The times., 1899-05-21
A JEWISH HEROINE.
Her Noble Work nv N Red Cross


Mime. Coralie Cahen, the French nurse
of the Red Cross. whose character and
works are known all over France and Ger
many, was noble Jewess of the middle
class. She was born in Paris in 1888.
Her early life was spent in the quiet
thoughts and duties OF Jewish freside.
surrounded by family of loving children.
Ju,' before the outbreak of the Franco
Prussian war she lost her husband and her
eldest son. In the height of her affleiion
she determined to give the remainder of
her life to healing the sick. Of whatever
creed or condition Shs entered as a Red
Cross nurse and followed the French army
all through those terrible campaigns. At
Metz, at the beginning CT the hostilties,
she nursed more than 800 soldiers. Con-
tinuiDg her work when that fortress fe.l,
she settled at Vendcme, where. aided by
two nurses and seven Christian sisters OF
mercy, she relieved thousands OF French
and German soldiers.
When th= Prussians occupied Vendome
they wished to hold the hospital and plat
on it the German flag But. wa. ned of
the enemys intention, Nine CShen, early
general. who, surrounded by his staif, was
about to seize the building Sir, she ex7
claimed, I'VE have received your woun -ei
and nursed them as though they were our
own; We will continue to do so, but we
will remain in a French ambulance; we
will not have 1t converted into a German
ambulance Madame" was the reply,
I'VE are masters" In the town il may
be; here, no,'' was the answer. I'VE are
l a ID -.
flag. You have no right TO touch eitner
the one or the other"
She conquered, and from that day the
utmost admiration was openly evinced for
her by the Germans. When, after the sig
nature OF peace, the German medical staff
were about to quit Vendome, the surgeon
in chief asked leave to take public fare
well Of the French woman. Accompanied
by the military doctors placed under his
orders he said: Madame, We cannot leave
France without thanking you. not alone in
the name of the German nation, but in
the name of humanity. We can never for
get that you compelled us TO yield in the
face both of your patriotism and OF your
benevolence."
When the war was over Nine. Cahen con-
tinued her interest in soldiers who were
too i'll to be brought back to France from
the German fortresses. She visited them
all, wherever imprisoned. from the banks
of the Rhine to the Polish frontier, and
personally interceded with Empress Au-
gusta for the immediate relief of some OF
the prisoners. AT the end of 1872, after
visiting sixty-six prisons, she succeeded
in having all sent home. She completed
her work in Germany by arranging in al
phabetical order a list of 80 500 names of
Frenchmen who had passed through Ger
man hospitals and had either left them or
been buried.
AT her funeral in Paris, on March 12 her
hearse was surrounded by detachment of
French military. She had the cross OF the
Legion OF Honor and the Red Cross of the
Geneva Convention from the Empress OF
Germany, but dearer to her would have
been the homage OF those who. at the last
rites at her grave, when a wondering null
titude stood around. performed the duties
of chief mourners. Five hundred children
frcm her refuge at Nuelly followed her
form TO the resting place they were always
TO hold in honor. Through her many thou
sands OF Paris street gamins found homes
and a future.