Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1918-04-19
Friends Offer to Leave
OStend for England
Almost Rejected
Advancing Enemy Hordes
Gaze Red Cross Parfy
No Rest or Peace
CAT THE BACK OF THE FRONT"
A WAR NURsE'S DIARY-No.

W.
Copyright 1918, by Public Lcdgcr Co.
TT WAS 4 a. m. when we arrived n,
i Ostend, dark, cold and wet. An the
hotels were overfowing because all
Belgium had convcrgcd on Ostend. We
came to the Casino. a huge showy
building which had been turned into
British Red Cross hospital. In one
large hall were 500 beds filled with
wounded. The Sisters were kind: here
and there was an empty bed. so they
said we might lie down on these
among the patients till o'clock, when
we must turn out for them to wash
the men. The time came all too soon:
we were aroused and turned out into
the wet street. We then found our
chief and told him we had Joined the
Belgian CroiN Rouge. Proceeding to
the central office, we were followed
closely by the fox terrier whom had
christened "Bombe.'
At Ostend
They gave us six Boy Scouts TO run
our errands, a motor ambulance. and
placed two doctors over the hospital
The doctors were father and son, the
elder man a noted eye specialist. Ar.
rived at tho palatial hotel we found we
were in charge of the whole of 1t, with
the exception of the right wing, which
was occupied by the Russian Ambas-
sador and his suite. The dining hall
had been emptied of furniture and
mattresses had been placed on the
floor, the authorities not wishing the
beautiful bedroom furniture to be
used. A cook was also provided. BE.
sides, there were the four lady farm
ers and Mrs. C, all most devoted
workers
Very soon tho patients arrived, sew
enty of them. not seriously wounded.
They consisted chiefly of pneumo-
Mas, typhoids and wounded conva.
lesCents On the whole, we thoroughly
enjoyed that weekend in Ostend We
spent Sunday, Monday and Tuesday
there, feeling the work a great respon-
sibility and busy catering for and
nursing our large family without
moments rest. Some of our party
dropped in and looked round, and we
really felt we had taken a wise step,
for they had no work and were sleep
ing where they could, whilst the
weather was atroCious
The Evacuation
The entrance hall of La PLACE Hotel
is a thing of costly splendor, the roof
big dome inlaid with mosaiCs. At
night our cook went home, likewise
the Boy Scouts. There vas M one
left to guard all this magnificence. and
we two felt hugely responsible, so we
sent our lady helpers upstairs TO bed
while we dragged one of the patients
mattresses to the front door. Placing
it on the floor as "A barrier, we slept
there. This served two purposes-we
We're near the patients and could also
answer the door quickly.
Tuesday night was a night of
alarms: there was one interruption
after another. First, a drunken man
walked in, announcing that he be.
longed 10 the nobility, that his mother
was the head of all the CroiX Rouge
and he wanted a shirt. We could not
find a shirt but we had a chest pro-
tector; that pleased him nightly.
Finding the place warm, he refused
to go away, so we bolted up the stairs
and locked ourselves in one of the
bedrooms. After some time we ven-
tured forth to find that he had gone.
We settled down again on our mat
tress with the faithful Bombe at our
feet. Then an officer came in al II
p. m. and ordered all our soldiers to
be down at the great terminus station
Cthe station we first arrived att by
midnight. We found their clothes and
dressed them.
Germans Were Close
Fortunately l had laid in seventy
brown loaves. having heard that there
might he a scarcity: the coffee was
also over the fire, ready for breakfast.
We gave them each a mugful and a
loaf 1t was very sad to see those poor
fellows limp and hobhle out in a large
body. The station was nearly a mile
away il was wet and dark and they
were unfit to walk Those who could
support the others gave a willing
shoulder or arm, and so they left us
leaning on each other-halt, lame and
blind.
Earlier i'm the evening one Of our
doctors came round and told us that
our party were leaving for England
the following day. as the Germans
were not far away. He told us that
Ostend meant to make a big fight;
the British navy would fire over the
city upon the besieging Germans, and
it was not safe for civilians u stay.
But we had thrown in our lot with
the Belgians and meant to- stick to
them, so we declined to leave.
After the patients had departed we
replaced our mattress ana went to
sleep. Suddenly we were rudely
awakened by the door bursting open
and tall Garde Civique shouted out
in French, Everybody is to arise and
fly" We went upstairs to call our
friends; by mistake l opened the
wrong door, the door of an apparently
empty room. To my surprise found
strange woman in bed. This led to
a general discovery. The building was
filled with strangers, people who had
skunk i'm by some back door unknown
to us. 1 taught my friend tho French
for the warning sentence of the Garde
Civique, and we each took alternate
floors OF this immense building, open
ing each door and shouting, EVERY
body is to arise and fly!" 1t was quite