gained in that great comradeship and service for each other, and in
their self-sacrifice for their country and the world. The wonder
and beauty of what it is, and means some of our own men have told
us--among them one who died, Donald Hankey, and has left us a rich
treasure in his works. And we all know it in our own men--that abiding
spirit that is the vision without which the people perish.

But there are and were evils to fight and men and women to help. The
huts and canteens and guesthouses are great agencies for good--as well
as for comfort. Loneliness, and nowhere to go, and no one to talk to,
are conditions that make for mischief.

Then there were the girls at the outbreak of the war, excited by all
that was happening, not yet busy as they nearly all are now, feeling
that the greatest thing was to know the soldiers and talk and walk
with them, and flocking around camps and barracks, being foolish and
risking worse.

The National Union of Women Workers decided to take action about this
and drew up a scheme which they submitted to the Chief Commissioner
of the Metropolitan Police, Sir Edward Henry, K.C.V.O. This scheme was
for women of experience and knowledge of girls to patrol in the camps
and barrack areas, and talk to girls who were behaving foolishly, and
try to influence them for good. It was felt and it turned out to be
quite accurate that the mere presence of these women would make girls
and men behave better. Sir Edward Henry approved of the idea and
arranged that each Patrol should have a card signed by him to be
carried while on duty, authorizing the Patrols to seek and get the
assistance of the Police, if necessary, and the Patrols wore an armlet
with badge and number.

Their work in London proved so successful that the Home Office
recommended the adoption of the scheme in provincial centres, where
the Chief Constables authorized them and later the War Office asked
for more Patrols in some of the camp areas and spoke very highly of
their work.

A woman Patrol is generally a woman who is busy in her own home or
profession all day, but who gives some hours one or two evenings a
week to this work.

They have done the work faithfully and well, and have exceeded in
their success all anticipations. There are about 3,000 Patrols in the
Kingdom; of these eighty-five are engaged in special work in London
and paid by the Commissioner of Police. Two are engaged in work at
Woolwich Arsenal. Two are Park K