Such, then, has been Miss Thurstan’s war service--as fine a record of achievement in the cause of suffering humanity as any woman can show. Not the least wonderful fact about her is that Miss Thurstan is very frail, and has always been delicate. Only her spirit and pluck have carried her through and enabled her to do the hardest work under the roughest of conditions. Writing of her, a friend says: “There is no doubt that Violetta Thurstan is a woman with a touch of genius and with, as well, a great devotion to work--not an every-day combination. She has determination and courage in an unusual degree, and is gifted with imagination and a deep sense of beauty--nevertheless, she can drudge.” Miss Thurstan was recently decorated by the King, in recognition of her devoted services. XVII H.R.H. PRINCESS BEATRICE, THE HON. LADY LAWLEY. G.B.E., AND THE COUNTESS OF GOSFORD Women’s share has indeed been magnificent in the work of equipping the hospitals with bandages, garments, stores, and comforts of all descriptions. In the first week of war it is no exaggeration to say that there was hardly a woman in the kingdom who was not making something for the sick and wounded. But organisation stepped in at once to direct and systematise their efforts, and the main work has been carried on under the auspices of Queen Mary’s Needlework Guild, and the Joint Societies of the British Red Cross and the Order of St. John. Queen Mary’s Needlework Guild was inaugurated the day after war was declared, and, in response to an appeal by Her Majesty the Queen to the women of England, consignments of garments and comforts soon began to flow in. The headquarters of the Guild were established at Friary Court, St. James’s Palace, under the direction of the Hon. Lady Lawley, who has acted as honorary organising secretary throughout. In the rooms of the old Palace, which formerly glittered with all the splendour of the King’s State levées, mountains of garments and hospital necessaries were soon piled up. The organisation has developed until now it stretches round the world, and the stream of supplies has continued with an ever-increasing volume. In the United Kingdom 470 branches have been formed since the work of the Guild was initiated. From overseas the response to Her Majesty’s appeal has been even more remarkable. Seventy branches and many sub-branches have been established even in the remotest corners of the earth, and the work which they have done, and the number of garments which they have sent in to Friary Court, have been no less even than the vast quantities which have been supplied by the workers in the United Kingdom. The number of garments received at headquarters is now approaching five and a half millions, of which over five and a quarter millions have been despatched. A record was established when, in one specially busy week, a quarter of a million garments were sent off. These figures do not include the