WOMAN'S WORLD.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 178, 6 January 1915, Page 6

WOMAN'S WORLD.

THE OLD STORY. Says a writer in the Sydney Bulletin:—Something of ;i mild sensation lias been caused amongst Red Cross I workers by ;i letter from a couple of soldiers at llabaul, who told how, after ! paying !s lid for seme pyjania< in a lt><-£< - .-ix re, they found rotes in llie P" ; kits .-I I '.v.iiiLf that (lie garments ha:l 1 een |ii pared by Sydney woiiicn ufroe jsifts to the troop-:. Labored explanatio'is an • . ■ < -:|>■ i (I. I ).', i.' V.'iione has rot yet seen Here it 13 — bald ...lid unbeantit'n). Somebody i"" th : Ual-iul iiiu ha.- been making i h't . Ii the South African War base til jn-ts . elo d'.'milled with presents fo the. troops which the carrier never saw, and quarter-ma-i.<io waxed fa' i.n.! '.sisll, even to the purchase of pubs when they M iimed to their native land. liigger nun limn these, too, had a cut. Vast quantities of the sttilF worked so laborVi'MV ly Australian women and girls for (Kir men at the S'Africnn front went, through low-down Kaflir kar.t >ors, kej i by dew "fences," to Lie/ comi'orting of Bamto transport drivers—or W>;:fe.

A NEW ZEALAND GIRL AT HOME. The following is an extract from a letter written by Jliss 3label Phillips, foui'erly of New Zealand, and now of Tyncmouth, to a friend in Sydney:— "You will probably be surprised to know I am in this 'daily expecting bombardment' place. A has taken a I furnished house here to be with B . who is on the stall' and working nio.-t of the night. lie expects to go with the New Zealand contingent. I cannot complain of lack of excitement so far. The big builders are only a few miles away. There they are, working night and day, and are considered a fine target for German bombs. From this house, almost on the beach, we can see the examining cruisers, and this morning saw a small fleet being allowed in. Indeed, it is a very hot-bed of defence —80,000 troops in the neighborhood. There is one continual tramp of small companies, and, over everything, a thick mist, such a stern grey sort of place, with many house:; barricaded, and troops billeted ill every conceivable pluco. There a.re two officers sleeping here, but one never sees them, as they are working m:>st of tlie night. If any craft attempts to come in, the guns go. Just now wo beard—first one (to stand), then two quickly (to the bows), three would mean sinking her. Evidently she stopped then, and by the time I got to the window the searchlight was on lier. One of Krupp's managers has had a house here for years. B—>[ has just heard that he was seen in the place to-day. This is quite a celebrated place for storms and fogs. So, what with the war arrangements, it ought to be fairly livelv."

FAMILIES UXUER FIRE. One of the most striking phases of tile campaign in Belgium lias been the facility with which th" peculation accept the. business of wsr as a part of their ordinary life, writes Mr. IVmval Phillips, uf the London I)aih Ex; )IVSS. \\ omen who I»j! \i' never heard a r ua fired until two months ago now go about th:/r Imwh'M duties with the thundi r of artillery shaking the win-' (lows ai.il a lli'; of wounded soldiers pasSift# the hi,v.t (Lor. tIK-iv way to a. first-aid liop Oh' I .' .. play about among the gun liin!v: - that are drawn up under a cover of a hedge, while the battery of which tliev are a part is vigorously shelling the advancing Germans from a field near by. I have never been able fullv to accustom myself to these sharp contrasts between peace and war. They abound on all sides. One moment you are almost convinced that the German menace is a myth, and that the soldiers who pass are merely taking part in manoeuvres.

CZARINA AND DAUGHTERS WORK AMONG WOUNDED. Petrograd, October 28 (by mail to N'cw York).—(Almost in the sliadaw of the Imperial Palace in Tzarskoy Selo the winter home (if Emperor Nicholas, there is a low building, half hidden behind villas, artificial ruin., and triumphal arches, which is perhaps the most remarkable Imspital improvised during the pivseni war. Soldiers come out not only healed and sound but with a. strange sort of exaltation Hint one might expect to lind in a patient cured by fi miracle. The building was formerly the barracks ot tile Imperial C'uards, but during the absence of the troops It lias been converted to the use of the wounded, and it is supported by funds at the disposal of the Minister of the Imperial Court. At the. hpei-ial request of tiie Kmpress a part of the building has lirwi set ;ih.!c at the Court hospital, wher.' the Kmpivss ami. her two eldest 'iau-1-the Crand Duchesses UI;H ami Tabiana, work among the other ftf'd Cross mirsc from ten everv mor:iing till late in the afternoon* There nothing cither in the nahire ihe:r v. iiv or in the appearance of their grey u T 'i'■ *:'lj:mn unMorn:-" and whi;e nun-like j :iirui *!i them from the others. !'> ■' v ;if' ";d I'-efureS Oil SU gh;al and IM ir ir. . HI, \} u . „i] M>r student !»'!•■• -s. dress v.-oimd; with th-ir own ;i:i:n[-, M--ist in operations, make 1 " «'< ;i :)■ medienl slalf. and pari ieij.;,: > :gi'lHT;i] 1 ; I'e Ul' !!.■ hospital i;- a)i iis deiails. Their r.t~\ £ U not made {he M \\

<>r iv-j'it*. fr..m tli.t hur.! ~r u;iplcasa 111 iii"-s of til,, daily mntinr. At all tin; lii'i-L diflu-iitt nperatioiis her Majesty .id- ■ lic:kl (111,-sr, hr.|j,!!li!r I]v operating -m-eon Lis in-:; while tli'i two mml. duches-es j,riss tin-nu-.*sar\ c!..tl,s and bandars. 111 has Wn tile desire of tin- Empress tluil her two work exclusively in tin' war.l f..r private soldiers, ami instructions Tiavc been issued to all nurses ami orderlies Hint f!„. incognito of tlie Titiporin 1 nurses be a strict secret, notwillistnndin;; their identify Ims become known. The of (h : \ Imperial presence, on the simple peasant mind cannot be fully appreciated witli-

out understanding the religious awe which the peasant feels towards the Imperial family. The actual presence of members of the. family at the bedside strikes them in itself as nothing less than a miracle.

The. semi-religions exultation of the wounded soldiers has, according to the surgeons in the hospital, noticeably hastened their return to health. One reservist from northern Russia had to be restrained from disturbing the ward by iiis joyful repetition of the fact that "the little mother talked to me and gave me my medicine." Another patient declared with apparent conviction that he hail grown five years younger because the bandages on his arm had been changed by one of the grand duchesses. Once a week the Emperor himself visits the hospital with his young son and two youngest daughters, Marie and Anastasia. During these visits it is custom to make the entire rounds of tlie lit beds for privates and twentynine for officers, and to question the men as to how they receive* their wounds. All the hospitals in Tsarskoye Solo and Pavlosk are under the patronage of the Empress and the wounded are conveyed from the hospital trains in the automobiles of the Imperial garage. At [■resent the ordinary ceremonial life of i the Court is suspenital while high officials, many of whom serve on hospital committees, and ladies of the Court vie with one another in contributing time j and money to improving the conditions i of the wounded Russian soldiers.