ilence--one that could be felt--which followed the words, or the burst
of applause which came a moment later. But to one onlooker, from the
platform, the predominant feeling was wonder at the amazing power of the
woman. Without raising her voice, or putting into it any emotion beyond
the involuntary momentary break at the beginning of the sentence, she
had, by the transparent sincerity of her feeling, conveyed such an
impression to that large audience as few there would forget. The subtle
response drawn from those hundreds of women to the woman herself, to the
personality of the speaker, was for the moment even more real than the
outward response given to the idea. More than one woman there that day
could have said in the words of the British Tommy, who had heard for the
first time the story of Serbia, "It would not be difficult to follow
her!"

CHAPTER IX

THE SCOTTISH WOMEN'S HOSPITALS

"_From the first the personality of Dr. Inglis was the main asset
in this splendid venture. She continued to be its inspiration to
the end._"

August, 1914, found many a man and woman unconsciously prepared and
ready for the testing time ahead. Elsie Inglis was one of these.

It is interesting to note that Dr. Inglis completed her fiftieth year in
the August that war broke out. She started on her great work of the next
years with all the vigour and freshness of youth.

In her own words, already quoted, we can describe her at the beginning
of the war:

"Her ship was flying over a sunlit sea, the good wind bulging out the
canvas. She felt the thrill and excitement of adventure in her veins as
she stood at the helm and gazed across the dancing waters.... Joy had
done its work, and sorrow and responsibility had come with its
stimulating spur, and the ardent delight of battle in a great
crusade....

"New powers she had discovered in herself, new responsibilities in the
life around her.... She was ready for her 'adventure brave and new.'
Rabbi Ben Ezra waited for death to open the gate to it, but to her it
seemed that she was in the midst of it now, that 'adventure brave and
new' _in which death itself was also to be an adventure_.... 'The Power
of an Endless Life.' The words thrilled her, not with the prospects of
rest, but with the excitement of advance...."

War was declared on August 4. On the 10th the idea of the Scottish
Women's Hospitals--hospitals staffed entirely by women--had been mooted
at the