Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1914-12-29
Misesllaaeuas Readins.
WOMEN WARRIORS
They Have Figured Extensively In
Military History.

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heart Of every woman Is romance
with its master chord love, there have
been through the ages other passions
which have exercised quite as obses-
sing a control, and another example
of the strength and depth that pa
triotism can go in feminine hearts
| is that Of the misguided but perfect
ly sincere Lady Cook Of London. who
at the start of the war, launched a
campaign to raise an army Of English
women who would be ready to fight
and die for their country.
| To be sure her attempt was most
vigorously and emphatically discour-
aged. She found few ready to back
her project. despite the fact that she
echoed the urgings Of the great and
wise Plato of 1000 years ago who
declared that all women should be
trained in warlike exercise the same
as men. To prove her point she drew
also for illustration from the story
Of the long past, not realizing, how
ever, that while women have fought
and fought bravely at many periods
of history 1t has never been except
when dire necessity forced them to
the sword. The many examples Of
feminine daring which she cited were
all the result of desperate emer-
gencies, when all the men Of the land
had been called forth, and the wo-
men were actually needed to pre-
serve the nations from humiliation.
The average woman, however, not be-
/ ing militant, English women even not
excepted, Lady Cooks project fell on
unfertile ground and received only
the natural ridicule any sane-minded
individual might have predicted for
1t. And the public as a whole re-
mained quite unmoved despite the
many examples Of feminine bravery
which she cited from times so far
past as to be more than buried in
mythological shadows as well as
from periods Of history much nearer
and closer to our own, time, the pres
ent century.
| Joan Of Arc, Of course, Is the best
known Of all the women warriors.
Hers is the name that comes to ev-
eryone's mind when the subject Of
woman bearing arms Is mentioned.
| But there are many others. The past
is filled with their names. Long be-
fore history began to write itself for
generations to remember there have
been women who have held the sword
and plunged madly, desperately, into
battle.
One Of the oldest Of existing tradi-
tions is a Chinese one. Once upon
time, so the story runs. the Chinese
women, discontented with the unequal
share accorded to them in the govern
ment, rose in rebellion. The revolt
came so near to being a revolution
that the emperor and his ministers.
frightened at the display Of power on
the part Of the women and the feroci-
GUS strength which they manifested,
decided to prevent q recurrence of
the danger and decreed that hence
forth the feet Of the girls throughout
| China should be bandaged in such
way as to put 1t out Of their power
ever again to take the field as war
riors
None Of the ancients, In fact, with
the possible exception Of the Romans,
who never were inclined to swell
their ranks with feminine recruits,
seemed at all averse to the women
exchanging at times the spindle and
the distaff for the spear and shield,
Not only did they believe that their
goddess took part even in the bat
ties of the mortals. but the supreme
direction Of the military affairs was
generally assigned to female as god
dess Of war. They seem in spirit
somehow to have antedated Kipling
by 5000 years or more in believing
that the female Of the species Is
more deadly than the male"
| AS for the original Amazons, the
very fact Of their existence Is now
la much-doubted thing. Modern writ
ers have consigned their existence to
the ash heap Of fiction along with
King Arthur, Hengist and Horsa, and
a hundred others. One reason that
has been attributed by legend for
their numbers falling off and their
race finally dying was that no wo-
man was permitted to marry until
she had killed from one to three men,
and therefore 1t frequently happened
that too many women died single at
an advanced age.
Semiramis is probably the earliest
and first authentic female warrior.
To be sure. her existence has been
credited to anywhere between 2177
and 713 B. c., according to the un-
derstanding Of various historians, but
the inability to decide on the dates
of her birth and death seem in no
way to have interfered with the ex-
citing events of her life. From the
records she appears to have been as
beautiful as she was clever and brave,
and after having ensconsced herself
in the affections Of the king Of Assyria
and became his queen, she persuaded
him to grant her the privilege Of do
ing whatever she wanted for five
whole days. On receiving his prom
ise she threw her royal spouse into
prison. ordered his execution and
reigned supreme thereafter for AZ
years. Year after year she is said to
have led her country into victorious
battle. Her last war was with India,
and she has the reputation Of being
the only sovereign Of the ancients ex-
cept Alexander the Great who ever
carried conquest beyond the Indus.
So much for the first Of the women
| warriors.
AS we come down through the CEN
turies we find no diminishing Of the
number Of feminine braves. The mill
tant spirit seems no less prevalent
in those days than in ours. but rath-
er more strongly developed. There
was the wife Of Mithridates the Great.
a king and warrior who was one Of
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