In the 1920s and 30s，the airlines were just beginning．It was unusual for people to travel by air because it was expensive and dangerous．In those days，there were no flight attendants

（服务员） to look after the passengers．Young men，or"stewards"helped the passengers onto the airplane and carried the passengers'luggage（行李）but they did not provide food or drinks．Butthenin1930，awomancalledEllenChurchinventedthe"stewardess"．

Ellen Church was born in 1904on a farm in Iowa．She was a different child．She din't want to work on a farm or marry a farmer-she wanted a more adventurous（冒险的）life．Ellen studied to be a nurse at the University of Minnesota and then got a job in a hospital．For the next few years she stayed at the hospital and at the same time took flying lessons and got her pilot's license．

Ellen was twenty-five years old when she first got in touch with Boeing Air Transport．She loved flying but she understood that airlines were a man's world．Although women like Emelia Earheart were becoming famous，she realized it was impossible for a woman to have a career as a pilot．But she had another idea．Most people were frightened of flying because flying was still an unreliable（不可靠的） way to travel．There were often delays（延误），many crashes and the bad weathers made many passengers sick．Ellen thought nurses could take care of passengers during flights and B．A．T．agreed．

The young woman from Iowa and seven other nurses became the first air stewardesses．

At first，pilots were unhappy because they did not want stewardesses on airplanes，but passengers loved the stewardesses．In 1940there were around 1000of them working for different airlines．The early"stewardesses"had to be under twenty-five-year-old，single and slim．When a woman joined an airline，she had to promise not to get married or have children．It was hard job and not well paid．They worked long hours and earned＄1an hour．

In the 1970s，stewardesses wer