Daily capital journal. (Salem, Oregon) 1903-1919, 1916-03-29
By william G. Shepherd.


Salonica, Greece, Feb. 25.-(By mail)
The first night after the operation was
sleepless The tent flapped and the
tent poles creaked in the Macedonian
winds. The morphine fnjee zion the
Canadian nurse had given dulled the
pain but brought to oblivion. The
candle on the little pine locker at the
head of the cot sputtered in the gust
and reading was out of the question.
The six blankets weighed ton, but
every one was needed.
On the fourth other cots in the tent
were the huddled forms of British off
GERS.
At short intervals Nurse johnson
came in. She was swathed in huge
sweater. A thick tobOggan cap almost
hid her face and she swung a lantern in
her mittened hands.
''Not asleep yet A little more not
milk might help you. If you were an
Englishman you ! want some tea, sup
pose. You know Canadians don I care
very much for tea either. "
The night was divided off into six
drinks of milk which the nurse heated
on an oil stove in her tent nearby.
At last the bugle-the alarm clock
of the lrmy-sounded the morning
wake-up." 1t was six clock. Vita
in 10 minutes there came sounds of in
tense activity from the tents in which
the 200 young fellows from Toronto
who make up the force of orderlies in
the Fourth Canadian hospital; they
were the noises of getting up; sputter-
ing Of the cold morning wash; whistling
of the latest New York songs-for
phonograph records come by every mail.
BY seven o'clock everybody is
awake. A very much-muffled up little
nurse with a sparkling smile and two
basins of steaming warm water enters
the tent. Behind her comes bow from
Canada in the uniform of an orderly,
with two more basins. This is for the
morning wash.
The nurse departs to get our break
fast. The orderly, being in a friendly
mood, stands in the center of the tent
and surveys the occupants of the vari-
GUS cots, a British major, two British
captains and a British lieutenant Let
it be understood that no British order
ly ever addresses British officer first;
the advances must come from the Off
Ger. But this was a Canadian orderly.
We'll, how'd everybody sleep last
nightP' he says.
To your surprise the British officers.
don't freeze him. One and all they
say they have slept well. Then you
realize that they have been in the hos
pital for some time; that they are ac-
quainted with this Canadian orderly
and his free and easy Canadian ways.
$50 d l" he says 'Slept like a
bug in rug. Anything extra any of
YOU want} How about you, Mr.. New
York; That s you, he's tllking to.
No, you'r contented
"It's a cold day and windy" says
the orderly. "No German aerOplanes
today. But saw. talk about cold. This
is nothing" He's over in a corner of
the tent now talking to British cap.
tain-one of the professional soldier
kind from top notch family in Eng
land, who has been stationed in In
dia, Egypt, Gibraltar and almost ev-
cry other place where British soldiers
go-''why in Canada it gets twice as
cold as this ~
is that sol How cold does it really
gctl' asks the officer.
wen, you KNOW once belonged 10
the Salvation Army in Toronto. /
played the big drum at the street meet
ings and I've seen it so cold, that we
couldn { hold meetings; had to give
EN- up for a day or so. -
''That always the way with the
orderly" said the captain after the or
DERBY departed, He always makes you
think he's going to tell YOU sometGinp
interesting and then it winds up flat. "
We're having breakfast now, sitting
up in bed.
"Funny people in this world" SAYS
the captain, after being warmed and
comforted by his first big swallow of
coffee. "You We got to understand
them and make allowance for them, you
know. Can't Judge a whole nation by
Il few of its people. Was a time when
couldn' Z understand Americ ans. They
seemed TO be most extraordinary people.
II began when was walking along the
street in Gibraltar one morning in full
rig.
Awfully pretty American girl jump.
ed out in front of me with her camera
and said to her friends, '0h, look at
Ithis nifty little officer. Then she snap.
ped her camera and smiled at men and
went right away. Unusual, huh9 But
YOU know | got acquainted with her
after that and | found out she was one