The Hawaiian gazette., 1918-08-13

Sergeant Ruth S. Farnam was not
one of the Battalion of Death; her
entrance into the turmoil of the war
was rather in the guise of a private
in the battalion of Life'. Some one
declared after hearing her lecture that
this was certainly not Ruthless war.
IL has been said that she knows every
body and that everybody knows her
not in America only, bat also in Europe
and other parts of the world. 1t must
have been this wide aequaintanceship
that got her interested in the war, from
all angles-frst as nurse. then in charge
of relief work on the ground, and final
~ as q soldier.
In private life she is Mrs. Charles II.
Farnam and she tells us her real age
is fOrty.four. Born in a sleepy Long
Island town, she married and went to
England, where her husband had ex
tensiVe business interests. At his
death. she settled down in a magnificent
country estate to live a peaceful life,
with all the comforts that consider
aIbe fortune can command.
In Balkan War
A social call on n friend in Belgrade
suddenly changed all her ideas on life.
This was during the Bulgarian war,
and the Serbian soldiers came back by
the thousands to suffer and to die. Then
and there this lady Of culture and re-
Rnement showed the stuff of which
American women are made. She jump
ed right into hospital work without
previous training, and tOiled over those
wur.torn bodies When she went back
home, she carried with her lasting
loVe and respect for the game Serbian
fighters,
An American at heart, she fretted at
or long continued neutrality in the
present war She decided, however, to
do her bit, and sold her lovely estate
10 help Serbia. Then she went out there
to serve personally. She was in the
typhus epidemic, and wherever else
there was anything going onI then
back to America she came and raised
enormous sums by lecturing for the
refugees then again to Macedonia to
supervise the extensive task of distrlb-
utine the relief supplies,
Arrested as Spy
In ItaIv she Was arrested as spy.
In these troublesome days 1t is nalura.
TO look with suspicion on u woman OF
unuuestiOnable personal charm. traVel-
ing plonp. She tells US an amusing story
in connection with this arrest Inc
,.ioht of her credentials carried the
dav. and thev allowed her to 90 atter
tborouPh personal examination. hlhk
i,g n wise" she relates, "tO show
how dignifed | could be under adverse
circumstances, | sailed out with head
biph smiling. but with hot red spot
on either cheek. only to be followed
NV roar of laughter. On reaching
NV compartment, found that the de-
sired effect had been rather dashed by
the fact that yard or two OF PINK fip'
hon trailed behind me from torgot-
ten bow, and this had in some way be
come entangled with a greasy paper
bag. so that my naughty progress must
have resembled that of an indignant
kite This is the woman OF 1t.
On Battlefront
When the Allies made their plans to
re enter Serbia in 1916, she was the
first woman to enter recOnquered ser
biam territory. She went up to the
Front lines, was extended an invitation
70 visit the Headquarters Observation
Post, in No Mans Land, and later fired
the first shot for the commencement Of
the hattie of Brod, which continued
for five weeks, till the Allies reached
Mouastir, where they stand today
Srpeant Farnam writes: "In the name
of American womanhood, / gave the
signal which sent shells roaring over
the valley to fall into the Bulgarian
trenches and as the awful fountain Of
dust and glood and fragments spouted
Into the air, shouted: The women of
America avenge Serbian women by my
hand,'' "'You ought to have been
n soldier" decmrei the commander
in.chief. "Makr me one," snapped
hack Mrs.. Farnam and thereupon, out
IN No Man : Land in the thick Of the
battle, she was made sergeant Of
The Roval Serbian Cavalry.
Decorated by King
During her service in Serbia, she was