The Belding banner-news. (Belding, Mich.) 1918-1973, 1918-12-04

and bore Tommy to death by asking
him to write the particulars of his
wounding In same. Several Tommies
try to duck this unpleasant job by tell
Ing the visitors that they cannot write.
but this never phases the owner of the
album he or she. generally she, offers
to write II for them and Tommy II
stung into telling his experiences.
The questions asked Tommy by wis.,
to a military man.
Some kindly looking old lady will
stop at your bed and In a sympathetic
voice address you: you poor boy,
wounded by those terrible Germans.
You must be suffering frightful pain.
A bullet, did you sayf Well. tell me.
have always wanted to know. did it
hurt worse going In or coming outy"
Tommy generally replies that no did
not stop to figure 1t out when he was
hit.
One very nice-looking. overenthusi-
astic young thing. stopped at my bed
and asked. "What wounded you In the
FACET
In polite but bored tone I an
swer. j. "A rife bullet"
With a look Of disdain she passed
to the next bed. FIRST calculating. ~Ohl
Only a bulletf thought 1t was .
she'll" Why she should think q shell
wound was more Of distinction beats
me. / don't see a whole lot Of differ
ence myself.
The American Women's War hospi-
tai was a heaven for wounded men.
They were allowed every privilege pos
sible conducive with the rules and mill
tary discipline. The only fault was
that the mems passes were restricted.
To get pass required an act Of par
Lament. Tommy tried many tricks to
get out, but the commandant. an old
Boer war officer, was wise to them all,
and 1t took q new and clever ruse to
make him affix his signature to the
coveted slip Of paper.
AS soon as 1t would get dark many a
patient climbed over the wall and went
CO.. his own" regardless of many signs
staring him in the face, "Out OF bounds
for patients" Generally the nurses
were looking the other way when one
of these night raids started. I hope
this information will get none OF them
into trouble, but l cannot resist the
temptation to let the commandant
know that occasionally we put 1t over
on him.
One afternoon 1 received a note,
through our underground channel, from
my female visitor, asking me to attend
q party at her house that night.
answered that she could expect me and
to meet me at q certain place on the
road well known by all patients, and
some visitors, as "over the wall"
told her / would be on hand at seven
thirty.
About SEVENTEEN I sneaked my
overcoat and cap out Of the ward and
hid 1t In the bushes. Then / told the
nurse, particular friend Of mine, that
I was going for walk in the rose gar
den. She winked and knew that ev-
erything was all right on her end.
Going out of the ward, slipped into
the bushes and made for the wall. 1t
was dark as pitch and was cropping
through the underbrush, when sudden
ly stepped into space and felt myself
rushing downward, horrible bump,
and blackness. When came to my
wounded shoulder was hurting horri-
bly,. was lying against circular
wall Of bricks, dripping with moisture,
and far away could hear the trickling
Of water. had In the darkness fallen
into an old disused well. But why
wasn't / wetf According to all rules
/ should have been drowned. Perhaps
I was and didn't know 1t.
AS the shock of my sudden stop
gradually wore or 1t came to me that
was lying on ledge and that the
least movement on my part would pre-
cipitate me to the bottom Of the well.
/ struck a match. In its faint glare
I saw that I was lying In a circular
hole about twelve feet deep-the well
had been filed ini The dripping had
heard came from water pipe over on
my right.
With my wounded shoulder Il was
impossiblecfo skinny up the pipe. I
could not yell for help. because the
rescuer would want to know how the
accident happened, and i would be
hailed before the commandant on
charges. I Just had to grin and bear
1t. with the forlorn hope that one Of
the returning night raiders would pass
and could give him our usual signal
Of ~sisss-s-s," which would bring MIN
to the rescue.
Every half-hour I could hear the
clock In the village str1kA sach stroke
bringing fortA . mpnsd volle0 e
curooa - - - - - A. -