BRAVE BRITISH WOMEN

Hokitika Guardian, 25 June 1923, Page 4

BRAVE BRITISH WOMEN

I - ~ ’[hat this is an age ol brave women i. ip. me reminded by the devoted eon rag,, ii , Air- Starr, the Intlmu missionary ■ nurse who went into Afghanistan to r aid in the rescue ol Miss Ellis, whom J. the wild hilhuen of the North-AJ e-t Fic.mier kidnapped. i Yet it comes as no surprise, lo what r heights women could rise the sex sliow- - ed during the Great War and the years ! which imnictliately preceded and lol- ' j lowed it. though the examples of Eliza- . t.-.th Fry, Florence Nightingale, and , Grave Darling— to lake a few famous , i instances—prove that heroic women I have existed in every age. indeed, an ! American authority lias maintained the ' , paradox that women are by nature " '■ I,raver than men and readier to face ! danger and pain. , ! They set an example by their calm . ! endurance of risk in the war. They ; , nursed in the hospitals, often under - j heavy gun-fire and under constant peril • ! of attack hv aircraft. There were even ’ ■ cases whole they fought with tho arj : mies. Aliss Flora Samles, for example, , : was attached to tho 2nd Serbian Infantry Regiment with her ambulance. , During the terrible retreat of 1915 ; the ambulance was unable to move, ; and. as she was told that her presence 1 .with the troops would encourage the : Serbians, she enti.'i'ed the Hegimeut | as a private, and went through evoiy subsequent cng.igomnt until she was [ demobilised in MHO. She was wounded i once and won. step by step, promotion i , to lieutenant's rank. Seeing that the 1 Seihiaii, Army Hid some of the fevere=t lighting of the war. it is doubtful whether her record for bravery has ever , been surpassed by n woman. . j In one rise at least- -the Uaekett- . Lowther unit women drivers under i Ali-s Toupie Lowther carried on lroiit- ' , line ambulance work with the French ' 1 army and their section was mentioned | in despatches and received the right to % bear on it- ambulances the Croix do Guerre. In another sphere, that of travel and ? adventure, women have given evidence 1 oi' their calm daring. 1 ; Ali" Alan' Kingsley travelled } • through AYos-r Africa unarmed. Airs , .Maty Gaunt, with no white coinpanj ions, made a perilous journey in the > same quarter, passing by a mountain famous a< a place of human sacrifice, ! and notoriously "unhealthy” for white • people. Englishmen who know the 1 country well, declare that this was one of the boldest nets performed by a i woman. . Airs McGrath (Rcsita Forbes) was re- • cently courageous enough to cross the ' Sahara to Kufra, the city cf the I'ana- ‘ tic-al So miss i. “These are the things that make life worth while,'- said Rhodes; as lie

rode hack from his parley with the Matabele rebels in the Matoppo Hills, whither he had gone unarmed with four companions to end bloodshed, and prevailed by sheer strength of character; and these instances prove that some women can feel as lie did.—(By T. E. in “Daily Mail.”)