There remains as supplementary staff the great band of untrained V.A.D. workers, from amongst whom the more experienced probationers are constantly transferred abroad. Miss Holden was one of the first matrons to welcome V.A.D. helpers at the beginning of the war, and the care which she has bestowed on rendering them efficient and skilful nurses has been one of the most helpful factors in the smooth working of the hospital. Another of Miss Holden’s multifarious duties is the responsibility of catering for the officer patients and the women’s staff. The management of this branch of the work demands brains as well as imagination. While the soldiers must receive the dainty diet which sick men need, food supplies must be closely watched, wastage avoided, and expenditure controlled. The happy and human atmosphere of the hospital speaks volumes for the personality of those in authority. Every aspect gives evidence of deep thought, sympathy, and understanding for the welfare of the sick soldiers. The spirit of progress is felt on all sides. To give only one instance: several of the masseurs in attendance are soldiers blinded in the war, who have been trained for this work, “and,” says the commanding officer, “after the war no one must employ any other masseurs but blind soldiers.” A wonderful new branch of work is the facial department. Lieut. Derwent-Wood by the use of metal plates has achieved miracles of restoration for those most unhappy of all maimed soldiers who suffer from apparently hopeless disfiguring facial wounds. He uses his skill as a sculptor to model these masks for cases in which surgery cannot restore the missing part. Yet a further and very human branch of the Matron’s special, though unofficial, activities is the care of the relatives who are sent for by the medical officers to see the dangerously ill cases. These unfortunate people arrive, many from remote parts of the country, never having been in London before; and the Matron has made it her duty to find accommodation near the hospital to which they can be sent. The story of the Matron’s day is an endless chronicle: ceaseless care for the critical cases under her charge, a hundred daily problems to be solved in organisation of personnel, stores, equipment, not forgetting entertainments, which form a great feature. Besides coping with the daily round, she must always maintain an open mind for fresh ideas and arrangements and new experiments in nursing. Above all, she must keep the serenity, rapidity of decision, firmness, and sense of humour which are essential in her responsible office. Miss Holden manages to combine these qualities--she is a woman who must be obeyed without question, but who may yet be approached by the humblest worker in the hospital with the certainty of finding sympathy and justice.