Kansas City journal. [volume] (Kansas City, Mo.) 1897-1928, 1898-04-03
WORK FOR WOMEN In war.
THERE APPEARS To BE MANY
THINGS THAT THEY CAN DO.
Plain Looking Women Are Preferred
az Nurses: Keen Witted Ones Are
Required as Spies-Instnnces
of Womcn's Work.

The president and secretary of war are
receiving letters from patriotic women
all over the country anxious to be muster
ed into service in case there should be an
| outbreak of war with Spain. says the New
York Herald. A letter received at the
White House, and addressed president
Mckinley. Washington, D.. c." reads:
II write skiing if l would be of any use
to you in this Cuba trouble. l am only a
woman. buS l can nurse the sick and
wounded. I only wish L were a man. l
would go and volunteer to take one of our
unfortunate ones place who went down
with the Maine. If you need women to
nurse. or in any way can be OF service
TO you for my country's sake. please let
me know. ! am strong. weigh lJo pounos'
height five feet five and one-half inches.
| age q years, and a good nurse. Hoping 70
be of service to my, God and country l
am at your command
Another says: Il was one of the first
nurses during the war OF the
| rebellion; experienced on transports and in
hospitals. If there is another war l am
ready"
A Canadian woman. who says her broth
er fought for our flag in the late war.
offer her services, and adds in her letter to
the president: Failing the position, or
nurse. / shall be glad to give my services
In any other capacity where L may be or
use"
From away down in Colorado another
woman, who addresses her letter War De-
partment,' offers her services in these
words: Should there be a war between
the United States and Spain. would there
be any show for US TO get transportation:
We are nurses. and strong. healthy women.
There are two of us. aged 80 years.
These are several examples OF the cor
respordence being received from American
women.
In the event of an outbreak with Spain
positions in the army will be open TO
MANY women, the number of course de-
pending upon the extent of the struggle
During the late war hundreds of women
served in many capacities with RELATION 10
the army, most of them nurses: some as
spies and others as purveyors. lauhdress-
es. etc.
pitaI CORPS of the army would nave to
employ a great number OF women nurses:
Secretary Alger would probably appoint
an experienced woman as superlntendent
civil war. Secretary of War Cameron ap-
pointed Miss Dorothea Dix for this duty.
She offered her services without compene
found upon every battle field from Bull
Run to Appomattox. They were in every
While the typical army nurse is always
described by the idealist as a youthful:
tender angel of mercy" with a beautiful
face. it is interesting to know that gener-
aged ard homelv women for such service.
A circular distributed by the superintend-
ent of nurses in 1861 read:
NO woman under 30 need apply. All
nurses are required to be very plain look
ing women. Their dresses must be either
bro wn or black. with no bows. no curls or
jeweIry and no hoop skirts
The nay given to nurses in the late war
was S12 IA month, but it is said that hun
ton. without waiting to be formally must
cred in, served without pay or hope Of re,
ward. She who is now volunteering to aid
in IL conflict with Spain is not the new
woman" but the same patriotic creature
who offered herself to her flag in 1861;
General Sherman called Mother Bicker,
JF.- - 81 7 Iraf 1I rtr If H. iyN
war. one of his best generals"
The woman who could be the most con-
spicuous of her sex in the great war be-
tween the United States and Spain Is Miss
Clara Barton. president of the American
Red Cross. who is now caring for the
starving Cubans.
ans most valuable military service will be
done at home. As soon as the first gun
of the civil war was fired. woman's work
for both the Union and Confederate causes
began in earnest. Within a month after
President Lincoln called for the first army
OF 1900 volunteers, an association of New
York women had chosen from hundreds
of candidates 100 competent nurses to be
trained by the physicians and surgeons OF
this city. At the same time, women
aid societies. sewing circles. fairs and en-
t~ertainments of various sorts for the pur-
pose of furnishing the brave boys both
necessities and delicacies. Trains running
into Washington were weighted down with
a tremendous accumulation of freight for
ms purpose lis distributor was HHdlly
turned over to the sanitary commission.
which co-operated during the war with
women's clubs and societies throughout the
entire North. after each battle agents
distributed the supplies as received.
Statistics show that during the late war
the women's organizations raised altogeth-
er fifty millions of dollars among them
societies in the Northerns states. the amount
just appropriated by congress to put the
nation upon an effective defensive footing.
The little girls of the North. by their
miniature fairs and handwork, contribut-
ed 800, 600.
Women might serve this government IS
| spies in a great war. That a woman can
not keep a secret herself or let any one
else keep one is not born out by certain
secret archives kept in a large ireproof
safe in the war department. One of the
most active and reliable Union spies in the
late war was a woman, who worked Sue
cessfully for a long period. Eventually.
however. she was caught by the enemy
and hanged to a tree. Martial law. which
states that 1.-The spy is punishable by
death by hanging by the neck" has no
respect for sex.
The story is told Of a Confederate brig
adler general who sent his wife in the
night to one OF our generals with the pro-
posal that he would for 81. oO so place his
force that it might be captured by the
Yankees without any trouble. 1t Is relat-
ed by an officer that the proposal was ac-
cepted and that the Northern troops cap
tured the force as arranged.
THE HANDKERCHIEF We USE.