THE WOMEN OF FRANCE

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 2971, 8 January 1917, Page 3

THE WOMEN OF FRANCE

THEIR WAR-TIME SPIRIT

One of tile most vivid and comprehensive pictures of the sacrifices, the heroism., and the hopes of tho women o! : France which have come from warstricken Europe in many months is contained in. a communication to the National Geographic Society from Mrs. Harriot Chalmers Adams, of Washington, the only American woman who has been permitted to visit the first-line trenches on the French front since tho great offensive of the Entente Allies began along the Somrue last summer. Mrs. Adams has just returned to Washington, D.0., after several months m the war zone. She studied the women of France with tho appreciation aud understanding of a trained observer, who has won distinction as an explorer in the Andes, in Central America, and in the heart of Asia. Mrs. Adams, in her letter, says: "One of the universal mistakes which tho American people make in their estimate of the womeu of Franco is tho assumption that this war has created a new and nobler spirit among the mothers, the wives, the sisters and sweethearts of the men who are fighting for the salvation of a nation. Even the briefest, of visits to Paris and to tho firing liiie would convince the niost casual observer that such a spirit of self-sacrifice and of complete devotion to a cause could not have been created or born in the women of a nation in the space of two years. That spirit has been inherent in the French women far beyond the present—it goes back to Joan of Arc. Repeatedly during the last few months I have been made aware that it has been an active and vital force for because in many /a base hospital I met young women of gentle blood who were experienced nurses, having served a. gruelling novitiate with the French forces in Algeria and Morocco. The splendid fortitude, indomitable will and tireless energy of the French women have always existed; this great calamity has not developed now characteristics, but has only served to make known to the world those great virtues of heart, hand and mind which are saving a people and that people's civilisation. "Chiefly, perhaps, because of. her charming femininity and her daintiness in personal adornment, the American public has underrated the sfamina of the French woman. Supposedly timid, this war has proved her' to be the very opposite. For example, the twenty-year-old daughter of a noblewoman, in whoso chateau I spent several days, has been nursing the wounded for two

years. When the war began and the t'rainloads of mutilated soldiers began to pass through the station near tho chateau, this young girl, then only eighteen, who had never had a sight of human blood, arose each morning at 6.30, met the trains, and went through the cars caring for the wounds of those who had been placed hurriedly on board to be taken to the base hospitals in the rear. This girl laboured, and is still labouring, from ten to fourteen hours a day, ameliorating the sufferings of those who have given their all for her beloved Franco. *Ar\i so are hundreds, thousands of other noble young women serving tho republic.

"Somo of the American war correspondents who have been permitted to visit tho munitions plants where thousands upon thousands of girls and women are labouring to keep the French artillery supplied with nigh-explosive shells and shrapnel havo deplored tho faofc that the nation is allowing the potential mothers of tho future to sacrifice their strength and health in such tasks. I confess that 'I cannot share this regret. To me it seems eminently fair and appropriate that these daughters of France who of necessity'are prohibited from giving their lives to , the cause on tho battlefield itself should enjoy the privilege of offering themselves wholly and without reserve to their sacred cause, in whatsoever capacity' bodies and their brains are most effective for tliat faroff, divine event—the restoration of Francs and the fruits of a peace that shall last for all time.

"One of the most amazing tilings nbout_ Paris to-day is that it is a city of smiles. It is no longer 'gay Paris,' but 'cheerful Paris.' A student' of phychology, however, who looks deep into, the smiling eyes of the women realises instinctively that one of the obligations which each feels and fulfils is to make «s happy as possible the sis-days' furlough the men from tho trenches are granted from timo to time. The Opera Comique an,d the Grand Opera House, are crowded each night, but that regulation which onco required all persons occupying tho famous tiers of loges and tho parquet chairs to bo in evening dress no longer obtains at the opera. The 'horizon blue' uniforms and the simple gowns of dark material, most often black, are to bo seen on every side. And one of tho appealing customs of the hour is that every woman as she sits in the theatre iiolds the hand of her escort—son, husband, brother, or sweetheart—while from the eyes of the fiancee, no less than from those of the silver-haired mother there shines the light of maternal love, a love which would protect and comfort, not one which demands ?l . al Jures. It should be mentioned that the Sisters of Mercy havo returned to France, bringing with them a gentleness, an unselfish devotion, a tenderness and withal an efficiency not surpassed by any other group of nurses m the world. Their heroic service upon the battlefields of the l'ranco-Prussian "War aro brightly writu/? POn the pa . ges of Pencil history. One of tho interesting by-products or this war has been the creation of countless new occupations for woman workers and for 'disabled , soldiers. In many lines of endeavour novices have developed remarkable initiatives and in some instances astonishing inventive faculty. With artificial hands, maimed men aro being taught many gainful pursuits, while women nurtured in luxury have turned their unpraeticed hands.to typewriting, the making of munitions, operating streets cars and subway trams, taxieabs, and fiacres managing shops and serving as waitresses. In the professions tho French woman has made astonishing strides, not .altogether, sineo the outbreak o the war, but in the last quarter of a T + "T , Io V the you,," dentiste who had taken charge of tho American dentist's office where I called could not have provided me with such a completely satisfactory <r oM ha , d 1 JlCl : Pledge heenV quired solely since August, 1914. "One of the most interesting and appealing practices of tho war is the adoption of groups o f peasant soldiers by the well-to-do ucmen of Paris One acquaintance of mine, owning a l ar^e estate on tho outskirts of tliu capital is godmother to 150 soldiers, whoso nome beloro the war was in a district now occupied by tho enemy. These soldiers make this estate their homo whenever they are on a six-day furlough. She- cares lor them exactly as j[ they were hw over-grown children, not only watchful of their material comfort, but solicitous about their entertainment) as well. AVJien theso boyish soldiers -return to the trenches they never fail to write to their 'chere Aimce,' as they affectionately call her.

"11l the beginning I said that tho Americans had always underestimated the courage and' strength of character of the French women because they were always judged as frivolous on account of their attention to personal adornment: It is worthy of note that tho war has not changed this instinct in the slightest. 1 saw thoun

sands of girls handling heavy shells in „(§ the munitions plants; every ono of A them had their hair neatly dressed, S and 1 was otherwise observant of her i personal appearance as befits a French | woman. .During my stay in Paris my little stenographer wore tho same >O tailored suit every day, yet it was -I always neatly pressed, and her waist ffl was always immaculate. Her liifih- §! heeled boots were always freshly 3 polished, and her coiffure" beautiful, if No, the French woman has sacrificed « none of her chic in tho pursuit of lior | high calling as a war worker. Do 3you know that- the. imperial flour de J] lys is no longer the national flower of k France? It lias been supplanted! by <i the bdautiful 'tri-colour' of tho fields— fjj the red poppy, the blue cornflower, | and the white daisy, y When I made 5 my unforgettable visiS'to the first-line S trenches the soldiers' plucked these | flowers growing on the edge of the $ embankment and presented! them to | me its a- token of the affection i/i I nliich France holds all those Ainori- | cans vho have given so freely to miti- jj gate the sufi'oriugs in hospitals, to aid j,| those homes have been j| ed and to succour the widows and §ji orphans of those who gludly died that' gp Franco and French civilisation might jja live." j M

St. Thomas's Patriotic Horticultural Show will be held in St. Thomas's Hall, Ncwtown,.on Wednesday and Thursday, January 17 and 18. The net proceeds are in aid of St. John Ambulance Red Cross Fund and the Camp Institute. The schedule is comprehensive, and it gives an opportunity for displays of flowers, fruit, and vegetables; also the miscellaneous section should prove interesting to.both girls and boys, as there are several competitions provided for them. Entries will close 011 the evening before the show.