April 10, 1915 
LAND AND WATER 
THROUGH THE EYES OF A WOMAN 
By MRS. ERIC DE RIDDER 
A Vanished Type. 
ONCE upon a time a very clever, humorous artist 
drew a very clever, humorous picture called : 
" The Lady Who Will Not Be Ignored." There 
she was, as true to type as anything ever put 
upon paper. It was the day when skimpy 
skirts, gigantic hand-bags, and hats with sky-scraper plumes 
almost as tall as their wearers, were indicated to a long- 
suffering public. Some 
women compromised, 
adopting the fashions 
with modifications as 
Englishwomen very 
frequently do. Others 
flatly refused to have 
anything to do wth 
the modes at all, and 
a third class went to 
the other extreme. 
They wore skimpier 
skirts, more aggressive 
hats, and carried more 
arm-breaking and 
colossal bags than any- 
body else. They were 
determined to make an 
impression, resolved 
not to be overlooked. 
Among them was 
" The Lady Who Will 
Not Be Ignored " ; the 
flamboyance, and fun, 
and foolishness of the 
thing was irresistible. 
That perhaps was 
flamboyant fashion at 
its height. But though 
the fashion died, flam- 
boyance continued to 
flourish in various 
stEiges and degrees. 
And now it has van- 
ished from our midst 
very quietly, very sud- 
denly, very unmistak- 
ably. Coats and skirts 
are our staple form of 
wear. All the big shops 
say that they are sell- 
ing little else. There is 
a ban on bright colours. 
there is a ban on ex- 
aggeration of design. 
In a word, we are un- 
obtrusive. Good taste 
in clothes has becone a shibboleth. It is amongst the first 
fruits of the war, and a result with which few will quarrel. 
The passing of the Flamboyant Lady, indeed, is a relief both 
to the eyesight and mind. 
The Business Side. 
It is one thing to provoke interest, quite another to keep 
that interest maintained. Every promoter of a charitable 
scheme realises that. Public support is certain to flag if 
public interest be not carefully cultivated and nutured. Even 
the best of causes is apt to suffer, if its virtues, its aims, and 
its workings be not continually trumpeted abroad. It is one 
of the sad proofs of the fickleness of human nature. It is a 
proof, also, of its forgetfulness if reminders are not constantly 
forthcoming. That being so, it seems amazing that the 
business side of a big charitable undertaking is so repeatedly 
neglected. Appeals are often couched in the prehistoric 
language of charitable officialdom. They are conventional, 
monotonous and lifeless. And in consequence they fail in 
their object, or at any rate reap no full measure of success. 
It would be well worth many a society's while if those re- 
sponsible spent part of the funds upon the salary of an expert 
advertisement writer. Its cause may be one of the best on 
earth, but it is not always enough to allow this to speak for 
itself. Sbmebody well graduated in the art must speak for 
it. And this not once, but many times, if the funds are to 
continue growing. If a society is to flourish, it must be run 
upon the lines of an up-to-date business establishment. The 
societies which do flourish are those who realise this, ancj 
pave the way for funds as the shopkeeper paves the 
Copyright, Madame Lallie Charles. LADY WIMBORNE 
Who has helped to dispatch a Nursing Unit to Serbia, in response to an urgent 
appeal from those in authority there. Lady Wimbome is the new Vicereine 
of Ireland, her husband having been chosen as successor to Lord Aberdeen 
way for a sale. In the first days of the war, it is quite likely 
that calculated pleading on behalf of a cause was not necessary. 
Organisations first in the field had the advantage of an awakened 
interest. Everybody was eager to help and attention very 
alive. Time has passed, and there is, perhaps, a plethora of 
charitable endeavour. It will be a case of the survival of the 
fittest. The fittest, not only in object, but in presentation 
of that object to the public upon whose support it depends. 
The " Land and 
Water" Motor 
Ambulance. 
|ti^ War is so much a 
man's business that 
we women are only too 
glad to find any way 
in which we can help. 
If we cannot fight our 
country's battles 
directly, we can cer- 
tainly do so indirectly 
by helping those men 
who are fighting for us 
in the allied cause. It 
is, as E^ matter of fact, 
almost the sole way in 
which we can help, and 
that being so, it is 
fortunate it happens to 
be an unusually im- 
portant one. It is for 
this reason that the 
" Land and Water " 
Ambulance, through 
the very nature of its 
work, makes a special 
appeal to women. This 
has been proved by the 
generous way in which 
women have already 
subscribed towards it. 
Is it too much to ask 
that every woman 
reader of " Land and 
Water " wiU consider 
sending some sum — 
no matter how small — 
to our Motor Ambu- 
lance ? It might per- 
haps be so were it not 
that the needs and suf- 
ferings of the wounded 
form an " Open Sesa- 
me " to every woman's 
heart, and that this 
Ambulance will help one of the smallest and most suffering of 
the Allied nations, as those who read its particulars will discover. 
The French Wounded Emergency Fund. 
The strain upon our medical resources, naturally enough, 
brooks no comparison with that upon those of France. The 
French Army holds an infinitely longer battle-line, its 
casualties are proportionately great, and its hospital accom- 
modation is taxed to the uttermost. The French Wounded 
Emergency Fund has its headquarters at 34, Lowndes Square, 
S.W., and through its agency medical stores and clothing are 
being sent across to France. We are, most of us, so well 
aware of the truth and limitation of the saying, that charity 
begins at home, that it is delightful to find an exception to 
the rule. Our own Medical Service is well organised and 
working splendidly, as the wounded back from the front 
testify over and over again. The French system is not 
working so easily, for the simple reason that there is a well- 
nigh intolerable demand upon the supply. The whole medical 
organisation is strained almost to snapping point ; it might 
have snapped, indeed, if certain individuals by dint of almost 
superhuman efforts had not managed to prevent it. Here, 
once again, can we prove that we are Allies in the fullest sense 
of the word by helping the French Wounded Emergency 
Fund, which acts as a bridge between us and the wounded 
French soldiers. Its helpers meet the cross-Channel steamers, 
and see that the bales of goods are transferred without delay 
to the various French hospitals. Everybody with an affection 
for France has a golden opportunity for showing it by sending 
a present of money or clothing to 34, Lowndes Square. 
