The Kansas City sun. (Kansas City, Mo.) 1908-1924, 1915-06-19

one gained quite a good insight into
the character of the Serbian people
from the patients in the wards.
They are a curious race. That they
are brave and efficient fighters is
shown by their records in this and
other wars; but II is more interesting
to note what one might call their
peace qualities. The first thing which
strikes one about the Serbian patients
in a ward is their extraordinary volu-
bility and c~heerfulness. They turn
everything into a joke, including death
and Disagreement. Their n OF
humor, like their sense of honor, oc-
casionally differs markedly from that
of an Englishman. With respect to
the latter point, it may be mentioned
that their two national card games
are SO extremely simple as to be en-
tirely uni%nteresting when played
properly. So the Serbs cheat contin-
ually. The whole art of these games,
as played by the Serbs, consists in
their more or less dexterous methods
of cheating.
Intelligent Folk, But Ignorant.
They are a quick, intelligent people,
yet remarkably ignorant. They soon
master the workings of any piece of
apparatus If they see 1t a few times.
1t was often quite amusing to hear
their perfectly just comments on their
| own temperature charts. On the 9th
er hand, a man who had been fitted
with a glass eye complained most bit
terly because he could not see out
of 1t.
Their high spirits and ready intelli-
gence, combined with a certain care
less improvidence, have caused one
writer to refer to them as the Irish
of the Balkans" In appearance they
are dark and usually handsome. the
men being, on the whole, distinctly
more go~od-looking than the m
1t is not difficult to acquire an ele-
mentary knowledge of the Serbian Ian
guage, which is probably the simplest
of the Slavonic tongues; and the Serbs
display their usual quickness In reeog-
nizing ones linguistic limitations, and
in combining their conversation to the
few words one has acquired. They love
argument and repartee, although some
Of their jokes make a modest orderly
devoutly thankful that the ward sister
has not troubled to extend her knowl-
edge of Serbian beyond about six
words.
My first Sunday in the wards was
marked by a rather curious expert
ence l was engaged in dressing a
wounded leg when an extraordinary
figure appeared before me, carrying
in his outstretched arms q little tray
from whence a heavy smoke was ris-
ing. This smoke he very solemnly
and deliberately pulled into my face.
and then turned to honor the patients
with his attentions. The sight OF
the men crossing themselves sudden
ly brought home to my bewildered
mind the fact that the man WAS a
Russian priest in full dress, and that,
in obedience to some rite, he was
putting incense on each in turn. 1t
was too late for m to cross myself,
SO / nodded and smiled agreeably at
the priest, who seemed perfectly salts
fed with my behavior. to my great
relief.
When at last the pressure of the
work grew less, and we lad an hour
to spare, we made straight for the
Turkish quarter of the town. Innu-
merable people, streets of incredible
narrowness and filth, at all inclina-
lions to the horizontal; novels, crazy
looking little shops. and mosques-it
was fascinating and ~bewildering; but
we went there seldom and lever
stayed for long. because, ever more
than the other quarters of that dis
ease-stricken town, the Turkish quar-
ter was the home of the dreaded ty-
plus.