Advertising for a Soldier’s Kit in a newspaper published on 11 November 1918.
The people of New Hampshire have had their own vocabulary from the get-go. From drinking at a ‘bubbler,’ to catching ‘hornpout,’ there is often at least one word that sticks out in conversation as strange to out-of-staters. During World War I while most of the country created “soldier’s kits,” the women’s groups of New Hampshire made “comfort kits.”
In my research on the soldiers and nurses of this war, I came across these terms fairly often: soldier’s kit or soldier’s kit sack. But only in a few places, besides New Hampshire did I see the same package regularly called “comfort kits.” (Newcastle PA, Hagerstown MD, Yuma AZ, and several places in IN are a few of the other exceptions). Continue reading
