A MEDAL FOR WOMEN.
[To THE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR."1 Srn,—Since you were good enough to print my letter last month on the above, I am venturing to plead once more for some public recognition of women's services. Being an anti. suffragist, I have little patience with those of my sex who clamour for "rights," forgetful of the splendid qualities with which we have been endowed. The powers of loving (an excess of which has been spoken of as " passing the love of women"), of unselfishness, of sympathy, of duty; these and other gifts we use, often at expense to ourselves, but always freely, in the service of mankind. One cannot but think that men are lacking in generosity when, after these ten heavy months during which our daughters and sisters have sacrificed their health and their lives for the cause, not one man has thought any public reward necessary. In both France and Belgium women can gain distinctions. In Belgium it is the Order of Leopold II., and in the Sphere of July 10th there is a picture of Mlle. Sommer, a Frenchwoman who has been decorated with a medal given by the military authorities for " bravery under fire." Men quite rightly accept our services freely, but should they not be as freely acknowledged P For my part, I think the woman who dies for her country in to be envied, and surely for her " the clods of the valley shall be sweet." My apologies for trespassing on your space.—I am, Sir, &o., M. G. C.
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