Oxford eagle., 1918-08-01

Tie nome OF tAe AA"FN
doing It's bit In this great war Of civi-
llxati0h.
My wounds were very painful, and
several times 90 uieht ! would dream
that myrlads 10 khal-cloihoa figures
would pass ms bc1 and each would
zop. bend over me and whisper The
best ~ luck. mate.
Soaked with perSuiution / would
awake with a cry. and the night nurse
would come over aud bold my hand
This awakening got 90 be habit with
ne until that rarilcliar nurse was
transferred 60 another ward
In three weeks time. owing TO the
careful treatment received. ] was able
o. sit up and get my bearings. Our
ward contained seventy-nve patients,
90 per cent Of which were surgical
cases. Az the head ~ each bed hung
q temperature chart and diagnosis
sheet. Across this sheet would be
written &c. S. W" on IS. W." the for
uner meaning gun shot wound and the
hitter shell wound The 5. w pre-
dominated. especially among the Royal
Field artillery and Royal engineers.
About forty different regiments were
represented. and many arguments en-
sued as to the respective fighting abii-
ity Of each regiment The rivalry was
wonderful. A Jock arguing with an
Irishman. then a strong COckney ac-
cent would butt IN in favor Of Lon
don regiment. Before long Welsh
man. followed by a member of York
shire regiment, and. perhaps, Cana
dian intrude themselves and the argu-
ulent wakes loud and furious. The
patients In the beds start bowling for
them to settle their dispute outside
and the ward IS in an uprOar. The
head sister comes along and with a
wave of the hand completely routs the
doughty warriors and again silence
ragns supreme.
Wednesday and Sunday Of each week
were visiting days and were looked
forward to by the men, because they
meant parcels containing fruit, sweets
or fags. When a patient had q regular
visitor, he was generally kept well
supplied with these delicacies. Great
jealousy Is shown among the men as
to their visitors and many word wars
ensue after the visitors leave.
When a man is sent to q GONZALES
cent home, he generally turns over his
steady visitor TO the man in the next
bed.
MoS+ xici+o-S hove a,,.oc-rart oIhrr,e
and bore Tommy % 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 it for them and Tommy is
stung into telling his experiences.
The questions asked Tommy by visi-
tors would make a clever joke book
to a military man.
Some kindly looking old lady viii
stop at your bed and in a sympathetic
voice address you: you poor boy.
wounded by those terrible Germans.
You must be suffering frichtful pain.
A bullet, did you say? Well. tel me.
/ have always wanted TO know. did Il
hurt worse going In or coming outg'
Tommy generally replies that he did
not stop TO figure il out when he was
hit
One very nice-loOking. overenthusi-
astic young thing. stopped at my bed
and asked, "What wounded you in the
face?"
In a petite but bored tone al
suered, "a rife bullet"
With a look Of disdain she passed
to the next bed. first calculating. "Ohi
Only a bullet? l thought It was a
she'll" Why she should think q shell
wound was more Of distinction beats
me ] don't see a whole rot 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 a pass required an act Of par
lament. Tommy tried many tricks 10
get out, but the commandant. an old
Boer war officer. was wise TO them ell,
and 1t took a new and clever ruse 10
make him affix his signature to the
coveted slip Of paper.
As soon as il would get dark many a
patient climbed over the wall and went
''on his Owa." regardless of many siens
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 / hope
this information will get none of them
into trouble. but l cannot resist me
temptation to let the commandani
know that occasionally We put II over
ON him.
One afternoon ! received note
through our underground channel, from
my female visitor. asking me 10 attend
party al her house that night.
answered that she could expect me and
10 meet me at certain place on IN.
road well known by all patients. ant
some visitors. as "Over the wall"
tod her / would be on hand at seven