Norwich bulletin., 1917-12-28

The horrible monotony of the ex- isterce tlre fact that no one around you cares whether you live or die, and tha- you have nothing. to look forward to but the end of the war. make the life of a prisoner almost unbearable. One has actually to be q prisoner to realize this. It is a state of mind that cannot be imagined. I can quite easily see how men who have been in German hospitals or camps for two or three years become Respondent, nervous wreckS and often go star staring mad or corArr-it suicide.
 Read'rg through my old letters home ' conc as-rss phrase now and then that 1'-calic wildly tSe feeling of lone siaeSS tiiSt p3sss sseti ne at the time. .A?t.r s.x we~s4 of Imprisonment T vn13te, Please write 1la oiten and z;l lre, -si: the news s.nd aSE anybody ] trce aFH.o would care to write to me Lc> 3c SO IL iE horribly dTeaTy here It is cold and raining nest Of the time. Believe rsa will al be glad when ts.e var iS oyer
 "A Bit oF the Blues"
 Noodle had spent q year in hospital ana some days wc1id be atta cked with fl of the bl:iess, S.e wou}" lie on his bed without saving c word paying no attention when the meals arrived. Gray and | seeing tce encct or him and cth2rs would attack hira with pillows. M octits 1.ouli defend himself, and a rol4gt. pillow fight would result Of course VIZ had to be very careful not to intUTe the arms or legs which were In plaster. Heavy artillery in the shape of aerated lemonade would be brought up and the shower baths that ensued would generally bring the party tc aD end with everybody laughing and tr.s desired result would have been accomplished
 Indifferent Doctors.
 There was an English Tommy with A shrapnel wound in the head whose case illustrates the utter indifference displayed by the German doctors with regard to the fate of prisoners His cheek bone was fractured just in front of the ear and for some time he was under the care of Dr. Meyer. He suffered a great deal of pain and could not sleep at night The doctor seemed to take little or no notice of his Suf- Mering and said there was a splinter & bone inside the skmi -hich might work to the surface of poultices were Applied- This was carried out by the men in the ward, who heated water in "a steel helr-et over a spirit stove sup piled by the hospital. The case become so serious that I interviewed the Chief Arzt and got the patient moved down tstairs 10 another ward under the care pf a head specialist who operated at once. It was found that the man had nm adscveSs on the brain caused by the splinter of bone. He died within few GsCs-
 Incidents like this did not tend to make out lot any more pleasant, but re avoided much as possible letting our minds dwell on our surroundings ard lived in the past, and for the flu ture.
 All Played Cards.
 Cards were a diversion that offered great possibilities. We Canadians fn- troduced the national game of poker and also Polish Bank and the English men took a great delight in using the slang poker terms on every possible occasion. The Russians and French men had peculiar games of their own. Wherever one turned little groups could be seen sitting cross legged on ing some game with a pack of cards. popular amusement. and almost the whole of every afternoon was while away at this game. When we had more than four players the extra ones would sit around and watch the game until it was their turn to cut in. 2 Reading also served to pass away the time. Noodle and Gray. who had been fin the hospital for a long time had few books such as "The Life of Gu rate" which were provided by the German pastor who buried our dead and who also at long intervals held was a waiting list for all these books vhcih were passed around the hoss rital as fast as tffey were read. If we