New Britain herald., 1915-11-22
Life or Mars Playground
 Seen by F01ner Local Girl
Miss Johnson Red Cross Nurse Tells of Conditions in Belgium at Swedish B aptist Church-Dined
 on Horse Flesh.
on Horse Flesh.


 Swedish Film church, of which Rev.
 J. E. Klingberg is pastor, yesterday
 afternoon at 5 o'clock, when Miss
 Eva I. Johnson delivered an address
 on Scenes in Belgium Miss John
 son was in that country, in the ca | pacity of a Red Cross nurse, from
 April to October of the present year.
 Miss Johnson is a native of New 1 Britain having been born and hav- ing lived here until twelve years
 ago, when her parents MT and Mrs. Charles Johnson, moved to Bristol.
 Miss Johnson was graduated from the Grammar school in that city and afterward entered the New Haven
 General hospital, where she studied and became nurse. She was su-
 pervisor of two wards in that insti- tuition, and resigned her position. to
 become a Red Cross nurse, sailing with twenty-three other nurses and five doctors in April on the St. Louis, which arrived in London shortly af- ter the Lusitania was sunk The party was forced to stay in London for three weeks before it could go to France, because boats were being used exclusively in transporting 1 troops. In roundabout way they reached Dieppe and then Calais. Tn 1 the latter city, they had their first ] meal of horse flesh. which later be- came a familiar article of food. "You don't mind it and it is not bad at all" said Miss Johnson. After spending a night in Calais. the unit iourF;yed to La Panne, Belgium. where it made it's permanent head quarters. The trip was made by auto. La Panne is one of the most fashionable summer resorts in Eu- rope and the rulers of Belgium have a summer home there. Now it is a center where wounded soldiers are trying to recover.
 First to Arrive.
 Our unit was the first of tho l American nurses to enter Belguim,'' said Miss Johnson; representatives 1 of Mississippi, Virginia and Pennsyl- ] vania, as well as of Connecticut and l New York were in the party. The ]! strain was awful during our stay at La Panne. You see our hospital was the nearest one to the firing lines, the trenches where the work of | slaughter was going on. And it made ones heart heavy to think of the poor young Belgian boys, for many of the fine young lads are but mere ooys, who are being maimed for life. Or. Page, a surgeon-general of the Belgian army and a royal surgeon, vas at the head of our hospital. And nly, two days after had arrived, he body of his dear wife was brought 0 Pa Panne and inferred in tho and dunes near the hospital. His rife was one of the Lusitania vic- inns and was on her way to Belgium ollowing a successful mission to this ountry to raise funds.
 To Know is to Love.
 ''It was so hard to get used to he Belgians calling us sisters hall never forget the dear Belgian people. And how grateful they are 0 the American people. But for the of the English and tho Americans the civilian population of Belgium would have starved. One if the favorite walks of the Ameri- an nurses was to Maxine Elliotts ,arge in the Adinkirk canal, two niles from La Panne. This barge brought food to the starving Bel ,ians. The walk of two miles was lothing for us American nurses, as t brought us the sight of the Stars md Stripes. And how good the red, white and blue did appear to us. The 3elgians, I believe ,are among the pest horsemen in the world. They Ire great in their saddles-gallant md daring. And they need all the they can get poor fellows!
 With nothing to look forward to. nothing to gain but with everything o lose. and in fact in most cases, already lost. the young Belgians are eager to get to the front and help end this terrible strife. The world owes them a great debt for the suf- ,ering they have endured. They keep cheerful and bright even in he very midst of their great distress