Atlanta Georgian. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1912-1939, August 03, 1913, Image 193

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I American magazine Ancient Amazon* in Battle with the Greek*, the Women Equal the Men in Size. Section of Ream’s Sunday American, Atlanta, August Co mpany. Great Britain Rights Reserved. From Ftesco in the Hall of Colors M Athens. Dating from 460 B. C. Inspired by the Brilliant Achievements of Warring Women in All Ages, Madame Dieulafoy Organizes a Fighting French Female Brigade, with a Seductive Uniform Designed by a Charming American Girl. Sophie Govanovitch, the • Servian Joan of Arc, Who Won Victory for the Balkan Allies at the Battle of Kirk Kilisseh. Heroic Mol) Pitcher Directing the Artillery at the Battle of Monmouth in the American Revolution. (From t!he Painting by D. McCarter.) but we have scanty records concerning them. America is likely to have a hand in organizing the new French force of women warriors, for Madame Dieulafoy and her comrades are considering the wisdom of adapting the uniform designed by Miss Grace Washburn, the pretty Amer ican dancer, now in London. Miss Washburn is partly of Indian descent, and has good fighting blood in her veins. The uniform designed by her is dashing, warlike and im posing, yet also seductive and entirely worthy of feminine taste. It is supposed that such a uniform would produce a very crushing effect on the enemy. Some doubt is expressed, however, whether the enemy would flee or rush with irre sistible ardor upon a force uniformed in thla attraotftm manner. Recently Englishwomen orgstolzed a force of uniformed women to assist the regular army In time of war. They are drilled like a regular military force. In authorizing this organization the British Government hoped that some of the ferocity of the suffragettes might some day be turned against a foreign enemy. During the recent savage war in southeastern Europe many women greatly distinguished themselves on the side of the Balkan allies. Prominent among them was the Servian woman Sophie Govanitch, who fought with desperate bravery and turned the tide of victory for her side at Kirk Kilisseh. The Dahomeyan Amazons offer about tbe most conclusive proof of the warlike ability of women. They flourished within the memory of many persons now living, who give unques tionable evidence concerning their ferocity. Frederick Mar- tyn-, an Englishman, who fought with the French Foreign Legion against the King of Dahomey, says in a recent book: “These young woman were far and away the best 'men 1 in the Dahomeyan army, and woman to man were quite a match for any of us.’’ a terribly hot day in June. At the opening of the engage ment Captain Molly was busy carrying water to her husband and his assistants at the gun. At a critical moment in the fight her husband was shot dead. She took his place and handled his cannon very effectively until the Americans won the fight. Washington made her a sergeant on the battlefield, and she was afterwards placed on the list of half-pay officers for life, with the rank of captain There were doubtless many other women who fought well for America in the Revolution, Madatne Jane Dieulafoy, Who Ha* Organized France's New Military Force. She Has Performed Perilous Exploring W«rk. 0 JLL over Europe women are preparing to do military service for their country. The latest country to take part in this move ment is France. There the women are making more serious and formidable military preparations than any where else, which is perhaps what we might expect in the countrywomen of Joan of Arc. Madame Jane Dieulafoy, one of the most distinguished women in France, a great explorer, who wears trousers with perfect dignity, has planned to raise a whole brigade of women soldiers. She intends to supply 2,672 officers, 5,000 non-commis sioned officers and 20.000 female privates. She has already gathered 800 officers, and there is no doubt that the num bers she asks will be furnished many times over. The primary object of this force is to do duty in the ad ministrative service, and thus release a certain number of men for active fighting. There are, however, a great many women who are eager for combatant service, and it is gen erally believed that the new plan wilt end in gratifying this desire. ; The French Amazons will furnish a number of daring military aviators. There are scores of French women, like Helene Dutrieu, who are as reckless of their lives as any men who navigate the air. In the past French soldiers on campaign have enjoyed the company of women called "cantinieres," who supplied them with drinks and attended to their wants in other ways. To day Frenchwomen demand an employment more worthy of the modern position of their sex. It is settled that France’s new Amazons shall wear mili tary uniform, carry arms and be drilled like men. Madame Dieulafoy as a scholar and historian knows well that women under certain circumstances can become fiercer fighters than men. She herself is noted as the excavator of ancient Persepolis, the capital of King Darius, burnt by Alex- ander the Great at the suggestion of the beautiful but scan dalous Thais. In her scientific labors she has shown strength Of endurance beyond that of the average man. The French Government has authorized her to wear man’s clothes. She is the only woman at present enjoying that privilege in France. It is, however, the emotional qualities of woman that will make her terrible in war, rather than the possession of such unusual physical qualities as Madame Dieulafoy’s. What makes woman so terrible Is that she fights with her emotions rather than with her head. From the dawn of history women have given evidence of their fighting ability, and there is no reason to believe that they have lost it to-day. The Amazons were a nation of women in Asia who gave great trouble to the Greeks in early times. They made visits to a neighboring country once a year in order to keep up the race, and afterwards killed all male children. Achilles, the great Greek hero, killed Penthesilea, the beautiful Queen of the Amazons, in battle, and was thought to have performed a praiseworthy feat. France has had fully as many Amazons as any other country. There was the immortal Joan of Arc, who drove the English out of France when all the men in the country could not do it. In addition to her France bad Jeanne Hachette, tvho fought at Beauvais; Margaret of Anjou and many others. Whenever women take a hand in war it becomes more cruel and savage. In the French Revolution the women led the uprising that seized the King at Versailles. From that moment the Revolution assumed its sanguinary character. Again in the Commune of 1871 Parisian women were the great instigators of violence. America has not been without her martial women, al though we seem disposed to minimize their deeds. Moll Pitcher rendered great service to the American revolutionary cause at the battle of Monmouth and on other occasions. Moll Pitcher was married to a cannoneer in the Continen tal army. Her military career began early in the Revolu tionary War. She was beside heT husband, who was serving a gun in Fort Clinton, when the British took that place by storm in 1777. As the British came on in overwhelming numbers her husband, using his head no doubt like a man, thought it best to leave his gun. His wife took his place and discharged the piece right into the midst of the onrushing enemy. HeTS was the last shot fired in the fight. It did ter rible execution. It was in the following year that she performed her great feat at the battle of Monmouth. This battle was. fought on Miss Grace Washburn, the Dashing Dancer, Wearing Her Suggested Military Costume.