Evening star., 1917-11-04
eachim American Red Gross Workers to Speak French


chef). Behold the parts of hospita
building. Learn to ask your way to thu
instrument and supply room or the iron
Ing parlors tSalle de repasSage). Therei
the conventional term for all this sor
of thing. You can stumble and make
yourself understood, but it's neater t.
have 1t neat.
See the poor blesses brought in or
their stretchers! tNo self-respectinG
auxiliary would deign to call them
''wounded.")
Were you given serum" What
was the condition of the ground where
you were wounded?' when did you
have your last bath?" How long did
you wear your underclothes before be.
ing wounded?" Does your wound hurt
you much? Votre blessure vous fait-
ellie beaucoup souffrir?" There's the
etiquette of these things.
You must learn to say hot water
warm water. tepid water. cold water
soap. foot bath. shower bath. plain
bath. bath robe. clippers. carbonate OF
soda. 1t tells how to say and make
an alkaline bath. bran bath. sulphur
bath. and how it astonishes some OF
the French, what. all that water?
Here are the vocabularies for clothes
ward furniture and convalescents
meals Do you know how to say pep
tonized oysters in French? Or f1axseed
lemonade? Or chicken-andveal ex-
tract? l saw a sweet girl graduate
once and she knew chicken and She
knew veal. but inserting extract got
her all fiuttered and crusty Now, for
anatomy, the bones. articulations. ar
teries, veins, lymphatics and every
thing in good plain French. How do
you say chromatic catgut? Here are all
the Instruments. applications. anes-
thetics dresses. diseases. pharmacy and
how to say such useful things as: Are
the pills finished?" I've have none in
stock" This must be ordered y
shake the bottle"
Which brings US to the language OF
the motor ambulance.
Do you know what ball bearings are
in French?
Or a blowout?
Yes, but how explain it to a roadside
garage is another matter. Did the
clutch jam the embrayage? You will
value all these vocabularies at "
and Y. in France.
And the wounded boys whom you
carry.
If they are American wounded, how
speak of them, at need. to the French
folks you necessarily rub up against?
II they are French wounded. how josh
them with phrases of cheer?
He is sick. he is badly sick, he is de-
lirious. 1t is a consolidated fracture.
it's an impotence du membre. he is
anchylose. l want you to tell this
French boy to rest easy. to snore II he
wants to. to masticate better than that
because there's plenty OF time. We
have got ten minutes more. and there s
a country inn ahead. Where is that
boob of a motor cyclist?
All these things take words, words.
words.
Translated word for word into French.
the meaning is often lost. Speaking of
catgut, an American ambulance driver
was desperately trying to buck up a
dying French lad with the aid of re-
liable American jokes. A cat yowied
in the twilight. DO you know why
the cat is such a musical animal?'' he
asked, his own voice trembling with
pity. 1T is full of violin strings.
Haha." The French boy. being French
and polite to the end. smiled under
standingly. with good thanks in his
eyes; but. as fact. he understood
nothing, and doubtless died. ten min
utes later. wondering how a cat could
be full of fiddle strings.
It's little book of pain.
It's little book of effort. It's lit
tie book of rest, Of ease. of forgetful-