| During World War I, Ruth worked in the Voluntary Aid Detachment (VAD). Initially her letters were enthusiastic about the 'wonderful' English, 'such bravery & such spirits', but the war work she and Dorothy did, along with caring for their invalid mother, left them - even in December 1914 - feeling old as Methuselah. Instead of attending a dance on Christmas Eve, they found their mother's sick room 'an excuse & a haven'.((M-P family papers, NLA, set 17/40 and Box 4, folder 26.)) Ruth's work as a VAD was far from glamorous: for much of 1915 she worked at St Mary's Red Cross Hospital, Duxhurst, Reigate in Surrey cleaning the nurses' rooms and corridors in the nurses' lodge (home)((M-P papers, NLA MS 7801, Box 4, folder 25.)) In between stints there, she worked at the canteen at Waterloo Station. She wrote to Rosie that the nurses grumbled too much, but that she admired the VADs who were 'keen & enthusiastic, sporting & intelligent & with very decided opinions'. Nevertheless, she defined herself as an Australian girl and different: 'English girls are moulded & rather conventional aren't they?' Ruth also appreciated that she had it much easier than women who had to earn their living: 'I can go when I like ... & [know] that I'm just doing the dirty work for my country & for my poor soldiers.' For all her criticism of the nurses she worked with, she appreciated the difficulty of their work. When she passed her first aid test in June 1915, she wrote to Rosa that she was now 'qualified to give first aid to the injured - poor injured!'((M-P family papers, NLA, Box 4, folder 26 and 25.))\\ | During World War I, Ruth worked in the Voluntary Aid Detachment (VAD). Initially her letters were enthusiastic about the 'wonderful' English, 'such bravery & such spirits', but the war work she and Dorothy did, along with caring for their invalid mother, left them - even in December 1914 - feeling old as Methuselah. Instead of attending a dance on Christmas Eve, they found their mother's sick room 'an excuse & a haven'.((M-P family papers, NLA, set 17/40 and Box 4, folder 26.)) Ruth's work as a VAD was far from glamorous: for much of 1915 she worked at St Mary's Red Cross Hospital, Duxhurst, Reigate in Surrey cleaning the nurses' rooms and corridors in the nurses' lodge (home)((M-P papers, NLA MS 7801, Box 4, folder 25.)) In between stints there, she worked at the canteen at Waterloo Station. She wrote to Rosie that the nurses grumbled too much, but that she admired the VADs who were 'keen & enthusiastic, sporting & intelligent & with very decided opinions'. Nevertheless, she defined herself as an Australian girl and different: 'English girls are moulded & rather conventional aren't they?' Ruth also appreciated that she had it much easier than women who had to earn their living: 'I can go when I like ... & [know] that I'm just doing the dirty work for my country & for my poor soldiers.' For all her criticism of the nurses she worked with, she appreciated the difficulty of their work. When she passed her first aid test in June 1915, she wrote to Rosa that she was now 'qualified to give first aid to the injured - poor injured!'((M-P family papers, NLA, Box 4, folder 26 and 25.))\\ |