| OCR Text |
Show 1. ; : , . "It takes a woman to know a vo-' vo-' man," said tho sage. If In tranquil times no man un-i un-i dcrstands women, in splto of his secret and egotistical belief to tho contrary, ho is dumbfounded by their emotions in moments of stress. Tho ancient Greek philosophers i could not explain the Amazons. His-ylf His-ylf torlans of 100 years ago marveled ' long and often over the inexplicable J actions of the women of the French revolution and tho Maid of Sargossa. Now modern war correspondents call tho women soldiers of the European Eu-ropean war phenomena. Tho woman wo-man warrior is fathomed much lets than tho capricious flirt by her mns-culino mns-culino companion. One woman, however, sees in this -infrequent but ago old prodigy of humanity a natural and inovilablo logic and a direct result of certain cer-tain specific causes, not tho capri- J clousness and inconsistency which holds the mind of man. Dr. Clara Seippcl of Chicago has studied women in sickness and in health, adding somo little measure of psychological observation to her professional duties as specialist in tlon tho women went mad, literally (H mad. They cut off heads, sabered victims, tore their enemies to pieces. Many students of the history of this period have held that most of the frenzy of tho moment was tho result re-sult of an extreme hysteria which s ., swayed theso viragos. Thero was - ' much hysteria and neurasthenia v i & - 11 r Jf m' tho "Ills that feminine flesh is heir to." She says: "I do not regard tho woman who fights In battle as a phenomenon, phe-nomenon, although men term her so. , The woman warrior is tho product of both barbarism and civilization. WOMEN ENLISTING !EN 31ASSE. "In the European war there are , many women enrolled among tho fighting forces, the most lecent re-? re-? port stating that xl,000 young Ser- . bian women between tho ages ot 18 ! ; and 25 were fighting sido by sido with their men. "Women of other nationalities aro represented on al-1 al-1 most every battlo front, j "Where the women havo enlisted 1 ea masso they havo been from tho I peasant class, but tho cultured women wo-men will follow them. From now on ' c shall see moro and more women 1 Boing into tho armies and risklug f their lives for their countries, I "These modern Amazons represent 1 an entirely different phaso of fem-I fem-I lnlnity than that offered to tho world j k by tho ancient militants and by tho women of tho French revolution. In I savage times it was customary for certain tribes and peoples to havo standards ot freedom and an approximate approx-imate equality of standing for their women. Tho wives of the Goths ' '. were vigorous, fiorco females, ready J' to fight side by sido with their lords on the road of conquest, to meet tho responsibilities and dangers of for-s for-s est life, share and share alike, with j their husbands. X "They were Inured to tho bard-1 bard-1 ships of their barbaric' existence and J I developed Into muscular, full-blood-1 ed creatures. Tho histories of prlni-J prlni-J itivo peoples show that tho women P who were permitted an opportunity i to become individualistic became cady wielders of tho battlc-ax. "When the Red Terror broke over - SaBSMHtha doy.Av ol pe xwolu- i 1 ' " , w tl " $ abroad in that time, but careful investigation in-vestigation will show that tho men were fully as subject to it as tho women. "Tho feminino terrorists represent a different phaso of tho general study of women warriors. Tho prim-tivo prim-tivo women fought partially through maternallsm, partly through a scdso of necessity, while tho French woman wo-man fought from sheer excess ot emotion. INSPIRED 1$T ' SENSE OF EQUALITI. "Tho modern woman soldier Is inspired in-spired by neither of theso two attitudes. atti-tudes. She goes Into actual war-faro war-faro becauso she feels sho is man's equal and that upon her devolves part of tho responsibility for national na-tional existence. Sho has borno tho burdens of peaceful industry, and now, in the crisis, feels a throb of patriotism. Tho peasant women may not understand tho higher feminism, fem-inism, they may bo struggling with no Idea of woman's new position in tho world, but the women of tho moro liberally educated classes who havo cither slipped off singly to 'do their bit,' or who havo organized armed regiments to defend their f homes In case of need, represent nothing more nor less thnn a part of tho general breakdown of tho traditional tradi-tional and false Avail that has grown up between Jho sexes. -rt.-,i. I L I 1 Wilde's painting, wTho 3rald of Samgossa," portrays the heroism of Agflbttna, fi'?W I whoso Instincts of maternalbm and loio of homo led her to captain . 'y. SyWy: ' ino men of tho ton in a ilctorlous attack upon tho French invaders, v!iEEf: ' ' VI I Motives of .Ancient, Medieval and I M VT A I ? ;! Modern Amazons i; "p'lKWm-f ' JW""f Immm ' x Legendary women fought out of viclousness and sense of freedom. ; '1 " ''tljLim f'&trifr - 11 1 Primitivo women, Goths, Bohemians and Caucasians, took up S M iM3ai i ii''BPi1' I T 'fllP arms out of mnternalism and necessity of self-preservation. B'lb ? r ESTtjSS&KStMJik w!-.-, nl - Joan of Arc was filled with religious superstition and hypnot- PiCSlS 'Mm fBBfc- i v .-.JFSfru " ? V Ism, having no normal Impulses of womanhood. mfc? I Ql u .yiBliLJ M? $ The viragoes of tho French revolution wero mad with hysteria !; wfeh " 'WSiW L JaHBIHK. ys V and neurasthenia. mSS&L? T 3&$&$2k&$M Ifev x!? V , f Tho Maid of Saragossa was inspired by- tho -spirit which defends jWf -'"'" - SCISWklrtt I 7 '$, !: its home. wfc' -k. ' SESK 1. , ym t Modern women soldiers of the European war aro of two classes ' Tm$ ' &' '3S(SMaimS S- '! those who aro accustomed to sharing tho manual labor and bur- ; ymf v y SKSK-aPPHl .'Wii ' ; dens of their peasant husbauds and thoso who aro examples of tho M? "f J- nil r ia' V ; ;, higher feminism which accepts its half of the struggle for national ' ""k "To my mind, tho whole belief that n great difference exists between the real natures of tho two sexes Is overdrawn. It is moro a question ot individuals than sexes. Men and women aro growing moro alike. Education Ed-ucation and positions In tho working work-ing world, familiarity with tho practicalities prac-ticalities of life, all havo instilled In modern women strength and constancy. con-stancy. "Cultivate and educato tho finer sonsos of men and women and you will sec less of theso so-called essential es-sential differences. "Women aro much more sentimental senti-mental than men, but largely so becauso be-causo they are trained to shov that . eld, pt theix .character, Jlejx arq . t schooled in repression of emotion and feeling. Ah an interne in a huge hospital I Baw hundreds of men in times of trouble and stress of mind, and, with few exceptions, they were fully as sensitive and tenderhearted tender-hearted as women. Physicians havo an opportunity to seo tho workings of tho mind in such times and observations ob-servations havo led mo to discountenance discoun-tenance most ot this talk about there being such Innate divergence in sex nature. "In highly civilized communities, whero the emphasis Is upon brain effort rather than upon manual labor, la-bor, woman rises to an equality with man." . .Quite lo thq contrary is man's Ono thousand Serbian women are flglitlng'besldo their men in tho ranks of the gamo littlo nation. V proverbial attitude as shown in his reports of women soldiers. Ancient historians marveled at the Amazons. Ama-zons. Greek chroniclers could not accustom themBOlves to tho presence pres-ence of tho regiments of womon in the army ot Mithradates V., King of PontU3, who camo warring upon the Roman colonies in Asia Minor at tho beginning of tho Christian era. Scythian auxiliaries In the person of theso women supported him bravely. Tho Roman historians expounded fully and long upon the Gothic captives cap-tives which tho Emperor Aurollan led back to tho Eternal City in 271 A. D. ' . .The, Caucausian Mountains for -1 centuries contained various independent inde-pendent bands of women fighters who subsisted on tho gamo they killed and upon tho villages they conquered. FA3I0US 1V03EEN FIGHTEKS. Civilized countries put them down as unexplained mysteries. Tho Maid of Saragossa acquired lasting fame during tho period of tho First Empire of France. Sho was regarded re-garded as a phenomenon. During tho campaign in which Napoleon's army invaded Spain the French soldiers sol-diers came to tho low-walled City of Saragossa, which was defended only by 120 soldiers and a few old guns. .,.j uwi -t- These two Australn girls, students t at tjio Unherhity of Vienna, aro soldiers of tho lino. Tho militant miss at tho right -ncars her recently re-cently acquired decoration for ' bra cry. I The legions opened tho attack. I Tho Spanish wero outnumbered and J upon tho point of giving up when . j Agostina, a girl of tho town, or- j 1 ganized tho women into companies i j of 200 each and put them upon tho 1 battlements with arms in their 1 hands. However, this device threat- . ened to fall, for tho French blow up ' tho city's powder magazine and j camo forward at tho charge. Tho . . 1 defenders started to fleo in dismay, j when Agostina seized a burning ' match and, leaping upon ono of tho j remaining cannon, discharged it in- I to tho thickest of the oncoming ! ranks. Her action so thrilled tho Spaniards that they met tho French- ', , , men hand to hand and held them at bay until tho British relieving forco arrived. Woman's place in this war tin- t doubtedly is much higher and more 1 . important than In any war of his- ) tory, and Dr. Seippcl is not alono, by any means, in her belief that tho feminine fighter is to be moro prominent prom-inent with every succeeding month of tho conflict. t 1 1 Jy |
