CHAPTER XII.
EDITH CAVELL’S MESSAGE.
The circumstances of Edith Cavell’s death became known in England on Trafalgar Day. The news reached the public through the newspapers the following morning. No one who was in London that day will ever forget the sense of horror that ran through the land. From early morning a dense crowd of people thronged round the only tangible symbol of her martyrdom, a wreath of laurels placed among those of the sailors who died for England. The armless Nelson looked down from his column upon the memorial of a weak woman who had borne witness to his immortal message. The seaman andofficers who had died in the long-drawn-out Trafalgar, welcomed her, as it seemed, to their company. And in the mist and rain of a London October day the true spirit of England leaped again to life.
“This will settle the matter, once for all, about recruiting in Great Britain,” said the Bishop of London. “There will be no need now of compulsion.” All day men competed in their eagerness to join the Army. Continual recruiting meetings were held round the base of Nelson’s monument. In Nurse Cavell’s native village every eligible man joined the Forces next day. A tide of enthusiasm set in which has not yet waned.
NURSE CAVELL IN HER GARDEN.
Daily Mirror Photograph.NURSE CAVELL IN HER GARDEN.
NURSE CAVELL, FROM A PHOTOGRAPH TAKEN IN BRUSSELS.
Photo CopyrightFarringdon Photo Company.NURSE CAVELL, FROM A PHOTOGRAPH TAKEN IN BRUSSELS.
Consternation and horror expressed themselves in every part of the world. TheStaats Zeitung, the Germans’ newspaper in New York which defended the sinking of the “Lusitania,” disowned the crime. “This is savagery,” said neutral Holland. “The killing of Miss Cavell will be more expensive than the loss of many regiments,”said a great American journal. “The peace of the future would be incomplete and precarious,” wrote the ParisFigaro, “if crimes like these escaped the justice of peoples.” The King and Parliament gave voice to England’s sentiment.
Yet the Germans were so little conscious of what they had done that they made the deed blacker by excuses. “We hope it will serve as a warning to the Belgians,” wrote the Berlin official paper, theVossische Zeitung. “I know of no law in the world which makes distinction between the sexes,” said Herr Zimmermann, the Kaiser’s Under-Secretary for Foreign Affairs. And they filled the cup of their infamy by refusing to surrender Nurse Cavell’s body to her friends.
It is fitting that there should be some personal memorial to this heroic life. One such, by the thoughtful initiative of Queen Alexandra, is to be provided in the shape of an Edith Cavell Nursing Home at the London Hospital where Miss Cavell was trained. TheNursing Mirror, for whichshe wrote her last article, urges the institution of a Cavell Cross for Heroism, a decoration for women only.
An Empire Day of Homage has been proposed. A great national memorial service has been held inSt.Paul’s Cathedral.
But the best memorial to Edith Cavell will be the determination of her fellow-citizens to put aside self in willing service to their country.