The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1915-07-20
THE WOMEN OF FRANCE ARE
Modified AND AT THEIR POSTS
The Work Being Done by Them Only Exceeded by That of
The Men in the Trenches-Remarkable Ability
DISPLAYED.

each man. The organization ane the
s~elf-sacrince are alike wonderful
There IS 10 white linen nurse about
Il, no bathing OF feyered hrows. but
tie hardest kind Of work often from
Z = IN. 70 8 =. IN, Nnen the nigh. shift
comes on.
The hospital in which l served was
a puDEc building. Communicated for
the purpose. There was neither heat.
gas nor electricity. There was no.
w@ter only on the second floor. and
ms had 10 be carried up in pals by
me nurses 10 the other floors For
turately for me | was on the third
floor.
This was our routine: When the
arrived after being enrolled
and numbered, each man If he could
walk was taken TO the Mushroom and
bathed. They We're then given clean
paJamas and their clothes were taken
away to be washed and steriliZed and
then taken TO the mendinC room 10 he
put IN order, for it is these same
clothes they are sent back TO the
trencheS. There Is no service too
mental for these women to preform.
and 1t is done as part of a great army
hghung for its national life"
Another woman just arrived from
france says: Nothing can exceed the
icalmness, self-Control me dignity OF
the French people, notably of the
women. They indulge in no express
sions of hate. War is cruel, and they
are braced for it. Sorrow and sacri-
flee are their portion and they accept
1t without a murmur."
The testimony of a couple of Eng
ESh-Women is even more convincing.
Irene Beresford Hope. writing i'll the
Saturday Review, says: War is cruel.
, n French women cxpect
death Tor their men and
suffering for themselves. Yet
} they have no personal bitterness.
They do not Kill the Kaiser with
their mouths. They grasp the logic Of
l war and sacrifice their personal feel
: lngs completely. One thing only
E %arouses the French woman to fury.
= and that is to be deprived of her
right to suffer-"
She illustrates this by the story of a
man who evaded his military duty in
the FrancO-Prussian war. For forty
= years he was shut out from French
concerns: his friends were silent:
patriotism was a subject never intro
duced in his presence. His women
= folk never forgot nor ~forgave. His sor
- is now serving, and his life only viii
eXpiate his fathers crime.
A woman in England found that he
- cook was feeding two brothers. Oh
= inquiry she found that they were re
q ~servists who did no go back Z,
L L AC had eel tAptIlth ii
e consequence from the Waters Uniol
1 and could get nothing to do. Thei
I. mother, who lives in Savoy, wrote tina
she was going to move over into Italy
as she could no longer bear the re
l. proaches Of her neighbors at tn,
k disgrace of her family.
g The other Englishman referred t
W is DeSiree Welby, who was for som
time in Nancy.
g I'm France" she writes, there 1
only one motive, one inspiration, Il
re Patrie.' There is no great bitterness
aGainst the Germans, no cries of bah
IN killerS,,' hell fends!' There is n
al ~boasting and tales Of wonderful feat
II Of arms, nc talk of signing a peace a
Berlin, only the determination Of eac
rs one to do his or her part, espresso
a. with q simplicity and conviction tina
makes a very direct appeal.
:; 1T is rare to see a man taking an
part in the business life Of Name,
~ which seems to be carried on alto
gether by women. Their capacity j
~ this direction greatly impressed m
~ nor did their health and temper seel
n to be impaired by long hours, an
ISL often arduouS work, and Nancy is,
'ly course. no exception.
wv Fac woman had a husband, SC
'se or lover at the war; each had her ia
We of sadness, but they never complaint
nor RECALLED one with horrors, and thu
lg- always ended their story with a no
N. Of hope and courage, which made
pathetic appeal.
as, Il have spent one month with
people who are suffering, and who,
l noted how they rose to meet it, mac
"a: me feel that a nation which leaves
at nOnOf 10 men ana women INSPIRED
ry; Ideals SO simple ana yet SO supreme
grand, can lead to but one ultima
DIS. end-that of victory, not limited to T
polling the enemy or to the a
nd QUESTION Of territory, but that great
victory whereby the soul Of a peoI
~attains its highest purpose.'-Ee
"a Ork Sun.