The Hawera Star. THURSDAY, APRIL 14, 1927. FRENCH WAR HEROINES.

Hawera Star, Volume XLVI, 14 April 1927, Page 4

The Hawera Star.

THURSDAY, APRIL 14, 1927. FRENCH WAR HEROINES.

Delivered every evening by 5 o’olook in Hawera. Manaia, Normanby. Okaiawa Eltbam. Mangatoki. Kaponga, Alton Hurley ville, P&tea, Waveriey, Mokoia Wbakamara. Ohangai, Meremere Fro.se> Road and Ararata

Tribute has been paid on more than one occasion to the noble self-sacrifice of women during the war—to the nurses who carried on in the hospitals near the firing line, and to those nurses from New Zealand w r ho endured shipwreck and other perils by land or sea; to women of all classes who gave up ease and sought by laborious and often the most menial of tasks to “do their bit” for the sake of our common humanity; to- that outstanding, figure Edith Cavell, who endured martyrdom rather than betray a confidence reposed in her; and to hundreds and thousands of mothers, wives, sisters and sweethearts who stoically bore tremendous losses. But British people have done well in giving special recognition to several French women whose record of heroism conveys to us a most touching message of that nobility of character which would dare to lay down its life for a friend.. The simple women folk of Bertry were invited to visit England to receive official thanks and some little measure of recompense for their bravery on behalf of British solders, cut off and lost in the early days of the war and in hiding behind the German lines, were perhaps but typical of hundreds of others who performed similar dfeeds of patriotism, mercy and sacrifice, but their feats Of valour were of such a special kind that they cannot be allowed to pass without recognition. • “Fame,” remarks an English contemporary, “has not fouud these humble folk. Their own Government has given them no pecuniary rewards; the British Government gave in money no more than the value of the rations for the time when the soldiers were'in their keeping. But misfortune, and even tragedy, have not missed them.” The story of the wardrobe and the brave women who guarded it so .jealously has naturally appealed to the public imagination; the story of M. Cardon, who, from the time when Corporal Hull was discovered, lived a fug'tive life, often in the direst need, and always in desperate straits till the end of the war, when his health and reason were broken down by his privations, will awaken no less keen a sympathy for his

heroic widow, who spent three years in German prisons because she had sheltered a British soldier. There are some debts of honour which can never be paid in full. It has been Britain’s great privilege to discover that these debts were owing, and the simple, straightforward narratives which have been published have led many generous British hearts to offer some practical recognition to these brave women of France. i