The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1916-10-22
DAUGHTER Is PRETTY

Miss Gwen" Robertson, the other apple
OF proud mothers eye Of an eye can
have two "apples'0 is mighty pretty girl
of 10, who before Armageddon, was an
exceptionally earnest and brilliant stu
dent, and who Is now an equally earnest
member of the ''V. A. b." or volunteer
aid detachment This Is a nursing corps,
which now numbers goodness knows how
many pretty and patriotic girls, includ-
ing goodly percentage of fair mem
bers Of the nobility. Its members make
themselves generally useful about mili-
tary hospitals and do not shrink, even
the titled ones, from sucn so-called me-
NAL tasks as scrubbing the floors Of
wards acting as cooks and mattresses and
even "washing-up." In the pre-war days,
Mrs Robertson told me, Gwen" decided
to go in for the Cambridge higher local
EXAM" an exceedingly stiff one. and
with this end in view "swatted' hard
for six solid months without a coach
''scorning delights and living laborious
days Then she went up for her exam
and passed with distincr.oni'
She has now been nursing for between
three and four months b. the fourth Lon.
don general hospital, where the bane Of
her life. apparently, IL her provolsingly
youthful appearance.
Gwen looks a mere babe" said her
mother, land her nurses costume makes
her look younger yet, with the result that
she has to undergo q lot of chatting from
her patients.
Nurse said a Tommy to her, one
day, very seriously isn't there any age
limit for nurses for this hospital?'
When she began studying nursing"
went on Mrs. Robertson Il did. too, and
when we took the examination was two
points ahead of her in the theoretical
branch. and she was two points ahead
of me in the practical one Ny two strong
points of knowledge were the skeleton
and hemorrhages. I could name you
every single bone in the body then and
as for hemorrhages I dreamed about EN-
at night! And do you know they didn't
ask us a single question about either.
AS a matter of fact, I was not particu-
larly impressed with the thoroughness of
that course and I'm thinking of having
tattooed on myself this request: If l
am ever found in a fainting condition,
let no amateur nurse touch mel
From the foregoing you will gather that
this American wife Of a famous parlia-
mentarian has no lack Of the humor that
is characteristic of our countrywomen.
She told me, by the way. that she is
now thinking seriously of taking up
munitions making unless, as may happen,
Miss Gwen, who Is something of a
in which case" said her mother, II
mean to go and sit on the front steps
Of that hospitalh wherever 1t ISL
KNEW LONGFELLOW
1t is doubtful If there are many women
living who can look back upon a more
interesting youth than Mrs. Robertson
who. as a little girl, numbered among
her ''playmates'' Henry Wadsworth Long
fellow. Oliver Wendell Holmes, Walt
Whitman and a score of others of the
intellectual giants of that period. She
hxrir in hid
where her mother established what Mrs.
Robertson describes as perhaps one of
the truest salons" that ever have ex-
listed in the United States.
MY father. Charles Mosher," she said
was a banker, a member of Huguenot
family. and descendant of famous
Judge Mosher whose decisions are still
quoted in the western courts 1 was
born in Des Moines, Ia. and, after my
fathers death my mother moved to Cam
bridge. Mass, for the purpose Of educat-
ing my elder sister and me. My mother
was, l think I can say an unusually
gifted woman and our house, when
was a little girl. was a gathering place
for all the celebrities of Cambridge. and
| many from elsewhere, Longfellow, Whit
man and DR.. Holmes. James Russell
| Lowell. w. Lloyd Garrison, Wendell Phil
| lips. Frederick Douglass, Prof. William
James, William Dean Howells and ever
SO many others. I have sat on all their
knees and my sister, who was older,
knew them even better than l did. Some
body once suggested to her. in fact, that
she should write book called, Knees
Have Sat On" and I'm sure it would
have been interesting"
1T used to be said jokingly," Mrs. Rob
ertson went on, that the guests at our
birthday parties consisted entirely OF
Harvard professors. and that was pretty
nearly true. Samuel Longfellow, the mu-
| stefan and brother Of the poet was ono
of our best loved 'chums and my sister,
who was quite a clever pianist, never
learned new piece. but he must come
in and hear 1t. I can wildly remem-
Der Frederick Douglass and his fervid
anti slavery views and that he once said
Of me. She always speaks her own
thoughts