New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1917-11-11
Nurse Allied Wounded

Nurse Allied Wounded
Many Belgian soldiers. as we'll IS
British, Canadian and Australians, Who
were wounded at the front, have passed
under the care of the sisters who in
the world were surrounded with the
pomp and ceremony of court life and
whose most trivial actions were regu-
lated by the rigid etiquette of the
dynasty of the Hapsburgs. They may
not be rewarded for their devotion To
the sick and the suffering and for their
self-sacrifcing labors in behalf of the
Belgian refugees and of the DO ,r and
afflicted, as the vows of their religious
order enjoin poverty as we'll as
obedience, and since they live in COM
munity life they cannot be singled out
for worldly distinction of any kind.
Empress Zita holds her two nun sis
tiers in deepest affection, and it is said
that 10 obstacle whatever has been
placed in the way of her communi-
eating with them continuously since
the war began. Her correspondence is
routed through Switzerland and France,
and both the French and British au-
thorities have respected the privacy Of
letters indicating by their superscrip-
tion that they are between the young
Empress and her sisters
Empress Zita when the war began
found herself the wife Of the heir to
the throne of Austria. with the pros
pect. which was eventually verified, of
Don becoming Empress, as the aged
Francis Joseph was declared by his
physicians to be nearing his end The
prospect was not an attractive one.
This princess, when she married Fran
ci5 Charles of Austria, had no expecta-
tion of ascending the throne Of the
Hapsburgs. The heir apparent to the
throne, Francis Ferdinand, had chill
dren, who. although issue of morga-
matte wedlock, were nevertheless re-
garded as the indicated heirs OF their
father after his term on the throne.
The assassination of Sarajevo
changed the whole outlook, and Prin-
cess Zita found herself suddenly in line
10 be Empress Of Austria, the wife of
the head of the armies Of the Dual
Monarchy and chief ally of the German
Kaiser. This Kaiser she feared and
disliked, and it is no secret that were
it in her power she would have con-
tinued in her work as Red Cross nurse
in preference TO assuming the tremen-
dously onerous duties of Empress.
Never Became Germanized
But Empress Zita bravely took up
her burden, all the more as her hus-
band, whom she loved, needed her
cheerful and courageous assistance. An
Italian princess, whose father had been
Grand Duke of Parma, she was Latin
in her education, in her sentiments and
in her very modes of thought. She
never allowed German book in her
library; she never spoke word of
German. At her table French was the
accepted speech, but if any one present
WAS conversant in Italian the princess
rejoiced in discoursing in the soft
tongue Of the peninsula which she al
ways regarded as her mother land.
II was natural that when her brothers
came to make their decision regarding
the army for which they should fight
the princess had already certain well
defined ideas TO express. Italy was not
yet in the war, not entering il, indeed,
until nine months after the other Allies
had been engaged, and the princes
could not therefore tender their SER
vices to Italy.
Sixtus and Francis Xavier of Bour-
bon-Parma, however. were fully decided
that they would put their lives al the
service OF the Allies in the struggle
against Germany. Their sister. who
loved them with tender devotion. dis
cussed the subject with them and took
it up with her husband, the present
Emperor Charles Francis. II was her
firm intention that nothing that sa-
vored Of an underhand action should be
performed, but that all should be open
and aboyeboard.
An interview was arranged between
the brothers-in-law. Sixtus and Fran
els Xavier frankly stated their atti-
tude and waited for the response of