Graham guardian., 1898-09-02

| IIl llIl iSltSit y
ing on the dirty floors, and placed
in better quarters, made clean and
fairly comfortable by the sisters.
Food suitable for the sick was car
ried over from the Red Gross ship
and delicacies were prepared by
the nurses for the patients.
ga striking feature OF the hrst
days engagement was the NUMBER
of men wounded in the head, arms
and upper. part of the body-the
unerring aim of Spanish sharp
shooters concealed in trees. Some
of these cases--the most severely
wounded-were taken into the Red
Cross Hospital, where they would
receive the most skillful and gentle
nursing.
1.-TWO days of steady strain be
gan to show on the sisters. The
strain had been the greater because
there were no facilities for any
thing like regular meal short
of the ship-reached by a long,
hard tramp through the sand, then
row over the tossing waves. But
nobody thought of meals; the one
thing was to feed and nurse the AIS
wounded and sick men. Human
endurance, however, had lis limit,
and unless the sisters got little
rest they would give out. The only
outside force was Mrs. Trumbull
White of Chicago and myself. Mr..
White is on dispatch boat that
runs over to Port Antonio, where
the news dispatches are cabled.
Mrs. White went on duty and
proved most efficient and faithful
nurse. | went on duty for twenty.
four hours, and at night, with the
assistance of one man, taking care
of twenty-three patients-fever,
measles and dysentery cases, and
three badly wounded men.
"Among the latter was Captain
Mills Of the First Cavalry and
William Clark, a colored private
in the Twenty.fifth Infantry regu-
lars. They were brought over
from the hospital tents and placed
on a cot on tho little porch, where
there was just space enough to pass
between the cots. The wounds
were very similar, in the head, and
OF such a character as to require
cool applications to the eyes con-
stantly. Ice was worth its weight
in gold, for the lives of these men
as well as others depended chiefly
on cool applications to the eyes,
with as uniform temperature as
possible. We had one small piece
of ice, carefully wrapped in
blanket. There never was small
piece of ice went so far. IF l was
to tell the truth about -nAlAas-
would believe the truth. Never in
my life, l think, have l wished for
anything so much as l wished tor
ice that night. 1t was applied by
chipping it in small pieces or bits,
put in thin, dry, cotton cloth, fold
ed over in just the right size and
fat, to place across the eyes and
foreheae-enough of it to be cold
but not heavy on the wounds. The
ears of the sick are strangely acute
Whenever the sick men heard the
sound of chipping ice they begged
for ice water-even the smallest
bit of ice in a cup of water was
begged for with an eagerness that
was pitiful. l felt conscience.
snitten. But it was a question of
saving the eyes of the wounded
men and there was no other way.
To make the ice last till morning
| steaIthily Clipped it off so that
the sick men would not hear the
sound.
cat midnight a surgeon came
over from his tent ward with
little piece of ice, not larger than
his hand. This IS all we can
spare he SAID: take il. You must
keep those wounds cool at all haz-
ards. L have another case, very
much like these, wounded in the
head. want TO bring him over
here, where be will be sure of ex-
actly the same nursing. His life
depends on the care he will get in
Ithe next twenty-four hours. Have
you a vacant cot?"
"There was not vacant cot,
though we could make room for
one on the porch if we could find
the cot. He thought he could and
went back, taking the precious bit
of ice that he really needed more
than we did. In the course of half
an hour the surgeon returned to
say it was impossible to get a cot
anywhere, and the wounded man
must be left where he was in the
tent-at least until morning.
"And so it went on through the
long night--the patient suffering
of the sick men, the heroism of the
wounded-all fearing to give
any trouble, desiring not to do so
and grateful for the smallest at
tention. The courage that faces
death on the battlefield or calmly
waits for it in the hospital is not
a courage of race or color. Two of
o o e~A