The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-02-21

'iic ihusic hah anu tneitlrlcai stars ap pear
 The nurses. of course. are having tn, time of their lives as well. They art iiard worked, for every bed is full aul | the staffs are depleted by the demand. of base hospitals at the front and thu ei .ergency hospitals in England, but the, have so many volunteer helpers that the, l are able to confine themselves strictl, | to medical and surgical aid, and the, | arc relieved also of the task of main | taining discipline. which is usually on. of some difficulty in a military hos pital.
 We never have a crime now tht natron told me Crime is the military term for any infraction of discipline which must be marked on a mans con. duct sheet. '"rhe men are so well looked after that they have no time or inclina- tion to do wrong"
 In general, of course, this is true, but heard of one case which might have broken the mo crime" record if 1t had come to the notice of the authorities. A ward sister heard noisy voices in the day room of her ward and on going to see what was the matter discovered that one of her convalescent patients Was, while rot quite drunk, distinctly under the in-
 
 efally model of good conduct, and the sister not desiring to spoil his conduct sheet by reporting him, made few tact ful inquiries and discovered that it was his luck that had led him into trouble. The British Tommy is an incorrigible gambler and as he has no money in hos pital to gamble with he plays cards for cisarettes. bits of shrapne or bullets that have been extracted from his comrades, or any other transferable property. Halt a dozen of the convalescents in this ward were allowed bottle of stout daily, these had been put up as stakes, and the lucky soldier had won four of them. He was not reported to the colonel, but the ward sister now sees that her men drink their stcut when it is served out.
 The bullets and bits of shrapnel referred to are, as a rule the wounded soldiers most precious possession Before going into the operating room they enjoin the surgeons on no account to lose them and every man has the bit of metal which wounded him wrapped up in tissue paper or slowed away in a jewelry box and ex- hibits it proudly to all who visit him. Those who can show two or three or even half dozen. as some can, are the aristo- crats of hospital life.
 Most of the men take their wounds cheerfully even when it means partial dIsablement for life. One of the few 'grousers" I met was a corporal who had lost an eye. He had also been wounded In half a dozen other places and had made a marvellous recovery. He was pointed out in fact as credit to the hos p.tal, but he wasn't a bit proud of him. self
 Look at that" he said to me, pointing to an excellent artificial eye which I could not have detected as artificial if I had not been told. What do you think of a gov ernment that would give & man a thing like that?"
 very good eye, but he would have none Of 1t.
 Its a-bad eye" he insisted. Its at least two shades lighter than the other one and makes me look like a circus freak
 I discovered afterwards that in civil life the man had been ribbon sales man. so that his insistence on correct shade was explained.
 One of the favorite methods of enter ta'ning wounded soldiers is taking them out for motor rides. Everyone who is anyone in London, and who owns a motor car, makes it point to take out party of soldiers at least once or twice a week, and SC great Is the competition that there are not wounded soldiers enough to go round. Long lines of waiting motor cars
 
 hospitals every day and the men are be- coming expert in discussing the virtues and defects of various makes of car
 Theatre parties are also regular thing ncws among the convalescents. Most of the London theatres have placed one or more boxes at the service of the various military hosiptals and the men are sent in turn, Their motor oars call for them at theAhospital and take them back again after the 4Ddy If fpUpd ru at first to threaten to deprive some Of the car owners of the privilege of taking wounded soldiers for rides because they treated the guests too well. Some of the men came back with increased tempera- lures and it was dicovered that their hosts had been treating them to food and drink. Now no one is allowed to take a soldier -ut of hospital without giving a guaran- tee that he will give him nothing but to- bacco.
 One of the most amusing instances of the necessity of maintaining discipline of which l have heard occurred in the of ficers' ward of one of the London hos pitals. There were about a dozen British officers in it. nearly all subalterns, and three young. German officers who had been taken prisoners while wounded. At first there was little conversation among them, but one afternoon the sister in charge heard something like riot and on running in found the whole ward lean- ing over map and disputing angrily. They were discussing problem in tactics as applied to an engagement in which some of them had taken part, and the result was a serious setback for some of the wounded. The British of ficcrs were ordered to bed at once, and the Germans were marched off to a small ward where they are now |. CYt fca1 tod frrv kI,Atv