Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1917-12-25

the men who have gone, and tackllng
the problems at home. But they need
the help of more trained women. The
interest Of girls and women in the nurs-
ing profession should be reused, with
special reference to public health work
in their own communities"
Thousands Of girls,~ all over this
broad land of ours, are coming to I'M
derstand the great need of their serv-
ices in the care of the sick and
wounded cover there" and the increas-
ing Importance of their aid in the
hospitals and homes Of this country,
under the prevailing scarcity Of physi-
clans and surgeons and nurses. be-
cause of the number required for
army. service abroad and in the can
comments in this country. Perhaps
no greater undertaking or more patri-
otto service can be considered by the
average young woman of good health
and fair education than is now open
in almost every hospital in the coun-
try. And while we are pondering
these things, comes to hand the WORDS
of Coningsby Dawson, lieutenant,
Canadian field artillery, as given to
the Good Housekeeping for January.
h inn
nurse and one of doctor He
describes them as follows (and per-
haps no higher inspiration or clearer
view of what their services may mean
can be given to the young women of
this country who are pausing upon the
threshold of occupation):
II arrived about nine on a summers
evening at the Casualty Clearing Sta
ton. In something less than an hour
| was undressed and on the operating
table. You might suppose that wnen
FOR three interminable years such 9
stream of tragedy has flowed through
a hospital, it would be easy for sur
Seons and nurses to treat mutilation
and death perfunctorily. They don't.
They show no emotion. = They are
even cheerful; but their strained faces
tell the story and their hands have ar
immense compassion.
Two faces especially loom out.
can always see them by lamplght,
when the rest of the ward is nusncr
and shrouded, STOPPING over some
silent bed. One face is that Of the
Colonel of the hospital. gray, con-
cerned, pitiful. stern. His eyes seem
to have photographed all the sufferin..
which in three years, they have wiz
messed. He's a tall man, but he moves
softly. Over his uniform he wears a
long white operating smock-he never
seems to remove it. And he neve:
seems to sleep. for he comes wander
ing through his Gethsemane all hours
of the night to bend over the more
serious cases He seems haunted ny
a vision of the wives. mothers, sweet
hearts, whose happiness is in his
hands. ! think of him as Christ in
khaki
The other face is Of a cirl--a sister
l ought to call her. She's the nearest
approach to sculptured Greek cod
deSS I've seen in living woman.
shes very tall, very pale and golden.
with wide bfows and big gray ewes
like Trilby. l wonder what she di0
before she went to WARRIOR s;les e-on-
to war just as truly as any soldier
m sure in the peaceful years she
must have spent lot of time in be-
ing loved. Perhaps her man was
White with oVer-service and spends all
her days in loving. Her eyes have the
oId frank, innocent look, but they're
finSed with being weary. ONLY her
lips hold touch of color: they have
childish trick of trembling when
anyones wound is hurting too much
Shes the first touch of home that the
Stretcher- cases see when they've sail,
good-bE to the trenches. She moves
down the ward: eyes follow her.
men she is absent. though others
take her place. she leaves a loneliness.
II she meant much to men In DAYS
gone by. today she means more than
ever. Over many dying bows she
stoops as the incarnation of the wo-
man whom, had they lived thew
would have loved. To all of us. with
the hlasphemy of destroying still upon
us she stands for the divinity of wo-
manhood.
w nat sights she sees and what
words she hears; Vet the pity she
brings to her work preserves her
sweetness, In the silence of the night
those who are delirious re-fight their
recent battles. You're half-asleep
"hen IN the darkened ward some one
Jumps UP in bed shouting, Hold YOU,
moody hands up He thinks he's
capturing a Hun trench, taking prls-
ohers IN bombed-in dug-out In an
instant, Ike a mother with fright
ehed enid, she's bending over him;
soon she mas coaxed his head back on
t',e pillow Men do not die IN vain
when they evoke such women"