The Appeal. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. ;) 1889-19??, 1914-11-28
BEING WOUNDED
HAS BRIGHT side
Mothers Are Thankful TO See
Manned Sons Alive.
BADLY INJURED But HAPPY j
Women Give Up Hope For Boys g
They Go to War, and Their Return,
Although Disfoursd, 10 Occasion For
= Great !ey-one Said, .lsn,hot Die.
figured; I'm Decorated" ~

r. ~s-sSy-O"e oA'osFr~ O1O'
figured; I'm Decorated"
Chlais.-"You can't imagine the Joy
of mothers and fathers when their
boys come back to them from the war
minus an arm or a leg or some other
portion Of their bodies. Human nature
- q queer thing. and war brings this
queerness into strong relief says one
Of the American correspondents now 1T
the front.
II witnessed the arrival Of a Red
Cross train here. The cars were loaded
with young men fresh from the Bel
gian border. A soldier talked to said.
We gave them hell. tell you-but we
caught few pellets ourselves
From the looks of them they had
indeed. Some hobbled out of the cars.
their arms in sings or their heads tied
up or foot off the ground; others
came on stretchers to be transferred to
the channel steamers waiting at the
dock. One soldier limped oft on the
platform. His head was banlaged all
around SO voluminously that hs couldn't
wear his cap.
"One arm was In sling; 1.-THE hand
was bandaged in a way betokening the
absence Of one or more fingers.
Near by stood woman. She was
looking for some one. Suddenly the
much bandaged soldier saw tie woman
and started. With an inArticulate
sound. partly smothered blythe ban.
dages, he touched the womans
"Dhe uttered cry and seaclied eager
~ the bandaged face, Apparently her
mother love, rather than her eyes, told
her it was her boy. n"
my son. my son! she exclaimed.
enraptured. A Red Crosse surgeon
stepped up. u
MADAM he said. your son I'm
doubtedly will recover, but Unjust tell
you that most of his jaw is shot away
--.|"'Oh, I'm 500 glad. so alad! the
mother cried, tears streaming from her
eyes.
81 see that sort of thing many times
daily the surgeon said. When a moth
er sees her boy march away to war
she gives him up for dead. she scarce
~ hopes even in her mother heart OF
hope ever to see her boy alive again
Always she lives in dread of the day
when the 0rief announcement of the
dead will contain the name of her boy
So at last, when her boy comes back
to her it doesn't matter how terribly
he is shot up or disfigured. 1t is the
same with mothers everywhere. any
time
There is another cause for moth
er's Joy when her son returns manned,
broken physically, but alive. She
knows the boy cannot return to the
battle line, mark for bullets. and
shrapnel that kill.
= There is another strange thing to be-
noted while talking to the wounded
They are quite happy to have bad
wounds about the face and head. much
preferring disfguring face wounds to
lesser wounds in body or legs.
"A train Of wounded was on it's way
to southern France. When it halted
ut BouoGnr those Of the wounded WIN
were able got out to walk up and
down the platform. Among these was
one whose face could hardly be called
by that name. One eye was gone, the
other was badly swollen until he could
hardly see l'and,ges covered all but
diScolored parts Of his face.
lyon poor dear. Sympathized an
Englishwoman who approached him
timidly You POOR. poor boy
"'Madam.' replied the soldier with al
much pride and clearness rs the band
ages would permit. don't pity me-
Pity my friends in the train there who
got it where it won't show.
1.-THE Englishwoman couldn't under
stand. = s'TEs*s
'''Why why-why. she stammered.
i thought you wouldn't like to be dis.
figured
'DiStigtlred: the soldier replied. I'm
not diStigured: I'm dec0ratedrr