Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1917-12-26

My first full day in Lazarett VI had
begun. At G o'clock "A Frenchman
uuietly entered the room carrying a
huge jug of coffee and an armful of
bread. There were enamelcd mugs
standing on our lockers which he filled
lie left us each piece of black bread
about four inches square and two inches
thick. This was our ration of bread
for the day From that time forward at
regular hours food was brought to us as
follows.
"A. Schinken''-- consisted
OF very thin slice of bread smeared
with some sort Of grease, and shaving
of sausage or cheese. This was break
fast. AT this time we also received our
ration OF butter, which consisted of a
very small piece Of this same greasy
substance used on the "Schnken." Dur
ing the morning we each got "A bottle of
aerated water called lemonade and col
ored either pink or yellow. We could
have our choice.
II "A. ma mug of what was sup
posed to be bouillon--a colorless and
f'avorless liquid. whose only virtue was
that IL was very hot. cube of Oxo
dropped into this made a fairly decent
drink.
THE MIDDAY MEAL.
ls:oO u. m. - lunCn -- Invariably
boiled potato and cabbage, and some
times a piece Of horse meat with all the
nourishment boiled out OF 1t for soup.
II was coarse grained and very sweet.
Once week we had awful smelling fish
cooked with the heads. eyes and tails
complete There was no doubt about It's
being fish The trouble was that IL hac
apparently been caught years before
the war began. We could never cat II,
so we gave II to tho Russians. who oc-
cupied the beds In the hall outside oui
door They devoured It all, poor TEL
lows. They reminded me OF the old
story of the dog which was advertised
for sale thus: VIII eat anything. Very
fond OF children" Instead OF meat or
fish we often got q very large pancake
tough as leather. and fried In fish fat
Butter and pure grease were never al
lowed In the hospital kitchens.
. u. ma glass OF milk. IL you
drank 1t at once holding your nose you
could make yourself believe that 1t had
come from a COW II YOU left It stand
ing for three hours II divided itself INTO
iunket and clear water. After SIX hours
the iunket turned to chalk-like SUBJ
stance.
4 d. m.--Coffec.
a n. m.--Dinner, which was the same
as lunch, with the addition Of soup.
IN THE N-RAY ROOM
About 8 o'clock on the morning OF
1upe sanitaire came for me and
helped me along the hall to the N-ray
room, where "A very expert nun TOOK
two photographs of my arm. Later on
IN the morning u rubber-tired hospital
car bearing dressings and instruments
was pushed into the room by an orderly'
and in a few minutes Or. Meyer ana
red-headed assistant doctor. followed by
,vo sanitaires all dressed in long white
coats appeared One Of the latter re-
moved the bandagcs from my arm.
Dr Never examined the wound and
muttered "schlecht tbad)"; then turned
to the assistant doctor and SAID. Scnrei-
hen Sle." write y The doctor dag
nosed my case. glancing from time 10
time at the X-ray photographs whhe
his assistant wrote down on pad AL
the details which were later 10 oe IN
sorted in my medical history sheet,
Noodle smoke German very well and
.xn,ained TO me afterward that the
doctor had said that the wound where
the bullet entered was not serious, but
that three centimeters or inc RADIUS
had been carried away. while the large
bola torn by the hattened bullet ana
snIinters of bone was in serious con-
di,,on. and several of the tendons had
been destroyed.
was taken downstairs to the "plss-
ter room" The doctor ana nls ASSIST,
ant slipped on oNeralls anu spreau
shoa,s ali over the floor. My arm was
yrapped in flannel and then oahdages
snr,ni,led with plaster Of Paris were
dipped in "a pail of water ana wound
ro,,rd my arm until | was IN soma
cast from my shoulder TO lhe' UPS o'
my fingers. During this operation 'he
n nssls,ant had instructions 10 holo my
hand in a certain fixed position J thlnh
he must have been in love tor ms eyes
wandered round the room anu ! nau M 70
,,ace my hand over his TO prevent nm
.,,i,s, INV wrist out of the correct posi-
ton. ,, .,,o,o
,.,,,, wound on, a tin can was placed
ovnr the wound. When the plaster cas'
,r.s coupIeted this tin can was wltn-
dra,vn leaving "A round opening Tor the
nu,nose OF applying dressings was
,oid 10 20 back to bed, having been given
,na cheerful Information that l would
,,axa 10 carry this plaster cast around
Win me for two or three months
on,,,d only lie In one position---on my
haclt and the contlnuai pressure oi tue
COS, IN nv stomach caused me untold
asnpv / had no decent rest for weeks.
when | got back to the ward found
,,o assIs,ant doctor working on our
u'ed,raI history sheets. lie wanted to
unow everything about us except
,vhcther our mothers wore false hair OF
NO, Noodle acted as Interpreter or we
wou,d never have got through.
When he had gone our minds turned
,o more worldly things. Wells and
r,,bhsd our chins, which had not felt q
razor for days. and asked, What about
!, o.. Noodle said. "oh. Ludwig viii hx
,'o, I'm with a razor and everything you
ned Have you any money!
"oh. yes. we are rici. We have
,,y.nty francs between us."
"That's enough. watkins, get Lud'
wig" ~
20 yet one toothbrush sir. ] have M
sy,ra one have only used a few tines
We decided we would waste the prics
~ the second toothbrush. Pretty soor
Iudwlg appeared he was enormous
| 1IIs head wsp cropped like <tat ~ Y
! conylpt. ~ ~ hee1 4 H.