THE LURE OF "THE FRONT."

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 6, Issue 284, 15 June 1917, Page 1 (Supplement)

THE LURE OF "THE FRONT."

—- WOMEN AND WAR WORK. By CICELY HAMILTON.

In Franco. J ho swift and crabarrassngly general response to the recent demand for women volunteer for auxiliary service 'n France ernphas'sos a tendency— not confined to women—to estimate "labour "at the front" moreJ.ii»h!y than labour at the rear, and to measure the value of war-wOl k to the nation l)\* tho nearness of the worker to the enemy's first lino of trenches. This, if a general, '.s a mistaken standaid of value; and it is with the object jf oonsolng those thousands of eager sc 11U who must necessarily bo disappointed in their hope of an overseas job that I 21m setting down the reasons which induce me to believe that many a stay-at-home woman s worth moro to her country than a comrade s'ho Olivias iti France. An experience of more than two years in Franco has convinced me that there is moro than one-specics of war-work in which proximity to the fighting-line must meitn periods of idleness unknown to the toiler in the rear; for the simple reason that the nearer you are to the trenches the more restricted is the area from which you diaw your sources of labour and activity. Take, for ins'anee, a hospital situated < lose up to the firingline—the kind of 1 ospital tho adventurous desire to work in. A Frenchwoman who nursed for some time in sue- 1 : a place assured me that she was occupied far moro steadily and busily since sho had been moved to another, some fifty miles to the renr. The first-line hospital served the needs of a short stretch of trenches only; its work was entirely sectional and dependent on local activity; and—though its capacity might be taxed to the utircst in the case of a combat in the neighbourhood—once ts patients had Ijeen sent to sifer quarters in the interior it might stand empty and unwanted for niintks, in the interval between two attacks. During such an interval tho staff waited in idleness; wh'lo baso hos'pitalo, further removed from the scene of hostilities, and served by a good line og railway, would be kept fairly steadily at work by tho arrival of relays of patients from a much wider section of the front. THE REAL TEST.

In the same way, and for tho .stame reason, the duties of a chauffeur in an overseas hospital—a position envied by many a girl chauffeur at homo may be heavy only bv fits and starts, and cnt:}il for the greater part of the year an existence oi' more than semi-idleness. Therefore, necessary an it- may be to keep healthy men and women in reserve for occasional spr.smod : c emergencies, there can lie no comparison !>etwecn the value of their work and that of their fellows employed further back in service that is steady and regular. The above are instances of comparative inaction that have come under my not'ee; but I have no doubt that there are many other tranches of war-work in which nearness to the enemy entails periods of waiting and idleness. It is where many linas converge and meet that demand never ceases, and workers have no cime to stand idle. Even when there is a lull in 'Jie trenches the munition worker is sweating to beat his own record; the docker is loading and unloading, and the farmer afield with his crops.

Let the women who plod at the rear, then—in offices, m munitions, on the land—have a good conceit of themselves and their work and a high estimate of its value; reecgir'sing that, in tho very nature of things, the call upon them must often be steadier and more continuous than the call upon thoso whose activities are more sectional and local. Let them realise tho truth of what I have said above—that it is' a mistake, and a great one, to measure their merits by a geographical stand .rd, and that the woman who puts in a day'* good work in Surrey is as much an asset to the nation as the cirpenter or chauffeur in Franco.

Thero is another impulse, inherent in tho breed, which makes service out of England attractive. We are a, restless and emigrant race; and, as such, the thought of removal from our borders, of seeing new -. ountries and hearing strange tongues, is never without its lure for us. For that reason alone authorities are bound to lie overwhelmed with applications for service overseas —nor do 1 see any to decry tho ra -ial impulse which willprompt thoso unending applications from all ,'Orts .and oondtions of women. Because they aro given the chance to (gratify an invred desire of the Briton, the conmgents of women who go abroad may well be envied by their sisters —but not for any other reason. The workers m Sommo or Pas do Ceila'rs will he luckier than the workers in H mpshire or Lanark-- luckier, but not more valuable.

A SPIRIT or ADVENTURE. Perhaps, too—almost certainly—.ll timo of war the idea of foreign service appeals not only to the Engl'slnvonn'ti s lovo of movement, hut to tl:o Englishwoman's ] lej'.fiiire in ;i risk. She shares with her brother a hankering W'ter hardship and a I king for personal danger: r.nd I have r.ot the laintest doubt that, lurking 111 the mind of many a volunteer for service beyond the Channel, if; the secret hope tl'.lut her work may bring her within range of the enemy's guns. Agam there is nothing to decry in this 1 atural a tlirT, fcr a momentary p.'-is ng through the Shadow of Death that will enhance tho uvlue of fj'le: and most ot us (even if we know them not) cry Amen in our h carta t° t ' l ° sayings of Adam I.indsav Cordon: No game was "ver \et wo'"h •- rap For a ration il man to play Into which 110 accident, 110 misHap, Could possibly I.lid its way.

Only—for the cons'.laticn of tho->e not selected for mm vice abroa 1, let here be recorded the per'cucc cf one wot'Kj.v in Kr;!iic<\ Slip—no rx f, <'j)tioii lived | e cefully w'thin the sound of the enemy's <;uns lor 111 • ■ ,j-ace. ; 1 about two vears; and knew 101 - the ■ '.rst time a iense of eneasii.es-. v. ben. h'.iving returned to l.ondoii l"r a ic.v weeks holiday. she w.e; awakened from her slum-Iser-i liy the arriv;*.l and dc.st re- t : on of il Zeppelin! . - - Nev 1 < nee in the rour.se <f lier long months in France had the war been brought 1 ome to her so per onallv ; a.nd hooting to tl'.e thud ot the London deic;:<es she | ondeved