The touching scenes at Mrs. Harley’s funeral are evidence of the esteem and gratitude with which she was regarded in Serbia. She was buried at Salonika with full military honours, and her coffin, covered with the Union Jack, was followed by a great concourse, which included a large proportion of Serbians. In the funeral oration pronounced over her grave, the Serbian Minister of the Interior said: “Noble daughter of a great nation, though not a sister of ours by birth, still dear to us as a true sister, your tender soul is followed and ever will be followed by our fervent prayers, and by the everlasting gratitude of the Serbian nation. Thanks and glory be to you.” That her spirit and courage live on is manifest in the declaration by one of her two daughters, both engaged in hospital work in Serbia, that after her mother’s funeral it was her intention to return to Monastir to carry on Mrs. Harley’s work.
As a recognition of her services to the French, Mrs. Harley was decorated by General Sarrail with the “Croix de Guerre with palm leaves”—one of the highest of French decorations.
XXVII
MISS ETHEL ROLFE AND THE WOMEN ACETYLENE WELDERS
In the autumn of 1915 the organisers of the Women’s Service Bureau, anxious to assist women who applied to them for help and advice in obtaining posts under the newly constituted Ministry of Munitions, immediately sought openings in which educated women with a natural bent towards machinery and mechanical work could receive instruction in a skilled process. After consideration, it was decided to arrange a training in the process of oxy-acetylene welding, a work which seemed to combine various advantages. It was a skilled process comparatively new in England, and one which women had hitherto had no opportunity of learning, and should they be successful in taking up the work, there would be plenty of scope for them, as the process was being increasingly used in aeroplane manufacture. For this reason there was a good chance of its being continued after the war, and not proving a blind alley like so much present-day work. Accordingly, a small school was established under an able and experienced metal-worker, Miss F. C. Woodward.
The process taught is almost entirely used in aeroplane construction, namely, the welding of sockets and joints, struts, levers, and the parts of the frame-work.
ACETYLENE WELDERS
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Even before the war there had been a shortage of trained welders, and, with the enormous increase in aeroplane work and the enlistment of so many skilled mechanics, the demand for such workers was enormously increased.