The Hays free press. [volume] (Hays, Kan.) 1908-1924, 1914-11-28

who plumber and mutilate the dead
a soldier of the Red Cross risks his
life over and over again day and night.
He needs as much daring, endurance
and sacrifciaI spirit as the soldier of
the Iron Cross.
Once in the field hospital (Which,
following in the wake of the army, is
always quite distance from the act
ual battlefield), the wounded soldiers
receive regular treatment They re-
main there until the field hospital'' is
replaced by the war hospital which
change takes place automatically as
soon as the army proceeds, for the
field hospital follows the troops. The
patients remain where they are, while
the personnel and material about them
are changing from the wandering field
hospital to the stationary war hos
pital- From there the wounded event
Ually. are sent back into Germany for
complete recovery in one of the splen-
didly appointed city of military hos
pitfalls.
The city hospital OF Frankfort-on-
the-Main, for instance, having pre-
pared 5000 beds, had 5000 patients by
the beginning of September. In most
cases the soldiers were but slightly
injured, suffering from wounds in the
arms or legs. They were accommo-
dated in large, light, airy. fower-be-
decked rooms and attended by female
nurses On August q the German en-
press passed through Frankfort, and,
escorted by the physician in chief. Doe
tor Voss, stopped at each bed in turn.
The much-beloved, white-haired first
lady of the land, who herself has
given six sons to the army, did not
have to simulate sympathy. She talked
with each man in her gentle, sincere,
sympathetic way and from the huge
bunch she carried left roses in many
a hand.
Empress Takes Part.
It is easily understood that the en-
press plays an importantApart in the
Red Cross work Her Influence in
Germany is great, for the wife of their
chief executive is very dear to the
hearts of the German people Most
of us have read of her appeal to the
German women to supply her with
1000, 900 pairs of hand-knitted wooden
socks for the soldiers, and how old and
young, rich and poor, high and low,
took to knitting. until such an ava
lanche of wooden socks descended
upon her palace in Berlin that she
had to send out another appeal beg
ging them to desist.
Naturally, the German women and
girls, who have seen their dear ones
go to meet innumerable dangers and
| horrors, are eager in their turn to
do something for the common cause.
To sit inactive would be unbearable.
And here the Red Cross blesses dCubly
those who give, as those who re-
ceive. There is any amount of vol
unteer work to be done, from sewing
and knitting, taking but an hour or
two a day, to nursing and the care OF
the widowed and fatherless, which
claims ones whole time. And in
every department the supply is even
greater than the demand.
An amusing story is told apropos of
the many young girls who flock to take
courses in nursing An eminent old
professor, who had accepted the teach
ing of some such raw material, pre-
liminary to beginning his course called
upon the young women to divide in
| two sections-those who wiz to nurse
officers only and those willing to nurse
any wounded soldier. A few romantic
goosies gracefully entered his trap by
81 4 off w
He watched the proceedings, glared al
them above his spectacles, his very
| hair bristling with contempt Then:
You can go right home he addresses
the dumfounded elite. 81 won't waste
my time on such as you"
Many reports from Germany tell OF
the active part Americans there take
| in the Red Cross work. In Munich the
! American women of that city have
rented a large hall in the Hotel Bay
| FISCHER Hof, and there meet daily tC
| do their part with knitting needles and
sewing machines. Other Americans
have donated sums for the Red Cross
and many individually assist in en-
thusiastic work
On the other hand, just as strangers
| help in the great Work, SO 90 strangers
| benefit by tin this case the wound
ed among the prisoners from Belgium
France, England and Russia They
ere treated with such efficacy and hu
maneness that some French prisoners
| in Stuttgart, in token of their graft
! tude, made a large donation to the
German Red Cross. A curious account
| is published by the Vossiche Zeitung
Berlin. on September 4. 1t relates to
the strange behavior of the wounded
| Russian prisoners. When the ply
sicians approach them with scissors
! to cut open the uniform about wound
or try to make an incision or apply e
bandage, the Russians resist to the
utmost of their forces. Not that they
are faint hearted, afraid of the opera
tion-but they expect to be mutilated
blinded, murdered. A Russian colone
even refused all nourishment sc hours
for fear of being poisoned. Finally
! one of his fellow prisoners, who hap
pened to be a man of education and
| intelligence, succeeded in convincing
him of his folly" The paper adds
whimsicaIly: What lies these poor