The Winslow mail., 1915-02-06

-
of the Boy Scouts is now generally
| recognized.
had an interview with Capt. Adair,
Roberts, the woman drill officer i IN ~ aaxx axxg
! We are following the regular army,
rules throughout" She. said mo eon--
missions are granted except forsIneris.
When women are adjudged co1petefH
to teach the drill the regular army
officers drop out in theiE favor r.
"The reserve is strictly nonpartisan
| and nonsectarian. No women OF
wealth are permitted to buy commits
sions, although there have been many
attempts of this sort.
II can show you a titled woman and
one of her servants drilling here side:
by side. This is not an isolated in
stance either, there are several such. >"
AT first the fear was expressed that
If woman were taught the use of
rifle, the Germans would charge snip
ing" and ferocious reprisals would be
the result, but now it is realized that
the organizing of the women will pre-
vent, instead Of encourage, foolish in
dividual action, such as is certain to.
take place in moments of great dan
ger among an unorganized populace.
The helpless rabble of Belgium, wom-
en- and children refugees fleeing they
knew not whittier, will not be repeat
ed in Great Britain f
| No woman is permitted to enter the
| reserve without careful physical ex
animation. Woman doctors from the
city hospitals see to this in their hour
off The women of the reserve must
be over eighteen and under forty
! years of age. +r
Special attention has been paid to
signaling practice, as this is an i'm
portant branch of warfare in which it
is unanimously agreed that the female
sex may be. of service. There are
many professional woman telegraph
| ers in the reserve. instruction is
| given in Morse and semaphore signal
ing by flags and also by sound.
Other branches of instruction in
clude open air cooking, dispatch rid
ing, carpentering. fencing an Swed-
| ish drills
The movement is spreading all
over the islands, rapidly overcoming
the Indifference which it generally
met at first. A vivid description of
the condition of women in the war di3-
tricts of Belgium and France and an
explanation of how their sufferings
might have been mitigated by proper
| preparation and organization is usual
ly sufficient to convert every doubt
! ing Thomas"
Suffragettes in 1t,
| Branches are especially active in
centers where there is large popula-
| tion of working girls. OF course,
there is a large portion of the militant
! suffragettes The latter have trans
| ferred their energy In this direction
The suffragettes believe they can, by
of Britain, present an unanswerable
argument for the ballot.
The sight of women drilling may be
! seen at many big halls in London
| The majority of the women are
clothed in khaki Their suits consist
of skirt, coat, brown shoes. spats, put
tees and hats. The cost of this uni
! form is $1250 Most of the women
buy their own suits. The reserve is
so far entirely self-supporting.
The government has not as yet
given permission to the women to
carry rifles. The women do not antici-
pate trouble in this direction, how
ever. They say they hope the neces-
sity for their shouldering the musket
will never come, but if it does they
will be allowed to take their places on
the firing line just as wives and
sweethearts of British colonists in
many quarters of the earth have
stood behind the stockade and fired
with their men folk against the at
tacks of savages.
As a result of this movement a Ger,
man invasion will find ready at hand
an organization of women who will
keep their heads and who will have
good health and calm nerves. These
women will have learned the value OF
organization, selfdependence, com
radeship and self-control. They will
cooperate with the military and civil
authorities. They will direct the
flight of women and children from the
scene of fighting and so take this bur
den off the government
1t is hoped that after the war the
Women's Volunteer reserve will be
} come great recreation club With
this end in view a wealthy woman ha:
; offered large tract of land f.r {. per
, manent camp and it is believed othe,
gifts of this character will he made