Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1915-12-29
SPLENDID WORK
TURNED OUT BY
CRIPPLED MEN
French Wounded Taught All
Manner of Trades; More
Useful Than Before

Paris. Dec. - correspondence OF
the Associated Press). The French
government recently gave facilities to
the Associated Press and a party of
foreign Journalists to inspect some OF
the remarkable work which is being
done for the regeneration of the ranks
OF stricken, crippled. manned and APP
parently hopeless wounded who are
borne back from the fighting line at
Champagne.
Under the escort of French officers,
the party was taken to ST. Maurice, a
snort distance outside Paris, where
wounded are brought after the phys
ical cares of surgery have been given.
TO be nursed into convalescence, di-
Verted from the loss of limbs, and
gradually educated into some new line
which recreates them into useful mem
bers of society. St Maurice is of vast
dimensions. the buildings and grounds.
occupying an area probably greater
than Central Park in New York. The
buildings stretch as far as the eye can
see: low, two-story stone structures,
so that the cripples are not climbing
long stairs, and are near the gardens.
everywhere abundant with flowers and
shrubbery, to lend cheer to the occu
pants.
Two hundred more wounded are
coming" said an attendant, as the
officer led the way into the first build
ing, the receiving ward tt
Here they are" said the officer
pointing to 200 large glass photo
graphic plates arranged and num-
bered in a case. .s
The photographs of the 200 wounded
had been sent ahead, the plates show
ing with precision the exact wound
and its process of healing, some of
them being S-Tay plates.
See this one" said the officer, hold
ing up large glass plate showing the
side profile of a wounded soldier with
a gaping bullet hole back of the ear,
and around the hole little sutures or
cracks of the skull.
1T Is not a fractured skull--that
would be hopeless" said the officer.
mo. that man can be made over
More Useful Than Before ...
But this receiving ward was merely
the first stage in a sort of ascending
scale which improved the wounded
mans condition at each stage until he
was finally landed in the school where
he was made over into a condition
more useful to himself and society
than he was before 1t was to this
school that chief interest was directed.
This enormous school at st. Maurice
is a hive of workshops of all kinds
shoemaking shops, machine shops,
auto repair shops, blacksmith shops
with blazing forges and clothesmakins
shops, and the workmen were the
wounded soldiers from the firing line,
minus an arm, leg or eye on which
they had before depended, but now
launched on a new line which did not
need that arm leg or eye. AS a whole
1t was as efficient a body of workmen
as one would find in any well-regulated
factory. The men had smiling faces;
those working in groups were chatting
and laughing.
Attention was also given to the fine
arts and the professions. and here also
were schools for sculpture and paint
ing and architecture, so that legiess
or armless or eyeless soldiers, who had
a taste for the esthetic. could be led
into some new line which did not re-
quire the use of the lost member. One
PdlS-ldSGu SOun6 lGlL dEAL
gone near the elbow, was delicately
modelling Venus of Milo with his re-
naming hand.
The soldier-architect were making
designs, with blueprints OF girders
arches and columns, and calculating
the strength of walls and roofs. All
of these men had something missing,
but their work was so chosen as to
make absolutely negligible the lost
member, and to make what remained
of their members entirely efficient for
this particular work. Near the soldier
architects were ranged two long lines
of soldier-typewriters, men who had
lost foot or some other member, but
whose hands had now been taught a
skill they had not known before in
rapid typewriting.
Make Splendid Shoes
In the shoe shop the men were turn
ing out a good grade of shoes, selling
for 90 francs (about $4.60), also wal
let's and purses of all kinds. leather
watch chains and belts A large glass
case exhibited the diversity of their
product. 1t was the same in the ma
chine shop. the blacksmith shop and
all the other branches of this hive of
industry.
Zone soldier with both hands gone"
said the officer, rs making Is francs
a day as carpenter"
He explained that special tools had
been made for this handless carpenter.
fitting onto the steel hooks on his
The plans, for instance,
permitted the carpenter
to do his work with precision. a bell
ringing If pressure was too great to
the right, another bell If pressure was
too great on the left, and other bells
of forward and rear pressure. So that
the handless soldier-carpenter learned
his trade automatically, bells warning
him of each false move until he had
become expert.
The st. Maurice institution and
school which Is thus making soldiers
over for a new and useful occupation
has a capacity of 500 men, who have
their wounds dressed so far as remains
necessary. are housed and fed. and at
the same time carry on these extensive
shops which turn out useful products
Of all kinds, and, what is more, turn
put useful men skilled in the arts.
A H. -.As.