One hundred years ago this week and with the Great War testing everyone's spirits, ever-optimistic "Clio" of Melbourne's Punch trilled that "In England, a prominent writer is of the opinion that during the war crisis, women are much more optimistic and cheerful than men."

"It is men, he, says, who play the part of Mrs. Gummidge [a gloomy Dickens' character] and implore the nation to sit in sackcloth and ashes, with long faces ... imagining that a nation fights better when its spirits are low.

"It takes the women all their time, he says, to fight against male despondency. 'Nearly every man relies upon some valiantly optimistic woman to revive his drooping soul'."

"I think this is emphatically true. The woman's part, is the hardest to play, and it manages to keep smiling and even organise amusements for the gloom-laden men. Outward and visible sign of depression are exceedingly unwise. It is said that 'The darkened lights of London, are a tonic for German nerves'. The whole idea is to keep going as valiantly as possible, both at home and at the front. Keep the smile turned on full force all the time, in case the enemy is watching to see you droop."

And this was no time to droop, "Clio" lectured, because the first shiploads of our wounded were about to arrive. There would be "heaps to do" for them and it must be done cheerfully, optimistically.