first-rate place in study atmos-
phere. It is one of the most im-
pressive rooms in the League; its
carpeted floors, book-lined walls,
picturesque fireplace, and soft,
comfortable chairs are conducive
to a pleasurable mood of concen-
tration.
There are 3500 volumes on the
shelves, specializing in fine col-
lections of fiction, poetry,
drama, biography, and l music.
Also the Michigan League Presi-
dent's Reports and a complete
index of past Ensians are handy.
A librarian is always nearby to
aid League petition writers and
those searching for references.
In addition to latest books the
library also has current subscrip-
tions to many of the most popular
magazines such as the "Atlantic
Monthly," "Good Housekeeping,"
"New Yorker," and the "Saturday
Review of Literature." The Sun-
day edition of the "New York
Times" is available every week.
The library's hours are 1 to 5:30
p.m. and 7 to 10 p.m. on week days.
Saturday it is open from 1 to 5:30
p.m. and on Sunday from 2 to 5
p.m. and 7 to 10 p.m.
and the floor of the room above,
or inside the walls. A dozen or
twenty fugitives might be hidden
at one time. .No one dared sleep
in his bed.
THE BOISEVAINS worked for
three years without being detect-
ed, but finally they were caught
and thrown in prison; the Nazis
made their house a trap for other
members of the underground.
There was only one tiny wom-
en's prison in Holland, Mme.
Boisevain said. She occupied an
8x10-foot cell with six other
women and one bed.
"It is easy to face danger when
you are free," she said. "But hu-
man beings are no longer good
when they are deprived of free-
dom."
IN THE PRISON, the seven
women got on each other's nerves
and quarrelled continually though
they had all been imprisoned for
the same thing.
Finally Mme. Boisevain got a.
package of clean clothes from a
friend. She searched in it for
a message from her sons, whom
she knew were about to be shot.
There wasn't any written mes-
sage, but at the bottom of the
package she found a brightly-col-
ored scarf made from pacthes of
the clothing of many of the people
she had known.
THEY HUNG the scarf upon
the wall. It made a patch of
cheerful color in the lead-grey*
cell.
Each scrap reminded Mme.
Boisevain of stories about the
person who had owned it.
The stories gave them all some-
thing to do, and united them
again in harmony.
AFTER, THREE YEARS in vari-
ous prisons in the Netherlands and
Germany, Mme. Boisevain and
many other political prisoners
were released at the request of
Count Folke Bernadotte, director
of the Swedish Red Cross.
Many had died; many more
perished on the way to safety.
Mme. Boisevain weighed only 60
pounds, and had no hair; her
skin had shrunk and turned a
dark yellowish brown color.
"I another week I would have
been dead too," she said.
* * *
AT THE HOSPITAL in Sweden,
she rapidly recovered her strength,
but there was nothing to do.
Mme. Boisevain remembered
the brightly-colored scraps. She
asked the Swedish women for
any pieces of cloth they didn't
want.
When she began sewing them
together, her hosts told her stories
about the people to whom they
had belonged. She gave the pieces
she sewed together to the Swed-
ish women as presents.
ON THE PLANE home to the
Netherlands, Mrs. Boisevain said,
"I saw that all the world below
me was scraps and remnants, and
I knew I had to put my own life
together again."
Sponged Fabric
Be sure to ask the salesgirl if a
fabric has been sponged. This
process, which shrinks the fabric
before it is cut, is important if the
finished garment is expected to
keep its shape. Some fabrics are
composed of two fibers such as
wool and rayon suiting. Know
what you're getting.
0
* a
I
lookk
lovel
- ~
S V-
~ -
~4
asFr-
S~
IfI
spring r
Itself in
T EXGRON'S
HANDPAINTED WHITE RAYON CREPE BLOUSE
A pure white rayon crepe blouse designed in smooth simplicity
as a foil for a striking, handpainted "Basket of May" design
in natural colors. Sizes 32 to 38.
i
TJ
CRESCENDOE
Exclusively
Jacobson's
ed e
FOUR-GLOVES-IN-ONE
Worn long or short, a twist of the wrist
canges it four different ways and literally
sings of each variation. Pink mist, leather
tailored of double woven cotton.
r +
5.95
sport
shop
N\6bo'
Dress-Matching
RIBBON KNIT
HANDBAG
A study in line, a study in
fabric . . . a bag squared to
a T, and lined in faille.
Black, brown or navy.
12.95
Ph, s lax
$4
_ i
,r" 1
"
'b
t
r
Gals Make T ime in Spare Time,
Put Every Free Minute To Use-
"Got ten minutes to spare?"
"You haven't!" It must be a ver-
bal double-take when a gal doesn't
have ten minutes of a day that she
-an call her own.
LEARNING how to budget time
is the way to have time for that
impromptu coke date with that
dream boy that sits in the next
seat in "psych" lecture.
Just take a look at the clock.
Out of most round-the-clock
periods a sociable coed sleeps
eight hours, spends six hours in
class, and has 10 whole hours to
play around with.
That means a couple of hours
between sun-up and breakfast,
six hours between the last class
and shut-eye time and sixty quick
minutes in the middle of the day
for lunch, a quick hand of bridge,
and prettying up for afternoon
classes.
* * *
AND WHAT happens to that ex-
tra time?
All the old adages, "early to
bed, early to rise," "oh what a
beautiful morning" stuff, add-
.yy
.T . " i.h /
sure sign
- of spring
" ..-all-wool crepe
- JACKET
DRESS
for the
:
a \
, \\\
----.
f
S
S
4
l
.
U t
and toast, to keep you bright-eyed
till lunchtime.
Wouldn't it be easier to eat
breakfast than to spend an hour
each day pining for lunch?
Too tired at the end of a bout
with the decline of the Roman
Empire or just a sit-at-home eve-
ning, to do the usual chores with
cold cream and hairbrush?
BY DOING last things first,
getting showered and into pa-
jamas early in the evening, a gal
feels refreshed and wide-awake
and can keep at her work right
up to shut-eye time.
An alarm clock at the elbow,
with a definite time allotted for
each subject, helps studying. An
hour each on three subjects is
better than an hour and a half
spent puzzling over Chaucer.
Next to dreaming of that date
next Saturday night, a coed's
thoughts should be turned on
thoughts of "What to wear to-
morrow" at bed-time. A skirt that
isn't pressed by 10 p.m. is likely to
be just as wrinkled in the cold
. . ,.. -,,
I
L
Two most talked about fashions
* the belted coat
* the box coat
NOW in one fine,
all-wool
GABARDINE
COAT
junior figure
f-
I'_
22.95
59a95
k_ I ,mo