Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1915-12-16
SOLDIERS REGARD
WOUNDS AS ACT
OF KIND FATE
Most Agreeable Thing That
Can Happen to Men in
Balkans
TAKEN ON BOARD SHIP
Hospital Vessels Are Only
Sanitary Spot on PENN
Sula
TAKEN ON BOARD SHIP
Correspondent of Associated Press }

; Correspondent of Associated Press !
Aboard the French Hospital Ship
; Charles RouX, Harbor of Saloni'd,
Dec. Is. - Quite the most agreeable
; fate that can overtake an allied SOL
dier in the Balkan campaign is to be
lll-or slightly wounded. Not that the
hospital facilities of the ancient Turk
ish city are famous or even adequate.
IThey are not. But there are four
French and one British hospital ships
in the roads of Salonik and they con-
stitute by far the most comfortable not
to say the only sanitary spot in the
Balkan peninsula.
The French have been better pre-
pared from the very outset of the
present Balkan campaign in every de-
tail of military organization than their
British allies. No better example of
the thoroughness of this preparation
could be given than the arrangements
for caring for the sick and wounded
Long before there was actually any
need for 1t and simultaneously with
the landing of the first contingent of
French troops on Greek soil. the
French hospital ship Sphinx was lying
ready in the harbor of Saloniki. AS
the number of troops disembarked in
creased, automatically more hospital
Ships put in an appearance. First the
Dugay Trouin. with its sheltered decks
ttiiiu It's IiSH SleIH ike Jtle poop OIL d
ISpanish Salleon, all porcheS and avn
ings and lounging places for the con-
Valescent; next this ship, the Charles
RouX, with its operating rooms, it's
surgical clinics and its complete pro-
vision for the care of the more SER
lousy wounded; and finally, the Cana
da-all with full complement of
) nurses, surgeons, physicians, sisters of
charity and all the rest of the para
phernalia of the aftermath of battle.
Converted Steamer
In many ways the Charles RouX is
the most interesting, especially as it is
the principal operating theater of the
} floating hospitals of Saloniki, and es-
pecially as the surgeon major, DR..
E1eitz-Boyer, is one of the most dis
tinguished and best known surgeons
in Paris The ship was converted from
} one of the larger passenger steamers
that in time of peace made the Voy-
} age from Marseilles to Alger. AS
such, it is roomy enough, for not only
have the saloons not required as oper-
ating chambers been turned into
, wards to add to the accommodations of
} the cabins, but the great broad decks
have been glassed in, making the
most agreeable of sun-parlors in which
cots are set In long rows so that the
! sick and wounded, in the warmth of
the afternoon sun, may lie quiet and
! look out at the splendid view the Bay
of Salonild affords.
Il Here, too, the convalescents propped
! up with pillows, sheltered, eXcellently
} cared for and competently nursed by
volunteer French women who have
passed the necessary examinations and
had the requisite experience gather
! strength against the time when they
} may so back and have another go at
en-" as the "poilu" in the next cot to
the Associated Press correspondent
put it. Under such circumstances the
lwounded soldier has all the. advan-
tages and none of the drawbacks of
the Naples of the Orient" as its in
habitants call Saloniki. If his cot is
on the south side of the ship, he has
. before him the new snow-capped
crests of the mountains of Kalchis,
those three fingers of land that stretch
into the Aegean, with convent-crown-
ed Mt. Athos tipping the last finger.
Or, to the west, confused with the
clouds, he has the peaks of Thessaly-
= Mt. Olympus, the home of the gods of
ancient Greece, and beyond, Mt. ASA;
4 and perhaps even, dim in the dis
S tance, Mt. Pelion, both of mythology
. cal fame. The rare and changing
< beauty of the clouds above these snow
$ coifed heights, the singular coloring of
! the sunsets are joys to the patients
aboard the French hospital ships in no
9 wise lessened by the odors, the noises
$ and the discomforts of life ashore in
S Salonih.
Attractive Views
: On the other hand, should the pa
, tient be placed on the north side of
the ship, the view is no less attractive.
> Saloniki itself, charming from q dis
tance, struggling along the curving
' shore, mounting the hill behind the
I town to the walled citadel that caps it's
crest-dozens of exquisite, white min
arets like altar candles proud and
slim, their balconies hung with Ian
terms against the fete of Ramazan
long uneven rows of mysterious
houses, with projecting latticed bal
comics; walled and secret gardens, re-
vealing only the lofty monument of a
single cypress; barren spots on the
? peopled hillside that are cemeteries
! the gray white of their jumbled head
! stones cleaning in the morning sun.
I.Ia... l....I... ~ i.: