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 the Berliner Strasse and said: "But when war comes—" Had I heard aright? That you know was in May, 1914. But she repeated: "When war comes we are going to be able to take care of seventy-five soldiers in this dining-room and in that maternity ward we shall be able to have beds for a dozen officers." All over Germany the half million women of the Vaterlandischer Frauenverein planning like that, "when war comes," had taken a first aid nurse's training course. They were as ready for mobilisation as were their men. France, viewing with alarm these preparations across the border, had her women also in training. The Association des Dames Francais, the Union des Femmes de France and the Société Secours aux Blessés Militairs, at once put on the Red Cross uniform and brought to their country's service 59,500 nurses. In England the Voluntary Aid Detachments of the Red Cross had 60,000 members ready to serve under the 3,000 trained nurses who were registered for duty within a fortnight of the outbreak of war. Similarly every country engaged in the conflict, taking inventory of its resources, eagerly accepted the services of the war nurse. The same policy of state actuated every nation as was expressed by the Italian Minister of War who announced: "By utilising the services of women to replace men in the military hospitals, we shall release 20,000 soldiers for active duty at the front."

The Red Cross of service to the soldier is the most conspicuous decoration worn by women in all