Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1915-08-05
DR.. {. N. MARQUIS, OLD
GO. TOWN, BACK FROM WAR
Served with American Ambulance Corps in FanceHarrow.
ing Tales of Terrible Results of War-Ideas of French Sol
diers Revoutioped by His Elk periences There

will 60 to any sacrifice to drive him
away. Not one class or some classes,
but all classes are united in this great
spirit Of patriotism that sweeps the
country. 10
All the able-bodied men have gone to
war and the old men, young boys and
the women are left to carry on the du-
ties Of civil life. Yet with all their de-
privations. there is no word of complaint
no kicking" but everybody. young and
old. accepts the situation with the famil-
lar laugh and remark. ,"C'est la guerre.'
1t may be that store keeper has not
the article wanted. he or she, rather
smiles at the customer and says. ut is
the war; and though dozen shops may
be visited before the article is found,
yet all have the same reply and one finds
this spirit OF tolerance everywhere.
The women collect the fares on the
street cars although some men are in
use at the motor. The women and boys
till the fields and SOW the crops and
everywhere throughout France. says Dr.
Marquis. the farms are blooming as If
the men had never left them. Indeed, he
says that the average garden and farm
everywhere he went. looks as well If not
| better. than those pieces which our
American farmers cultivate so carefully
for exhibition purposes. One would al
most look for real neglect now. with all
the men away. but there is none Of it.
He speaks of one acquaintance whom
he met. a merchant Of Paris who. at 10
has amassed a fortune and raised two
| ho
der. One gave his life on the border
fighting to keep the Germans away from
Paris and his beloved land, the other
yielded up his life in the Dardanelles
Was he discouraged, did he. speak sadly
Of the great loss in his declining years?
Not a regret at the sacrifice. not a word
Of rancor that both his boys had to go. On
the contrary, he remarked that he has
bought him a sash and uniform and
that. IL he is needed. he can yet shoulder
a musket and sight 1t at the enemy. He
Is constantly waiting for orders at 70
years. to fight for his country and he is.
said DR.. Marquis, but an instance of the
spirit of devotion and sacrifice that ami
mates the nation.
The national need, too, has done much
to elevate the tone of all classes morally
but more particularly those whom so
ciety commonly calls the outcasts. The
woman of the street. even. has forsaken
her ways and now turns her back on he,
former life. IT have work to do, work
that must be DONE 1t is no time for
amusing oneself" is her reply to former
| boon companions. Everywhere this
spirit Of forgetting self is uppermost in
the individual mind, as in the national
and the effect is a France that is all but
new.
OF news from the actual front, says
DR.. Marquis, the French, at least OF
Paris. get even less than do we here
in America. There is now. and then
after big battle. the statement that In
such and such a battle, SO and so were
killed. wounded or missing. Never, since
the war began, has the censor permitted
the least whisper to leak out as to how
many men have been sacrificed to the god
OF war. nor how many have been called
to take their places.
But from officers, under treatment in
the American hospital, there have been
dropped little hints now and then when
they have become friendly with the sur.
geons and attendants. One here has re.
placed his entire company three times
since he went to the front, another twice
and another only once, but that means
an enormous drain on the human re.
sources of the nation.
Il have had 1t demonstrated to nv
| satisfaction as never before" observed
the doctor, that the leading American
surgeons are up to the standard of the
best In Europe and that he leads his Eu.
ropean contemporary in one factor. the
ability to organize. The European sur
geon does his work very. largely HIM
self. he is the entire operation. The
American has complete, well trained
stan. that does many things for him and
relieves him for those more delicate and
important features of the work. Before
this war, the leading European surgeons
knew this truth. but it has taken the
war for the French people to find It out
AS the result, the fame of the Ameri.
can hospital went abroad, not only
throughout all France. but to the front
Letters and cards from sick comrades In
our hospital went to fighting comrades,
VINO when they found themselves
our patients in turn, expressed quiet
but evidently complete satisfaction
that they were in the American hos.
pital. Everywhere this is recog.
nized as the best organized in the whole
OF France. due in measure to the fact
that the other hospitals are crippled BY
the transfer of surgeon from place to
place and the demand for every possible
man at the 'front.'
This hospital. by the way. which is
manned absolutely by American surgeons
and nurses. paid for with American
money. receives the free services Of the
best that America can send. For each
period of three months a unit of surgeons
ana assistants. as 1t is called, Is provided
by one OF the great universities of the
country. Harvard. Johns Hopkins, Chi
cago, ETC.. each taking its turn. During
the period Of service the entire stafr is
thus under one Administered ion and direc.
ton.
The hospital can accommodate GOO "a
tients and Of course, only the number
who leave the hospital, determines the
number which can be received from any
trainload of injured coming from the
front. Early in the war. after the bat
tie OF the Marne. for instance. DR.. Mar
quis says that perhaps 100 a day were