Die. Omaha Sunday-Bee Magazine Page
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RlurtiNtEK, Pari.,,
"The
Butterfly
Sisterhood
Who Seek
Sensa
tion and Gossip
and Sit on the
Bed Smoking
Cigarettes"-
TIB Countess ot Warwick, who Is unl-;
versally regarded as the foremost,
woman leader of England, has writ:
ten a remarkable article for this newB-,
paper criticising: the horde of society and
theatrical women who bare taken up .war '
nursing for the sake of notoriety or. In
frivolous spirit.
The Countess does not give names, but ;
many people In England know to whom
she refers. Some of the "war nurses"- at
whom she Is aiming are so highly placed
and Influential that It would be difficult
for the authorities to remove them. Prob
ably the Countess expects that by her
severe criticism she will shame them Into
retiring or reforming. '
Nevertheless, . much of the war nursing
done by prominent women appears to be
giving eatisfactlon. While It Is of course
outrageous that a woman should be
frivolous In the presence ot suffering, ' It
Is a positive benefit to the wounded sol-'
dier If an attentive nurse is handsome and
attractively dressed.
The handsome Duchess of Westminster,
who was rather frivolous before the war,
is conducting a pretty hospital for wounded
soldiers at Le Touquet, near Paris. Strange
to aay.Jaer slater, the Princess of Pless,
who Is married to one of the richest noble- ;
men of Germany, is conducting an equal-
IVillel Greuze, "the Daintiest Beauty 17 hospital tor German soldiers
in Paris," Only One of the Horde The picturesque dancer, Ida Rubinstein,
of Society Women and Actre.se. Oabrieije sVAmmuUo .has , tab.
gratifies her dramatic Instinct by wearing
her nurse's uniform most effectively, while
she cheers up the wounded soldiers by her
graceful poses.
A
Who Have Rushed Into the Nurs
ing Profession ,to Torment or
Cheer Up the Wounded Soldiers.
By Frances Evelyn, Countess of Warwick.
of love and pity that cheers the wounded
and comforts the dying, as "The Lady
With the Lamp", taught them to do In the
far-off days of the great Crimean struggle.
They have made many ' "
BUSES cling to a crisis as . bar
nacles to a ship, and every aspect
of war has its own peculiar abuses.
While millions, do their duty with quiet
heroism, there is always a minority .that
takes advantage, that corrupts others or
Itself. Some believe that fraud and fool
ishness stay at home, that they cannot
approach the field of arms, bat this is far
from being the case.
My thoughts turn back to the South
African war, when certain ecandals were
supposed to have reached their zenith; I
look around me to-day, listen to the well
authenticated stories brought to me by
relatives and friends,' and know that South
Africa did not tithe the possibilities ot
folly and excess. For once I am not plead
ing for my own sex. I plead for one part of
It against the other, for a majority against
a minority, for those who are doing what
they are paid to do, against those who are
voluntary workers.
The position comes a Httle strangely to
me when I look at It in this light, but the
highly-trained, conscientious, painstaking
hospital nurse whose patient heroism pro
claims her a true followed of Florence
Nightingale is being exposed to scandalous
annoyance for no good purpose and to no
useful end, and I feel that I must plead
her cause, since she is in' the last degree
unlikely to plead it for herself.
Society women of a certain class made
themselves so notorious In the military
hospitals and elsewhere during the South
African war that at least one General
threatened to send them home and another
refused to allow any more to come out As
soon 'as' the greatest struggle of our his
tory started. In August last, certain women
of means and position proceeded as silent
ly, and unostentatiously as was possible
under the circumstances to equip hospitals
and tpset about their eelf-appointed work.
. They labored conscientiously and sought
no more publicity than was, necessary to
enable them to collect money from philan
thropists and friends. They did their best;
some were already qualified by previous
experience, others acquired their knowl
edge under the most trying conditions
possible. They have worked since war
began, well content to "scorn delights and
live laborious days;" some who are near
and' dear to me have said that they have
twell-nlgn forgotten the old life and the
'comforts they deemed indispensable only
ta little while ago. .
1 think it may b claimed for them that
they have played a good part, and that. In
helDinx ethers they have not sougm 10
draw attention to themselves or minimise
the credit due to the trained sisterhood
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friends and no . ene- ,
mies; the hero of the
trenches and the as
saulting party has not
, given more to his
country, for both have
given their all: the
man his strength, the
woman her practical
sympathy, and both a
high degree of physi
cal and moral courage.
Unfortunately there
Is In London to-day
a very large company
of young women to
whom war Is little more than a new sensa
tion. They are not old enough to under
stand or young enough to be restrained.
In normal times they must be "in the
movement," however foolish that move
ment may be, and a war that staggers the
Old World and the New leaves them very
, mnch where they were before. Under the
rose they have not diminished their afore
time gaiety; dances and dinner parties
have been the order of the Winter season.
They have been trumpeted by the
section of the press that delights In re
cording vain things, but those who view
the currents of London's social life know
that I am writing the simple truth- There
is nothing to be said; let those laugh who
may and can at such a season; their
laughter proclaims them what tkey are.
Unfortunately the people I have In mind
have not been content to devote them
selves to brainless frivolity, because they
' must sample every sensation that the sea
sons provide they have Invaded the
sanctuary of .the hospital nurse. Scores
have found their way to the great London
hospitals In town to face what they are
pleased to regard as training. -1 have
known some who have danced till S a. m.
and have presented themselves at the hos
pital at 8 o'clock! -
Everybody knows that the training of a
real hospital nuree is a very serious mat
ter; that It makes full demand upon phys
ical and mental capacity, and that a long
period Is required to bring the seed of
efficiency to flower or fruit. The socle'
butterflies have made no such sacrifice.
They have acquired a trifling and superfi
cial knowledge of a nurse's work and have
then set their social Influence to work In
irder to reach some one of the bace hos
pitals where they may sample fresh ex
perience. If they were really useful there It would
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Orttli, Left It the Picture.
Rutsiaa D.ne.r, Id. Rubia.
stein, U Gand.ra Pai.ted
Her, and on the Right Yon
? Her In the Ho.pit.l for
Wowndsd Soldiers .Which
She Is Conducting In PnrU.
be unkind to offer a protest, but the gen
eral opinion is that they do more harm
than good. They subvert discipline, they
are a law to themselves, they are too
highly placed or protected to be called to
order promptly, they have neither the in
clination nor -the capacity for sustained
usefulness. To sit at the end of a bed and
smoke cigarettes with a wounded officer
does not develop the efficiency of a
hospital.
One hears repeatedly, that this girl or
that has gone to the front and one
Imagines devotion, self-sacrlflce, self-restraint
and a dozen kindred virtues. Un
fortunately It Is chiefly In the realm of
imagination that these virtues exist. For
the rest, the Interlopers want limelight,
and plenty of It; their pictures flood the
illustrated papers, and to read what la
written of them the experienced person
might Imagine that they are bearing the
heat and burden of the day, the solitude
. and anxiety ot the night, while in very
truth, they do no more than search for
fresh sensations In an area that should be
sacred. --
The type of mind that can seek refuge
from self and boredom In such surround
ings cannot be stricken Into serious -ess;
tragedy, cannot reach It. To do a very
minimum of work, to attach themselves to
the most "attractive" cases to carry small
talk, gabble and gossip into places where
so many come to die, these are the main
efforts of the young society nurses, and
all these outrages are being carrli d on
from day to day.
The real nurses and sisters are, I am
told, bitterly indignant They ask no more
than to be left alone to do their best, cut
they know how hard it is to make an
effective protest and they have little or no
time to do so. They recognize by reason
of their training the full motive of t'
excurinn into the region of suffering, th
cmving tor
cltement, and, in
bad cases, the
erotomania that
Is the motive
power. They find
their work 1m
peded by the sis
terhood of im
postors that re
sponds so readily
to a fashion of Its
own making, an!
their chief hope
is that this sensa
tion may pans as
so many others
have passed, and
that the brain
less, chattering,
t noughtlesc,
. empty company,
tired of blood and
wounds, may find
some paramount
attraction nearer
home.
If there are any
who are prepared
to think I have
traduced the
present
Is
If
i;vi If
$1 if!.
-i
The Princess of Pless, Sister of the Duchess I
Westminster, with the German Wounded
She la Nursing Near Berjin. ;
The Once Rather Frivolous Duchess of
Westminster, Who Is Conducting a
Soldiers' Hospital Near Paris.
overstated the caae or
vouna women wno are at
'aomewhere In France," let them
And out from their particular heroine bow
much time she gave to training, how she
received her appointment, and how much
real hard work she does day by aay
That a few have striven hard and nobly
I would be the last to deny, but these are
' not enough either to leaven or purify the
mass or to elevate the action ot a class
that might be better employed. Let us
remember, too, that suffering is always
with us and that even when war is over
there will be far too much In all the great
' centres of our own country.
Are these butterfly nurses prepared to
remember In the future the profession they
have Invaded to-day? Will they respond
to the calls that are made to help, not
young, attractive and . valian men, but
men, women and
children In every
phase of helpless
aess and hopeless
ness? I do not
think so. There
is neither noto
riety ' nor lime
light In the sober,
lerlous life of ye
hospital nurse
and sister; above
all, there la a
hard and neces
sary discipline
that calls tor
much moral cour
age to render tt
tolerable. Physical oeorage Is seUom
lacking either In men ar women whe are
well-bred, and it may be freely granted
that a certain measure Is demanded of
the butterfly nurses, but there is ne re
demption In this. To savor the full sense
of -We without courage Is impossible; one
might as readily make an omelette with
out breaking eggs. In this case it is
courage misdirected, energy misspent.
I feel very strongly about this scandal,
so strongly that I have not hesitated to
write what la bound to offend some of my
own friends, but there are times when it
is impossible to be silent if one would live
on tolerable terms with oneself. I feel
that In these days woman is called upon
to make supreme sacrifices; that what she
is giving even now Is less than will be
required of her later on;, that her war
record and ber record when peace Is about
to return will be scanned -.closely and
critically by' generations of really free
women yet unborn. . ! '
, To know of a blot upon woman's war
time service record, and. to make no at
tempt to erase It, Is impossible. The rec
ord of - the real nursing- sisterhood Is'
brilliant In the extreme. Why should it be
obscured for the sake of a few highly
placed and foolish young women .who seek
with the minimum labor to make the maxi
mum of effect? It Is unjust, ungenerous
and . altogether unworthy - of tbev . repre
sentative of families that In many cases
have earned their ample honors legitimate
ly enough.
Oreat Britain owes more tban It can ever
repay to the nursing sisterhood, and it Is
Intolerable that while their ellent herolma
passes with so little recognition, any girl
of good family who assumes a uniform
she has not won the right to wear should
pose as the representative of a sisterhood
she Is not werthy to associate with, ot
whose tradltloa she Is Ignorant, of whose
high discipline and complete restraint she
Is Intolerant.
There are three classes of women in out
midst. The first earns reward and claims
It, the second earns reward and does net
claim It. the ldat claims reward and does
not earn it. Of these classes the real nurse
belongs to the second and the . butterfly
alsterhood to the third- At such. a season
as this there is no 'room in our midst fe
the last and it would be well for us all
If authority could spare a moment from,
manifold activities firmly and ruthlessly to
suppress it. The hardship Involyexl would!
be of the slightest, the benefit serious and
. . ;
Orm.tt FrU(n RlThti Bir'
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