Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1914-12-29

proved that despite the magnitude
of her feminine wiles, the capacit!
for physical bravery was quite a,
great.
Another female sovereign of a diff
ferent type was Boadicea. the British
warrior queen as she has been called
Her career was a sad and gloomy one
from first to last, and her brave at.
tempt to defy the powers Of Rome
on the field Of battle resulted in utter
disaster. The final great battle ir
which more than 10000 women were
enlisted under her banners. was Ions
and desperately contested.
Before the battle Boadicea, with
wind, rode up and down In her char
riot. exhorting the men and women
warriors to avenge her wrongs and
those Of her country. Suetonious, the
Roman commander. on his side, used
all his power to excite the Romans
and In the end the steady order Of the
iron legions triumphed over the saw
age onslaught of the Britons. Some
80, 900 Britons were left on the field
and Boadicea, rather than let herself
be captured and brought before the
Romans, who had treated her sc
shamefully in the past, resorted to
death by poison.
The history Of the Arabs, the Per.
slams and the Orientals is no less filled
with examples Of women and war
Indeed, 1t Is claimed by travellers as
late as this last century that it Is GUS
tomary among the Bedouin Arabs
when they go into battle to have their
army preceded by maiden Of good
family, who rides on q camel into the
midst of the fight and encourages
the men to fight bravely by singing
and reciting to them.
Europe, after the downfall Of the
Roman empire, bears somewhat of 9
resemblance to Greece during the he.
roic age when might constituted right
and rulers, men and women, which
ever they happened to be, led their
own armies into the field, and the
lead was always given to the strongest
and the most daring.
There was Bohemian queen who
enrolled the greater number Of her
female subjects into species Of mill
tia and trained them to ride on horse
back. too. Poland also boasts Wan
da. first queen regent Of Poland, in
the year 700, who never married, in
sisting that she could rule the better
without a husband, and who proved
this by leading her country's troops
in victorious battles.
Later. at the time Of the Crusades
Europe went wild with blind i'm
pulse to take up arms against the in
fdel, and nation after nation pro-
ceeded to battle. There were women
too, who took part. Women
"Of Normandy, Of Denmark, Of Nor
way. Of Bretagne,
OF Wales and Of Ireland, Of Glascony
Of Spain,
OF Providence, Of Saxony, and Of Allie
mayne,
OF Scotland and Greece. Of Rome
and Aquataine."
Joan Of Arc of France, is without
doubt the best known Of the women
warriors. A young girl Of peasant
birth, she left home and family to
follow her mission and what she be-
lieved to be her divine appointment.
Brightly, serenely, with the faith In
her heart that sometimes seems capa.
BILE Of moving mountains, she com.
manded the famous sortie for the re.
lief Of Orleans and from her phenom-
email success in respiriting the French
soldiers and leading them to victory
she was termed the "heaven-sen
maid" In victories after that she
showed her wonderful bravery. The
story Of her eventual loss of prestige
through the victories Of the English
against whom she was fighting, heI
betrayal into the hands Of the English
and her subsequent martyrdom are
too we'll known to be more than brief.
ly touched. There have been others
who possessed the same valor, but
none who outdistanced her. And she
was peculiarly without any Of the
feminine cruelty that sometimes has
accompanied the most warlike Of his.
torical women.
The Hindus Of modern times claim
a Joan Of Arc Of their own. queen
the Rance Lakshmi Bal Of Jhansi
who in 1857 Joined the revolutionary
against the English. She defeated
General Rose by almost superhumanly
fierce fighting on several occasions
but met her Waterloo finally at Cav
alier. When the English finally en-.
tered the fort the rance was still
fighting. moving down her enemies
with her terrible sword. Her sister
who was fighting by her side, fell
some time before the rance.
At last, however, the mass Of her
enemies pressed too close upon her
Their numbers overpowered her. An
English soldier crept up from behind
and struck her but still she fought
with maniacal fury. Another soldier
struck her In the back and she fell
another Joan Of Arc fighting for her
country's freedom.
Bringing instances down to our
times. the Servian women In the Bal
kan states have given repeated In.
stances of desperate. determined
fighting. Not only have they defend.
ed their own homes and firesides. but
they have gone out into actual bat
tie and fought with fercest spirit
beside their husbands, sons and
brothers.
Perhaps it is their example more
than that Of the long ago British
Boadicea which is enticing Lady Cook
to her militant scheme. Women OF
history have not fought except where
it was vitality. urgently necessary.
and the exigencies of the modern
| European war do not appear suf-
ficiently great to call forth from the
| women any such drastic measures
Chicago Tribune.