PREFACE
These accounts of the work of some British women during the war have been collected, not with any attempt at even outlining the scope of women’s achievement, but simply as pictures, showing the influence which women in varied spheres have exercised in the course of the war. Some of those whose records follow are women who, by force of character and personality, would always have stood apart, even in the limited opportunities of peace time. Others are taken rather as types of workers, representing many hundreds who are serving the country in similar ways. The selection has seemed at times invidious; but it is easy to realise that when the numbers of workers are so immense in each of the fields of activity mentioned in the book, no complete record of individual effort can be attempted.
The object in writing of the experiences of particular workers is to present a more vivid story than a merely general description could convey. True understanding of our women’s war work can come only from personal experience or through the power of a keen imagination. Those who have no other opportunities can appreciate that work by visualising the measure of endurance, patience, determination,and unflinching courage demanded for the successful performance of the tasks which women have undertaken. If any of these chapters succeed in creating a living atmosphere in which readers picture themselves working under similar conditions in similar fields of labour, the primary object of the book will have been fulfilled. Much will be written hereafter on every form of women’s service touched on in these little accounts. They claim only to be windows through which may be seen that wide vista which has for its foreground the fulfilment of the great tasks of the war, and for its background a limitless horizon of potential effort.
B. McL.