In a great department in the British Red Cross Society’s buildings, weekly deliveries of all the work made and collected by the Central Workrooms are received, together with countless other gifts of hospital comforts from all over the world. Here the miscellaneous collection is sorted and despatched according to the requests from the hospitals by a voluntary staff who have been working under Lady Sophie Scott for nearly three years. The goods are packed and sent not only to the hospitals in Britain and in France, but to all the remoter theatres of war--Malta, Egypt, Salonika, Mesopotamia, Palestine. Besides sending to British hospitals, large gifts have been made to the sick and wounded of the Allies. At a similar depôt for the receiving and despatch of hospital equipment and comforts, another devoted group of workers under Lady Jekyll has worked at this labour of love since the earliest days of the war, near the ancient buildings of St. John’s Gate. Here the St. John workers of the country send their contributions, and goods of all sorts are despatched to hospitals at home and abroad. The neat shelves and cupboards contain everything that the sick soldiers may want, from warm bed-jackets and sleeping-suits to tooth-brushes and soap, while extras such as writing materials and games are frequently among the gifts. The Red Cross and St. John Depôts each supply a separate group of hospitals, and it is indeed a proud achievement that they have been able throughout the war to keep pace with requirements on such an enormous scale. If the complete history ever comes to be written of the work of women with their needles during the war, it will reveal an astounding record of patient, loyal, skilful achievement, and an output of which the figures can only be described as phenomenal. XVIII MISS EDITH HOLDEN, R.R.C. “I wonder if patients entering the receiving-hall of this hospital realise how much they owe to the Lady of the Lamp, whose statue has been lent us for the war?” Colonel Bruce Porter, in command of the Third London General Hospital, Territorial Forces, wrote the above recently in an appreciation of Florence Nightingale and the great sisterhood of nurses which she founded. From the original 125 nurses--the total under her control by the end of the Crimean War--has sprung the wonderful organisation which is nobly carrying on the noblest of all woman’s work. [Illustration: MISS EDITH HOLDEN, R.R.C. _Vandyk_ _To face page 98_ ]