WOMEN AND WAR.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXVI, Issue 5, 12 May 1913, Page 4

WOMEN AND WAR.

Madame Jane Diculafoy, to whom of all Frenchwomen, a grateful Government has accorded, in consideration of her services to archaeology by her brilliant excavations in Persia, the right to wear masculine clothing, intends to organise a battalion of feminine reserves, states the Paris correspondent of a London newspaper. The proposal is not so advanced as it sounds at first gasp. For Madame Dieulafoy, in spite of the fact that “elle porte le pantalon,” is anything but a ferocious feminist. The militant suffragists would receive little sympathy from this modest and mildmannered little old lady. It is not of any band of trousered amazons that she dreams. But her own experience i?i the war of 1879, in which she “served,” dressed as a man, by her husband’s side, has convinced her that the services of women in time of war can be utilised far more extensively than so far they have been. There is an infinite deal of clerical and administrative work in offices and stores at present performed by men, which might with equal efficiency bo done by women. In this way a considerable body of “effectives” would be set free for active service. The organisation of this “battalion of women” Madame Dieulafoy intends to model on that of the Red Cross, which she considers perfect. Already she has submitted her project to the Minister of War, and received an encouraging answer, and already letters are reaching her I com would-bo recruits.