Children for Future Generations or More Soldiers?

During World War II, children and women got evacuated worldwide. Most people were busy focusing on the war efforts and total war, but others worried about the children and women who did not help during battle. The question I am focusing on is, during such a drastic battle time, was it the right choice to use men as evacuates for the children, or should the men have been out at battle serving their country like the other soldiers? If the children stayed in the war zones, many would have died and therefore the future generations might have been delayed or very scarce. The few men that served as evacuates were worth the lives of the many children that were saved.

Evacuations were not only unsafe for the men who evacuated the children and women, they were dangerous for the children especially. Host families on the countryside who took in the children during these times of evacuation did not take as well of care to the children as their parents did. They returned back home much lighter and shorter than the other children who did not get evacuated. Body infections were also very common, this was all a cause of lack of nutrition and gave the government incentive to do something when the warfare ended. Some places that children and women got evacuated were underground with hundreds of other people, that was just about as fatal as having them stay at home, but still they did not have the risk of getting bombed or having fatal gases around. Evacuation also was a hard time for the families that the mothers decided to stay at home, the kids became so homesick and their parents missed their children a lot. Most of the evacuations were to keep the children and women safe from Nazi bombings. Propaganda was put up to encourage evacuation, nearly two million children were sent away. Soldiers and war fanatics did not approve of the propaganda being posted about evacuation because they thought it took away from the total war propaganda that they spent so much time on. Before the phony war was when Britain had one of their biggest evacuations and after it was apparent that there would be no bombing going on, all of the children were sent right back to where they just recently left. This made mothers and teachers question how necessary the evacuations were. "I have had few worse hours in my life than those I spent watching the school being taken off in drizzling rain and gathering gloom to those unknown villages, knowing I was powerless to do anything about it."- Dorothy King, Teacher.

There were many bad things about evacuations but in the long run it was done for a good reason, to preserve future generations and keep the children safe and alive. The evacuation in all of Britain's largest and most popular cities was the most effective. If the children were not evacuated during this time thousands of them would have died leaving future generations less populated. Being woken up in the middle of the night is terrifying to adults, young children would be scarred for life if they made it out alive after a bombing. Though the war was heavy, one must always think of the future and how war is impacting it all.

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Alice B Toklas in the Background for so Long

If the name Alice B. Toklas does not ring a bell to you, yet you know who Gertrude Stein is, be ready to learn the other half of Gertrude Stein's life. Alice B. Toklas was Gertrude Stein's partner, and was also a writer and an excellent cook. Alice B. Toklas was in the background of Gertrude Stein's fame in the 1920's, and her work was not noticed until much later after Gertrude Stein died. Why is this you ask? Let's find out.
Before we get into why Alice B. Toklas was in the background for so long or where she was during Gertrude Stein's most famous days, lets get to know a little more about her. She was born in San Francisco and met Gertrude Stein, her partner, in Paris in 1907. They were both born in America but met in Paris. Alice B. Toklas was a chain smoker and had a slight mustache, even though she was the feminine half of the relationship. Alice and Gertrude had a lot of crude nicknames for each other. In 1908, Toklas started typing Stein's manuscripts for her and then by 1909 they were a big part of each others' lives. Alice B. Toklas took over all of Gertrude Stein's housework, especially cooking. Out of everything that Alice did, she was the best at cooking and wrote many cookbooks that I will talk more about later. During most days, Gertrude went to the local cafes and talked about literature with other writers in the area, who were all men. Gertrude Stein came up with the name "The Lost Generation" for the writers she engaged with. She called them that because this time period was between the wars and nobody had the time to appreciate the literature.

During Gertrude Stein's days of fame, Alice B. Toklas was always there but never recognized until later. The reason for this was mainly because she was a feminine woman who wrote very precise, clear, and to the point. On the other hand, Gertrude Stein's style of writing was very confusing and what was expected in that time era. Also, Gertrude was the man of the relationship so she was more accepted into the group of male writers, because there weren't any other female writers who wrote in the style that she did. Alice B. Toklas would sit at their home with other writers' wives like Ernest Hemingway's and all of the others from The Lost Generation. Alice B. Toklas would hangout with them all day, drinking tea and talking about lady stuff while Gertrude Stein was out with the men. Their relationship was not accepted. During their time, gays and lesbians was just not heard of. Two women living in the same house together was not a problem but then becomming married shocked everyone.
After Gertrude Stein died in 1946, Alice B. Toklas became way more known. Her cookbook recipe for cannabis brownies became famous worldwide. She invented the hash butter which is still used to this day, and some people say the word "toke" came from her last name Toklas. The cookbook Alice B. Toklas Cookbook contained many other recipes that were used by many people in Europe and The United States today.