The General concerned, who is no longer in France, returned the
application with the words written across it over his initials--'Keep
this woman out.' The Base Commandant sent it in again having written on
it--'Talk about keeping this woman out, she is of more value to me than
truckloads of parsons and chaplains!' That was his way of putting it,
not ours. We have the greatest possible admiration for the work of the
chaplains at the Front. There is no finer body of men on active service
to-day, and it is a privilege we greatly esteem to be permitted to
co-operate with them and to be of some service to them in their great
work.

[Illustration: BAPAUME-CAMBRAI ROAD, WITH TREES ALL CUT DOWN BY THE
GERMANS]

The ladies have always been ready to share the risks with the men, and
there are quite a number who have made the supreme sacrifice, including
Miss Smallpage, killed by shrapnel in one of our munition huts in
England; Miss Betty Stevenson, killed in an air attack in France; Miss
Edith Howe, who died of cerebro-spinal meningitis; and Miss Lee, who
lost her life in a fire in one of the huts on Salisbury Plain.

In one of the great bases in France there is a small camp in which at
one time there were boys only. They were too young to fight, their job
day by day was the prosaic one of filling up petrol cans. One of these
little chaps had badly hurt his hand, and it seemed to him the natural
thing to go for sympathy and help to the lady of the Red Triangle. A
brief examination convinced her that the damage was serious, and she
bade him go to the doctor, whose tent was just across the way. Very
grudgingly he trudged across to the doctor, but a few minutes later
returned with the request that she would look at the damaged hand and
see if the doctor had attended to it properly. She replied that it would
never do to interfere with the doctor's work and, moreover, the doctor
had no doubt done it far better than she could have done. Five times the
lad came back with the request, 'O Missis! do look at my hand and see
if he's done it right.' The fifth time he brought with him as an ally
the Y.M.C.A. secretary in charge, who said, 'If I were you, Miss, I
would look at his hand. The little chap will never be happy until you
do.' Then she undid the bandages, looked at the dressing, and bandaging
it up again said, 'There, it's just as I told you; the doctor has done
it far better than I could; run away and be quite happy about it!' H