Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1870-09-22
THE PRINCESS ALICE AT HOME.
The Hospital at Darmstadt.


A correspondent of the Pail Mall Ia
zette. who visited the hospital Tor the
wounded at Darmstadt which Is under
special charge of the Princess Alice,
writes; Certainly, nothing can be more
admirably managed; and Of those have
seen as vet it is the brightest, arrest
and most cheerful. The principal build.
inc is permanent one OF stone ana
glass-an ex-conservatory. II stands IN
Charming gardens, with their tiower-beds,
and strawberries, and fountains, which,
as the Princess says, the frenehmeh
CALAMITY tell her remind them oil the
water-works Of Versailles. through
these are scattered number OF sue
cursales-wooden pavilions where the
double rows of beds stand at ample IN
tervals. with canvas doors at the ends, to
be looped up at will, and with openings
in the roof protected from the wet, but
open to the wind.
The Princess says the French strongly
nrotest against the fresh air, while the
Germans, on the contrary, very sensiniy
welcome it as the best of specifics. she
onght TO be mistress OF the inward senti-
ments of the patients, for they all seem
10 take her into their Utmost confidence:
II was worth journey from England
alone to see the faces of the sufferers
tighten up as they reflected the sisteriy
smiles on hers. As she passed along and
stopped and spoke TO each, the Invalid
laid himself back on his pillow with an
expression of absolute bien efre, ana ior
the moment seemed to lind something
more than an anodyne for his pain. Her
passing along the wards applied the most
infallible Of tests to the cases.
If her presence did not smooth the
pain-wrinkles ont of mans face, or
bring something like tranquility to his
drawn mouth, and canse flash OF light
TO his eve. you were quite sure to hear
he was in an extremely bad way. Nor
was it with the wounded alone she
seemed the animated spirit of the place.
Nurses and doctors, and convalescents
walking about all addressed her with
the same cordial familiarity-only tenn
pered by their evident reverence and
love. The truth is, and one sees IT
everywhere else as in Darmstadt, this
war has not merely made Germany a
nation. but family, and a thorough
family feeling pervades North and
South, high and low alike. Nothing
seems regarded as a sacrihce, and the
humblest work that can serve the great
national cause is regarded as pleasure
and honor.
The theater at Mayence is given over
N nrenarations for the hospital service,
and the ladies of the place, old and
Young. 20 to work day and night in
patches and in gangs, in the coarsest ma
terials and toughest work. Here at
Darmstadt no small portion OF the Palace
is devoted to the same purpose, and the
work-rooms communicate directly with
the Princess apartments. There are
niles of mattresses in the galleries, hills
of blankets and cushions below, chests
of lint. bundles of bandages, mountains
of cushions, sandbags for absorbing
blood, wooden receptacles for shattered
limbs. There is a continual influx and
constant outflow Of all that This after
noon the Princess phaton had the back
seat piled high with cushions wanted for
immediate use-decently covered up, IT
is true. with a carriage rng; but there
were SO many of them that the rug was
shear hypocrisy and absurd illusion. A
huge bundle of flannel seriously embar-
raised the coachman's legs and style,
while it says much for the paving of the
Darmstadt streets that all the teapots
slowed away in the sword case beneath
the ladies seat reached their destination
in safety.