Mexico weekly ledger., 1918-05-02
SAY BOYS BEAR
BEAR PAIN BRAyELY
WHEN WOUNDED
koeert l. Campbell. Wardm,.t,,
France, Tells Of Hospital
Experiences

Robert L Campbell. now &, T..
custom Hospital No. !. with =.
American EEpoditiOnary Force, !,
France. has lately been made a VA.
master. In a letter to Theo5or.
Winhns, Jr., Of Mexico, he tells o, n,
bravery Of the men who come uD5.,
his care. lie says:
I have changed jObs-agaip-o r
more accurately, the jobs have bssn
changed on me. You remember n
one Of my last letters | mentioned
the fact that the operating room
was basking in the light Of my eoup.
tenanee! Well, It's so no more. An
entire shifting has been made aImo.,
all over the place. When the shakeup
was over and things calm again. /
found myself wardmaster in charge
OF the fullest and busiest ward in the
whole works. OF course, in manv
ways 1t is a much better place.
There is much more responsibility.
and o work-neither Of which is
unwelcome. do not regret nv on.
Grating experience though, for I've
seen a mighty lot of interesting things
and have learned a lot-at least a lot
l didn't know. Just how long I will
be Kept at my present post l don't
know. 1t is the finest thing I have
struck yet and l would like to have
a chance to work at it awhile, but
there's good work to be done every
where, and that's what we fellows
whom they wouldn't let fight, came
over to do. But believe ne, this
wardmaster's job is no pink tea. It
wouldn't be half bad if we knew any,
thing about it-that is, if we knew
half we are supposed to know; but
DNb
I'm as green as the shamrock on the
River Shannon, and most Of the other
fellows aren't much better off. I'm
learning a lot in the rather unpleas-
ant school of experience, and l am
digging into the manual department
at all my spare moments, and l may
begin to get the hang of it if the war
lasts long enough. AS near as | can
figure out up to the present time
from my readings in the manual
and from the instructions we getl
from various sources, a wardmaster
is supposed to be a combination of
Solomon, Goliath, Job, Machaevelli
and the Good Samaritan. l never
could understand why Paul in one of
the letters to his Asiatic Churches |
admonished his elders to be subtle as
serpents and innocent as doves. l
have an idea now, however, that he
must have been training them for
wardmastcrs. Certainly a wardmas-
ter needs all the wisdom, common
sense, strength, patience, diplomacy
and kindness that he has in store.
You can bet that I am doing the very
best | can, partly because | hate to
fall down on anything, but chiefly be-
cause | want to do everything | can
for the chaps. The being patient
and kind is by far the easiest thing
for one couldn't be otherwise to the
boys we get. | didn't realize that
fellows could bear pain and suffer so
well. The men are absolutely heroic,
grit their teeth, grin and bear pain
half so well. | feel that nothing we
of the medical department a do
can half compensate for the sacrifice
in comfort that the line men make.
In the ward, too, n gets a chance
to study large groups of men at first
hand, and under conditions that come
very near to brining out their true
selves with the veneer removed. In
the ward, too, | am learning quite a
bit about the care and dressing Of
wounds, something you will want to
hear about when | get back. The
surgeon of my ward is very good to
explain things to me, and he is let
ting me help more and more in the
dressing. So the next time we 60
camping you car break your neck or
run a fence post through yourself OIL
do most anything you wish with the
assurance that III know how to fix
up and take care of you. But, seri-
ously, the ward is positively fascinat-
ing, and | only hope that I'll be kept
on this job for awhile, but one never
can tell"