WAR AND ENGLISHWOMEN

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2843, 7 August 1916, Page 3

WAR AND ENGLISHWOMEN

A RUSSIAN TRIBUTE,

M. Vasilii Nemirovich-Danchenko-, giving in the "liusskoo'Sloivo".impressions of his receut vjsit to England, 6peaks highly of the jiart which English women are playing iir tho present war. "We' jliavo not the slightest idea," says he, "of the importance of tho work that is being done by English women. In all walks of life she . displays an energy. which amazes even her own brother, husband, or father. The sisters, of mercy and muses, sometimes in military uniform, display no less a .devotion than (heir colleagues in Russia; they aro true martyrs of the battlefields. .But"this is only an infinitesimal part of the work of the women. More than 60 per cent, of the occupations for whioh women were at one time considered unfit are now filled by them, and one is compelled to bow revorently before the passionate anil untiring energy with which- they accomplish their duties. "Not only in tho ■' postal and telegraphic. service, but in the bankß, in solicitors' and Government offices from which men. have been called work is being carried on as usual, thanks to the skill of the women who have replaced, abnost at a moment's notice, those who have joined the colours. They are serving their country in the factories and workshops. Ladies from rich families, spoilt by their wealth, do not .shrink from any work that will help their country. They do soldiers' washing, sew for them, scorch their tender skin with the heat of furnaces, shiver in the cool vapory atmosphere prevalent in foun-i dries, risk their very lives in munition faotories. It is only because of their untiring energies that England, which, like ourselves at the outset of the war, had a lack of ammunition, is now able not only to supply her own neefls, but, having increased her output 27 fold, is also able to supply her Allies. I have seen photographs of women"' who have replaced their brothers or sweethearts in the fire brigades. It must not be imagined that they merely amuse themselves by wearing filremen's fcelmtets; they work liaTd. Only .a fow days ago two of these volunteer workers succumbed- in a fire." ■

It is not only the youjig women who have undertaken this important and necessary war work, but/ one is' astonished and moved to see at work whose age gives them the right' to rest. We are bound to reverence the English people in that at the present time nobody thinks of resting. England, protected by seas and oceans', having surrounded hersolf by a wall of innumerable battleships, could defy nil danger. But for the first timo during the last 800 years she has been brought face to face, with the rou&h necessity of defending her own shores, and the nation has responded nobly to tho call.

'"All hands on deck!' This call caused men, women, and,even children to rally to tho flag; children, (numbering, up to 40,00fl scouts), preparing themselves to perform, and performing a thousand and one useful duties. Tho women did not even shrink from work usually performed by the most skilled artisans. Thousands of Englishwomen are. engaged in shipbuilding and the repairing of ships. They even tried to lend'a hand in the construction of warBhips, but this work- has up to the present time been refused them. But they will get it, as Englishwoman show an aslonshing force of character in pursuing their ends. In this the suffragettes are the most remarkable. One can. scarcely regard them now as a merely militant army for the recognition of tlfe rights of women.

They are to bo met everywhere, and Englishmen who blamed them only a .little time ago aro now full of "praise for their activity. They can bo met in the workshops, as well as at the front, in spito of the mud and cold of tho present spring. As an ordinary workman or a supervisor she spares neither herself nor her fellow-workers. .iThey are as of cast-iron, these beings created for battlo and full of an. inner power which can never be satisfied with enough to do.

"Not only have I ' noticed untirinj energy and 'devotion amongst the women of England'during my short frtay. Their self-abnegation and", self-sncrifiee for tho common cause are ;amazing. I was, for instance., introduced to a mother' who had just lost her two sons. They belonged to the so-called 'upper-ten.' 'X had but those two,' said she. 'Now, I am left alone—alone in this wide world. I know their loss has shortened my life. I do not think I shall suffer long; I do not weep; ram proud. Nay, moro, I am happy that I could give my country tho best and dearest I had.'"