Photograph by Paul Thompson 

 WOMEN ENGAGED IN RESEARCH WORK FOR THE BENEFIT OF FRENCH SOLDIERS 



This war has given women their opportunity, which they have not been slow to seize 

 upon; but in no sphere of usefulness has this been more pronounced than in Red Cross work. 

 Here nurses are seen engaged in research work to benefit the particular cases they have in 

 hand. 



It had rained for two weeks and it still 

 rained. The battle ground, a great patch 

 of black, desolate earth, looked as if for 

 an age it had been submerged beneath the 

 slimy waters of some flood. Gaunt and 

 murky tree stumps marked the residue of 

 woodlands. A thousand shell pits pocked 

 the ground. Into these drained the top 

 soil of the earth in flux. 



The Germans kept up a sullen shelling 

 of the French trenches, zigzagging across 

 these fields of desolation. Depression 

 hung like a lowering cloud over the scene. 

 Yet as I passed along the communication 

 trenches I heard a voice in blithe song 

 issuing from the depths of a dug-out. A 

 sodden rain was falling, adding the last 

 dismal touch to conditions, yet the singer 

 chanted gaily : 



"Elle a perdu son parapluie, tant pis 

 pour elle." 



In a moment a mud-spattered soldier 

 appeared from the dark of the cave. 



"Good morning," he said, cheerily 

 throwing the carcasses of two huge rats 



over the parapet. "There goes the night 

 hunting." 



The cheerfulness of this soldier per- 

 sonified the spirit of France. 



WAR'S AWFUL COST TO FRANCE 



In the proportion to her population, 

 France has given more of her citizens to 

 battle than any other nation. It would be 

 valuable information to the enemy to give 

 the exact figures of losses, so the French 

 general staff publishes no record of the 

 cost of victory. But from a study of 

 such data as is available an estimate can 

 be made. Counting the dead, the per- 

 manently disabled, and the prisoners, 

 France's contribution to the holocaust of 

 war is more than two millions. 



The price France pays in flesh and 

 blood is a greater sacrifice than has been 

 yet demanded from any of the allied na- 

 tions. In computing the value of this 

 sacrifice, all the conditions of French 

 population must be taken into account. 

 Chief among these must be placed the ab- 



327 



