New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1917-04-01
Shower-Baths Comfort Tommy
In Winter Ordeal on Somme
British Soldiers Lead Healthy Lives Frozen Plains OF
Picardy-Calant Women Workers Are treated
Like Fairy Godmothers

numbered by clumsy coats and heavy
, boots.
Returning recently from a successful
/ bombing raid far back OF the German
/ lines. a dozen Of these British alrmen
4 landed at their aerodrome after being
in the air for more than three hours.
81 was so cold said one of them,
that was unable TO open my mouth;
| had passed the shIvering stage. lhey
had TO lift me out Of the machine, and
for a long time ! couldn't stand up
/ straight. Even my brain seemed frozen,
and everything ] did WAS mechanical
but fortunately | thawed out quickly
and an hour after our return ! was
sleeping like top
Despite the great hardships in the
nerve racking work they do, there is
no healthier, happier lot in the British
army than the youngsters in the Flying
Corps.
No Rest for Men In Trenches
An aviator has one distinct ad-
vantage over the other soldiers, ana
that is the short time he is on active
duty Out in the first line trenches
there is no real rest period; no oppor-
tunity for stretching out on a cot.
/ When :hey are not standing sentry
duty they are huddled together IN q
Gugout or Dusily engaged IN building
up their defences. Until the heavy
frosts set IN there were few places
along the West front where the mud
/ did not cover everything. II II was not
mud II was water. and generally It was
both The first real thaw means u re-
turn TO the same conditions, and that
,tslrr ko Tow, mi n Mol-
como action.
Modern warfare is highly developed
science. Machines, not men, win bat
ties. No army is better fed. better
clothed. better munitioned than the
British. but all the science. skill and
ingenuity have been unable TO turn the
Plains Of Picardy into a comfortable
winter resort. One marvclS at the re
suits accomplished on that shcll-torn,
wind-swept battle-ground; one also mar
wells that man can live on here for
months and enjoy better health than
the average dweller in a steam heated
apartment.
The Somme Versus New York
If a comparison were made of the
number of eases Of illness among the
soldiers on the Somme and among a
advantage would be all with the for
mer In the frsr. place, the soldiers
are medically fit when they go 10 the
front; and in the second place. ther
get plenty of exercise. fresh air and
wholesome food. without any digestion
destroying pastries and sweets. Side
by side on the Somme live former
/ cchoolmasterS and farmers. stevedoreS
and bank clerks. One stands the life a.
well as the other. and the stevedore is
more likely 10 grouse than the school
master.
Back in the convalescent hospital one
finds the men who have succumbed to
the rigors of the wintry blasts on the
Somme. Far away from the roar of the
guns, they are soon brought back to
health, much sooner than the civilian
suffering from a similar i'll. Never in
the history of medicine has the physi-
clan had q greater stimulus to fresh
enGeavor. never a greater opportunity
for experiment. There is never lack
of cases, and there are mighty few ills
which do not come under his practised
eye.
Soldiers Eager for Action
There are scarcely any substituted
for many" by CENSOR shammers and
shirkers, but these few for "they")
are the rare exceptions which prove
the rule that the Tommy prefers to
stay up near the front, so long as he
can Garry on" He will grumble about
the jam and the bully beef and cuss
behind his sergesnt's back, but he will
be the first one lover" when the signal
comes for a dash across No Mans
Land, even though he has been hiding
an attack of influenza for a week
These chaps in the convalescent camp
are there, for most part. because their
officers ordered them back for rest and
change of scene.
Here you find shell-shock cases. Men
without q scratch on their bodies are
stretched out in bed their faces twisted
and distorted, as if they were suffering
great bodily pain. Shell-shock is a
cumulative ailment, a disease of the
nervous system, which develops gradu-
ally, and disappears just as slowly A
man may be cured in a month, two, six
or never Massage is working
miracles, and the cures in the mlder
cases have been greatly shortened The
patients are sleeping out in tents, not
because there are no wooden huts. but
because the doctors are agreed that the
more fresh air, however cold, the
better.
Gallant Work of Women
Any account Of how the British army
is wintering in France would be sadly
lacking unless it contained reference
10 the hundreds of women nurses in the
hospitals and women helpers in the rest
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