The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1916-04-28
SHE IS READY IF WAR SHALL
 COME TO US.
Miss Peaslee Buys Auto Ambu- lance and Is Studying to Run
 1t for American Soldiers.

 New York April 28.-Miss Frances Randolph Peaslee of 75 East Eighty First Street, a gent1ewoman of the sort that tradition tells us existed in America few generations ago, who has gray in her hair and remembers at least a little of the civil war, has set a mark for other women who want to see their country prepared and want to aid. On Monday she read that the Amer 1can Red Cross needed help; on Tues day she offered her services and the support of her purse; on Wednesday she bought the working parts of an automobile ambulance; to-day she is studying the ffsou1 of the machine'' as she calls the delicate parts that make it go or ba1k: tomorrow, or as soon thereafter as she has extracted the secrets of that "sou1," she will be ready to drive that ambulance wher- ever the needs of an American army call it.
 Miss Peas1ee is modest. She reruses to talk of herself or of her ambition to1 ease the hurts of American soldiers, l except in so far as the story may en- same sort of effort, Search of news paper files fails to show that Miss Peaslee has ever publicly appeared in any activity except to hold a, place in | society. on0 IS =1lOI 11St0O oS G1IIIGI l a suffragist or anti. Miss Peas1ee's is the first definite 1 offer. of real service that has been made by any woman to take up what l has been considered mans part in hospital work and to show her ability | and decision she had no sooner made l the offer of the ambulance and her services than she started out to get 1 the ambulance.
 She now has, not the ambulance en- 1 i4s- C I,1 6 F<N1- 1 but she has thefchassis, all ready for any kind of body she may desire fit l ted upon it. It is at her disposal and ready the minute she and her country may call for it.
 | <''You never know after war actually comes what supplies can be obtain l ed,'' said Miss Peas1ee, land, having made my offer of an automobile am bulance, wanted to be sure to be able to make good with it, so I went and bought it, while it was to be had. [ Miss Peas1ee comes from a family of distinction. Her father, the 1atet Edmund Randolph Peaslee, was a prominent surgeon of the 1astcentury. If living he would have been a cen ] tenarian now, having ben born in 1 1874. He was noted for having per formed for the first time in New Eng l land some famous surgical operations. He was a New Hampshire man and came to New York in 1858. In the C1Vll war ne was SuTS0On at IIlO 1NOW England Hospital in New York City l and also surgeon of the New York State Hospital His work was rec I ognized abroad as well as in this | country. Miss Peaslee says she in | herited none of her fathers traits un- less it was his tender heart. but it is I possible that some of her pluck comes from him. She knows what driving an automobile ambulance in war l times means, and she says she is not afraid of it. 1 e.You have sometimes to drive over rough roads, she said, talking of it ] yesterday, t'and you have to go near the fighting lines It takes courage nerve, and physical strength, but am blessed with all three.
 l 'sI know much about an automobile, | though I have never had a. car of my 1 own I have driven my friends cars in this country and in England, and l it is a good thing to be able, if you want to go away any time on a pleas kure trip, to be independent of a chauf- feur.
 q have known automobiles from
 the time when they had a box of ma chinery underneath and when any H thing was the matter you had to go below decks to look up into the inside. Slipping on tire is no trouble to me. 1 I can do all the obvious things requir-
 ed for an automobile Now am go- ling to study the soul of the machine. I
 
 T parts You can do wonderful things
 with the new cars if you understand
 them and I am a good natural me
 chanic." s
 All this from a quiet digniied wo-
 man, who could not be suspected of
 sensationalism That she will be ac- [cused- of something of the kind she is l sure, however.
 ! q suppose the first thing people will
 say of my offer to run an ambulance for the Red Cros,'' said Miss Peaslee,
 will be: How un1adylike! Why not let the men do that?' They may not real ize that the men, if they are where
 they ought to be will be at the front fighting.
 -'It is going to be hard for Aneri- J can women to leave their pleasures and think of serious things, but am
 not afraid for them, because of their
 adaptability Americans can adapt
 themselves to any place or any cir
 cumstances, and they will do it when the time of need comes in case of war. hope that time will not come
 but if it does we should be< ready for
 it.
 '] "Proper hospital service, I believe
 will have much to do with the willing Il ness of men to go to the front To feel that if they are wounded their lives will not be wasted through sheer
 care1essness will help much. In running my ambulance I shall need one assistant, and I hope to have
 a woman if I can find one. | think women are gent1er> than men and
 emergency
 't COUNTRY WILL SOON
 NTAKE ITS DVESTTTEvFS