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The War.
"Elsie Inglis was one of the heroic figures
of the war."
Suffrage.
"During the whole years of the Suffrage
struggle, while the National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies was
growing and developing, Dr. Elsie Inglis stood as a tower of strength,
and her unbounded energy and unfailing courage helped the cause forward
in more ways than she knew. To the London Society she stood out as a
supporter of wise councils and bold measures; time after time, in the
decisions of the Union, they found themselves by her side, and from
England to Scotland they learned to look to her as to a staunch friend.
"Later, when the war transformed the work of
the Societies of the Union, they trusted and followed her still, and it
is their comfort now to think that in all her time of need it was their
privilege to support her."
Medical.
"We medical women in Scotland will miss her
very much, for she was indeed a strong rock amongst us all."
Scottish Women's Hospitals.
"Those who work in the hospitals she
founded and for the Units she commanded, and all who witnessed her labours, feel inspired by her dauntless
example. The character of the Happy Warrior was in some measure her
character. We reverence her calm fearlessness and forceful energies, her
genius for overcoming obstacles, her common sense, her largeness of mind
and purpose, and we rejoice in the splendour of her achievements."
Home.
"It is not of her great qualities that I
think now, but rather that she was such a darling."
Serbia.
"By her knowledge she cured the physical
wounds of the Serb soldiers. By her shining face she cured their souls.
Silent, busy, smiling—that was her method. She strengthened the faith of
her patients in knowledge and in Christianity. Scotland hardly could
send to Serbia a better Christian missionary."
As the days pass, bringing the figure of
Elsie Inglis into perspective, these true and beautiful pictures of her
fall quietly into the background, and one idea begins slowly to emerge
and to expand, and to become the most real fact about her. As we follow
her outward life and read the writings she left behind her, we come to
realize that her greatness lay not so much in the things she achieved as
in the hidden power of her spirit. She was a woman of solved
problems. The far-reaching qualities of her mind and character are but
the outcome of this inward condition.
All men and women have problems; few solve
them. The solved problem in any life is the expression of genius, and is
the cause of strength and peace in the character.
"It is amazing how sometimes a name begins
to shine like a star, and then to glow and glow until it fills the
firmament. Such a name is Elsie Inglis." |
