Evening Republican, Volume 23, Number 150, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 22 June 1920 — YANKEE WOMAN ARAB CAPTAIN [ARTICLE]

YANKEE WOMAN ARAB CAPTAIN

Red Cross Worker in Palestine Has Regular Commission.' CARRIES SPECIAL PRIVILEGES Appointment Given In Recognition of Her Ability In Organizing the Work of the American Red Cross for Da-mascus—-Telle interesting Story of Her Experiences With Orientals— Takes Charge of Orphanage. An American woman for the. first time in tjie history of Palestine, has recently been appointed a captain in the Arabian cavalry. She Is also ttie first and only woman to receive such recognition from any oriental government. ? Mrs. Anna L. Fisher of Santa Bar- . bare, CaL, is tile little woman who has thus been uniquely distinguished. With her appointment to the Arabian army goes a very unusual privilege — the right to wear the dress, a strikingly picturesque costume, of “one attached to the royal household.” With her rank of cavalry, the Portland Oregonian says, she was also given a beautiful Arabian mare, the personal gift of the emir. Mr. Fisher’s appointment Is in recognition of her ability in organizing the work of the American Red Cross for Damascus. This brought her into constant touch with the Arabian officials, and when at the end of the war the Red Cross completed its work in Damascus the new Arab government asked that she be left behind and assigned to detached service with the Hedjaz government. It was In February of 1918 that she was sent from the United States as a member of the Red Cross commission to Palestine and was finally located at Damascus to take charge of an orphanage for Armenian refugee children who had been saved by the English from torture, starvation and death at the hands of the Turks. There were 800 Armenian refugee -children from three to fifteen years of age gathered in the orphanage, so called. It was located in a small country town in the suburbs of the city. When Mrs. Fisher took charge she found the home lacked about everything an institution of the kind should have to make it comfortable, but principally like most oriental dwellings, it needed water. But water, Mrs. Fteher in genuine American fashion made up her mind,' was one thing she must have first of all. i Bex Causes Trouble. ▲ couple of days afterward oriental workmen were on the job, but they bad never pictured a woman in the role of master, much less tried it in actual practice. Referring to the ensuing day, Mrs. Fisher says: "I had untold trouble. "Take my master plumber. He was a most extraordinary person, wearing a fez at an extreme and picturesque angle on the back of his head, a heavily embroidered short jacket, a brilliant embroidered shirt and baggy trousers, but, despite all this finery, he was barefooted. Even his cheeks were rouged and his lower eyelids darkened. He possibly was the first oriental to realize that a woman in command might be a serious proposition. Had he not been a really hard worker I never could have stood his constant reiterations that Allah was his father. I was his mother and that food wduld not pass his lips or sleep come to his eyelids until his wdrk> was done! "The oriental mind could not fathom why I needed water, particularly in such large quantities. After going through an endless chain of officials I managed to get to the minister of public works, who granted me permission to have 2.000 gallons of water a day and sewerage connections with the main pipes in the street Then rame the question of finding a tank. The director of public works solved the problem by lending me one that belonged to the government but it would only hold 740 gallons. After many trials, fortunately as amusing as irritating, I succeeded in getting all the plumbing in, after the English had delegated a captain of engineers to help me. ' "My first glance at my official family at the orphanage was enough to give me the horrors. Children Are Afflicted. * “It was my initial contact with scabies, the scourge of the Rast । Fully half the children were afflicted with It some in extremely virulent condition, and scarcely more than six of the whole 800 were normal. They were in charge of Armenian volunteers in much the same condition. "Seeing the children’s condition, I decided to have disinfecting rooms which would communicate directly with the street, without allowing any child to come directly into the house iptt-ci cleaned un. Under this arrangement the children were brought into a receiving room where there were tn attendance nurses, aids and doctors. The children were stripped, shaved, I given a disinfecting bath, wrapped in I uhc iSt i] and then examined by the doctoral The condition of the children determtoed their clothes, as I used a color scheme for telling the different ' diseases with which the children were afflicted. Dark biue clothing be--1 tokened normal, healthy children. MhR . .ywnffSteto.

diseases; light blue signified diphtheretic or trachomatous diseases, while yellow designated contagious. "The children’s beds—many of the poor things had never seen such luxuries before —were likewise designated by colors. “The mental condition of the orphans when I took over the institution seemed almost hopeless. They had been through such unspeakable horrors that in many cases they were mentally unsound, and these children were usually ringleaders of trouble. It took a firm hand to deal with them, but after a few evidences of strict discipline there was little trouble. Light Failure Startles. “Any unexpected happening at the orphanage, however, always caused mental ' demoralization. . One night, just at bedtime, aWthe electric lights in the house went out suddenly. Just as suddenly one of the girls screamed, and pandemonium broke loose. I set out alone for the English army headquarters, from which I returned shortly with three Tommies’ and a corporal. The confidence of the children returned at once. "The next day English officers called, talked the matter over and decided to give the orphanage a permanent guard at all day and five guards on the roof at night. “Within a week after,we had our water supply at the orphanage in running order, although most of the children had never before been accustomed to regular bathing Jn their Ilves, the trotfble was not to keep them sufficiently bathed but to avoid more than two baths per hour per child! The American bubble fountains 1 had installed In the courtyard for the children to drink at were an endless joy. “As soon as I learned to know the children and to judge of their characters, I instituted a plan of self-gov-ernment. A body of twelve policemen was formed, with a chief of police. They wore on their breasts a large red cross with embroidered white letters *O. P.’ —Orphanage Police. It was 'their duty to settle any minor disputes unless things became too serious, when the culprit was brought to me.”