WOMEN AND THE WAR 



"To brave hearts nothing is impossible.'' 1 — -Joan of Arc. 



"In this tragic hour my message to every woman in Britain is: — Be brave! — sure 

 in the victory that awaits my brave countrymen and their Allies. Men must fight, 

 but this is not the time for women to weep. They must be strong in faith, active in 

 war- work, inspiring as ever by their love and patriotism the magnificent courage of 

 their countrymen. France will never forget what Britain has done and is doing — French 

 women and British women join hands in a bond of mutual sympathy and affection, 

 rejoicing together in the renewed hope of our glorious future and of our eternal friendship 

 cemented in the war." — Sarah Bernhardt. 



"Our women — they are superb." — General Joffre. 



THE APPEAL OF AN ENGLISH SCHOOLGIRL 



"Night after night the big ships sail out into the starlit darkness, carrying men, 

 and yet more men, away from the peaceful shores of Britain to the reddened fields of 

 France, or the sandy beaches of Gallipoli. Cheerful and confident, the men go forth 

 to battle for us, and we women are left at home, face to face, many of us for the first 

 time in our lives, with anxiety, sorrow, and dire need. Few men are left, and they are 

 needed in the arsenals and munition factories; therefore on the women of the nation 

 falls the burden of producing the food supplies. No longer is it true true that "men must 

 work and women must weep" — all must put their shoulders to the wheel, and answer 

 the country's call in this her hour of need. Now that the highways of the ocean are 

 less safe than of yore, it is imperative that more food should be produced in the country 

 itself, so that the Army, the Navy, the wounded, and, above all, the children, who 

 will be the future men and women of the Empire, may be adequately supplied. At a 

 time when the nation is being called upon to bear a tremendous strain morally, physi- 

 cally and financially, it is of the utmost importance that the food supply should be well 

 maintained. But how can this be unless the women lend their help? Women of 

 England! here lies your great opportunity, which may not come again! For years you 

 have claimed equal rights with men, show now that you are worthy of them, and can 

 fill a man's place." 



— Eilidh Hay Forbes, in The Journal of Agriculture. 



BRITISH WOMEN AND THE WAR 



"Two hundred and fifty thousand women are working in the War Munitions 

 Factories of Great Britain." 



Apart from these everyday occupations, British women have swarmed into the 

 factories of the big centres for war work, and a large proportion of them are women who 

 never before have had anything to do with factory life. At a Coventry shell-making 



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