Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1914-10-04
POST CARDS SHOW
CARE Of SOLDIERS
British Government Has Them
Printed, Ready for Use
in the Field.
MAY TELL FRIENDS ONLY.
CONDITION OF HEALTH
One Received in Washington Fails
to Give Any Clue to the
Writer'S Location.

The care the British government is
taking of its soldiers on the firing lines
in the European war is illustrated by
a unique field service post card" re-
ceived in Washington yesterday
Fresh from the battlefields. perhaps the
only original document ever received in
Washington direct from the scenes where
death and suffering are coming to thou
sands daily. the card has borne the SIM
pie message. II am quite WELL" from an
English soldier at the front to a nun
in St Dunstan's Abbey at Plymouth, and.
after travelling thousands more miles. has
arrived in Washington. a vivid reminder
to the church-goer this Peace Sunday
of the horrors of war which President
Wilson has urged the people of the United
States to pray may come to an end.
The rigor of military rule in the field
prevented the sender of this human
document from saying more to the nun
| statement that he is we'll But he
crossed out printed phrases which
might have told that he had been
wounded or ill and in the hospital
phrases that at once conjLre in the
minds of the imaginative some of the
real and the terrible side of what is
going on today among SO many thou
sands. even millions. of men striving to
y
stroy, throughout hundreds of miles of
territory in European countries.
Printed by Government.
The card Is evidently one printed by
the British government for the purpose
1t was used. 1t was received in Wash
ington yesterday by Miss Dorothy
Dixon bennett of 1889 Q street north
west.
| The censorship that has prevented
| the cables from telling in greater de-
tail of the horrors of the battlefields.
as the card shows. is being exercised
| in connection with the mail the Brit
ish troops on the firing lines are al
| lowed to send home to their families
and friends: The card contains moth
ing to indicate the location Of the
soldier. The postmark, even, is anon
ymous, a magnifying glass showing
it to be Army Post Office. September
"a, 1914" A cabalistic figure SO" prob
| ably indicates something in regard to
the location of this army post office
to the military authorities Of Great
Britain. but apparently nothing to any
| one else.
Signed James Yorsif," and dated
September IA. the card carries no other
| message than the printed words, IT am
quite we'll" Printed in black type. the
phrase. IF anything else is added the
post card will be destroyed" served
yearned to add some details of his
situation or experiences. Even the
name of his regiment, the number of
his company or troop or battery has
not been allowed to be written, for
fear. perhaps, that such information
might fall into the hands of the enemy
and SO show the location of that partic-
ular military organization.
The card is addressed to SISTER
Eleanor Grace, St. Dunstant's Abbey,
North road. Plymouth" England
apparently. is taken for granted. Sis
ter Eleanor Grace sent the card to
Miss bennett at her home on @ street
Extensive Postal Service.
Military men who have seen the card
expressed the opinion that the British
army in the field must be maintaining
an extensive postal system. That il
implied by the fact that in but little
| more than two weeks the card travel.
ed from the battle front in France OF
Belgium to its destination in England
and thence to Washington. inasmuch al
1t is dated and postmarked September
ia.
] The card has also attracted attention