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The Princes and Princesses of the Bulgarian Royal House: Boris, Heir Apparent; Cyril, Eudoxia, and Nadejda.

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in War Times

By Dr. Agnes von Harnack

Miss Agnes von Harnack is the daughter of Adolph von Harnack, Professor of Theology at the University of Berlin, who is well known in the United States through his scientific work, and who has had many friends here since his visit to the World Exposition at St. Louis is 1904. Miss von Harnack was the first woman in Germany to study at a university. She studied modern languages, especially English, wrote a thesis on German Romanticism, and took her doctor's degree in 1912. Since that time she has been Principal of a high school for girls. Besides her activity as a teacher, she is prominent as a social worker in the interest of the betterment of woman's position in Germany. Outside of these tasks she is continuing her literary studies and is a contributor to several scientific periodicals.

A

LMOST immediately after the out-
break of the war, when people
had in some slight degree recov-
ered from the first overwhelm-
ing surprise caused
by the rapid course
of events, the one
thought uppermost in
every German mind
was, "We must de-
vote all our time and
strength to working
for the Fatherland!"
This was compara-
tively simple for the
men who had their
appointed tasks. But
the problem for the
women, and it was of
the utmost urgency to

them, was very dif-
ferent and very dif-
ficult. The men were
organized; each was
a cog in a smoothly
running machine di-
rected by a trained
engineer. The women,
or the great body of
them, were not organ-
ized. Each had to
find her work and
learn to develop her
usefulness in co-operation with the others.
Enthusiasm and willingness had to be
directed into practical channels.

-to wait, to endure, to suffer without murmuring, to look on hopelessly without being of help. Even in the FrancoGerman war of 1870-71 only a small

number of women accompanied the troops

as nurses, and while the women at home did much in a quiet way, their tasks were simple and individual. They were of no help to the nation. In 1914 turned natu

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women

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home, in the war zone, or at the front is not in my province; I wish merely to sketch briefly and in general terms the work of German women for the civilian population, their united efforts for the nation.

DR. AGNES VON HARNACK

The educated German women were united in one determination-that they and their sisters should not play the rôle women had played in previous wars

Early in August, 1914, the National Women's Service League, (Nationaler Frauendienst,) a powerful organization of public-spirited women which had branches in nearly every German town,

issued an appeal to all women who had had any training in political economy and social science to place their services at its disposal. These women were organized in local bodies and immediately assumed charge of the work of investigating applications made by the wives of soldiers for State aid. The league members soon learned local conditions, where distress and sickness prevailed, and where the care of children or other help was needed. Some idea of the magnitude of these labors may be derived from the fact that in Berlin alone more than ten million marks are paid out every month to indigent families of soldiers, and that practically all applications for aid are handled by the league. Everywhere the officials welcomed the league workers, since they not only relieved the overworked men, but their tasks were performed promptly and thoroughly.

soldier's wife or dependents found it much easier to deal with the league workers since they found in them a womanly sympathy that saved them from the embarrassment many of them felt.

Relief and advisory committees were formed for districts and presently became local institutions to which the inhabitants repaired for aid, for consolation, and for advice in dealing with domestic problems. The women and girls were tireless in their work and ready and able to meet the wide variety of demands made upon them. Every committee soon had its archives in which each case in its district was recorded, and only the experienced can know how many stairs were climbed, how many miles walked, how many questions asked, before even one case could be dealt with properly. In September and October alone the committees in Berlin delivered food certificates, milk and bread cards, and so forth, to a total amount of more than 130,000 marks.

But the committees' work is broader in scope than the mere giving of aid. Mothers and wives come with all their troubles. Not long ago a bewildered mother arrived in one of the Berlin committee rooms leading firmly by the hand an embarrassed but very obstinate-looking boy of 12. In the purest Berlin

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dialect the mother volubly explained to the young lady in charge that she could do nothing with the youngster; he was running wild and paid no attention to her and, since his father was at the front, she wanted the young lady to give the lad a "piece of her mind." Somewhat startled by this rôle of paterfamilias, the young lady nevertheless tried her hand at giving the boy a "piece of her mind' with such splendid results that the grateful mother frequently returns to pour out her thanks. The young lady has a painful impression that her eloquence has inspired the mother with a disciple's zeal, and that she is waiting another opportunity to hear how it is done.

Another branch of work undertaken by the league was the care of children, organized in a special central bureau. In operation, it is aimed to be as thorough as possible, beginning with the care of nursing babies. By personal talks with mothers, the knowledge of rational nutrition was spread throughout the empire, and personal attention was paid to as many children as possible. Success has crowned this work. In Berlin, for instance, in the hot Summer of 1915, the mortality of babies was reduced by more than 2 per cent. below the normal.

For older children, schools and homes were established. In one suburb of Berlin, for instance, the poorest district of the city, about a hundred children selected by the school doctor were taken every day after school to the large gardens placed at their disposal by the municipality. Here they received their meals and worked and played till evening out in the open air, or in stormy weather in big, airy rooms, and then were taken home under proper supervision. For periods of eight or ten weeks the children lived this healthy life, and the rosy cheeks and rugged health to be found in the schools now is due to this excellent work. In this, as in all the other branches of endeavor, volunteers are laboring cheerfully side by side with the paid workers.

The problem of finding work for those thrown out of employment by the war was one of the first undertaken by the league. The aim was to make every

individual, in so far as possible, selfsupporting in order to relieve the burden on the State. The war caused an industrial paralysis in certain lines of industry; factories manufacturing readymade clothing and articles of luxury simply closed their doors. The female workers were hardest hit. The league promptly obtained from the military authorities orders for sewing work of every description, and the innumerable sewed articles which the soldier needs, from the tent on his back to his socks, were soon being made by the women. Knitting socks became woman's universal occupation; every one knitted, old and young. In the workrooms of the league, however, knitting was a serious job and the source of a livelihood. Many women would have become State charges if it had not been for the league's knitting rooms. And an entirely new kind of factory régime was instituted in these rooms. During the working hours, and the occupation is a dull one, volunteers read books, played music, sang, and gave short, interesting, and instructive talks on matters of general and even of philosophic interest.

In this way the work was made not only interesting, despite the fact that from five to seven hundred workers were frequently crowded into one room, but of educational value. The wage scale that was finally worked out by the league-a problem that was rendered most complicated because of the wide variety of age, skill, types, and diligence-excited the highest admiration of professional industrial experts because of its equity and soundness. Only when the labor market began to improve, the confidence of manufacturers in ultimate victory induced them to open their factories, and the people began buying once more, did the league's workrooms close. Meantime, many links of sympathy and mutual understanding had been forged in them between the working girls and the volunteer helpers of the league.

The basic principle underlying the work of the league is to make every applicant for aid, in fact, every one in

whom the league is interested, in so far as possible self-supporting. The aim is to bolster self-respect and the feeling of personal responsibility so that any development of the begging habit may be nipped in the bud. There are, however, many cases in which applicants for relief cannot be expected to rely on themselves and their own unaided efforts, cases of hopeless poverty, of incurable disease, or in which all the normal activities of life had been disorganized by the war. And in such cases the response of the well to do has been most generous. The league has only to ask to get money or other assistance poured forth with a lavish hand. Sometimes zeal is excessive and has to be restrained. If it is necessary to provide clothing for a family, for a young man entering an apprenticeship, or for an expected child, the clothes collecting department is always prepared. Volunteer workers labor day after day sorting the steady stream of donations and directing their repair and alteration by skilled needlewomen and other workers. Inventiveness has free reign here, and when one examines at the end of the month the practical results it is almost impossible to realize that the pretty and serviceable garments had been developed out of unlikely material.

Educated women devoted themselves to the schooling of the children. While on the battlefield youthful blood flowed in streams and human life had become the cheapest of things, the women at home realized that their most important duty lay in healing youth, in educating it to capable manhood, and in nourishing it with everything valuable and beautiful which could be offered by knowledge and art.

A great number of schoolteachers had gone to the front. Women took their places, a thing hitherto unknown in Germany. Women teachers, candidates for degrees at the universities, even students were employed in boys' schools. Old schoolmasters shook their heads, but the work had to be carried on, and the women were ready and trained. To the satisfaction of every one, these women were completely successful in their work

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