such proportions that by November, 1915, it was considered advisable
to affiliate it to the Joint Societies of the British Red Cross and
the Order of St. John, thus ensuring financial support and official
facilities of distribution. The work, however, has been carried on
throughout by Mrs. Gaskell and a voluntary staff of women helpers,
whose duties include the unpacking and sorting of the books; the
cleaning and mending of soiled and torn copies; the selection of books
by a careful system which ensures that each package shall contain a
choice of books and magazines to suit varied types of readers; and the
packing, addressing, and despatch to the hospitals. Under the present
arrangements 1810 hospitals are supplied in England and a fortnightly
consignment of books is sent to 272 hospitals in France, besides the
cross-Channel hospital service and hospital ships for the Colonies
and foreign service. Hospitals in East Africa, Bombay, Mesopotamia,
Egypt, Salonika, and Malta receive every month thousands of books and
magazines, the continuous supply travelling smoothly to its destination
of ambulance, casualty clearing station, or base hospital. Under the
post-office scheme, several thousand books, papers, and magazines are
received weekly, but in addition many gifts of books are sent direct to
the War Library. There is also a large department of the War Library
for the purchase of new books to mix with those given. A touching and
remarkably successful feature, a suggestion of Mr. Rudyard Kipling, is
a thin scrap-book for men who are very ill, made by devoted helpers
amongst the public, in answer to a special appeal. A small department
for games and puzzles has also been started in response to urgent
requests from the hospitals.
Efforts are always made by the workers at the War Library to meet the
individual needs of special cases brought to their notice, and this
personal touch with patients in hospital is of infinite value. Men with
long months of life in bed before them have been enabled, by means
of the books thus provided, to study for particular professions and
trades. “It is our special boast,” says Mrs. Gaskell, “that no request
for literature has ever been refused by the War Library, even to
selecting and packing 20,000 books in twenty-four hours, or again such
a request as we had from no less than three Colonial hospitals, who
asked for the _Encyclopædia Britannica_ in forty volumes!”
The effects of the work of the War Library are so far-reaching as to be
incalculable. It is safe to say that no small group of women, such as
Mrs. Gaskell and her helpers, can have done more throughout the war to
cheer the lonely and depressed, to amuse and interest the weary, and
to turn the minds of men in pain to fresh channels which help them to
forget their suffering.
The work of the Camps Library was started in October, 1914, and now
consists of the colossal task of providing a systematic and regular
supply of literature to the whole of the British Army. No application
is necessary--a box or bale, varying in quantity according to the
number of men, is sent out automatically about once every month or six
weeks to every unit--however small--in every theatre of war. The scheme
was originated by Colonel Sir Edward Ward, when making arrangements
for the reception of the Overseas troops on Salisbury Plain. He then
saw how necessary it was for the men to have books and magazines, and
he asked the Hon. Mrs. Anstruther to assist him in forming libraries
for the use of the men in their leisure hours, to relieve the monotony
of the long evenings in isolated camps. From this comparatively small
beginning the present system has grown up, and now every commanding
officer can form a lending library of bound books for the use of his
men, in every camp or regimental institute at home or abroad. These
libraries of bound books are in addition to the bales of general
literature which go out from the Camps Library to all units serving
with the British Expeditionary Force, the Mediterranean Expeditionary
Force, and the Indian Expeditionary Force. Each box or bale contains
the greatest possible variety of literature, from a classic or standard
novel to the most highly coloured penny novelette. Magazines and
picture papers are always included--in fact, there is in each box
sufficient variety to suit all tastes. Books and magazines are passed
from unit to unit--till they literally fall to pieces, for the life of
a book under war conditions cannot be a long one,--and the request for
“more” is loud and persistent.
Besides these automatic consignments, special applications may be made
by the chaplains of all denominations attached to the armies in every
theatre of war, who then receive for distribution fortnightly boxes in
England or France, or monthly bales on the remoter fronts. The Camps
Library also supplies light literature to those soldiers whose need is
greater than any others’--the prisoners of war; and large libraries
have been formed at most of the prisoners’ camps in Germany. Prisoners’
literature is further supplied under the Board of Education, which has
started a special department for sending them books on educational and
technical subjects, and prisoners’ individual requests are dealt with
there.
When it is realised that since the beginning of the war over 9,000,000
publications have been handled at the Camps Library, some idea of the
scope of the work may be gained. It speaks worlds for Mrs. Anstruther’s
powers that she has been able to establish a smooth-running
organisation on such a gigantic scale, but she and her helpers are
more than rewarded for their efforts in the realisation of how much
their work has meant to the soldiers. Appreciation and thanks pour in
from all parts of the world. The reception of the books can be best
described in a soldier’s own words: “It was a very wet day, and most of
the men were lying or sitting about with nothing to do. When I said I
had a box of books to lend, they were round me in a moment like a lot
of hounds at a worry, and in less than no time each had got a book--at
least, as far as they would go round. Those who hadn’t been quick
enough were trying to get the lucky ones to read aloud. It would have
done you good to see how the men enjoy getting the books.... Can we
have more, as many more as you can spare?” Another officer writes: “My
battery has been in action since the beginning of November, 1914, and I
can honestly say that no enterprise, public or private, has helped us
more to keep the men amused and contented than the books sent by the
Camps Library.” Letters such as these are eloquent testimony to workers
whose labour has accomplished such a fine achievement.
XX
MISS LILIAN RUSSELL AND MISS ALICE BROWN
Miss Lilian Russell and Miss Alice Brown are amongst the ladies who
are working in one of the branches of the Y.M.C.A. work in France--the
hostels for the relatives of the wounded. The medical officers in the
various hospitals in France are empowered to telegraph to the parents,
wife, or sweetheart of any soldier whose condition they consider
critical. At the request of the military authorities, the Y.M.C.A.
undertook nearly two years ago the work of meeting, housing, and caring
for the relations during their stay. The sight of their own people has
undoubtedly saved the lives of many patients by reviving their desire
to live, even in cases which the doctors had thought to be hopeless.
Many women are giving themselves with the utmost devotion to the work
of managing these hostels. The following accounts are given as typical
workers’ experiences.
Miss Alice Brown and her sister, Mrs. Ballantyne, have been in charge
of a hostel for many months, and no more poignant human experience
can be imagined. At the end of ten months over 1200 people had stayed
with them, though there is accommodation for only about twenty people
at a time. Miss Brown and Mrs. Ballantyne look after their visitors
entirely during their stay, and with two or three voluntary helpers
they keep the house and cook for a household which sometimes numbers
fifty. Writing of her life at the hostel, Miss Brown says: “We have all
our meals with our visitors, and family prayers after breakfast bring
a quaint and cosmopolitan household together. They come from all parts
of Great Britain and Ireland. There are also wives who have followed
their husbands from Canada to England, and brothers of New Zealand and
Australian boys who have been sent straight down from the line. They
stay with us as long as the O.C. at the hospital thinks necessary. The
patients are not usually told that their relations are coming until
they are actually on the spot, and then great are the joys of meeting.”
Sometimes visitors have stayed with Miss Brown at the hostel for many
weeks, and on one occasion a baby was born there, whose mother had come
out to see her badly wounded husband.
From time to time there come the tragedies of the relations who arrive
too late, and then it is that the ladies of the hostels can comfort
and befriend these poor stricken people, go with them to the military
funeral, and help them to return to England. Indeed it is mostly sad
work, for the relatives are sent for only in the very dangerous cases,
and sometimes they stay on through weeks of anguish and suspense;
but Miss Brown strives to keep up an atmosphere of cheerfulness and
courage, following the wonderful examples from the hospital wards, and
there is an unwritten law in the hostel that no one must break down.
As an illustration, Miss Brown once described an occasion when she
found a girl sobbing bitterly in the hostel sitting-room. On asking
what was the matter, she was told that the girl’s brother was to have
his foot amputated. “Oh, that’s nothing,” said Miss Brown, and was
astonished afterwards, when she had comforted her visitor, at what must
have seemed heartlessness on her part; but the loss of a foot is indeed
nothing as compared with many cases.
Miss Russell’s work is somewhat different in character, for the hostel
which she manages is at one of the chief bases, and is the clearing
station at which all the relatives coming to France arrive. From this
base they are then posted on to the various hospitals, some having to
be sent eighty miles by motor. The work here is very strenuous, for
it means perpetual comings and goings, and there are always twenty
to thirty relatives resident at this hostel, besides those who pass
through. The workers can never, at any hour of the day or night,
feel safe from fresh arrivals, for whom food and accommodation have
to be provided pending the uncertain departures of boats and trains.
Miss Russell reports that in most cases the relatives are touchingly
grateful. A welcome for all who come is never lacking, but the work of
hostel helpers is exhausting, physically and mentally, and relentless
in its demands on their sympathy. One of Miss Russell’s privileges is
a permit giving her the entry into all the hospitals, so that she is
able to keep in touch with some of the soldiers after their people
have returned, if they are, as she says, “homesick, and in need of
a little extra spoiling.” In a letter to a friend she writes: “The
opportunities this bit of one’s work gives are inestimable, and the
example of the patient, faithful work the sisters do is the greatest
help and comfort. Everything, I think, pales before their glory--second
only to that of the soldiers in courage, sacrifice and devotion. As
to the men themselves, I can’t write of what they almost all are--how
self-forgetful, modest and unselfish down to the very gates of death.”
To those who wait in the shadow of suspense and anxiety which hangs
over so many English homes, it is indeed a consolation to know that, if
their soldier should be lying in danger, his own people will be able
to go to him. This privilege is available for rich and poor alike, the
Government being responsible for the cost of their journey and visit,
however long the relations may stay.
XXI
MISS DOROTHY MATHEWS AND MISS URSULA WINSER
At a great women’s meeting held recently in London, Mr. Prothero, the
Minister for Agriculture, used the following words:
“I do not pretend that work on the land is attractive to many women.
It is hard work--fatiguing, backaching, monotonous, dirty work in
all sorts of weather. It is poorly paid, the accommodation is rough,
and those who undertake it have to face physical discomforts. In all
respects it is comparable to the work your men-folk are doing in the
trenches at the front. It is not a case of ‘lilac sunbonnets.’ There is
no romance in it: it is prose.”
But in spite of all the difficulties which agricultural work presents
for women, they are taking it up in ever-increasing numbers, in view of
the country’s necessity. The success of women in agriculture is largely
due to a splendid organisation, the Women’s National Land Service
Corps, formed privately, but now working in close co-operation with the
Government departments. This corps first advertised the necessity for
the employment of women on the land, and initiated opportunities for
their training on a large scale.
[Illustration:
WOMEN ON THE LAND: (1) MOTOR THRASHING MACHINE: (2) MISS MATHEWS WITH A
CULTIVATOR
_Alfieri_
_To face page 115_ ]
Miss Dorothy Mathews and Miss Margaret Hughes are two typical
workers, educated women used to comfortable surroundings, who have
come forward to fill the places of the men who have gone to fight.
Miss Mathews and Miss Hughes are engaged in the heaviest forms of
agricultural work, which, however, they report to be quite within the
power of women. The healthy outdoor life and the work itself naturally
tend to increase strength, “and,” said Miss Mathews recently, “we are
astonished at the ease with which we do things that seemed almost
impossible some months ago.”
The usual farm day starts with milking, and when this is done the
serious work begins, varying according to the season of the year.
The field work is of course the heaviest, but Miss Mathews and Miss
Hughes each takes out her own team of horses for ploughing and
harrowing, and as they are working in a very hilly part of the country,
in Herefordshire, this is exceptionally hard. Writing to a friend
recently, Miss Hughes said: “On our first morning at the farm we were
put straight on to ploughing a field up on the hills, with a glorious
view across the Wye Valley and right on to the Malvern Hills. Happily,
we managed quite well, though we were in a ‘blue funk,’ having only our
one month of training-college experience to go on. We went on ploughing
practically every day, and our last piece of work before the frost set
in was to help plough up an eight-acre piece that had been under grass
for eleven years--it was a business!”
As well as ploughing and sowing the fields, these girls do manure
carting and spreading, grinding, and root-pulling. They also groom the
horses, mix the food, feed the stock, and clean out the cowsheds and
stables. Describing another branch of her work recently, Miss Mathews
wrote: “During the severe weather we had a strenuous time thrashing.
All hands were requisitioned, and the engine was kept going from
7.30 a.m. till 6 p.m., with only an hour’s break for lunch. This, of
course, meant very hard days and long hours, not to mention the dust.
Miss Hughes and I were put on to pitching from the rick, and mighty
strenuous work it is. It was amusing to discover that we had the most
tiring job; naturally there wasn’t a rush for it by those who knew.”
In addition to their farm work, Miss Mathews and Miss Hughes do their
own cooking and housework; therefore they are really doing a man’s work
outside, but without the prepared meal and the immediate rest that most
men can look forward to after work.
Another branch of agriculture which women are beginning to take up with
success is work with heavy motor tractors.
Miss Ursula Winser and Miss Mollie Jameson are good examples of
women who do this sort of work. These girls have been driving a
tractor-plough in Shropshire. They volunteered for the work at a time
when the local farmers were in despair at their inability to use the
only tractor in the district, the last available driver having been
called up for military service. The girls had had some experience of
motors, Miss Winser having been “chauffeur and odd man” when working
as a V.A.D. in a hospital at the beginning of the war. She was not
accustomed, however, to a type of car of which the starting-handle
alone weighs many pounds. Moreover, in order to be taken along a road
from one field to another, a tractor requires to have the “spuds” taken
off the wheels. These are strips of steel, put on with two bolts and
nuts each, and there are twelve spuds on each wheel, usually thickly
covered with mud and oil, so their removal is no drawing-room job. But
Miss Winser and her friend were not to be daunted. In spite of their
lack of experience, and further hampered by a large audience, which
assembled, in a spirit inclined to mockery, to watch their efforts
during their first days of work, they ploughed on in the most literal
sense, conquering their difficulties and gradually acquiring mastery
over the tractor. Miss Winser and Miss Jameson take the work of driving
the tractor and managing the plough by turns, the former being very hot
and the latter very cold work. They have now worked the tractor for
some months, taking it over considerable distances to farms all through
the district. They are able to plough from four to five acres of land
in a day, and have recently started training some of the local girls in
this work.
XXII
MISS EVELYN LYNE AND MISS MADGE GREG
In addition to their great hospital work, the Joint Societies of the
British Red Cross and the Order of St. John have established many of
what may be called the additional links in the long hospital chain
which stretches with such perfect organisation from the spot where the
soldier is wounded on the battlefield to the point where he is able to
return with renewed strength to duty. The accounts which follow of the
experiences of two workers illustrate the similar lives of many other
“V.A.Ds.”
[Illustration:
MISS EVELYN LYNE MISS MADGE GREG
_To face page 119_ ]
Miss Evelyn Lyne went to France in October, 1914, as cook in the first
Voluntary Aid Detachment to be sent abroad. The detachment was to start
a rest station at one of the base railway stations for feeding and
re-dressing the wounded as they came through in the hospital trains
from the front. A series of railway luggage-vans drawn up on a siding
had to serve as the headquarters of the detachment, which Miss Lyne
described as follows: “We had very hard work and great fun scrubbing
and disinfecting the vans; they looked beautiful when finished, and
were equipped as a kitchen, dispensary, dressing station, store-room
and common room respectively. No one would believe what a charming
kitchen a railway truck made. Besides the kitchen we had a very long
fire burning between old railway lines arranged at the right distance
to support the huge pots for making cocoa, six pots at a time, so that
we could have enough for 300 boiling at once. We worked day and night
at the rest station in twelve-hour shifts, and, being a humble cook, it
was my lot to stand for hours over the fire stirring cocoa, sometimes
in the pouring rain, and with smoke belching into my eyes.” As a rule
the rest-station workers were given only an hour’s warning of the
arrival of a hospital train, and then had to prepare food for from 300
to 800 wounded men. When the trains came in, the workers would take
their cauldrons of cocoa or soup and baskets of food on handcarts to
the carriages. “No words can ever express how splendid the wounded men
were,” wrote Miss Lyne: “one never heard a complaint, and we were so
thankful to be able to do just that little for them.”
Later Miss Lyne was sent to cook for between eighty and ninety nurses
at their billet in an old château at one of the hospital bases. This
was hard work indeed, for she was the only cook, and had eight meals
a day to serve. The nurses were on Army rations, so a whole sheep or
the quarter of a bullock would be left at the door daily, and Miss
Lyne soon became an expert butcher! When later she had to return to
England she wrote: “I shall always look back on those days in France as
the happiest time of my life.” She is now working as an inspector of
hostels under the Ministry of Munitions.
Miss Madge Greg has been doing rest-station work since January,
1915, and has been quartered at various stations on the lines of
communication. Starting a new station entails hard work, and the
workers need to show resource and quickness, and the ability to adapt
their arrangements on the instant to existing conditions, however
inconvenient and uncomfortable they may be. Railway trucks or a goods
shed have had to be transformed in a few hours into a spotlessly clean
dressing station, where men could be brought from the improvised
ambulance trains to have their wounds re-dressed.
On one occasion the unit with which Miss Greg was working received a
message that unexpected special trains were on their way, and could not
be drawn up at the existing rest station. Within an hour the workers
managed to get their stores and apparatus moved round to another part
of the line. “And,” writes Miss Greg, “by 7 a.m. we had everything in
readiness within the new dressing station, and ten boilers of hot cocoa
out near the trains. There followed days and nights of continuous hard
work, and more trains than ever before--this was our experience of the
battle of Loos.”
With time the rest stations were housed in proper huts, and also, as
the number of fully-equipped hospital trains increased, the need for
dressings was no longer so urgent. A later development has been an
arrangement for small wards at some of the rest stations, where bad
cases could be brought from the trains and 48-hour cases from among the
local troops could be treated.
In many ways rest-station duty is very trying, for the work is
necessarily so unevenly divided. Times of rush come after the heavy
fighting, when there is no respite by day or night. But workers like
Miss Greg and her companions never spare themselves fatigue or effort.
The only thing that matters is that no ambulance train should find them
unprepared, no wound should suffer for want of fresh dressing, no cold,
tired soldier should be disappointed of his hot drink. The rushes are
followed by long periods when there is hardly enough work to fill the
day, and the girls become conscious of the grim, draughty surroundings
of the railway station, which form the entire horizon of their life.
They have, however, found many other little ways of service, such
as undertaking all the laundry arrangements for the sisters nursing
permanently on the ambulance trains, starting a lending library, and
doing “little things” for the soldiers on the leave trains. It is just
in the doing of these “little things” that Red Cross workers, amongst
whom Miss Greg and Miss Lyne are typical, are performing such valuable
service. There is little excitement and no limelight in a life such as
they lead, and it entails hard work at any hour of the day or night,
whenever they may happen to be called upon. But their reward lies in
the moments of cheer and brightness which they have been able to bring
to so many thousands of suffering men, in that never-ending procession
of pain ebbing away from the battlefields. Their kind ministrations
have changed a dreary wait in a cold, dull station into an episode that
soldiers who have passed through will remember with thankfulness--a
moment of respite, bringing new courage, warmth, and comfort when all
were sorely needed.
XXIII
MRS. LEACH
In the summer of 1915 the Women’s Legion, a war organisation started
by Lady Londonderry, represented to the War Office that the services
of women might be used in cooking for the troops. Various obvious
advantages were connected with the suggestion. There was only a
limited and insufficient number of men trained as Army cooks, and the
introduction of women to do work which naturally falls within their
sphere would thus release men for tasks which they alone are suited to
undertake. It must also be a considerable gain to any troops to have
their cooking managed by highly trained women able to devote their
whole time to the work, rather than by men to whom this was only one of
other military duties. As a result of these representations, permission
was obtained in August, 1915, for one hundred cooks to start work as an
experiment in certain of the military convalescent camps.