Evening star., 1928-04-29

/ sshe gets away with It," Yet get away
| with 1t she does. as the results show.
For If Miss Boardman approaches the
| historic lady In her personal picture
of social manners, she also approaches
the historic In the example she offers
Of women in action.
WE have become so suddenly accus-
w toned to look out upon an Amer
ican world which contains highly or
ganized Red Cross along with an
American world wherein women work
side by side with men in co-ordinated
and equal effort, that 1t requires vio-
lent wrench of the imagination to
think back only a few years to an
American world which contained
neither.
That was the world into which Mabel
Boardman returned after her gay VIM
ters In Berlin and her years OF study
and travel In other parts of Europe
and the East.
There were still remembered in
Washington at that time the names OF
the splendid women who had served the
armies of the North and the South in
the Civil War. There also persisted the
fresher memory Of what had happened
during the Spanish war. just ended
Money and personal services had
been poured out through local commit
tees, but through lack OF a central CO.
ordnating body whose reports could be
properly audited and whose personnel
stood in close, accurate relationship TO
the Government agencies--through lack
of just what the Red Cross now means
10 us--generous pity at home almost
failed completely 10 reach the suffer-
ings of the men In the field
The turn Of the century found Mabel
Boardman working for the ChildrenE
Day Nursery IN her home town of Cleve-
land and for the Children's Hospital In
her adopted town Of Washington. III
also found women like Mrs Whitelaw
Reid and r. RS aunt, Mrs. Cowles, and
men like Richard Olney and Senator
| Proctor eognizant OF the necessity for q
| nationally organized and nationally re-
| sp0nBible body.
| one night at dinner, in 1904. Robert
| HIT, chairman Of the foreign affairs
| committee of the House, turned to Miss
| Boardman and said;
your name came up before my COM
/ mttee today"
who is the other Miss Boardman7'
| Mabel Boardman asked.
There Isn't any. You're I'll"
Mr. Hitt's words were her first mo-
! tice that she had been appointed TO the
executive committee OF the Red Gross
| then being newly reOrganzed,
| 1t would make an interesting study IN
/ human fate 10 collect examples Of great
OF successful persons whose careers were
| begun thus, through no volttion OF theiI
| own, Such WAS Miss Boardman'a.
/ And at this point observe once more
| one type OF historic American woman
AS illustrated In Miss Boardmans~~th
woman OF leisure who immolates that
+, leisure on the altar OF others. Our good
word service" had not yet come into
It's own, ImpeIled by that ancient mo-
tive of charity. In the first place. she
| started out.
Yet perhaps even more foreibly I'm
| PEELED from that now sometimes called
| old-faghioned motive, patriotism, she
threw over all other daytime interests
! and began the first Of the nearly 10
| years of constant work which she has
given 10 the Red Cross
Strange for Victorian woman Of
leisure, she kept business hours, She
! has done 80 ever since. Ladies'
| lunches" IN Washington know her not.
| She leaves her ONCE for the lecture
platform, for organization work through
out the chapters, taking regular vaca~
tion as n man would take one, taking
hers usually al Murray Bay.
No doubt that pFed0minating motive
Of patriotism was far deeper and
stronger than the more feminine char
/ ity, For she approached the Red Cross
| then, AS she approaches II today, as
one arm In national preparedness.
/
IIEIt first work In the early nine
teen hundreds. was In the re-
organization 0f the national aystem.
Along with the rest Of the executive
COMMITTEES she helped 10 establish Its
close connection with those cabinet
posts which have TO do with national
defense to have sts books audited by