MADAME BOCHKAREVA

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 11, 8 October 1918, Page 3

MADAME BOCHKAREVA

FAMOUS WOMAN SOLDIER IN LONDON. Among the distinguished visitors to the House of Commons recently was Commander Marie Bochkareva, of the Russian Battalion of Death, and her appearance in the lobby, wearing khaki uniform and fiye medals on her breast, evoked much interest. She is a stoutish woman of moderato height,'with a commanding personality. After being entertained at tea on the terrace she was provided with a special seat, in tho Speaker's Gallery, where she listened to the debate followino- the Prime Minister's speech. -.Commander Bochkareva raised a troop of 15,000 fighting women in Russia and assisted, she says, in taking three lines of German trenches and 2000 prisoners at Smorgony last year. She was wounded five times and has been taken prisoner twice. It is understood that after her last esoape she succeeded in reaching the United States. ... \

One of the drawbacks to paper clothing (according to the letter an indignant Austrian had sent to his newsthat if the wearer sits on a seat in the parks in damp weather, ho will as likely, as not leave the seat of his trousers behind him. And , evon trousers as hazardous as these cost £8 a pair. In Germany so great has be* come the scarcity of metals that win-dow-fasteners arc now to-, he expropriated, and the. confiscation of doorhandles is to be actively proceeded with so soon as substitutes can be found. In Bavaria cash registers have been requisitioned. Even the statue of the Kaiser, otherwise the All Highest, at Heidelberg, has been taken.down to turn into gun metal.

Auburn, New York, has a 72-year-old messonger boy. Although retired from active work, he decided he could do some war service by taking some young man's place with the telegraph company. "I have had some amusing experiences," he remarked recently. "I answered one call, and the man said, 'Are you from the Western Union?' I replied that I was. 'Well.' he said, 'I wanted a boy, not the president of the company.' There was another call to the St. Cloud, and I went. The man said: 'Are you a boy?' But before I could answer another man remarked facetiously, 'He was when you called. , " . ■