North Carolina Women in 
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 By ARCHIBALD HENDERSON, M.A. r Ph.D., D.C.L. 
 of the University of North Carolina 
 
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 Delivered before the North Carolina Literary and Historical Association at its 
 
 Nineteenth Annual Session, held at Raleigh 
 
 November 20-21, 1920 
 

 (Reprint, 1920, North Carolina Literary and Historical Association) 
 
 ,-. a— 
 
 North Carolina Women in the World War 
 
 By Archibald Henderson, M.A., Ph.D., D.C.L. 
 
 of the University of North Carolina 
 
 When the Secretary of War called upon the women of America to 
 do their part in winning the war, Dr. Anna Howard Shaw asked Mr. 
 Baker what he expected the woman's committee to do. "We want you 
 to co-ordinate the woman's work of the United States," said Mr. 
 Baker, "all the war work of the women, so that they will not duplicate, 
 they will not overlap and they will co-operate in carrying out every 
 requirement of the government." Perhaps Mr. Baker feared that it 
 would he impossible to get women to co-operate ; so Dr. Shaw promptly 
 replied : 
 
 "Mr. Secretary, you seem to think that the women will not co-operate ; 
 that is because you have been dealing with men. If you will give them 
 4 an object big enough and put back of them an incentive strong enough, 
 you will find that the women of this country will co-operate, Mr. Secre- 
 tary." 
 
 Today it is recognized, not only that the women fully maintained 
 their pledge of co-operation from the war's beginning to its end, but 
 also, as Dr. Shaw says, none too strongly, that the war could never 
 have been won if it had not been for the work of the women. Cer- 
 tainly it is true that the women of this country suffered no such hard- 
 ships, bore no such burdens, as were imposed by dire necessity upon 
 the women of many other countries. But their readiness to serve to 
 any extent was absolute; and within the limits of the situation, they 
 gave themselves fully and without stint. The massed effort of many 
 millions of women, energies bent to a single aim, is without parallel 
 in history; and the extent and magnitude of that effort, ever growing 
 in volume and intensity, were curtailed only by the comparative brevity 
 of the war's duration. 
 
 Dr. Anna Howard Shaw was designated by the President as Chair- 
 man of the Woman's Committee, Council of National Defense; and 
 of the seventy-five presidents of the largest women's organizations in 
 the United States was formed the Advisory Committee of the Woman's 
 Committee, Council of National Defense. This Woman's Committee, 
 Council of National Defense, was then organized in every State in the 
 Union under the direction of the National Woman's Committee. The 
 plan proposed and carried out was "to co-ordinate women's organiza- 
 >a/L^ tions and their working forces, in order to enlist at once the greatest 
 £* possible number in the service which the national crisis demanded, and 
 ^ to supply a new and direct channel of communication and co-operation 
 
 k 
 
between the women and the departments of the United States Govern- 
 ment." The fundamental idea was that this organization was to he a 
 clearing house for all women's war work, and not a new organization 
 meeting in competition with other organizations. 
 
 The leader in this work in North Carolina was Mrs. Laura Holmes 
 Reilley, of Charlotte, second vice-president of the General Federation 
 of Women's Clubs (National), who, on May 28, 1917, received a com- 
 mission from the Governor of North Carolina, appointing her a mem- 
 ber of the State Council of Defense. She was shortly afterwards desig- 
 nated Chairman of the Woman's Committee of the Council of National 
 Defense; and was the intermediary for maintaining the closest and 
 most friendly relations between the State Council and the Woman's 
 Committee, herself being, with the exception, of chairman and secretary, 
 the only member present at all the meetings of the State Council. The 
 work was mapped out on large and constructive lines, the division of 
 the organization being effected by counties and Congressional Districts, 
 and the mere enumeration of the departments indicates the magnitude 
 and comprehensiveness of the services rendered, covering, as they did, 
 almost every phase of social service. 
 
 The foremost function of the Woman's Committee, it must be made 
 plain, was local, co-ordinative and directive. Forces were set in motion 
 in countless directions and through innumerable channels for carrying 
 on the various phases of patriotic endeavor, and these forces made 
 themselves powerfully felt in every corner of the State. During the 
 first thirteen months of its work 11,358 North Carolina women formally 
 registered for service, in consequence of which many government posi- 
 tions were filled and many women put in touch with the proper authori- 
 ties for specific war work. North Carolina's slogan in food production 
 was "A Garden for Every Home the Year Around" ; and the food pro- 
 duction of the State was immensely stimulated through this and other 
 powerful agencies, being four times greater in 1917-18 than in the 
 year preceding. The work in food administration was so vital and 
 integral a factor in war work in this state that I shall speak of it later 
 in greater detail. In all their work the devoted women "sanctified the 
 daily duties by the spirit of sacrifice and of patriotism." In these organ- 
 izations throughout the nation ten million women concentrated their 
 fruitful energies upon the labor asked for by the Government, which 
 went far to bring victory to our arms. 
 
 There was fortunately already in existence an organization which 
 furnished the readiest outlet and avenue for woman's sacrificial and 
 maternal ministration to crusading and suffering humanity. This was 
 that noble and consecrated band, the American National Red Cross, 
 
which, judged by its realities no less than by its ideals, truly deserves 
 to be called sublime. With perfect fitness it has been called "the greatest 
 mother in the world," seeking to draw "a vast net of mercy through an 
 ocean of unspeakable pain." From Belgium and from France went up 
 one of the most poignant appeals to which a stricken world has ever 
 lent ear. It is estimated that 1,250,000 people in Belgium and France 
 alone were driven from their homes by the German invasion. During 
 the height of our own struggle, ten million human beings looked to us 
 for sustenance and for raiment — helplessly hemmed in behind the brist- 
 ling wall of German bayonets. Is it any wonder, then — though wonder 
 indeed it be! — that with this clamant appeal added to the urgent call 
 of our own great needs, the membership of the National Red Cross 
 leaped within fifteen months from less than a half million (486,194) 
 to more than twenty millions (20,468,103), with the additional member- 
 ship of eight millions in the Junior Bed Cross. Of refugee garments, 
 .hospital supplies and garments, knitted articles and surgical dressings, 
 the American Bed Cross furnished during the war to the value of 
 upwards of one hundred millions of dollars, and the American people, 
 through this channel, gave in money and materials for the world's 
 relief upwards of 350 millions of dollars. 
 
 The Southern division of this great organization, including women 
 of Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Florida and Tennessee, 
 contributed a mighty share in the total result — producing more than 
 ten million articles (10,390,796), valued at a total of considerably more 
 than three million dollars (3,187,233). In this connection I wish to 
 stress the impressive demonstration, at once of women's efficient can- 
 vassing and of North Carolina's patriotism, afforded by the Second 
 Bed Cross War Fund Drive (1918) — North Carolina's quota being 
 $608,500, and her total collections $1,135,621.39— practically double the 
 amount. The official report which has recently reached me from the 
 Southern Division, Atlanta, includes every finished article made and 
 sent to this division from North Carolina, and numbers a total of 
 2,339,907 articles. 
 
 Figures, I must confess, have always had a certain fascination for 
 me. But when I think of what these figures represent of hardship 
 gladly suffered, of sacrifice willingly made, they become symbolic with 
 the vitality of human greatness. 
 
 Everywhere throughout North Carolina women found an outlet for 
 patriotic service through Bed Cross organizations to the number of 140 
 Chapters, 360 Branches, and 250 Auxiliaries. These raised the total 
 sum of $2,052,800.94 — including the amounts raised in the First ($318,- 
 606.47) and Second ($1,135,621.39) Bed Cross Drives, and the amount 
 
other than "War Funds collected ($598,573.08). No less patriotic was 
 the Junior Red Cross, with its 210 Auxiliaries and 41,667 members in 
 Worth Carolina, for in addition to many other articles and funds sup- 
 plied and services rendered, it contributed a total of 10,229 articles for 
 hospitals and for soldiers' and sailors' wear. 
 
 One of the most valuable services performed by these chapters, because 
 of the immediate needs and far-reaching results, was the work of the 
 Home Service Sections, which were organized by well-nigh every chap- 
 ter in the State. Only twelve of the chapters had trained workers ; the 
 remainder had untrained, volunteer workers. How many a sick or dis- 
 abled soldier, how many a despairing wife, how many a destitute family 
 were aided by these angels of mercy! Cut these figures and they will 
 bleed: between October 1, 1917, and August 1, 1919, 22,599 families 
 in North Carolina have been assisted by Home Service Sections in 
 various ways, and $29,309.47 has been given or loaned in money relief 
 to these families. 
 
 And how shall I find words to tell the romantic story of the Canteen 
 Service in North Carolina during the Great War! Where all towns 
 were ready and willing it seems invidious to mention those specifically 
 set down in the official report because of their relation to lines of traffic. 
 In North Carolina, with some 800 workers engaged, a million men were 
 served. But if I have hitherto deluged you with figures I shall spare 
 you now a catalog of the tens of thousands of gallons of coffee, hundreds 
 of thousands of sandwiches, iced drinks, slices of cake, packets of candy, 
 and bundles of fruits — not to mention the millions of cigarettes — with 
 which the doughboys were deluged, to the delight of their hearts and the 
 gratification of their palates. 
 
 If time permitted I would gladly say something of the devoted work 
 of the individual chapters of the Red Cross in the State. A word only 
 of this chapter or that is possible; but the patriotism, devotion and 
 service of all were alike, and, alike, unquestioned. Lieutenant House 
 will eventually narrate the full story and give due credit to each and all. 
 Permit me to say, however, that the canteen work of the Raleigh chapter 
 was probably without a parallel in North Carolina; for up to July 1, 
 1919, the Raleigh Canteen served 255,000 American soldiers. The 
 devoted work of these women — in snow and ice, heat and cold, at noon 
 and at midnight — under the leadership of Mrs. J. J. Bernard, is now 
 a part of North Carolina's history ; and thousands of soldiers will never 
 forget the cheer, the comfort and the sympathy which they dispensed. 
 I cannot refrain from paying tribute in passing to the indefatigable 
 labors and crusading enthusiasm of the president of this great chapter, 
 Mrs. William B. Grimes. 
 
The campaign for contributions by tobacco growers, engineered by 
 such chapters as Goldsboro, Reidsville and Pitt County, for example — 
 each tobacco grower being asked to contribute a pile of his crop — were 
 particularly characteristic of this section, as was also the campaign for 
 cotton which was carried out successfully by the Cleveland County 
 chapter. And I cannot leave unmentioned the letter (24 Rue Borghese, 
 Neuilly, February 12, 1916) written by King Albert's sister, Henriette, 
 Duchess of Yendome, to some ladies of Tryon, thanking them "for 
 the splendid gifts you have so generously sent, and we all express our 
 warmest, most heartfelt thanks to the 'Florence Nightingale Band.' 
 Your charity is helping us to tend our poor men — all '-grands blesses/ 
 May God bless and reward you for the good and generous help sent to 
 our dear and valiant men." If time permitted I would gladly tell of 
 the memorable war work of the women's colleges in North Carolina — 
 of the State Normal College, the recognized leader among North Caro- 
 lina colleges in organizing and stimulating women's war work, through 
 which more than 400 women passed on their way into government 
 service; of the many women's colleges of Raleigh which were among 
 the foremost in their pledge and their performance; of the Greensboro 
 College for "Women, Salem Academy and College, and many others, too 
 numerous to enumerate. 
 
 Certain features of the work accomplished by the women of North 
 Carolina are so conspicuous, indeed I may almost say spectacular, in 
 value and efficiency, that I feel impelled to speak of them in some detail. 
 I have already spoken of the Red Cross War Fund Drives; but para- 
 mount even to these in importance were the great Drives for Liberty 
 Loans and the Fifth, the Yictory Loan, imperatively needed for carry- 
 ing on the work of the government itself and supplying the very sinews 
 of war. The National Woman's Liberty Loan Committee, created by 
 the Secretary of the Treasury, began its business as the first and only 
 executive committee of women in the Government of the United States. 
 The organization was not effected in time to do active work in the 
 First Liberty Loan Drive; but by the time the Second Liberty Loan 
 Drive was launched North Carolina was ready to stand side by side 
 with other States to do her part. Mrs. R. J. Reynolds, of Winston-Salem, 
 was State Chairman during the Second Liberty Loan Campaign; and 
 upon her resignation immediately thereafter, Mrs. R. H. Latham, of 
 Winston-Salem, was appointed to undertake the heavy task. Mrs. 
 Latham held the chairmanship through the Third and Fourth Drives, 
 after which she was compelled to resign because of overtaxed eyesight. 
 Mrs. John A. Long, of Kinston, succeeded Mrs. Latham and served 
 
through, the Victory Loan Drive. The figures which follow are eloquent 
 of the spirit of North Carolina and of the devoted labors of her women 
 to aid the goverment to full extent of their powers. 
 
 Second Liberty Loan 
 
 Total Number of Subscribers 4,228 
 
 Total Amount Subscribed $4,846,900 
 
 Third Liberty Loan 
 
 Total Amount Subscribed $7,887,750 
 
 Amount Subscribed by Women $823,100 
 
 Fourth Liberty Loan 
 
 Total Quota $3-9,900,000 
 
 Amount Subscribed Through Women $14,129,300 
 
 being 35 per cent of the whole. 
 
 Fifth, or Victory Loan 
 
 Total Number of Bonds Sold 9,281 
 
 Total Amount Subscribed $7,576,500 
 
 No figures, however impressive, can tell the truly thrilling and touch- 
 ing story of this splendid outburst of patriotic fervor. I, personally,, 
 have known a farmer of small means, ordinarily saving to miserliness, 
 go to the bank with face positively lit as by an inner flame and cheer- 
 fully borrow a thousand dollars on his little farm to invest in War 
 Savings Stamps. Mrs. Long tells me of an old woman who joyously 
 invested her entire life-time savings in a hundred-dollar bond, buying 
 it with a thousand dimes unearthed from an old jug buried beneath the 
 floor of her little cottage. While it is true that the women were not 
 especially organized in the War Savings Campaigns, we all know that 
 they did magnificent local work in personal canvass and in giving in- 
 spiration to the general movement. Says Mr. F. H. Fries, State 
 Director, War Savings Campaign : "To the women of North Carolina 
 acknowledgement must be made for their most excellent service to the 
 War Savings Cause. Club women, school teachers, home demonstration 
 agents, housewives — they all fell into the work heart and body. Mrs. 
 Clarence Johnson, President of the North Carolina Federation of 
 Women's Clubs, was constantly promoting War Savings. A large ma- 
 jority of the War Savings societies was organized by women. Thrift 
 gardens were the special care of country women. During the June Drive 
 a colored woman in Warren County, a school teacher, by herself 
 
secured $1,500 in pledges. Without the women's aid the War Savings 
 record of North Carolina would be far short of what it is." 
 
 A conspicuous and remarkable feature of the work of North Carolina 
 women in the Great War, indicative of the type of service women are 
 most particularly qualified to render, was their participation in War 
 Camp Community Service. Its bases were sound and permanent, for 
 peace as well as for war ; and were solidly laid by organizations funda- 
 mentally concerned in play, outdoor and recreational activities for the 
 American youth. The War Department Commission on Training 
 Camp Activities summoned the Playground and Recreation Association 
 of America to develop and organize social and recreational resources in 
 the neighborhood of training camps (May 9, 1917); and from this 
 action sprang the incomparable War Camp Community Service. As 
 Miss Margaret Berry, an efficient laborer in this service, well says : 
 "The insignia of the organization, the Red Circle, soon became to the 
 service men of the army and navy as the beacon light to the mariner, 
 and the War Camp Community Service slogan 'Surround the Camp 
 with Hospitality,' was literally enacted in more than 600 American com- 
 munities." The national budget for the year ending October 31, 1919, 
 was $15,000,000; and in the 300 or more Red Circle club houses, some 
 2,500,000 uniformed men were provided with sleeping accommodations 
 in 1918 alone. 
 
 In North Carolina, perhaps the most extraordinary, ;prolonged and 
 unceasing efforts to entertain the soldiers and to surround them with 
 the influences of home, were made at Charlotte, the city nearest Camp 
 Greene, which had during its existence numbers of soldiers ranging from 
 two thousand to sixty thousand. During the late autumn of 1917, for 
 example, the ladies of Charlotte entertained repeatedly at home meals 
 on Sundays between 3,000 and 4,000 soldiers from Camp Greene. But 
 equally devoted and faithful work was done at Raleigh, Wilmington, 
 Fayetteville and Southport, though on a somewhat lesser scale because 
 of smaller bodies of soldiers encamped nearby; and the work of the 
 women of Asheville was of a peculiarly memorable type, especially 
 in the form of ministrations and gifts to the sick soldiers at Kenil worth, 
 and other rest and recuperative locations. The W. C. C. S. at Raleigh, 
 Charlotte and elsewhere were along similar lines — various forms of 
 entertainment afforded the soldiers : concerts, movies, dances, the hos- 
 pitality of city clubs, city churches and Red Circle Clulbs supplying 
 libraries of books and magazines to the soldiers, and in general throwing 
 around the boys in the camps the home atmosphere of fireside, friend- 
 ship and innocent enjoyment. In this brief survey I regret that space 
 does not permit me to take account of innumerable individual and cor- 
 
8 
 
 porate acts of hospitality, such as the gifts of the ladies of Statesville 
 to Camp Greene, the work of the women through the churches, notably 
 the memorable work at the Church of the Good Shepherd, "first to 
 provide for Camp Polk, last to stop." Particular record should he 
 made of the fine work of Miss Mary P. De Vane as Director for North 
 Carolina of the American Library Association. In addition to one 
 thousand dollars in money raised for the purchase of books, twenty-five 
 thousand volumes were collected and distributed to the soldiers and 
 sailors in this country and abroad. It was "a wonderful collection of 
 beautiful books and a credit to the State." 
 
 Mr. Herbert Hoover asserted again and again, "Pood will win the 
 war." The story of the able work of the Food Administrator is a 
 familiar one to all of us; and in the Home Demonstration work and 
 Girls' Clubs, Mrs. Jane McKimmon has attracted the admiring eyes 
 of the nation to this State. Mrs. Maude Eadford Warren's glowing 
 account of that work, which appeared in The Country Gentleman, 
 must speak in lieu of any extended account of my own. The magni- 
 tude of Mrs. McKimmon's labors is evidenced by her report for 1918, 
 during which year 8,807 food demonstrations were given and 8,250 
 meetings held, with an attendance of 826,283 people. In the organized 
 clubs 16,663 women and girls did intensive conservation work, and as 
 additional club workers there were 4,744 colored women organized in 
 twenty counties. Exclusive of the unprecedented amount of work in 
 the conserving of foodstuffs, vegetables and fruit, carried on by the can- 
 ning clubs, there were 132 community canneries in operation in 1918, 
 with an approximate output of 357,688 cans ; and during the same year 
 a total of 228,903 pounds of fruit and vegetables dried is reported. I 
 must leave to others to tell the stirring stories of home demonstration 
 work in the mill villages, the work among the colored people, the per- 
 ennial campaign for gardens. Of all the figures at my disposal perhaps 
 the most impressive and significant are these, for the year 1917, when 
 sixty counties had been organized : 
 
 Number girls reporting 14,382 
 
 Number cans 8,778,262 
 
 Value of products $2,179,262 
 
 Total cost $544,843 
 
 Total profits $1,634,519 
 
 Mention deserves to be made of the devoted work of the North Caro- 
 lina women who served as County and City Pood Administrators ; and 
 I have particularly in mind Mrs. Chamberlain for Wake, Miss Walker 
 for Scotland, and Mrs. Young for Winston- Salem. 
 
Another band of splendid workers who rendered valiant service at 
 home and abroad was the Young Woman's Christian Association, so 
 enthusiastically sponsored and energetically aided in its work by Mrs. 
 Josephus Daniels. Of knowledge and pride to every North Carolinian 
 was the honor paid to Mrs. Thomas W. Bickett in being chosen one of 
 the commissioners sent by the Y. W. C. A. to Europe to study at "The 
 Front," the needs and problems of the people during reconstruction. 
 Upon her return Mrs. Bickett made forceful speeches in many parts of 
 the State, pushing with extreme activity and vigor the work of the 
 Y. W. C. A. in Worth Carolina. 
 
 In connection with women's work during the war I must not forget 
 to mention their business and executive work, as illustrated, for exam- 
 ple, by Miss Harriet Berry, of Chapel Hill, who during the two years' 
 absence of Col. Joseph H. Pratt in the army, was acting head of the 
 North Carolina Geological Survey, Secretary of the North Carolina 
 Good. Roads Association, chairman for women in Orange County for 
 the four Liberty Loans, and Chairman of the Committee on Women 
 in Industry, North Carolina Council of Defense. 
 
 It is too soon for me, or for anyone, to paint in true colors or give 
 in even measurable exactitude, any account which would do justice to 
 the blessed and merciful work of the nurses who labored in the camps 
 and hospitals, here or abroad, who went forward into the deadly danger 
 zones, and with the calmness of beings from some higher realm per- 
 formed their services of beneficence, their errands of mercy, to the ac- 
 companiment of the cannon's roar. Up to October 1, 1918, the A. R. C. 
 alone enrolled during the war more than 30,000 nurses, and more than 
 400 served in England, France, Italy, Russia, Greece and Palestine. 
 
 Many nurses went into national service from this state; their names 
 will forever constitute an especial roll of honor. Two medical units 
 of special service and distinction went from this state, one under Dr. 
 Addison Brenizer, of Charlotte, and the other under Dr. John Wesley 
 Long, of Greensboro. An excerpt from the account of Base Hospital 
 No. 65, kindly supplied me by Dr. Long, Lieut. Col. M. C, U. S. A. 
 (Ret.), will give a vivid picture of this splendid type of service: 
 
 "Base Hospital No. 65 was organized by the writer, with the assistance 
 of some other medical men under authority granted directly by the Surgeon 
 General of the United States Army. One of the requirements specified by 
 the War Department was that the personnel be secured from North Carolina. 
 Whereupon we enlisted 32 medical officers, 203 enlisted men, and 100 nurses. 
 It required unremitting work for many months. Ninety per cent of the 
 nurses were North Carolinians, a few for certain reasons having been secured 
 from elsewhere. They were all mobilized at one of the nurses' bases in 
 
10 
 
 New York City. They were then sent in a body to France where they joined 
 Base Hospital 65 at Kerhuon, near Brest, where it remained from early in 
 September, 1918, to August, 1919. 
 
 "The work accomplished by this unit, an important part of which was the 
 work done by the nurses, has gone down in the history of the War Depart- 
 ment as one of unexcelled value. The Hospital handled over 40,000 patients. 
 
 "Directly after the unit reached its location and before it was possible to 
 get things in working order because of the lack of conveniences, 2,200 desper- 
 ately sick patients from the transports were sent to this hospital. At this 
 time there were no electric lights, only ordinary oil hand-lanterns and flash- 
 lights were available. There were no walks between the buildings, of which 
 there were over one hundred. The nurses had to wear rubber boots and 
 wade through rain and slush. Remember that Secretary Baker said that it 
 rained at Brest 330 days in a year. The hospital eventually had a capacity 
 of 4,000. 
 
 "At the time mentioned the buildings, which were of the Swiss barracks 
 type, were being erected. None of them were fully equipped; many of them 
 did not have even windows, and many of the beds did not have mattresses. 
 One hundred nurses and 200 enlisted men were of necessity compelled to 
 look after this large number of sick and dying men. Some of them were 
 dying and the others dead when they moved them from the stretchers upon 
 which they came. The hospital handled wounded men (blesse, as the French 
 say), cases of influenza, pneumonia, pleurisy, cerebro-spinal menengitis, and 
 insanity. It was a task for the stout-hearted and called for the best that 
 there was in a nurse 'to be called upon for such heroic service under such 
 trying circumstances. 
 
 "For instance, one night about midnight a storm swept up the harbor 
 of Brest striking the hospital, which was at the head of the harbor, with 
 full force. The roof of one of the barracks containing twenty-five operative 
 cases was lifted off. Out into the darkness and rain and storm the officers, 
 men and nurses rushed to the rescue of the helpless patients. The engineer 
 corps was called out to prop up the sides of the building to keep it from 
 collapsing. Through this trying ordeal the nurses never flinched, but stood 
 by us to the last with a loyalty and helpful sympathy that was beyond com- 
 parison. 
 
 'In October, 1918, the Chief Surgeon of the American Expeditionary Forces 
 called upon Base Hospital No. 65 for two operating teams to be sent to the 
 front. This called for a highly trained operating room nurse for each team. 
 For this important and hazardous duty I selected two splendid North Caro- 
 lina girls. They went with their teams as assigned and spent many weeks 
 in active duty close to the firing lines and within sound of the big guns." 
 
 I desire to make mention, at least — though it deserves extended treat- 
 ment — of the desperate fight waged by the women and the doctors of the 
 state against the insidious and deadly "Spanish Influenza." I would 
 pay immortal tribute to Miss Elizabeth Roper, situated at Chapel Hill, 
 who at the height of the influenza epidemic gave up a remunerative 
 position as trained nurse in a private family to minister to the Uni- 
 versity boys, making the supreme sacrifice of her life for her country. 
 
11 
 
 North Carolina lias the honor of having produced the Great War's 
 most famous field nurse, and after Edith Cavell, I (believe, the nurse 
 most celebrated in the despatches and stories of the war from its outset. 
 This is the daughter of Dr. S. Westray Battle, of Asheville, Madelon, 
 who was affectionately called "Glory" 'by her English friends, because 
 of her pride of America; they declared she was always "waving 
 Old Glory." 
 
 At the very beginning of the conflict in 1914 she offered her services 
 "for the duration of the war" ; and while her husband, Colonel Han- 
 cock, was serving under Field Marshal Sir Douglas Haig, with the 
 British Army in France, she was giving untiring and valiant service 
 in Belgium. Because of her wonderful work in the trenches and first- 
 aid dressing stations as well as in the field hospitals, the Belgian soldiers 
 named her "Sister Glory Hancock." Ever within the sound of the 
 guns and frequently within their range, she stood unmoved amid showers 
 of falling glass and splintered roofs; she saw hospital beds blown to 
 fragments during the intense shelling to which the Germans subjected 
 the Belgian towns. This noble woman who served under the British 
 Red Cross, knew what it was — so steady was the stream of wounded 
 after Mons and during the retreat from Antwerp — to go for a month 
 without having her clothes off. "Sister Glory Hancock" had the great 
 and fully merited honor of being decorated by both King George of 
 England and King Albert of Belgium. With North Carolina in the 
 field there was "Glory enough for all" — and all added to her glory — 
 with the Croix Civique, the Order of Mons, the Croix de Guerre, and 
 the badge of a Chevalier of the Legion of Honor. 
 
 As we turn today to the heavy tasks of reconstruction and reorgani- 
 zation of civil life, we cannot in justice forget the part played by women 
 as civilians in the Great War. And I look confidently forward to a time 
 in the near future when, not as a reward, but as a recognition of justice, 
 the women of North Carolina, and of America, shall receive equal 
 civil, legal and political rights with their partners, men, in the great 
 business of making the world a better place to live in. 
 
UNIVERSITY OF N.C. AT CHAPEL HILL 
 
 00032771947 
 
 FOR USE ONLY IN 
 
 THE NORTH CAROLINA COLLECTION