30 
LAND & WATER 
May 25, 1916 
A War Colony of Oversea Women 
By Mary MacLeod Moore 
WHEN war thundered 
forth a summons to the 
sons of the Empire to 
quit them Hke men. and 
to fight for the lands their fathers left 
them, the women of Canada, like all 
British women, far and wide, rose to the occasion. There 
may have been among them those whose white hands clung 
" to the tightened rein, slipping the spur from the booted 
heel," but they were lost sight of in the army of brave 
and patriotic women who sent off husbands, sons — in 
some cases both— and lovers, with gay words and smiling 
faces. 
The idea that women must weep while men work is 
exploded. Instead of shedding tears the women of the 
Empire organised with great abihty and enthusiasm, and 
(ledicated their brains, their hearts and their hands, to 
the good of the community. The Canadian women, 
throwing themselves into war work, such as Red Cross. 
making comforts for the troops, raising funds for afflicted 
Belgians, and a vast amount of similar labour, also went 
in numbers to visit their men at \'alcarticr (the famous 
training camp, which was laid out and equipped for 
thirty thousand men in less than three weeks) , and some 
arranged promptly to follow them to England. 
.At first a few daring ones came. London, and Salis- 
bury, where the First Contingent spent a memorable 
waiting-time, received them into hotels, lodgings and 
houses, where they lived as far as possible as they did in 
Canada. But by degrees more and more women crossed 
the Atlantic, in many cases with their families, until at 
the present time there are roughly about two thousand 
Canadian women, exclusive of the Canadian nurses, 
living temporarily in England. They stay near their 
soldiers till they go to the Front ; they are ready to 
welcome them when leave brings them home, they keep 
themselves cheery and busy until the work of the men is 
done or until a name in the casualty list sends a lonely 
woman back to Canada to begin life afresh. 
The British are the colonising people of the world, 
but it is probably the first time in history that a body of 
women, themselves the children or other descendants of 
men from the British Isles, who helped to build up 
Canada, should return to the land of their fathers and 
take domestic root, living the life of their kinsfolk in 
what the overseas people call affectionately " the Old 
Country." 
Folkestone is the chief colony, though there are many 
Canadians elsewhere, for at Bramshott, for example, 
there are thousands of troops. Canadians are in London 
in large numbers, but the old grey city swallows them iip 
and merges them into the community so that they form 
no conspicuous gathering as they do in Folkestone. 
The lines of the soldiers fell in pleasant places when 
Shorncliffe became their temporary home. The sea, the 
lovely surrounding country, the Leas, the drives and 
excursions into historic districts within easy reach, have 
shown them England at her sweetest and her best. 
Folkestone, Hythe. Sandgate, and the small places 
close by, are now the homes of Canadian women, often 
closely linked together by old ties ; always by a common 
birthplace, and above all by a common anxiety. They 
talk of the same places and people ; they share solicitude 
for Hie " boys " from their own towns ; they mourn 
together over the lists of killed and wounded, and they 
offer the sympathy and affection of sisters to the bereaved, 
knowing always that they themselves may be the next 
to require compassion. There are some who come among 
their countrywomen as strangers. Soon they feel the 
closeness of the tie that links them together. 
It is a curious feature of this gathering of Canadians 
that they are learning much of each other as well as of the 
people of England. Canada is a country' of almost 
incredible distances. While there arc many people who 
are familiar with East and West alike, and have friends 
all over the Dominion, there are others who have prac- 
tically spent their lives in a community where everyone 
kaows everyone else, and the customs of the town are a 
/ am the land of their fathers, 
In me the virtue stays, 
I Kill bring back my children 
After certain days." 
standard of comparison. At Folke- 
stone all have met and shared the 
same liopes and fears. 
There have been meetings be- 
tween friends long separated, with 
huge arrears of nev\s to make up. 
There have been glimpses of some charming women 
whom " I last saw on my wedding day." There have 
been enquiries for Uttle So-and-So of Toronto, only to 
find her a war-bride soon to arrive in England. 
The pleasant gossip of Montreal, Winnipeg, Kingston 
and Calgary drifts to the passer-by promenading the 
Leas and watching the flowering shrubs, climbing the 
cliffs against the wind, or to the people drinking tea in 
the hotels. Canadian slang has its place in the com- 
munities where Canadians congregate. Bewildered Eng- 
lish people have discovered that the highest praise to 
bestow upon a box of good things from home is : " These 
are sure some eats I " 
" The Maple Leaf Forever," " Alouette. gentille 
Alouette," and " O Canada 1 " are now sung by people 
who wouldn't know a maple leaf if they saw one : who 
never heard the Canadian National song until war brought 
it across the Atlantic. 
The Canadian war-weddings have been many and 
brides abound. Just as at home, an engagement or an 
understanding is followed by a hurried wedding because 
a man is off to England en route for the FYont. In some 
cases the girls have remained at home in Canada. In 
others they have accompanied their young husbands 
to England where they stay putting a brave face on their 
loneliness and fear, and counting the days till leave is 
due. Some brides have dared submarines and have 
crossed the Atlantic alone to be married. War romances 
have blossomed quickly on English soil, and English as 
well as Canadian girls have been married at short notice 
to Canadian fighting men. 
Canadian w-omen have no idea of sitting down with 
idle hands to wait for their men. While many are in 
hotels and lodgings others keep house. The solid comfort 
of England is a joy. the attentions of the servants and the 
tradespeople are pleasing, the cheapness of flowers is a 
surprise, the struggles with English money are a joke, 
but there is a serpent in Eden. If you ask a Canadian, 
new to English ways, what has struck her most, nine 
times out of a dozen she will wail of the iniquities of the 
winter heating arrangements. 
The Canadian woman finds her waiting time well 
occupied. Besides the small social pleasures of which 
wartime admits, and her everyday intercourse with 
friends, she docs an immense amount of valiiable service 
in assisting at canteens, visiting the sick and wounded 
in connection with that admirable organisation, the 
Canadian Red Cross Society, to which many Canadian 
women in London devote their days, packing parcels for 
soldiers and for prisoners of war, helping with soldiers' 
clubs, giving entertainments and treats for soldiers, 
making and collecting comforts, and keeping her corre- 
spondents at home in touch with her life. There is in 
Folkestone a Canadian Women's War Work Committee, 
which has a large membership, and the kindness of these 
ladies will long be remembered gratefully by the soldiers. 
It may be wondered if anything is done in England to 
make these fellow-Britons feel at home and welcome. 
Many, of course, have close ties with England, and a large 
social connection. But numbers are over here for the 
first time, and they are lonely and sad away from their 
old surroundings. Hospitable English people would be 
glad to meet them and show them some kindly attention, 
but it is not always easy to bring together guciis and 
willing hostesses. The Victoria League, however, of 
which Dowager Lady Jersey is President, has done much 
in this connection. There is a Hospitality Committee, 
through which people at home have had the opportunity 
of meeting overseas women and cultivating their friend- 
ship. Lately Lady Perley, wife of the Acting High 
Commissioner for Canada, and a member of the Com- 
mittee, gave a lar^e reception, when many Canadians 
