Marian Bonsall, who was sent to Japan by _The Housekeeper_
to prepare a series of articles on the home life of that
country, writes as follows of the Empress:
American women read with interest and admiration of the active
part taken by the Empress in Red Cross work during the war, and
of how she spent many hours out of her days in making bandages.
The effect of these bandages upon the wounded soldiers has
been of deep interest to medical and scientific men, for the
soldiers honored by them seemed to rally under a peculiar mental
influence. All other bandages were destroyed after their first
use; those made by the Empress were sterilized and used again
for the simple reason of their effect on the recovery of the
soldiers.
The Empress used to go personally to the hospitals many times,
and visit among the wounded. One of the servants of a friend
of mine in Tokyo, told her of his inability to speak when as a
wounded soldier he had lain in an army hospital and had been
addrest by the Empress. Tho she was so wondrously kind and
gracious he could not thank her, and even had he been able,
he said, he knew no words sufficiently polite. Then he added
proudly, “The Empress could not speak to every one, but the
soldiers are her children.”
(2358)