Ottumwa semi-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1899-1903, 1899-11-23

HNE of the bitter ironies of war is
the fact that while one body of
men are busy raising funds for the
destruction of their fellow beings an
other body is quite as busy raising
money for means of alternating the
distress and suffering which their next
door neighbor is working so hard to
bring about. So while the British par
Lament is voting war funds the Royal
Red Cross society is sending out nurses
and medicines and comforts for the sick
and wounded on the battlefields of
South Africa. The head of the nursing
staff during the Transvaal war is Miss
L. Hardement, who is already at the
front as the representative of the Red
Cross. The queen of England is ac-
lively interested in the work of this
great organization of mercy, and duly
decorates each nurse who distinguishes
herself on the field with badge. The
highest decoration conferred by the
queen on army nurses Is known as the
Royal Red Cross" a general idea of
which may be obtained from the accom-
panying illustration.
How many Florence Nightingales will
England's war with the Beers develop?
The need for assistance in he Trans
Vaal is very great. American women
| in London are taking SO great an in
terest in the war that, under the leader
ship of Lady Randolph Churchill, they
are trying to raise fund to equip a
hospital ship. The sum of 100000, or
about 100000, is to be raised in very
short time. The committee in charge
| of the fund gathering consists of we'll
known American women, nearly all
wives or widows of prominent English
men. The chairman is Lady Randolph
Churchill; honorary secretary, Mrs.
Blow; honorary treasurer, Mrs. Fanny
Ronalds, with the Duchess of Marl-
borough, Countess of Essex, Mrs.
Bradley Martin, Mrs. Joseph Chamber
lain and Mrs. Arthur Paget all interest
ed in the collecting of pounds, shillings
and pence for the sufferers abroad
Florence Nightingale, lying in her
darkened room in London, can give lit
tie assistance in this war. There are,
however, many to take her place. In
every struggle since the Crimean some
English woman has achieved renown.
Mrs. Dacre Craven, who Won her spurs
as a volunteer in the Franco Prussian
war while little more than student,
was known as Sister Florence and
| did noble work for her country in its
various wars. She has received the
decorations of the empress of Germany,
the war medal and the iron cross, the
queens jubilee medal, the diamond
jubilee clasp and the cross of st. John
in Jerusalem and many other orders.
Mrs. George King, better known as
Sister Janet, is another famous Eng
| fish nurse. She served in the Russo
Turkish war and in the Zulu war. She
lives now in a charming country house
at Finchley, although the need for Red
| Cross, nurses may soon send her once
more to the front. The work of the
Red Cross nurses in South Africa in
1879 was most difficult; they had to
,contend with lack of supplies and q
tropical climate that at last brought
seven most of the nurses to deaths door
Sister Janet was one of the compare
1 lively few well members of the band
4 and was compelled to attend to her
nurses as well as to the sick and
wounded of the army. Sister Janet in
that war became known as THE Min
istering Angel of the Veldts.'
Even the Zulus respected this brave