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Thisnsummer I went to Canada, and I was delighted to see something I’dnnever seen before: icebergs floating in a bright green lake! The lakenis green because nearby glaciers have ground rocks into such tinynparticles, they become rock “flour”—and these particles arensuspended in the lake water, where they scatter sunlight in a waynthat is similar to gas molecules in our air scattering sunlight andnmaking our skies blue. (Some of the glacial lakes in Canada arenbright blue or turquoise instead of green.)
Thisnsummer I went to Canada, and I was delighted to see something I’dnnever seen before: icebergs floating in a bright green lake! The lakenis green because nearby glaciers have ground rocks into such tinynparticles, they become rock “flour”—and these particles arensuspended in the lake water, where they scatter sunlight in a waynthat is similar to gas molecules in our air scattering sunlight andnmaking our skies blue. (Some of the glacial lakes in Canada arenbright blue or turquoise instead of green.)n
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nAboventhis gorgeous lake was a beautiful mountain with rock layers thatnmade diagonal stripes across the mountain’s face. Several glaciersnlived in pockets around this mountain, and the meltwater from thenglaciers, of course, fed the lake. Although I was there during anpleasant warm-and-sunny, yet-cool-breeze kind of day, I found outnthat, no matter the temperature, there are icebergs in that lakenevery day of the year!
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nWhynam I telling you all this? The mountain, one of the glaciers, and thenlake were all named for a woman I’d never heard of: Edith Cavell.nThis is the anniversary of Cavell’s death, in 1915, and since she wasna genuine heroine, I thought I would share a little bit about her. n
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nNursen– and Spy?
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nEdithnCavell was a British nurse who went to Belgium to work and ended upnrunning a nursing school in Brussels, Belgium. During World War I,nhowever, Brussels was occupied by the German army, and her clinic andnnursing school were taken over by the Red Cross. Cavell treated andnsaved soldiers from both sides, but she worked hard to smugglenBritish, French, and Belgian soldiers—the newly healed or prisonersnof war—out of Belgium and into the Netherlands. The Netherlands wasnneutral in the war, and the soldiers could go from there back tontheir homes, or they could rejoin the fighting against the Germans.
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nThenGermans who occupied Belgium became suspicious of Cavell. It wasnagainst their military law for her to help British soldiersnescape—even though she was British herself! She was arrested,nplaced in prison and even solitary confinement, and sentenced tondeath as a spy.
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nShenbravely told friends that she was so used to death, after workingnwith so many soldiers from all sides, that she was not scared to die.nIf she had to die, she said, she was happy to lose her life for herncountry.
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nSomenGerman officers thought it was a very bad idea to execute Cavell.nThey pointed out that she had saved a lot of German lives, as well asnAllied soldiers. They said that the Germans would look like monstersnif they executed a woman and a nurse. However, a German named CountnHarrach said that his only regret was that the Germans didn’t haven“three or four English old women to shoot.” n
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nYikes!
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nAnyway,nthe Germans did execute Edith Cavell. She became a heroine to thenAllied side, and her execution—some called it murder—damagednGermany’s reputation even more. There are many memorials, medicalnfacilities, streets, schools, gardens, parks, and bridges named fornCavell. Including the incredibly beautiful Mount Edith Cavell innCanada’s Rocky Mountains, and a nearby glacier and iceberg-fillednlake!
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