Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1914-10-01
NURSE VIEWS WAR
HORRORS ON FIELD
AT CLOSE RANGE
"Trainloads of Agony" She
Describes the Arrival of
Wounded-Women Gath
er Crops While Men Fight.

NEW YORK, Oct IA nurse who has
returned from the European war zone has
narrated wildly her experiences on the
field.
When 1 landed the day before yes
terday," she said, 'T was struck by
crowded theatre entrances and signs OF
luxury. I've come from where they are
going without butter, without sugar with
out new clothes, to pay for dlsnfectant
for encampments bandages and cotton for
wounds.
Never have seen such an abundant
harves in France as they had this year.
Coming up through the southern part 1
saw the orchards loaded and propped up;
the vineyards overlooking, and a full, rich
wheat harvest. The fields were swarmng
with women workers. bent over with
lined, determined faces. Children were
helping, and here and there in the fields
we're baskets covered with green branchs
the cradles of the youngest to whom
war was not even a word. Trudglng up
and down the field the women stopped
at the hampers now and then to peer
into them or to feed the mites
! II asked one woman why she did not
send the older children to school out of
the way. There are no schools open."
she said One of the younger boys, is
years old. had disappeared from boys
schooi-gone to the front. she supposed.
They had saved for his schooling
| so much per week.
when asked If she had heard from
her husband she stared at me as II
were a messenger come to tell her the
worst She clutched me roughly with
whitening face l said 1 knew nothing.
She was not strong woman, and the
work OF home, children, and fields was
breaking her l gave her a bottle of
tonic had with me. They had a little
coarse bread, fruit and eggs, and about
20 go There had been no time to prepare.
Sh did not complain: with bullying ewes
just told me the facts
saw stumbling, shambling women
ana children pushing on in a mass in
Wnlch there was an occasional cart
hlled with babies and old men, l thought
the exodus from Belgium had stopped.
put they were still coming. Such faces!
Gaunt forlorn. desolate women, some
with shawls-it was chilly-some with
nothing to wrap about them.
THE INFANT WITHOUT 4 HAND.
Ihere were two or three hundred at
least; They seemed to be numb with
physical pain. We went in among them
and singled out one who was half
dragged by two others. She turned fierce
eyes upon me, and l saw that the six
months infant she clutched had had its
hand severed at the wrist with a cross
wise cut, which was neither bandaged |
nor washed. but wrapped in a towel And |
then l noticed bulging on the woman's |
form, and she disclosed the reason, they |
had cut off her breasts, each to the depth |
of an inch. l saw them
Il tried to find out why, but all they |
would do was to mutter about enraged |
soldiery
TRAINLOADS OF AGONY.
Il went down near the railroad sta
tion near Dion with my case of gauze
and cotton. 1 knew the wounded were
expected. / can see them yet Train
upon train of old open freight cars. jerk
Ing. humping along. with those broken
bodies lying fiat on the bottom with
neither pillow nor cover; just as they
were gathered from the field Am
balances there were, but not enough A
handful OF nuns with the doctors and
nurses worked at white heat.
"One man whom l helped to bandare
up. had four bullet holes In his BODY.
They had been clean-cut wounds, but
they were grimed as If he had crawled,
inch by inch.
Every hall In town was turned into a
hospital, but there were no cots, no
blankets for a third of them. We did
not have enough pans to boil water in
enough cloths to stop the bleeding, nor
enough towels TO wipe cold sweat from
faces. Some of us spoke poor French,
and the doctors had no time to explain.
We did the best we could. One of the
surgeons who was helping told me he
Just come over from his own hospital,
which was filled with women who had
been outraged. He said that such things
always happened in any war
SAVING FOR SIEGE OF PARIS
"At first l could not understand wbv
the yattempted to care for so many
wounded in one place, instead of send
Ing them to equipped hospitals near and
IN Paris, But the doctors explained that
supplies OF every kind in Paris were he
ng reserved for a possible siege They
la dbeen caught once unprepared Hos
pitfalls were stocked, food gathered and
The people economical. In the park there
We're 0oO cattle and sheep which had
been driven in from the country. Tbc
seine was hlled with boats carrying food
rom the farms.
We met the military one afternoon
going from house TO house. getting wba,
horses and cows they could And. A gtcr
tehy had gone | went into one of the
cottages, and talked with the woman
There was no hystericaI outburst aI tb,
lcss-it was small In comparison 10 dead
sons. They told me about the one son
left. Jacques was in school in Germany
when the war began. They wrote him
to come home Immediately because !
slow journey might bring on the rheu-
matism for which ne went away. No
answer came from him. Finally, after
v eeks passed by. word was sent that
H-year-old Jacques. with his school !
mates, We're held as hostages, and uepo-
tiations for their exchange would be-
In due season A l4-vear-
Did prize OF war with the rheumatism, 1
There was a housemaid in the family
whom the mother was trying to trade {
for the boy. So she kuts and sews /
socks and nightshirts. or whatever the
Red Cross director sends, while she
waits" {
The nurse handed me letter lying on
her desk from the Red Cross nurse AT I
the front Cant you send me gauze.