New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1916-12-12
NURSING ON THE S0MME
How Every One Can Help Mitigate h.
Suffering of Plucky "Poilus"


on the Sonnet
Received December 7, 1851
secteur Postal q.
H6pital dEvaeua,ion. 3D. S. P. $50.
Dear --, was asked two months ago
70 leave my field hospital in the north in
order 20 undertake the direction Of the
nursing in large French military field hos
oltal on the somme Although very loath to
leave even temporarily the hospital which,
With the help OF friends in England and
America, founded for the French eighteen
months ago and for the upkeep Of which I
am still responsible, felt bound 70 answer
this appeal, coming as IL did from the region
Of the great offensive. on October I drove
from x TO Y, the ruined village beyond
which is situated the great clearing station
IL. The road from K stretched through
wide sparsely populated country, but for A
distance Of forty kilometres was as crowded
as Piccadilly or Fifth Avenue. A double
stream 81 motor lorries stretched with
scarcely a break from the trenches % the
base. from the base 70 the trenches, motor
lorries going Up with fresh troops and NUM-
tions. motor lorres coming down with worn
out troops and empty she'll cases; and be
side the rood, scattered over the barren hills,
camps, innumerab.e camps, armored trains,
sidetracked In fields, munitions spread out
under canvas, batteries OF big guns waiting.
regiments Of cavalry curious landscape,
host camping IN the wilderness, an army
pouring over the chalk hills. And then sud
denly, beyond the crossroads where English
guns and French lorries struggle through the
mud. we came upon the hospital, with is
great wooden sheds spread out 10 a hollow
It looked like an American lumber or min
ing town Our motor rolled IN az the gate.
On the left, in the centre Of group Of wooden
buildings, was the medecin-chefs hut Op-
posite three huts were joined together By a
covered porch over which was the sign
"Triage." and under this porch smbulances
were unloading the wounded. IN these three
huts the stretchers with the wounded are de-
posted on the ground and staff Of doctors
divides them into three categores - the
"grands bless6s," 20 be operated on dur
gence": the stretcher cases, less serious, and
the sitting cases Across the road from the
Trage another sign above a hut reads Quar-
tier dc rH5pitalisation." Here the grand
blesses" are sent for operations, and here IS
hospital accommodation for eight hundred
patients, with twelve operating rooms, two
complete X-ay installations, large steriliz-
ing plants, pharmacy, and so forth. Twelve
surgeons, each with his assistants, carry on
the surgical work Of tho capitalization.
We are IN the heart Of the army, and the
wounded that come % our receiving hut
seem all too dreadfully natural part OF the
terrible current of troops and guns that
stream endlessly round Us. They CONES do
through the rain and the mud and the cold,
through the sunlight when the big guns be
yond the hill are shaking our huts 20 their
foundations, through the night when the
German aeroplanes are tormenting us With
bombs They are covered with mud and
streaked with blood. In the sale des entrees
we undress them. Their feet are shrivelled
with standing endlessly in water-often Of
late they are frozen. Their wounds are often
terrible and their patience is heart breaking.
Sometimes, they tell you, they have lain 10
she'll hole forty-eight hours before being res
cued, but they are not too bad, they say.
"Cela ne va pas trop NAL, madame And
the poor things who are wounded all over
will explain that the wound in the head is
nothing and the wound In the arm does not
matter, but that IL is the legs that hurt. And
later, when they have passed through tho
clearing room and the N-ray room and the
operating room and are put 20 bed in one o.
the wards, their patience endures, and they
ask only 20 write 20 their homes, and they
tell you that they know they are going TO die.
and they dictate letter 20 their dear wives.
saying that all is well, that they are not ser-
o1sly wounded, that they hope to be home
soon, and always they add: "Ne tinquiete
pas. Je tembrace."
On, these brave French "poilus." with their
hope and their courage and their gratitude
Surely, no comfort is too much for them: no
effort to comfort them too great. We shall
need many, many things for the care OF
-niGhtshirts, bed socks, bed jackets.
towels, handkerchiefs, water pillows. air
cushions, bed rests, hot water bottles, large
pillows, fracture pillows The hospital is
spendidly equipped on military lines, but
inevitably IN such a large installation many
things that concern the patients comfort
must be given by voluntary aid. 10 is for
this reason that appeal to you. Subscrp-
tons or gifts In kind will be gratefully sc-
knowledged at the Farmers Losn and Trust
Company Fifth Avenue branch and IL West
Fifty-fourth Street, New York City. We are
being greatly assisted By the Distribution
Americana, so Rue de Richelieu, Paris who
have most kindly undertaken the packing and
sending of of our supplies, and TO whom
goods in kind can be sent for the hospital a.
follows: Nine. Borden-Turner, care Of Dis
tribution Americana, g. Rue de Richelieu,
Paris. MARY BORDEN-TURNER.