Show HEROISM OF FRENCH FRENCHWOMEN WOMEN EI RETOLD i BY AUTHOR W War Has Has Shown That Frequenters Frequenters Fre Fre- of Cafes and Streets Streets Not True Type REVELATION REVELATION TO WORLD Wives Vives and Daughters Have Taken 11 Miens Mien's ens en's Places ins in s 4 All Industrial Lines PARIS July 8 The 8 The remarkable remarkable remarkable remark remark- able effe effect t which the battle lof Verdun has had upon the women of of France is a subject of interesting interesting Inters Inter's inter Inter- esting s 's rio rio- comment in which such eminent lt authorities as Maurice Donnay Donnay Donnay Don- Don nay have havo taken part Tho The re remark remark re- re mark marle made by Mr vf vice e president president of the Russian duma on the Occasion occasion recently of ot his presence In n Paris to the effect that the allies alliE's would would have much to thank the kaiser f for i is bein being freely used In connection with fth the he noble attitude of the Frenchwomen Frenchwomen French Frenchwomen women of 1916 It is being generally stated in t the i 1 Ie allied countries that few knew the people of France before the war A distinguished French writer who has written much on his own country also recently made the tho same observation Few knew the people of France and still Kill fewer knew what admirable manifestations manifestations manifestations man man- of patriotism the French Frenchwomen Frenchwomen Frenchwomen women capable of The French woman is now a revelation revelation revelation tion tion for tor all aU the world says the noted Italian author Signor Signer Sarti and it is time that this fact should be made known to all the civilized world and that the misty Ideas kleas ts the legends and the erroneous notions which had formerly formerly formerly for for- merly gathered around the Frenchwomen Frenchwomen French Frenchwomen women should forever be dissipated dissipated The mist mist he i i grew grew from the slums of Paris an and J. J spread ad Those who lived in Paris before the war and es especially especially es- es those who went there seeking amusement often otten gathered the false Impression that the French woman was was' light and rather insensible and they formed this judgment from the products products products prod prod- of the Paris streets and from the heroines heroines of the novels plays and scandals scan scan- dals dais which were scattered about These ThE observers were not aware that the women whom they saw in Paris public res resorts at the race rate tracks In the thes s s. s and mUE music tc halls In the night restaurants th s smokers smokers of opium and the tan Vs ands ano the weaklings of the I Latin guar quarter and the celebrities of the cabarets were for the most part not French at all nil but hut were women recruited from all the countries of the world Nor were certain famous artists who were advertised for their ex extravagancies extravagancies ex- ex typical French women The real French women were practically practical practical- ly lv never seen at the Cafe Maxim in the Montmartre resorts at the extravagant balls at the eccentric festivals or at the gatherings where the rights of women were advocated War Showed True Qualities When the war broke out the women of ot France stood revealed just as the I French army stood revealed and Just as aJ the French people stood revealed I Not Oot a single one of them remained with arms folded Not a single one of them held back from the first duty ofa French woman Not one of them failed to answer the mobilization ap ap- ap peal which the country finally had to make to Its feminine element elf The spectacle has been touching and magnificent The great German onslaught at Verdun marked the culminating culminating cul cul- cul- cul demand lemand on the resources of heroism and patriotism of the French woman In rn France there are at present three associations of prominent women all alII gathered I around the French Red ned Cross I as a center and under the orders of the military authorities They have however how how- ever a certain autonomy These are the Society for Aid to Wounded Women Soldiers the Association of ot French and Women and the Union Union of the Women Women of France The first of these Is at present relief operating SOO hospitals three relief stations and seventy seventy infirmaries Infirmaries at railway stations It has already spent since the beginning of the has about In francs war It service nurses and 12 assistant assistant nurses Three armies of ot women of ot thus thus thus' constantly render wealth wounded soldiers i Another assistance to multitude multitudes working of women for of the the wealthy families classes s is families of soldiers for the mutilated blind 1 and for the diseased for tor Such the the is work of whatever women of means but to social rank they belong French women are showing an b ii equal equal energy and a like spirit of ThoSe self elt who are not working for state Are working for tor the public service the and are aro teaching in schools school and In i art I classes Those who are not working working work- work ing for the army are j I merce for industry working for agriculture for tor comI com com- i for more than a year women men have havo replaced mon men in in a hundred i varieties I ot of business Admirable and remarkable has been I the response of the working women to the call cal for call for laborers in the government munitions factories Women young and old have v volunteered have left lett the cities and have placed themselves practically under a 0 military regime to work In the great and factoriES factories fac fac- tories toriE'S w where ere arms and munitions are produced In 1914 the general mobilization of the French army completely disorganIzed the economic constitution of the country but immediately the feminine element clement started the wheels in in motion and in the great groot centers the mothers the wives v the sisters and the e daughters daugh daugh- a s of the e men ns who had gone o t to fight f t I for tor the defense of the country began beganI I to handle business to direct factories to keep accounts and to perform I work that previously had been conI considered considered con con- eldered as possible only for men It I was this prodigious feminine activity iJ which saved the country from financial financial finan finan- I cial catastrophe and even from famine I Mr DIr Viviani when premier in a aI i. i I 1 memorable proclamation praised the work performed by the French peasant woman during the first year of the war and declared that it would be bo forever impossible to appreciate at their due value the services thus rendered rendered rendered ren ren- dered to the state Today when another year has almost gone by the peasant women are working with agri agricultural agricultural ag ag- ri machines are taking care of the harvests and are raising live livestock stock I In In Flanders women are cultivating I the sugar beets are re loading them on canal boats and are hauling these boats along the water to the sugar fac fac- tories At present natives of Algeria and Madagascar are being trained to aid the French women in their agricultural agricultural tural work but the services which they have hitherto been able to render are of trivial importance in comparison with the work which the women themselves themselves themselves them them- selves are doing The Tho employment of ot female labor is isnow isnow isnow now so general genera that there is hardly any field of ot activity which is not I crowded with them They are even evenin evenin evenin in the military barracks I Colonel in command of a regiment at Caen recently made mado the experiment of putting women to work in the military barracks in place of soldiers in n the Infirmaries offices kitchens and laundries The experiment experiment experiment ment was regarded as a distinct success success suc suc- cess a double doable advantage being thus obtained as these women were able to earn a living for themselves and the men who had been employed in those services were sent to the front In the greatest military hospital of Paris that Paris that of ot Val de Grace Grace all all the soldiers who were employed In the kitchens have been replaced by women of the Red fled Cross and this example Is about to be followed in other hos hos- It Is however in the munitions factories that feminine labor has been utilized by the government In the largest way Statistics Issued by the war de- de how show tha in January last women were employed in the munitions factories Since then the number has been greatly Increased and it is stated that the courage and devotion of these women in working in the munitions factories has permitted permit permit- ted army corps of soldiers to togo togo togo go to too the front to fight the enemy i |