The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1914-08-17

great pressure, such as must of
necessity at intervals occur in a mil
itary hospital, any person who is
not of use is an impeachment. Many
ladies, whose generous enthusiasm
prompts them to offer their services
as nurses, are little aware of the
hardships they would have to en-
. have TO witness, which would try
the firmest nerves. Were all accept
ed who offer 1 fear We should
have not only many inefficient
nurses. but many historical patients
themselves requiring treatment in
stead OF assisting others. 80
Writing of her assistant. she
quotes her complaint;
~ came out, ma'am," said she,
prepared to submit to everything,
to be put upon IN every way. But
there are some rhings, ma'am, one
can't submit to. There is the caps.
ma'am. that suits one face and
some that suits another. And II I'd
known, ma'an1, about the caps. great
as was my desire to. come out 20
nurse at Scutari, wouldn't have
come, ma'am-'-Speech; by Mrs. Law
field. -... e.,
Her Statistics.
Time must be at discount with
the man who can adjust the balance
of such an important question as the
above and l for one have none, as
you will easily suppose when / tell
you that on Thursday last we had
LIS sick and wounded in this hos
pital among whom are 10 cholera
patients and $50 severely wounded in
the other building, called the General
Hospital, of which we also have
CHARGE. when a message came to
me TO prepare for $40 wounded on our
side of the hospital. who were arriv-
ing from the dreadful affair of No
vember from Balaklava. in which
battle l.763 were wounded and 4f2
killed. besides ninety-six officers
wounded and thirty-eight killed.
As Barracks Mistress.
II always expected to end my days
as a hospital matron. but ! never
expected to be barrack mistress. We
had but half an hours notice before
they began landing the wounded.
Between and o'clock we had the
mattresses stuffed. sewn I'D, laid
down. alas. only upon mating on
the floor. the men washed and put
to bed, and all their wounds dressed.
wish | had time. l would write
you a letter dear to a surgeons
Times! But. oh, you gentlemen Of
England, who sit at home in all the
well-earned satisfaction of your sue
cessful cases and have little idea
from reading OF the horror and
misery in the military hospital. or
operating on these dying, exhausted
men. A London hospital is a garden
of flowers to il.
The wounded are now lying I'D to
our very door. and we are landing
$40 more from the Andes. ] take
rank In the army as brigadier gem
cral because forty British females.
whom ! have with me, are more diff
ficult to manage than 1000 men. Let
no lady come out here who is not
used 10 fatigue and privatIon. Every
ten minutes an orderly runs and we
have To 20 in. cram lint into the
wound till a surgeon can be sent
for, and stop the bleeding as we'll
as we can.
Three Limbs Per Man.
I'm all our corridor | think We
have not an average Of three limbs
per man. And there are two ships
more than loading at the Crimea
and wounded. (This is our phrase
0logyJ. Then come the operations,
and a melancholy not an encOurag-
ing list is this They are all per-
formed in the wards-no time to
move them. One poor fellow. exA
hausted with hemorrhage, has his
leg amputated as last hope and dies
ten minutes after tho surgeon has
left him. Almost before the breath
has left his body 1t is sewn up In its
blanket and carried away and buried
the same day.
We have no room for corpses in
the wards. The surgeons pass on
to the next, an excelsior of the
shoulder joint, beautifully performed
and going on well. Ball lodged just
in the head OF the joint and frac-
tured, started all round. The next
poor fellow has two stumps for
arms, and the next has lost an arm
and leg. AS for the balls. they
go In where they like and come out
where they like, and do as much
harm as they can in passing. That
is the only rule they have.
Disease Rampant.
Il am getting a screen now for
the amputations. for when one poor
fellow who is amputated tomorrow
sees his comrade today die under
the knife IL makes an impression
and diminishes his chance. But.
anyway, among these exhausted
frames the mortality of the opera
tions Is frightful. We have erysipe-
las, fever and gangrene, and the
Russian wounded are the worst"
-S>A with all the silent and quiet