The evening Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1918-1920, 1918-12-05
"ME MITHER SAYS
I'm A BRICK
the Days Work of Elizabeth Parks
Hutchinson as Told in Associa-
ton Men

ton Men
just before he dtea, IN field hos
,,it;si ileal Ihateau Ineia'y, an IrisA
;ta opened his eyes wac ana, pes
.ectly Iucle Tor u moment, s.tla: :
Nu4se, e;srlin me mltner says. III
brick!'
| roon lad, he had a hard time dy-
! ing; a cruel piece OF shell had torn
great hole IN his chest and he had
o ngnt Tor every breath. lie con-
used me with the nurses and after
lad washed away the blood ana art,
Rith which he was covered, and had
given him a drink of water, he chung
% my hand as he would have to his
mothers
wish that | could tell his mother
now her brave pride in him lighted
MS path West with a glory that
Heath could not dim. Alas, ! do
not know his name! There were SO
many who needed help that one could
not stop to even jot down a name.
After q boy was washed, and had a
drink, he usually wanted Smoke" ;;
shen from my capacious pockets
would come cigarettes and a light !,
and soon s look Of contentment would
smooth away the lines of pain and
WEAKNESS in his face. Frequently 1
heard: Thank you, Miss Y. M. c.
A.; that's the first smoke I've had for:
zen Il days. We've been moved so.
Ann e,1r,xl,or could Not
Keep up with US.
Then he usually wanted stationery
from that same capacious pocket, and.
many u mother had a precious letter
written on Red Triangle paper saying
that her son is wounded, but not se-l
riously;" they never admit it is Sc
rouS.
How our boys long for the hand
clasp of "gi11 from home" when
they are Ill OF wounded. Those pa
tient, Woodworking women-the4
nurses-are so sweet, so kind, and
have always found them more than
cordial to US of the 7. NJ. c. A. when.
We offered our services in then.
domain.
fhe ''Y'' people have charge of the
activities IL, many Hospital Recrea-3
ton Huts" and it is worth any
amount OF hard work to give con-
cert to, say. 1900 wounded men and
their doctors and nurses. No audi
ence in 1his country is half so appre
ciative.
June, July and August We're months
of unprecedented activity in our hos
pitfalls, and after working all day in
nuts and c;lnteens our "Y' men would
spend their nights relieving the over
worked stretcher-bearer that they
might get few hours of rest and
sleep.
When / was in Paris, Mrs. Mont
gomery twife Of the head of the Paris
Division OF the Y. NJ. C. A.) permit
ted me TO go with her TO the great
| Neuilly Hospital, where she took ice
cream-rare and precious ice cream
to the boys would help distribute
the cones, end then sing three or four
songs before, going on to. the next
ward, where we would repeat the
performance, and so on, as long as
the cream lasted.
tried ID confine, myself to cheer
full songs but they always wanted to
hear "The Long, Long Trail" and
would try to join in the chorus.
We usually went to the hospital in
big Y. NJ. c. A. sightseeing bus,
which we packed with convalescents
and sent for ride while we were in
the hospital. Some adventurous
spirits, who could not squeeze into the
bus, would climb to the roof, and as
the precious load of "Yanks" lum-
bered through the side streets of
Paris, or through the Bots du Bout
logne, the French would cheer them
and wave te' them with tender, tear
dimmed eyes.
One day we had picnic on the
Bots especially for those heroes Of
the fever hospitals, who gave them
selves fo1. the experiment to isolate
the drea1 trench fever bacillus
happy day:
A chaplain asked me to sing a
hymn at the burial of seven of his
boys in 4 wheat field beside the
Marine, and with a heartache for the
bereaved, loved ones at home, / sang
LEAD Kindly Light" and "Abide
with Me-"
Dear mothers at home, wish
might write to you, your boys sleep
so peacefully in those noppy-strewn,
shell-tofn wheat fields Of France, and
their prayer, Lead, Kindly Light, !"
is answered.