The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-01-17

of smart women and others too. to
 join the women's voluntary reserve
 corps. of which Lady Castlerea gin. tine
 future Marchioness of Londonderry, is
 colonel in chief. All afe frignlfully
 earnest and sensible and, of course competent. The various sections jn- clude motorcyclists. aviators, riders etc, and they have to know how to shoot and use tine bayonet Heaps of women who have found themselves su- perfluous as nurses are now jolning this corps; it furnishes such splendid possibilities of usefulness. I was watch ing some members of it practicing shooting the other day and their aims were positively as unerring as that of a machine gun. To give honor where it is due 1t was Lady Cook who was the first to suggest the notion of this
 reserve corps. Well, you can never beat Americans for ideas!
 Everybody is crazy to wear uni form and the get-up of these reservists is the last word in dandiness and chic though. naturally, it is workmanlilSe. too. Lady Castlereagh. who Is one of the handsomest of our peeresses, is in | the cavalry section. I hear several i'm I rortant American women at this side are also joining.
 Really all the fun Is at the military | hospitals these times where society NOintu tltHeF as nurses or clNlIanS, l rlay all sorts of pranlxs when the wounded are better. There are games of blind mans bluff hunt the slipper, charades and what-not in the wards. Just before Christmas the Queen walked in to pay one of her uneX- pected visits at one of the private mil htary hospitals and when she popped ] in without being announced into tie convalescent ward there was well known grande dame, who is a grand 1 mother, playing blind mans buff, she 1 having a handk erchief tied over her eyes while suoalterns among others chased her. Of course, even the Queen shw it was only innocent fun and | laughed heartily. though grand l'mamma" was frightfully concerned. Men in London who cannot for one req son or another go to the front, say they | are having the time of their lives. They | gre never at home to any meals, being in | undated with invitations which points to | the fact that when the time comes men
 will be really in greater power than ever. They themselves foresee this and they. | humanly enough. gloat over it, and say their day Is coming more markedly than ever before. . l I met Earl and Countess Russell at one of the artistic Bohemian clubs the other
 night. It seems each was the guest Of
 a different hostess. I caught him giving l d charms of the countess Perhaps, like 50
 many rampaging pairs burning to free 1 themselves from matrimonial harness,
 they will one of these days make it up and be friends. Tt is a very bad wind,
 that and certainly the war has been responsible for scores and scores of
 matrimonial differences being beautifully patched up By the way. Molly" the | countess, did very clever thing the night she and her earl were at the same club in
 Russell square, by tripping quite grace fully as she was coming downstairs. and Lord Russell being behind her had noth- ing to do but put out his arm to attempt to save her. He was. however. forestalled l by the lady's host, which was a pity
 Some men have no tact. which seems not
 to matter in the last, as there are always I plenty of women at their beck and call A very pretty and quite young American girl Is, much to the amusement of her l friends making a dead set for the ma- ! ture earl, but really it strikes me forci-
 bly, from all saw that night that he prefers his Molly
 When the ministers went away for their holidays the majority of them told their friends they were not going to play golf or billiards or anything else, but intended to go to their beds and sleep This is not surprising. poor dear men, for they have had a wakeful time in earnest Some of them. however, require an ab-
 normal amount of rest, notably MT. As- quith. who never breakfasts before mid day. Another man very fond of a sleep in the morning is MT. Balfour. who how
 ever. will sometimes jump up and in a dressing gown, at an unearthly early hour.
 play the magnificent organ he had built
 at his Scotch seat some years ago. He
 nevertheless takes care to go hack to
 sleep again. I'll never forget when a
 niece of his was being married how anx-
 iously the bride looked as she awaited
 his arrival. he being deputed to give her
 away. as her father was dead. When he
 can. Winston Churchill takes a rest in
 the morning. but if occasion demands he
 is the first up in his own or anybody
 else's house and he has a great contcmp;
 for people who want to be called. The
 man who can do with the least sleep ia
 Lord Kitchener. who never uses any but
 n little camp bed as hard as that of any
 soldier at the front, and he follows the military custom of having his kit always packed SO as if needs be he can start for
 anywhere at a moments notice.