Evening Republican, Volume 18, Number 279, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 25 November 1914 — Page 2

WOMAN WITH WILL WHO FOUND A WAY

How Mrs. Cunningham-Snyder, Driven by Circumstances, Is Winning Fame. IS YOUNG SOUTHERN WIDOW Studying Medicine and Aiding Physician*, She Now Heads Great Nursing Service Established ,by .■ Big Life Insurance Company. By RICHARD SPILLANE. (Copyright, McClure Newspaper Syndicate.) There never was an age in which woman showed such versatility and capacity as she Is demonstrating today. There seems to be no limit to hpr work, no field in which she cannot blaze her way to success. It is not, the woman of . the North who is doing it all. The woman of the South is not far behind. One of the daughters of the South who has done remarkable things is Mrs. Georgene CunninghamSnyder, formerly of New Orleans, but now of New York. A little more than eleven years ago she had a desperate situation to meet. She was young, and she was widowed. Years before a fall "had So injured one of her limbs that tuberculosis of the bone developed. Tol save herself from becoming a cripple and, possibly, from death, it was imperative that she be under the care of one of the great surgeons of. New York. Operations—many of them —Were necessary. Surgery costs money, a greakdeal of money when the knife is wielded by one of the masters of the profession. New Orleans is the most charming of all the cities of the South. With all its commerce and its ever-increasing trade, it never has lost its old world flavor, its fidelity to old established social customs and its quaintness. Queer that out of that city should come a woman without any business training who has made a striking success in an altogether new line of business. Not Brought Up to Work. Mrs. Cunningham-Snyder is a daughter of M. J. Cunningham, who for three terms was attorney general of the state of Louisiana. She was brought up as are the girls of all good families of Louisiana —without any idea that she would have to make her own way in the world. It is the province of the man to provide and care for the women of his blood. This is beautiful in sentiment, but sometimes circumstances develop that make it very hard for a woman. In Louisiana only a few lines of work have been open to the woman of gentle birth and scant means. She could teach instrumental music, singing, or she could do em--1 broidery without losing social caste. If her ambition led her to dream of something beyond this, it were better that she be content* with dreaming and not seek reality. " Mrs. Cunningham-Snyder did not want to be a burden upon her father. The family was large, there being four sisters and five brothers. In 1903 she went to New York to consult a famous surgeon and, incidentally, to see if she could do anything to make a living for herself. She is bright, has a fertile brain, has been well educated and has lots of courage. The handicap under which she suffered by reason of that fall of years before did not discourage her. The fact that she would have to go upon the surgeon’s table many times cut no figure in her plans. She was going to become self-support-ing, she determined. Began Study of Medicine. She had a leaning toward medicine, so she decided to take up that study. Incidental to her ambition in this direction, she became an aide to physicians, doing secretarial work for them and assisting them in the preparation of papers for publication in medical journals. She thought medicine offered an excellent field for her.’ There are not so many women in it. The field is there, but somehow woman does hot make the headway in medicine that she does in other branches of endeavor. Mrs. Cunningham-Snyder kept at her studies and her secretarial work for several years. Now and then she would have to go to the surgeon’s table. In all, she had to submit to seven operations: After each operation she was invalided for several weeks. For the first year that she was in New York her father assisted her financially, but after that Mrs. Cun-ningham-Snyder would not let that good and kindly man do any more in a monetary way. She was able to make both ends meet through her own brave efforts. In the Psychopathic War& To broaden her knowledge and earn more money she took a position in Bellevue hospital, in the psychopathic ward. There it is that patients suffering from mental disorders due to derangement of the nervous system are treated. It is not a pleasant place. Many a man would rather dig in a ditch for a dollar a day than work there for |2O a day. Mrs. CunninghamSnyder saw little of the disagreeable work of this ward. Most of her duties were those of the student and the clerk. She had to look after the details for the commitment of patients to (State institutions. She drew up the (papers, made a history of each case and saw that the records were kept straight In regard to all these unfortunates. And all the time she studied.

She still had before her the great plan of being a physician. Her woi;k in the psychopathic ward attracted attention and a position was offered to her by the National Association for the Study and Prevention of Tuberculcsis. She had charge of the publicity department. One of the things she had to do was to get out a biweekly bulletin that kept track of all the tuberculosis institutions in America. Up to that time there had been nor concert of action in the war on tuberculosis. It was while she was with this association that she met Dr. Lee Frenkel and compiled for him a list of all the associations and all the persons engaged in the fight on the great white plague Welfare Department Work. FrenkeJ, was so pleased with the work that Mrs. Cunningham-Snyder did that when he was invited by a great- insurance, company to establish a welfare department, he asked her to accept a position under him. She consented. The work was not much at first, but it has grown today to be a very large affair. It was started in New York, experimentally, in one small section of the city. Three •months’ trial was sufficient to warrant its extension. First and last the purpose of the work was to prolong life, especially the lives of. policy holders. In case of illness the policy holder is requested to notify the company’s agent at once. Then a visiting nurse calls. The nurse does not remain in the home of the patient, throughout the illness, but gives such attention as is necessary. A skilled nurse can do a wonderful amount of good in an hour’s visit. Comparatively few persons know the tremendous importance of having the sick room sweet and clean. The length of the visits and the number of calls ale

left to the judgment of the visiting nurse. The nurse at all times places himself or herself under the orders of the* physician in charge. In cases of urgency special nurses are provided to look after the patient. There is no charge for the visits of the nurse. It is part of the business of the company and it has been found to be profitable. The longer a policy holder lives, the more premiums the company receives. Safeguarding the life of its policy holders, therefore, is of prime importance. Heads Great Nursing Service. The great factor in this work is this woman of the South. She has spread this visiting nurse business far and wide. She has become next to Doctor Frenkel, the directing spirit of the welfare department, with the title of superintendent of the nursing service. The policy holders in 1800 cities and towns come within her province. The company has 11,000,000 policies out. This nursing service already embraces sections in which 1,000,000 of the policy holders live. The nurses under this woman’s charge made 1,000,000 visits in 1912. Her department expended a little more than five hundred thousand dollars. She has 58 clerks in her New York office. She has 800 nurses scattered throughout the United States. All the agents of the company are instructed to work in co-op-eration with her. She puts in about three months each year traveling around the country, visiting agencies, getting the nurses together, explaining her plans apd delivering addresses. Incidentally she gets up a vast amount of literature intended to enlighten men and women in matters of hygiene. There is not anything in the household or in regard to care of adults or children to which she does not give attention. She goes into those subjects in her addresses and in the printed matter she puts forth. She tells what is the right way and what is the wrong way to keep a bouse clean. She tells how to keep cooking pots, spoons and dishes clean and sweet She tells about closets, garbage palls and towels. She goes into the matter of germs. She tells how to care for and

THE EVENING REPUBLICAN, RENSSELAER, IND. ‘

Mrs. Georgene Cunningham-Snyder.

prepare food, the Importance of keeping the icebox pure, the germs that get on the hands from dirty straps in street cars, or from door-knobs or furniture. She tells of the simple disinfectants and she dwells particularly on the glory and the benefit of open air. Is a Charming Enthusiast. The greatest housecleaners in the world are sunshine and fresh air. Where they are germs cannot grow. She goes into the matter of rest, of work, of dress, of exercise, of the teeth, the mouth, the nose, the hands, the eyes, the ears. She is an enthusiast and her liquid, Southern tones have a decided charm. She has studied her subject so deeply and is so wrapped up in it that she gives td it an interest far beyond what a person would imagine could be developed in such a talk. She can explain a thing so clearly that everyone can understand. If persons only would live correctly the span of life would be much longer, but from early life until the end most persons misuse the one great asset with which they were endowed —health. Of the 800 nurses under her direction, nearly all have connections with settlement houses or other bodies. They are pretty well trained, but they find they have a good deal to learn from Mrs. Cunningham-Snyder in every matter, from making a bed or cooking a meal to nursing a patient. She seems to have studied and mastered everything that has to do with the improvement of health conditions. That would not-be of such value if it were not for her singular ability in imparting her own enthusiasm to all those about her. Possibly the joy she feels in having come through so many surgical operations without being crippled and with good health explains this ir part.

When Mrs. Cunningham-Snyder first went out traveling, telling the men of the company how to do their work, some of the employees thought she was getting her information second hand, and, wishing to be gracious, one of them, possibly misled by her unusual name, would arise after she finished her speech and compliment her oh knowing so much about her husband’s work. Then she would have to explain that she had no husband and it was her work she was talking about. Doing Much for America. She gets a fat salary. She is likely to get a still larger one. She probably is doing more than any other one person in America to Improve health conditions and prolong life. Her influence is growing with each year. She is the greatest teacher of hygiene in the country today. She is young. She still is in her early thirties. For a woman who went to New York ten years ago fettered and handicapped, she has made remarkable progress. This is all the more remarkable in the light of the fact that she is the only member of hejjpmlly who has had a bust ness career. Her father is practicing law in New Orleans today. Four of her brothers are living; one of them is judge of the district court in northern Louisiana. When the woman of gentle breeding, whether she be of the North or of the South, goes into business, she seems to develop talents she never was supposed to possess. A little woman of Bowling Green, Ky., who began with a needle, has built up a business that pays her 150,000 a year; a gentlewoman of Albany, N. Y., forced by grim necessity when she was past fifty, to make a living for herself and her invalid sister, has developed a business in New York city that has drawn in various Standard Oil millionaires who were eager to share its great profits. And here this woman of New Orleans goes to New York and, within a decade, does work that is likely to make her a national figure. It’s wonderful how long some faoea grow over night

SCENE AMID THE RUINS OF BATTERED ANTWERP

Rujns of the houses battered and set on fire by the four thousand shells which the Germans sent into Antwerp during the bombardment This scene is in the Rue de Peuple and is typical of many throughout Antwerp.

BLUNDER IS COSTLY

Belgian Regiment Almost Wiped Out on the Yser. Germans by False Uniform Trap WornOut Foes—Only 100 Survive of 600 Men—Deep Water in Trenches. London, England.—The Daily News describes the terrible experiences of one Belgian regiment during the battle on the coast when this regiment withdrew from Antwerp. Through an error it was given two days’ drill and inspection, instead of rest, and then went into action again in the network of trenches on the banks of the Yser. The newspaper’s correspondent in his dispatch quotes one of the soldiers in this body as follows: “There was a farm on our right and some of our men were firing at it when the door opened and three officers in Belgian uniforms stepped out, shouting to cease firing. We sent a detachment of men to the. farm and they were swept away by machine gun fire. Trench Filled With Water. “Later we .entered the trenches. They were full of water and I was firing for six hours, thigh deep in water. The German machine guns shot us out of crevices in a raised bank only « few yards across the river. The Germans then got into our cross trenches and fired down our lines. We had to run back. I was too sleepy to run. I must have fallen asleep and then we must have been ordered to advance. I was too tired to get up, but some one kicked me and I got up, as did the man in front of me. He immediately was shot through the head and fell* back on me. I got up again. A shell burst near me and three men who were running past just disappeared. In Trenches With Germans.

“I found myself running forward again with others with fixed bayonets onto the Germans, who were firing from our own trenches. We were 200 left from 600. They did not wait, but scrambled over the bank across the river. We crouched in a big trench in muddy water. It was dark and we heard, we thought, Germans whispering on the river side of our bank only six feet away from us. The speakers were 300 Germans who had stayed on our side, fearing to cross the river under our fire. Only 100 of Regiment Left. “So we stayed all night. Neither they nor we slept. Some of our men who crept up the bank to look over were shot. Some of the Germans climbed oyer t q,pd we fired at their heads, hands and arms as they became visible. A few made holes through the loose earth, -through which we fired on each other. Then the French got around the epd and there was heavy firing. We heard a few of the enemy slipping down to the river edge and the splashing of water. Then we scrambled over the bank and won. Only 100 of our regiment now remain."

SURE OF DINING IN PARIS

Discovery In Officer’s Pocket Illustrates the Confidence of the German Army. Antwerp. —The absolute confidence of the German army in its ability to reach Paris is Illustrated by the discovery in the pocket of a Prussian officer who died in a Brussels hospital of a manuscript German-French vpcabularly, containing the following in the two languages: “Which is the way to the Place de I’OperaT" “How far is it to the Moulin Rouge?" “Is the Louvre open now?” “Give me three chickens, two bottles of champagne and three bottles of very old Burgundy.”

GERMANS DIE LIKE HEROES

Little Rear Guard Stood Ground Against the French Till Last Man Perished. Rome. —Recognition is given German discipline by Luigi Barzini, war correspondent with the French of the Corriere Della Sera, in a recent article on the fighting about Chambry. "Along the road of Chambry a story of a combat o,f man against man was told by the dead,” wrote Mr. Barzini. "A troop of Germans whp had been left behind to guard the rear, and had taken-cover in a ditch along the road, offered resistance to the very last —the last dead Frenchman lay three meters from the ditch. Then the storm passed over them and killed the last one; Stabbed through and through with the bayonet, the German soldiers lay against the embankment in a row. Bent bayonets and broken rifles spoke of the violence of the desperate struggle. “The first in the row was a sergeant. It seemed that even in death he still uttered commands. Another group - of dead lay about the body of the officer who had been in command. The similarity of expression on Jhe faces of the dead was striking. Only the uniform told the private from the officer. There was a sort of fraternity among them in death. The dead Germans still hid their knapsacks on their backs, were splendidly dressed, and appeared to be ready for parade.”

BULLETS FAIL TO KILL HIM

British Army Officer Has Many Close Calls From Death in Battle Line. s 4. ' London. —Lieut. A. C. Johnston, well known as Hants county’s premier cricketer, is beginning to believe that he bears a charmed life. He has been sent home wounded from the front, but he said he considers himself mighty lucky to be even -alive. He had many narrow escapes from death. The day before he was wounded the nose of a shell hit a wall six Inches over his head. Shortly after a bullet hit the ground a half yard ahead of him, glanced up and hit him on the Jjody, oily bruising him. Then a bullet hit him over the heart, "but it was spent,” and he picked it out of his breast pocket and sent it home to his wife as a souvenir. His final escape came while he was sitting on the steps of a house. Half the building was blown up and he was not even touched.

HEALTH MOVE BY BRITAIN

Three Consulting Physician* Assigned to Duty With Expeditionary Force In France. London. —The British Medical Journal states that the war office has appointed Sir John Rose Bradford, Sir Wilmot Herringham and Sir Almroth Wright consulting physicians with the British expeditionary force in France. Field Marshal Earl Kitchener, the Journal says, also has decided to appoint a special army sanitary committee to advise the army council on all questions pertaining to the health of the troops. Sir John Sloggett will be sent to. France to co-ordinate the work of the army medical service with that of St John’s ambulance and the Red Cross, of which he will be chief commissioner.

Make Rampart of Dead Men.

Paris.—ln one of the hottest corners of the vast battlefield of the Marne the Germans were hard pressed by the French, and driven from their trenches, To check the victorions advance of the French troops they raised a rampart of’dead and wounded. This wall, six feet high, the Turcos had to scale before they dislodged the enemy with their bayonets. In this corner of the fighting 7,000 German dead were found.

SPARTAN RUSSIAN COLONEL

Kissed His Dead Son and Continued to Give Orders to His Troops. Petrograd.—The Russian journal Svlet tells the following story of the Spartan conduct of Colonel Loupoukhlne. He was listening, after the first great battle of Galicia, to the reading of ihe report of his regiment’s casualties. . “ ‘We have lost 200 killed and wounded,’ he was told. “ ‘How many soldiers killed?’ demanded CMonel Loupoukhlne. “ ‘So many.’ “ ‘How many officers killed?’ " ‘Only one.’ “ 'What Is the name of this officer?* “ ‘Lieutenant Loupoukhlne.’ “Not a muscle of Colonel Loupoukhine’s face moved. “‘Where was the officer killed?’ he asked. “The place was Indicated. He went to the body of his dead son, dismounted from his horse, kissed the forehead and lips of his child, made the sign of the cross, remounted, and continued giving orders.”

COUNT RAZES OWN CHATEAU

.Husband of Cincinnati Girl Directs Artillery in Dislodging Germans on Hi* Estate. Paris.—The Countess de Chambrun, formerly Miss Clara Longworth of Cincinnati, a sister of ex-Congressman Nicholas Longworth, has received a letter from her husband, who was at one time a French military attache at Washington, and is now an officer of an artillery company at the front. In his letter Count de Chambrun says: • “I am now having the great pleasure of directing the artillery fire against our own chateau, and I take great enjoyment in seeing piece after piece come down.” ' The De Chambrun chateau is near St. MihieU where a stubborn struggle has beeff going on for six weeks, since that jjolnt has been occupied by the Germans.'’'

IGNORES KAISER; SAVES ARMY

Ruler Reported to Have Advised Suicide for General Who Disobeyed His Order*. Paris.—The entire German left wing would have been annihilated during the battle of the .Marne if General von Hausen had not disregarded the kaiser’s orders, declares the Warsaw Gazette in confidential reports from Berlin. When the battle was going against the Germans the kaiser commanded the left to continue the advance, but Von Hausen, realizing hia flank was strongly menaced, refused to obey. , When the news reached the kaiser of the Prussian guards* Retreat from Vitry-le-Francois he said bitterly: "Is General von Hausen still alive? A Samurai would have committed suicide."

LOSS TO REIMS $200,000,000

Insurance Companies Estimate the Damage Caused to City by « the Germans. Ldndon.—The correspondent of the Morning Post, who has just returned from Reims, telegraphs from Paris that the Insurance companies estimate the damage to Reims at 1200,000,000. More than twelve hundred civilians were killed in the streets and houses during the month’s bombardment About one-fourth of all the buildings were destroyed. The, most severe damage was in the best portions of the city, ,where the finest and most historic buildings are located. The cathedral is a ruin. Forty thousand of the city’s population of a quarter of f million still remain, mostly living in cellars. *