New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1917-05-17
By ARTHUR 5. DRAPER

London, Nay Is first days OF
August, 1914, saw the same rush Of
women to the colors as Of men, and
of women. as Of men. there were more
ready to serve and eager to go to
FLANDERS and France than the govern
ment could possibly use. The first few
weeks brought to the War Office alone
the offer Of 5000 women for nursing
services.
They were volunteering, be it re-
membered, for hazards. for dangers
and fatigues less great only than
those of the men in the ranks. Now,
in the third year of the war, there are
women nursing in the military hospi-
tails Of Great Britain, in the stationary
hospitals in France. in ambulance
trains and on hospital ships, and there
tons behind the lines that is TO say,
are women nursing in the clearing sta
! they are carrying on their work within
! a short distance of the front-lne
| trenches and within easy range of the
cnemy's guns. What the dangers are
| this story Of clearing station IN the
/ Ypres salient in 1915 will show. 1t
was clearing station of large tents,
/ pitched in clover field and painted
the color Of the earth and the trees,
against discovery by the German aero
planes, which were then much more
active than now.
Shelled Every Other Day
"The colonel at times used to worry
/ about our being so far up the line. as
! the Germans shelled p (the clearing
station was by the railway just outside
| the town every second or third day.
/ The whistling of the shells was at
! times fearsOme, especially during the
night. They landed sometimes on the
| railway just beside US, in field be-
yond Us and all around, which gave
| one q kind Of uneasy feeling. But
worse than the Smelling was the bomb
/ ing from the Taubes. They dropped
gas bombs at times. The colonel in
/ sisted on all Of rs having our gas
/ helmets always with us-we wore
4 them strapped round the waist.
zone morning nine Taubes appeared
and rainod bombs all over our clearing
station. 10 was a terrible time. One
man was killed and some were
wounded. One bomb dropped quite
/ close to where ! was standing some
one shouted lie fat but my legs re-
/ fused 20 obey me. ! suppose il must
have been fright. was told the mud
saved me. Our aeroplane chased
/ them of"
Such was a clearing station in the
Ypres salient in 1915. 1t was after
eight months in that tent hospital, eX-
posed 10 shells and the sudden attack
of Iaubcs, that this same nurse wrote:
I"i feel quite heartbroken at being
moved 10 "a base again, as the work at
clearing station seems the work one
went out TO do"
These are the continual hazards Of
the trench warfare Of to-day. Bpt IN
those first weeks Of the war women,
equally with men, took the hazards Of
that fierce attack and the terrible re-
treat. Swiftly as the Germans adj
yanced. there were British nurses in
+ Brussels before their coming, and they
remained there when the Belgian army
had retired 20 Antwerp, when the
armies were falling back to the Marine,
when the post and telegraph from
Brussels were altogether cut of and
such letters as came from them to Eng
land were carried by peasants 20 Os-
/ tend.
She Scolds German Officer
Those letters Of British women
breathe the same equable spirit in the
mid,r OF terrible 'rcnmstances as we
have grown familiar with IN many let
ters from British soldiers Only two
Of those nurses IN Brussels asked TO
leave though all were free TO go
when it was known that the Germans
would enter ,ne town. The rest re-
! NAMED 10 face whatever might come.