WOMEN AND THE WAR

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2681, 29 January 1916, Page 11

WOMEN AND THE WAR

PLEASURE HAS CEASED AND ■WORK-BEGUN. For many, Hie majority, of women, pleasure has ceased and work has for the present become. the main purpose of existence. Of the women of prance this is equally true, and an account has. just come from Paris of an interesting book which has been published on "The Women of France and the War." Tho writer, the Comtesse de Courson, points out- that the wealthier women do not give as largely as the English women of the same class, • but they give intelligently and spare themselves no personal effort in turning their c;ifts to good account. Moreover, as far as the Press is concerned anony-. mity is preserved. They have very definite ideas of what they intend to do and how they intend to it. "When the war broke out so many thousands of women . wero thrown out of work that instant relief was necessary, and within a' very short time 500 ouvroirs were opened in Paris and the suburbs. The workwomen got. 1 franc (10d.) for the afternoon, and a good gouter, corresponding to afternoon tea, but which dees not necessarily mean tea itself, but more frequently consists of bread and chocolate. Books wero read aloud to tho workers, hymns were sung, and the rosary recitcd. The spirit of calmness and endurance which marked the women of the people so splendidly in those first bad days was encouraged and fortified by the attitude of the women more fortunately circumstanced. Other works which owe their existence to tho initiative of the women of the upper classes are the "Ligue des Acheteuses" .and the "Ligue des Jouets Francais." Tlie object of the first, the association of Women Buyers, is to banish German goods from the market by the refusal of all individuals to' buy 'Germau-jnade articles in the shops. A few years n<»o efforts wero made in this direction by. some aristocratic Frenchwomen, who were good patriots," but' the success of their effort; 1 were not groat, and it needed the war to teach us the danger of Germany as a commercial as well'as a military Power. Tho second, the "Association for French .Toys," was founded; by _ the Baronne de Laiimont, who maintains with perfect right, that French toys, are prettier than German toys, and so encourages their manufacture arid sate. The ."Bon Git-e" is largely the lyork of society women and aims at providing a "good homo," by gifts of furniture from their newly-' built homes, for those who .have lost their possessions through tlie invasion.