The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-08-29

ble. One of those in the German hos pital was the worst she has yet had to deal with.
 That was really awful" she said. "The man was Prussian lieutenant who had lost his reason as a result of shellfire He had been wounded slightly by shrapnel in the leg but the collapse of his nervous system was hls real trouble. For four days and four nights or since he had been brought to the hospital, he had not slept for a second All this time, more over, hour in and hour out. he had kept counting at the very top of his voice, Fin. zwie, drie, and so on up to 66. It appeared that he had been wounded on the 66th shell that was fired while he was under bombardment, All day and night that terrible. ag- onizing counting went on, 'Ein zwie, driei
 "'Drugs are useless in this case. said the physician in charge to me. 1 We have given him as much as we dare. I wish you would see what you can do with him I have some slight hypnotic power and my hands are very strong. That is why I am good at massaging. This poor fellows hands were over his head most of the time. but I took him by both his wrists and held him down. Then. very quietly, Iii lulling monotone, I began repeat ing that old nursery rhyme;
 One. two, buckle my shoe,
 Three. four shut the door,
 Five, six. pick up the sticks,
 Seven, eight. lay 'em straight cts. lover and over again I repeated that jingle, and gradually he began after an hour or two had gone by, he stopped counting. Finally, he fell asleep. Eventually I got him to sleep regularly. But his mind was gone. His case was hopeless.
 In this conection, Suzanne Sheldon declared that the worst cases of all , those she sees among the British wounded are the "gassed" men. "Oh, those menr' she said they are in a shocking condition. Their lips are drawn back over their teeth so tightly that they can hardly eat. their eyes. with enlarged staring pupils, bulge in a horrible fashion. and the insides of their mouths are quite blue. The suf fering they undergo in trying to breathe Is agonizing. Many of them are off their heads, too. Do they recover? Yes. but terribly slow and they will always be subject to bron- chial troubles"
 Suzanne Sheldons Boys and Girls | Brigade" has been in existence a
 
 ever so little a knowledge of the Lon don slums and the folk who inhabit them knows, too how sorely the chill dren of the mean streets need out side influences for good The Amer ican woman had 1t brought home to her somewhat forcibly. Her own apart ment Is in New Cavendish street. quite a smart neighborhood. but nigh to St. Mary's hospital in Paddington, which she often visits, there are some of the poorest districts in the metropo- lis Among the others who live there Is a woman who frequently chars Cor, in American. "cleans up") for Suzanne Sheldon. One day, accompanied by this excellent woman's little granddaughter, Miss Sheldon, who loves children, went to Paddington in quest of her char" She found her in pub" almost help lessly drunk. So Mrs. Ainley kept the child with her overnight and, next morning, brought her home by way Of Hermitage street, one of the vilest thoroughfares in the whole district.
 '"This was about 10 o'clock in the morn- ing" said she Sitting on the edge of the curb were 16 women. all drinking beer. Most of them had babies in their arms. As it was before Il, up to wn:ch time, according to the new law, no wom- an may be served with drink in a saloon the beer was being. brought out to them " masculine IrlenOS. AS we pdSSeu OIc woman called out to me:
 My gawd. dearie,' she said. I am having a happy life. My husband e In the army, SO I don't have no meat to cook for i'm, and on account of my live children I'm getting 31 and tanner sep aration allowance, so can ave all the beer want. My gals big enough to look after Ter two little sisters too, so I've only the biby to after and I can keep i'm nice and quiet with a bit of sugar tied in the corner of me 'ankerchief an soaked in a bit of gin.'
 This pleasant person, Miss Sheldon dis covered a bit later, was the mother of one of her charwomans grandchildren S little girl playmates. The family proved an interesting one. Not counting the husband, a decent type of man, now being trained as a soldier at Plymouth it num- bered six members. The eldest. a youth of IS, is named Ali, and Ali is bit of terror. Within the last few months Ali has had exactly IS different berths, and been fired from all Is. He resides under the paternaI rooftree until such time as he strikes his mother. after which he betakes himself to his graudmother's, and there dwells until, in the natural course of things, he assaults her, after which he returns to the bosom of his own family. lovable character, Ali!
 The younger brother Harry now the star member of Suzanne Sheldons lit- tie brigade. is to the low-browed Ali as sunshine to darkness Suzanne Sheldon says that Harry Is wonderful" He is learning all sorts of things and mean while is holding down messengers Job which she got him at Paddington rail- v,ay station. On the morning she met