One sitting-room only was generally kept heated,
and great reception-halls became mere warehouses;
or if all these were warm, it was because the wounded
and convalescent were living there. Every one re-
sponded to the caUs, to the extreme limit of his or
her possibilities. Perhaps this great overstraining
was one reason why, when deeper troubles came, the
population was no longer able to hold out against
them and broke down.
The war went on for weeks, and months, and years ;
some women physically suffered a collapse, others
mentally or morally could not stand the strain, with
the constant wear of work, the intense anxiety as to
home conditions, and the agony of slow retreats
and frightful losses at the front. Yet most of these
patriots went on mechanically with their duties,
though their figures wore to shadows of what they
had been before.
After about a year of war a new type of woman
appeared among us: Amazons who did men's work
in field and stable, farmyard and street, and who
did it well, making men's wages easily. In the
country these developed rapidly, and handled many



DAUGHTERS OP RUSSIA 313

duties never thought of before in their connection;
and the new phase promised much for the future of
woman's power in the land. Many daughters of
the soil also tried soldiering, even early in the war,
especially those from our moimtain districts who
possessed magnificent physiques. I was in the
Caucasus in the summer of 191 6, and I found the
small town where I spent two months had sent a
contingent of fifty women to the front, who were
fighting as volunteers, while another imit, equally
large, was preparing to leave.
