The age-herald., 1898-05-25
WOMEN IN
 WARRIOR GUISE


 mean a prompting to serve high moral pur 1 poses rather than a preference for pugilis-
 tic encounters The valorous inclination of
 women-whieh proverbially fails them at
 sight of a mouse-is usually of a shifting
 sort that admits of the adjustment of
 shoulder straps on the person of manly
 substitute. Clearly. the amazonian spirit
 is confined to few localities on the globe. and it is probable that generally when wo-
 men have acted as warriors it has been
 through forced circumstances of birth and
 education. instead of an overwhelming ann 1 bition to fight.
 1 Not that women are lacking in principles of patriotism or loyalty to home and na- tive land. but simply in the ordinary run of events their round of duties has been pre- scribed in other fields than those of Mars. If ever they enter the bloody scenes of battle 1t is as minstering angels of com- fort and mercy, and in this capacity wo-
 manly heroism has been well proved. Miriam, the Bible heroine of war, was | first introduced as a girl of B years. keep ing watch over the frail basket among the | flags of the Nile in which her brother Moses lay concealed. Later she became 1 Jolll iSdueT NltH n1OStS anu AtilOn, dtcOiu- ing to the Prophet Micah. and celebrated the passage of the children of Israel through the Red sea with music and danc- | ing. This was in answer to the singing by Moses of his gerat Song" the earliest re- | corded poetry in the world. Scripture re- lates that Miriam, the prophecies, the sister of Aaron, took a timbrel in her hand, and all the women went out after her with timbrels and dances. And Miriam
 swered them, Sing ye to the Lord, for He hath triumphed gloriously; the horse and his rider hath He thrown into the sea- |"
 But Miriam was smitten by leprosy. and, except the record that the people testified their reverence and affection for her by re- maining in camp until sh was healed there is no further mention of her until the &C., count of her death, which occurred nineteen years later.
 Cornela, the mother of the Gracchi. who died about 230 years before Christ, is an example of how womanlyl nature may be imbued with the heroic ambitious spirit of the age. Her teachings spurred her sons on in their public career, her un- daunted courage prevailed against the weak | tendencies of her children To her honor her sons were associated with the popular | cause, yet their revolutionary measures led to their violent death. The story of Co., riolanus displays like instance of the dom ination of brave, womany influence over a sons weaker nature.
 | name that is burnt into the scroll of | history by acts of military prowess and by the martyr-pile of a May day in 1431 is that of Joan of Arc, who through actually raising the siege of a city of that name, ac- quired the title of the Maid of Orleans. In
 Joan of Arc were combined the rare ele- | ments of personal beauty, purity of char
 acter, strength of resolve and martial pro- pensitieS Her career was partly inspired | by a religious enthusiasm, but her power as commandant and the great influence | she exerted oyer others were elements in the fame that has preserved her memory | in lasting story. | Another religious devotee was Charlotte | Corday, who, breeding over the history of | Judith, went forth to free her people from | the tyranny of Marat who, being mortified | at his threat that the Girondists should per- | ish by the guillotine, plunged a knife into | his heart Her belief was that this single | deed warded off civil war, and one of her | dying declarations was: "A gerat criminal has been laid low. The happiness of my country makes mine" This was the | eighteenth century heroine to whom it was proposed to raise statute with the inscrip- | ton, "Greater than Brutus"
 | Modern America has not been without it's quota of women of warlike propensities, | and Molly Pitcher, of revolutionary days, | and the two Yankee girls who, seizing fife and drum, made music. from hidden point on shore that drove away boat load of English from a supposed approaching army, are noble reminders of what women how h haI nf ha republic.
 | So far the strategic powers of women | have been hardly touched upon. The ad- venturous journey of the daring wives of Weinsberg has been chosen to fitly repre- sent that quality of womanly character We are indebted to the rich folk lore of | Suabia and the war chronicles of Caesar l for the relation of an act of mingled wife | ly devotion and courageous onslaught The | ruins of an old castle at Weinsberg, thirty miles from Stuttgart are fraught with an almost romantic interest because of what l is chronicled as the procession of tho | ''Welbertrue." It grew out. of the strife | between the Hohenstaufens and Welfs. In | 1139 Conrad appeared before the castle and | a struggle ensued in which elf fell wound | ed and surrender was imminent. With out grace or mercy was the edict of the l emperor, and both town and castle were | included in his fiat. Then the high-born
 
 | decided to try the power of personal ap- peal for their own safety, and also that in | their escape they might be allowed to carry l with them 'their most precious posses l sions." The emperor was kindly disposed l upon the appearance of the women and granted them permission to leave the be- | seged town and to take with them all they could carry upon their shoulders. Doubt | less he pictured them as a retreating foe
 bearing away loads of clothing, jewels and 1 silver.
 When in the early morning the gates were l opened and the army of Conrad drawn up in | file, attended by Duke Frederic, the em- peror's brother, they beheld the band of women marching single file, led by the | stately duchess of the castle, Uta, with the | wounded Duke Welf upon her backi Each | of the women was similarly burdened with | the husband of her heart "carried upon | her shoulders" Consternation filled the
 mind of Duke Frederic. and, turning angrily to the emperor. he declared that this was l not the nature of the compact. But, | whether in adherence to the belief that a l kings word was not to be broken, or in con-