The Birmingham age-herald., 1916-01-09


 navy surgeon from the Rockefeller Sanitary commission.
 We've been given two small, filthy rooms in the railroad station, and the wounded are brought to us in OK carts. My work is to aid the supervising nurse and surgeon in the operations Wasn't it a blessing I had that ex- perience at the Jefferson hospital in Philadelphia? Let no one tell you that you, lone woman with little eXperi- ence, can't be of service In place like this. Tonight our wounded are comfortable on clean straw and we've come back to the car to get a little rest and wash up in case fresh wounded come in tonight. Many are not expected as there is only small division left in defense of Belgrade, and as 100 wounded a day is as many as we can accommodate. We may have to leave at moments notice as Rolya is to be evacuated.
 The wounds here have been mostly head, face, arm, leg and fee, wounds only a few abdominal ones. Some of the head wounds have been terrible-one with the brains oozing out and a horribly man. gled face. I held the head while the sur geon did the stitching-and I cut the threads, There is an eXaltation about the work that keeps one from feeling fear or fatigue. My hands have been full of blood and pus I've stripped men of uni- forms soaked in blood and surely invested with the things one most dreads-without a sense of repulsion There is no body stench about the Seryian soldier; the sickening odor of blood anc .nrection-but none of the body smell which one finds in a car of workingmen at home
 'The Servian soldier is as brave as lion-and often pathetically young. One youth with a hideously mangled leg smoked cigarette as he Iuy-peihaps dying-on the table,
 At this point, Miss Shelly, through the arrival of new wounded, was forced to cut short her letter. During the night, the Germans advanced steadily against the struggling Servians, and Miss Shelly, resuming her manuscrlps TWO days later, says:
 ''We had to leave Rolya before dawn. We've come further down the line and established our ambulance nere at Turin ski. It is still raining steadily, which is propitious for the Servlans Tn that it prevents the enemy from hauling his heavy artillery in the frighttul mud
 ''The plan of the Ser>1ans seems to be to shorten their front and save as much of their army as possible. They can all ways retake towns but they can't make new men. If only the allies would hurry up. But they have acted aoominably. The French won't leave Calonique, it seems, until all their suppress are i'll. The Servian soldier goes to ,ne front with only @ piece of black bread. And the Englsh-well, they are the limit THE BURSTING SHELLS At Rolya the other day, Captain Karr advised us not to stay there. He did what he could to persuade us to leave. J fall nj o6xr In ed that we dressed and cared for would have been left with a single Servian sur geon and a few Servian orderles to look after them.
 "A shell fell yesterday on the very house we worked in-shattering it. But at that, we did a nights and days work there.
 You will appreciate the splendid valor of the little Servian army when l tell you that the Germans, with over whelming odds, have as a result of 17 days fighting advanced but 20 kilo- meters.
 Nevertheless, we may have to move further down the line tonight" | And there, again, Miss Shelly, with out explanation, abandoned her writ l ing. It is probable that she was called to aid in the operation room. Or, per haps, the steady progress of the Ger
 mans against the thin Servian line gave notice that the improvised hos pital must be packed up and carried | hurriedly away. This latter presump- | tion is evidently correct, for when on | October 20 Miss Shelly resumed and l completed her manuscript she de-
 clared that i've had to come further down the line, bringing our wounded 1 with us in boXcars.' In concluding Miss Shelly expresses the emotion with
 which at times she is almost over l come, and her writing is of the high
 est dramatic order
 THE NOBLE DYING
 She says: This morning it was my i duty to go through the car and serve ! tea to those who were most desper-
 ately wounded. There was not enough
 tea for all. It was the most difficult task I had ever undertaken. I was accompanied by Servian orderly only and was forced to climb into the cars kneel beside dead men and men dying
 and others suffering frightfully an' dole out my little mite of tea. My heart was bursting. But kep the tears back. Not one asked for tea
 and often the dying would pass thu
 cup untouched to others they consid cred in a more terrible state thai they. It was unutterably cold and the,
 had suffered all night in agony with
 out food. Some of them had not eat [ en for days. Food is scarce. l wen 1 two days myself without drink O | water
 '"rhe cold is horrible. I could no l wear my uniform. I slept in my clothe and worked in my riding boots ant skirt. But for some reason one ha no fear, and makes no complaint. Tn
 soldiers are such splendid examples o courage and devotion that one woult be ashamed to yield to any human frailty or emotion.
 ' 'This experience has touched me t.
 the deepest of my soul"