Anything that can help to that unity and understanding seems to me of great value, and this record is written for American women in the hope it may be of some small service.

         &nb
sp;                                                     H.F. 
  December 25, 1917.

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THE SPIRIT OF WOMEN

“I have no fear nor shrinking.  I have seen death so often that it is not strange or fearful to me....  I thank God for this ten weeks’ quiet before the end.  Life has always been hurried and full of difficulty.  This time of rest has been a great mercy.  They have all been very kind to me here.  But this I would say, standing as I do in view of God and eternity, I realise that patriotism is not enough.  I must have no hatred or bitterness towards anyone.”

—­EdithCAVELL’s last message.

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CHAPTER I

THE SPIRIT OF WOMEN

TO WOMEN

  Your hearts are lifted up, your hearts
    That have foreknown the utter price,
  Your hearts burn upward like a flame
    Of splendour and of sacrifice.

For you too, to battle go,
Not with the marching drums and cheers,
But in the watch of solitude
And through the boundless night of fears.

And not a shot comes blind with death,
And not a stab of steel is pressed
Home, but invisibly it tore,
And entered first a woman’s breast.

From Lawrence BINYON’s “For the Fallen.”

The spirit of women in this greatest of world struggles cannot, in its essence, be differentiated from the spirit of men.  They are one.  The women of our countries in the mass feel about the issues of this struggle just as the men do; know, as they do, why we fight, and like them, are going on to the end.  The declarations of our Government as to conditions for peace are ours, too, and when we vote, we shall show the spirit of women is clearly and definitely on the side of freedom, justice and democracy.

Our actions speak louder than any words can ever do, and the record of our women’s sacrifices and work stand as great silent witnesses to our spirit.  There is nothing we have been asked to do that we have not done and we have initiated great pieces of work ourselves.  The hardest time was in the beginning when we waited for our tasks, feeling as if we beat stone walls, reading our casualty lists, receiving our wounded, caring for the refugees, doing everything we could for the sailor and soldier and his dependants, helping the women out of work, but feeling there was so much more to do behind the men—­so very much more—­for which we had to wait.  We did all the other things faithfully and, so far as we could, prepared ourselves and when the tasks