Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1916-12-13
PERSONAL SOCIAL
.IMPROMPTU GIFT
FOLLOWS LECTURE
Harrisburg d. A. r. Sends 500
to American Ambulance
Field Service Fund

To be with the American Ambulance
Field Service in war-stricken France
is a wonderful physical experience. To
be "A young American chosen as one
capable of helping to pay off his ma
tion's debt to the memory OF Gen.
Marquis de Lafayette is a psychologi-
cal event. Such was the good fortune
of Jackson Herr Boyd. recently re-
turned from the front.
Before the Harrisburg Chapter
Daughters of the American Revolu-
ton, in Fahnestock Hall yesterday
afternoon. he told of his work of
mercy among the suffering, using a
number of illustrated slides in eX-
PLANTATION. There were the motor am
balances threading their way along
roads whose filth was indescribable
with the unmoved debris of two years
of warfare; carcasses of dead horses
and empty shell cases. When Il rest
came and they were billeted in q
country barnyard, there was odorous
damp manure to be waded through
and slept over until clear skies al
lowed its removal.
1t was at Verdun that Mr.. Boyd saw
most active service. Being so near
the enemy's lines it was advisable to
work mostly at night. There was q
woman in the village where they were
stationed who had refused to leave.
Her husband and both brothers had
fallen in the cause and she stayed on,
nndlnS her solace in helping others
During those long awful nights she
made hot coffee for the hospital staff
Most of the soldiers at Verdun are
strangely quiet men, never joking, sell
dom laughing, content to be sent here
or there, according to orders and to
fight If questioned the universal an
swer is, 1T lasts too long," The only
ones who can see the bright side of
life are the wounded; men who are
sure of beds, food and care for a time
to come and secession of the ter
| rible strain and head bursting noise.
They are called the happy ones poor
human bullet-torn wrecks who a few
years ago would have cursed a fate
which so disabled them. So can the
human viewpoint change under the
horrors of war.
Begin the Rebuilding
The views of the city of Verdun
looked like veritable city of the dead.
Wrecks of buildings hang to their
foundations and the debris is piled
high on either side of the streets like
snow banks. Within the houses and
shops everything is left as it stood at
the beginning of the bombardment
wares on the counters. dishes on the
tables, etc. In some OF the smaller
towns the government is already re-
building against the time of peace.
Grave digging goes on necessarily.
Twice the temporary quarters of the
American Field Hospital Service had
TO be removed because of the building
being shelled.' Refuge was finally
taken in an old structure sarcastically
termed the "Carbaret," but whose only
dancer was Death.
Mr.. Boyd showed pictures of the
field balloons used for observation.
They are seldom shot down because
both sides have found it too even q
game, they being large and easy to
hit.
The well-trained dogs were most in
teresting. The wise little fellows are
taught to go out beyond the trenches
into the open country and find the
wounded. If man is dead they
leave him alone, but if he is wounded
they hunt through his pockets for a
handkerchief or other small object or
take his cap and return with it to the
stretcher bearers whom they then lead
back to the spot.
Chapter Makes a Gift
Enthusiastic applause followed the
talk and the regent suggested that in
stead of q rising vote of thanks to Mr.
Boyd for his talk so brimful of in
loFlndIlOn, Jnat the cnapter make q
gift to the American Ambulance Field
Service Fund. The idea was at once
taken up and ushers gathered the
offering, to-day amounting to a hun
dred dollars, which will be sent to
Lee, Higginson & Co., State street,
Boston, Mass. Prior to Mr.. Boyd s
address Stanley G. Backenstoss, choir
master and soloist of the Fourth Re-
formed church, sang in inspiring man
ner, accompanied by r. Stewart
Black, Schumanns 1.-TWO Grenadiers"
and The Marseilles," the French Ma
tional hymn.
The regent, Miss Cora Lee Snyder,
presided at the meeting and after the
usual opening exercises, the secretary,
Mrs. Mary Boyer McCrea, read most
interesting minutes of the last meet
ing. In the absence from the city of
Miss May E. Jackson regents alter
nate to the recent d. A. r. State con-
ference in Philadelphia, Mrs. Charles
j. Wood, Jr., chapter historian, read
her admirable report. Bishop and
Mrs. Darlington extended an invita-
ton to the chapter to meet Monsieur
Marcel Knecht, of Paris, at their resi-
dence this afternoon, and the meeting
closed with America heartily sung
by the large audience.