The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1902-05-25
AIN ARMY NURSES STORY
wOMAN's TESTIMONY As To OUR
SOLDIERS IN PHILIPPINES.
Hospital Service Under American Rule
ExceIIent-Enect of Home
Criticism.
Philadelphia Times.

here 10 Manila. from there 10 Tien-Tsin
and Peking and thence to Manila again
and throughout the Philippines. Miss Lena
KiHiam. a trained nurse of this city, has
returned home
And perhaps that's not all OF it," she
says. for true soldier never admits that
his army days are over"
ITO begin with" said she, 81 have no
hesitation in declaring that American sol
diers. so far as have seen them, are the
best class of men and the best treated class
Of men OF their calling in the world to-day.
We who have been with them and who have
seen other armies. appreciate that. and
there's little wonder that we feel bitter
about any criticism Of them. OF course.
there are individual exceptions. but you
can't expect anything different-angels and
peaceable men don't go 10 war.
And the government back of the army
has done all il can do to make the armys
lot as cheerful and as happy as possible.
However. 1 do not care 10 talk politics or
the possible end of the Filipino insurrec-
tion-they are subjects which are about
equally uncertain"
Returning 10 the more cOngenial theme
of hospital work. Miss Killiam told an in
teresting story OF how provision was made
for the sick and wounded almost as soon as
the army of occupation settled in Manila,
the first post to which she was assigned:
Within three months" she said IAN old
Spanish hospital dirty, ramshackle place,
was transformed into bright. cheerful in
stitution fully equipped and capable of &C
eommodating hundreds and hundreds of
patients. Our army furnishings. you know.
are all built for easy transportation. There
are chairs which can be folded up and car
TIed in pocket almost, and tables, desks
and cots built on the same principle. These
were rushed across the ocean by thousands,
together with medical supplies and food
and everything one could need. 1t was real
y wonderful the speed with which that
hospital was fitted up.
Later. we acquired two more hospitals
one in the Manila archbishop's palace and
the other in the palace of the Governor
General-but for quite a while the first one
did sole service. les, il was often full. Not
so much with wounded men as with the
sick, for, comparatively speaking, there
were few wounded in the Philippines.
''Dysentery was the worst thing We had
10 contend with Once afflicted with that
disease a mans chances are not worth
much. The climate renders recovery almost
impossible, and if we sent patient home
II vas very likely that he would die on the
transport. The fevers were not so bad They
run shorter and less severe course there
than they do In this country, and the per-
eentase of fatal cases is CORRESPONDENCE
less
Here is where the army nurse corps
work was done. 1t is a curious fact that
while a man can face a battery in action to
save wounded cOmrade, or make single
handed charge to rescue flag: or defend
position with the last drop of his blood, he
cannot nurse the sick. I believe a soldier
would rather do any OF those things, or all
of them, than care for another man through
a six weeks siege of fever.
NURSES KEPT BUSY.
so you may be sure the army nurses
the women. mean-had their hands full.
There were only about one hundred OF us
altogether, though we had lots of help from
the regular regimental nurses-men-who
outnumbered US several times over. As the
city was cleaned up by the troops however,
and the soldiers learned to adapt them
selves better to the climate, the number of
sick diminished. until. when I left, 1 sup
pose eight hundred was about the total
number of patients in Manila.
We had a good bit OF trouble instituting
hospitals in northern Luzon. There was no
railroad communication then from Manila
TO Dagupan. The only way We could get
UP there was by vessel-little Spanish sail
ing craft-and when We did get there We
couldn't land for days and days because the
surf was TOO high. That was a great fault
afterwards, also. Men in the Dagupan Hos
ptal sometimes had TO watch for a week
the vessels bearing their supplies tossing
just outside the surf line. But all that was
Temedied when the little Mania-Dagupan
Railroad was restored.
When we got back to Manila it was just
at the time OF the Chinese trouble, and
twenty OF US followed the troops TO Tien-
Tsin. We waited there until the fall of Pc
king. then we went into that city and fitted
up a hospital in a Chinese temple. 1t was
a large, roomy place, this temple with lat
ticed, Open-wOrk walls, which pa
pered over when winter came.
1T then that had a chance to
compare our system and equipment with
those Of the other armies. Really We are so
hospital furnishings they were actually
ashamed-even the English tTOops-tO show
Us theirs. The JapaneSe-bright, clever fell
lows they were-took advantage of the sit
they saw. Many a time We turned every
thing inside out and upside down TO let
officers Of the Japanese army photograph
and sketch and make notes.
THE ONLY WOMEN THERE.
I'VE were the only women nurses with
the allied forces and naturally we received
lots OF attention and comment from the
foreigners. We were there for six months.
from November until May, and then We
returned TO Manila for good
Yes, l had lots of chances to observe the
Filipino character. My estimate of all Fill
pinOs is that they are nothing but children
they never seem TO grow out of the attri-
butes of childhood. They are curious, they
are sensitive and they are cOwardly, all of
them. OIEen Nnen 4 nave Deen alone IN the
house with a dozen or so grown FilpinOs
and some soldiers, perhaps, would tease
them or shout at them, the whole dozen
would run To me and beg protection, just
like a lot or American youngsters.
But with all that they are hOnes- and
affectiOnate 10 those who treat them right.
They had all the chance in the world 10
harm women, living alone as We did,
had they cared 10 do SO, but they were new
er anything but gentle and polite.
1.-THE full-blOOded Filipino is stupid
though and positively seems unable 10
learn anything. Quite the contrary is the
'mestizo'-the Filipino who IS half Spanish
or half Chinese. They are abnormally
bright and they are much handsomer than
the full-blooded natives, who are invariably
ugly
Among the high-class natives. however.
there is a standard OF intelligence and Gull
ture that Is actually superior 10 that dis
played by any American families which have
come 10 Manila vet These people all have
continental Quotations. They are artists
and musicians and linguists OF great abil-
tty- And the way they live Is dazzling, even
10 US Americans who are used 10 display
of wealth. Their houses are sumptuously
furnished. surrounded by beautiful lawns,
and fairly thr0nged with servants
IF RICH, THEY ARE VERY RICH.
THE Filipinos who are wealthy are enor-
uously so I knew one landowner there
whose house moved roo small for him He