Page:Women Wanted.djvu/161

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been validated.
WAR JEWELRY
145

raine and read a letter from President Poincairé of France. In it the President presented to Madeleine Danau his sincere compliments and begged her to accept "this little jewel." this Cross of Lorraine, which shall proclaim that the valiant child of the Deux-Sèvres through her own labour assuring for the inhabitants of the Commune of Exoudon their daily bread, has performed as patriotic a service and is as good a Frenchwoman as are any of her sisters of the Meuse.

The ever-lengthening list of heroic women who have distinguished themselves in this war in Europe is now so many that it is quite impossible even to mention any considerable number of them in less than a very large book. You find their names now in every country quite casually listed along with those of soldiers in the Roll of Honour published in the daily newspapers. And it is no surprise to come on women's names in any of the lists, "Dead," "Wounded," or "Decorated." The French Academy out of seventy prizes in 1916 awarded no less than forty-seven to women "as most distinguished examples of military courage." Among these the Croix de Guerre has been given to Madame Macherez, capable citizeness of Soissons, who has been daily at the Mairie in an executive capacity, and to Mlle. Sellier who has been in charge of the Red Cross hospital there during the long months of the bombardment. The Cross of the Legion of Honor along with the cross of Christ decorates the front of the black habit of Sister Julie, the nun of Gerbé-