Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1898-12-06
HONKNAKERS COLUMN.

CpeEsa endsnss = sspsm efinesssee . ~ lndle.
. sollelDsd. AddzSss: EditQy Hcnl1AKsAs'
CoLUMn. Oxford DsnocEas, Paris. nains.
WOMAN'S WORK At CAMP WikoFF.
How We worked, those 6rst days !!
And what obstacles our womeu's Wits
were taxed TO overcome! Five hundred
men TO Do fed with broths made In To-
mat0 cans over splrit-lamps, and served
In ak tin cupe, which necessltated count
less wtshinxs! Five hundred tempera-
lures 70 be taken With the few clinical
thermometers slipped by chance into the
private luggage Of some nurse or doctor !
Five hundred men Grimed with Cuban
soil, to be kept clean, with every drop Of
water carried an eighth Of . mile In In
SUFFICIENT basins and pals. And the
government supplies came Lob, 80 slow.
", II at all! Oh, how we thanked God
for the Red Cross and for the friends
whose eager sympathy expressed itself
In wagon-loads Of Necessities, which
were also Injuries! With what eager
haste we telegraphed to the workers at
the supply depot, who never failed NJ
who never stopped to question, were the
demand for equipped cots or corkscrews,
for carloads OF hygeia water or palm-leaf
fans and cologne. With fingers that
could not walt for tools we tore open
the boxes which held the coarse betaped
night shirte, which, earlier In the sum
mer, had perhaps excited questioning
smile as we had watched them grow In
the white fingers Of the women OF "our
auxiliary" when war seemed so far dis
tant and unreal. There was no limit TO
our need for these garments and Tor
sheets and pillow-slips and towels, and
there was no time 70 regret the terrible
waite caused by the necessity OF burning
daily great heaps Of bedding and Of
clothes, which there was no means Of
having washed; but this destruction
made the need for fresh supplies ever
urgent.
Over seventeen hundred sick men
passed through our hands during those
crowded weeks when life was measured
by the coming Of the transports Allie
ghany, Berkshire, Roumanis, Cstauia.
How much those names will ever mean
to US into whose keeping they diseorged
their strange sad cargo OF hum IN misery
We seldom had warning or hint Of the
arrival OF this living freight until up the
steep and winding road from the wharf
to the hospital would come the long
train of smbulances, and then all was
one mad rush Of preparation. Carpen-
tiers, nurses, doctors, hospital corps, and
detailed men all worked with will, and
In an incredibly short space Of time we
had our falnting, dirty, starved, and
neglected heroes revived, fed, washed,
and made comfortable In clean beds,
with the kind face Of q woman nurse
bending over them.
'By Jove! Jimmie" said an old reg
ular" to companion In the next cot,
This Is almost Ms good as being a volun-
teer with home and sweetheart"
woman's work. One smiles at the
recollection Of the nature Of the varied
services we performed for our helpless
heroes. And one jealously guarded ad-
vantage We had In our strictly enforced
quarantine, our soldiers were peculiarly
ours" no throng OF eager visitors
could share with US the pleasure OF min
istering from frst TO last to our patients.
And, oh, the thousand offices not cats
iogucd among the requirements OF n
graduated nurse which fell 10 our share
TO execute. First, OF course, the supply
Ing Of the countless minor wants OF rest
less Embellishments which friends,
known and unknown, seemed 10 antici-
pate by kind OF blessed telepsthy, for
always, just when longed for most, the
needed article came. Sometimes the
extra pillow for tired shoulder or back,
or iiy net for some tortured "insomni-
Sc" crate Of juicy oranges or u freezer
Of Ice cream for parched thr0ats; = box
OF tooth-brushes, greatest OF boons, al
ways needed to replace those "lost 10
Cuba; sometimes Il was but sprinkle
Of cologne or Whit Of aromatic salts 10
kill the ever-present Odor OF disinfect-
ants or OF worse; or IL might be clean
handkerchief, 6rst signal OF return to
civilization and individual ownership;
or, best Of all, perhaps some copies OF
the daily papers, scanned so eagerly by
men who, themselves makers Of history,
were yet ignorant OF the commonest hap
penings Of current life.
Oh, you who toiled with loving fugers
TO make and send supplies for the relief
work of this fateful summer, be assured
that not one stitch, not one effort, WAS
wasted or lost. for many q soldiers
prayer Was offered In gratitude for
womsn's work,
And what woman, kept at home by
nearer duties, would not have envied Ne
could she have known the endless op-
portunities for usefulness, the sweet re-
ward Of those OF us who could 90 where
needed mOsts For, besides the more
practical side Of our work just touched
upon, we had still higher privileges.
The sad pleasure Of chronicling for eyes
We knew would be blinded by scaldins
tears the last pathetic details Of young
life bravely ended; the filling rs best we
could the place Of that ''other woman"
who would have given years OF life TO
have knelt where we knelt, and heard as
We heard, with ears that felt 1t sscrllege
10 listen, the last whispered accents OF
her name. Ours II WAS, too, to press 10
silent sympathy the hands OF those who
came "too late" to arrange the details of
that 'home-taking" which was to be so
different from the joyous home-going so
joyously looked forward to-; ours TO
weave a wreath or garland Of the few
pale flowers which grow on the bleak
hill-side with which to hide, as best we
might, the baroness OF rough coffin lids
and ours to stand at last as only mourn
ers beside the open grave Of some moth
er's idol, and know full we'll that, how
ever far away, the sound Of the clay on
that coffin would reach and crush her
woman's heart.
All this was woman's work! Hers,
thank God, through all the ages; hers
by royal commission from the lips Of
Him who from His own cross, behOlding
With divine pity HE fellow-man, cried,
''Woman, behold thy son. Thank GOD
that the darkness and anguish Of war
bring out 10 clear relief wOmsn's divine
ompsssion.-Harper's Bazaar.