WOMEN “SOLDIERS”

New Zealand Times, Volume XLII, Issue 9756, 4 September 1917, Page 12

WOMEN “SOLDIERS”

Ha was a round, weather-beaten little poilu,' and he stood on Charing Cross Station yesterday saying good-bye to an English wife and a Franco-British baby. Suddenly his eyes grew larger and brighter. ■ ■ i "Voila les femmes soldats, ’ he shouted. and he saluted the members qf the Women's'Auxiliary Service, who were ou the way to Franc© to replace men in the clerical work of the Army. There were 52 girls, marching witn heads erect and looking trim and neat in their khaki coat-frocks. They .complete the first thousand of the Women's Auxiliary Service in Franca. Two strong, straight girls wheeled a truck with the luggage from carriage to carriage and tossed in the bags and cases with case and rapidity. Then when every girl had her place the tension relieved and those businesslike wo-meu-soldiers became a crowd of happy girls bidding good-bye bo friends, relatives. and admirers, accepting grotesque mascots, sending messages, and shaking hands. . , “Am I glad to go?” said one girl. “Why. I was never so glad of anything in my life.” “Your hat is a little on one side,” whispered another girl to her companion, for yon can’t wear your clothes as you Jiao when yon are in the Army. “The instructions given us before we left our headquarters at the Connaught Club.” said one of the girls before she stepped into tho train, "were to step briskly, bo smart, and remember that we have the honour of the Auxiliary Service Corps to uphold.” "One of the girls who went out some weeks ago wrote me to say that the most amusing part of the life in France was when Scottish officers came along. In the days when tho corps first landed on tho other side of the Channel wo were told to salute officers. . "But the Scottish officers, m acknowledgment of our salute, always caught hold of their kilts and curtseyed. "So we are told pot to, salute officers now!” , ~ Then the train moved out and the young, eager, earnest women leant out of tho windows, excited, happy, and feeling very proud that they were going to France to help "the boys” to win the war.—London "Weekly Dispatch. ’