Evening star., 1916-06-25

of them will reply. Les danes de Per-
vyse" tthe women of Pervyse). one of
the women. Baroness de T Secla- ;. until
recently Mrs Elsie Knocker. though an
Englishwoman by birth. was the wild
ow of American. and is the mother
of an American boy.
She is the daughter of the late Dr.
Shafter of Exeter Her friend and COM
panion is Miss Mairi Chisholm of VIM
bourne. England. Both these women
We're well known motor cyclists in
Bournemouth district. II was at
Bournemouth that they made the ac-
quaintance of Mrs. Eva Moore Esmond
q we'll known London actress. wife of
the playwright. Fl. V. Esmond Mrs
Esmond has been of great assistance to
these women in their remarkable work
The baroness. who is trained nurse,
licensed motor car driver, a veter-
marian and also woman of property
and beauty. with Miss Chisholm left
England in September. 1914 and joined
6 field ambulance a Ghent.
At Dixmude she and her companion
succeeded in getting SO near the front
IN their efforts TO succor the wounded
that they We're mixed up in bayonet
charge between the French and German
lines. They were in great danger, as it
was dark. Of being taken for SOL
d:ers When the baroness, then
Mrs Krocker. first went to Dixmude.
her work Was sorting out the dead
There she became convinced that if she
sHe could save many lives.
So they succeeded IN opening dress
:Hs station at Pervyse. The baroness
ana her companion have been unwili-
iH@ 10 be attached to the Belgian am
huiance organization. because their
work would then be controlled by
others. Under It's restrictions she
could not 20 out and bring in a wound
ed man until dark, while i'll working
upon their own resources, as they have
been doing, they could act they
thought best.
Forty-eight hours at a stretch with
about 500 dying or wounded TO attend
10 has often constituted days work
Tor these women in the first stages Of
the war. The baroness tells how wor-
ried she became when, as the ambu-
lance arrived from the fighting line.
nearly always only one out OF every
six men We're alive.
She went 10 the Belgian headquar-
ters and asked permission as a trained
rurse to go and live In the trenches
and treat the men for shock directly
thew were hit il struck her that
she men died from shock principally
and not from wounds. The belgian
headquarters said TO ner: fou can
20 it. but, of course, you cannot pos
abby stand the strain of the NE. Ihey
xaye her twenty-four hours. These
hours have heightened into as many
months.
."hese seIf-eacrifcing women have
had many narrow escapes On one
occasion in the earlier days when tney
had been through the village placlne
th. dead into the back room or the
hose. they were sitting talking with
!. Belgian doctor In a front room ana
"a nell burst al the back of the house.
T'.ey rushed through to see what dam
:-,- had been done. Most OF the room was
=, a.. .isd. While there second shell
,-.,SH.d into the front room where they
!d t-st been They returned TO ma
tie doctor dead.
Time and again their dueout has nearly
te..i their grave SO last September they
srured , s.eel doors and steel shutters.
T. is now quite trim retreat. Never
iaelcss they were somewhat furried when
;luout . in the morning they were told
that King Albert Of Belgium was going
20 visit the trenches during the day ana
tfat Ne might call them in passing.
The following is the account Of the
visit from the baroness letter:
March 2. 1915
tn the early morning about O'Clock
We were told the king was going to visit
;..@ trenches and that he would probably
BAY a visit to our work. we started
away TO tidy UP our dugout. This is
difficult job. as dugouts are not meant
FOR kings Our dugout is accustomed to
muddy boots. rain dust. etc. and fe very
DARK and somber. and il Is difficult al
moments notice to make a dugout look
like q drawing room, SO we decided the