The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1918-05-24

to their visitors and many word war;
Asue otter the visitors Leave
When q man is sent to & GONZALES
cent home, he generally turns over his
steady visitor to the man In the next
bed.
Most visitors have autograph albums
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 it for them and Tommy is
stung into telling his experiences.
The questions asked Tommy by Vsi-
tors would make q clever joke book
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 say? Well, tell me,
L Lave always WohtCo W hhoVt NAo -
hurt worse going In or coming out?"
Tommy generally replies that he did
not stop to figure it 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 polite but bored tone I an
swered, "a rifle bullet"
With q look Of disdain she passed
to the next bed, first calculating, "OhI
Only a bullet? I thought it was a
SHE'LL" Why she should think a shell
wound was more Of a distinction beats
me. T 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 a pass required an act Of par
lament. Tommy tried many tricks to
get out. but the c~ommandant an old
Boer war officer, was wise to them all,
and it took q new and clever ruse. to
make him afix his signature to the
coveted slip Of paper.
As soon as 1t would get dark many q
patient climbed we the wall and went
ION bis 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 I cannot resist the
temptation to let the commandant
know that occasionally we put 1t over
on him.
One afternoon I received a note,
through our underground channel, from
my female visitor, asking me to attend
a party at her house that night. /
answered that she could expect me and
to meet me at a certain place on the
road well known by all patients, and
some visitors, as cover the wall" I
told her I would be on hand at seven
thirty.
About SEVENTEEN I sneaked my
o~vercoat and cap out Of the ward and
hid it in the bushes. Then I told the
nurse, q particular friend Of mine, that
I was going for a walk in the rose gar
den. She :winked and I knew that ev-
erything was all right on her end.
Going out Of the ward, I slipped into
the bushes and made for the wall. 1t
was dark as pitch and I was cropping
through the u%nderbrush, when sudden.
:ly I stepped into space and felt myself
rushing downward, a horrible bump,
and blackness. When I came to my
wounded shoulder was hurting horri-
bly,. I was lying against a circular
wall Of bricks, dripping with moisture,
and far away I could hear the trickling
Of water. I had in the darkness fallen
into an old disused well. But why
wasn't L wet? According to all rules
/ should have been drowned. fernaps
I was and didn't know 1t.
As the shock Of my sudden stop
gradually wore off 1t came to me that
I was lying on q ledge and that the
least movement on my part would pre-.
cipitate me to the bottom Of the we'll
7 struck q match. In its faint glare
I saw that I was lying in q circular
hole about twelve feet deep-the well
had been filled in! The dripping I had
heard came from a water pipe over on
my right.
With my wounded shoulder It was
impossible to shiny up the pipe. ]
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. 1 just had to grin and bear
1t, with the forlorn hope that n OF
the returning night raiders would pass
and I could give him u usual signal
Of "siss-s-s-s," which would bring him