The Snowflake herald., 1918-01-11

it was necessary to give all attention
to drainage and cure. 1t was about
this time that everything for awhile
seemed to become hazy and my mem
cries got all queerly mixed up and
confused. l recollect l conceived a
violent dislike for black dog that ap-
peared from nowhere now and then
and began chewing at my leg, and l
believe / gave the nurse a severe talk
ing to because she insisted on going
to look on at the ball game when she
ought to be sitting by to chase that
dog away. And l was perfectly GER
tain about her being at the ball game,
because / saw her there when l was
playing third base.
The Alarming CabIegram.
It was at this time Con Nov. %,
1916, ten days after had been wound
ed) that my father in Lexington re-
ceived the following cablegram from
the officer in charge of the Canadian
records in England:
Sincerely regret to inform you that Ser
geant Alexander McClintock is officially
reported dangerously i'll in No. 5 general
hospital from gunshot wound in left thigh.
Further particulars supplied when re-
ceived.
1t appears that during the time of
my adventures with the black dog and
the inattentive nurse my temperature
had ascended to the stage when the
doctors began to admit another meth
Cd of treatment might have been sue
cessful. But | didn't pass out. The
one thing / most regrets about my
close call is that my parents in Lex
ington were in unrelieved suspense
about my condition until | myself sent
them a cable from London on Decem-
ber Is. After the first official mes
sage, seemingly prepared almost as a
preface to the announcement of my
demise, my father received no news
of me whatever And, as l didn't know
that the official message had gone, /
cabled nothing to him until l was feel
ing fairly clipper again. You can't
have wars, though, without these little
misunderstanding.
If it were possible 1 should say
something here which would be fitting
and adequate about the English wom-
en- who nursed the $500 wounded men
in general hospital No. at ROuen,
but that power isn't given me. All l
can do is to fall back upon our most
profound American expression of re-
spect and say that my hat is off to
them. One nurse in the ward in which
| lay had been on her feet for ffty-SiX
hours, with hardly time even to eat.
She finally tainted from exhaustion.
was carried out of the ward and was
back again in four hours, assisting at
an operation. And the doctors were
doing their bit, too, in living up to the
obligations which they considered to
be theirs. An operating room was In
every ward, with five tables in each.
After the fight on the SOmme, in which
l was wounded, not a table was va
cant any hour in the twenty-fOur for
days at time. Outside of each room
was a long line of stretchers contain
ing patients next awaiting surgical at
tentiOn And in all that stress l did
not hear one word of complaint from
the surgeons who stood hour after
hour, using their skill and training for
the petty pay of English army medical
officers.
On December I was told I was
we'll enough to be sent to England,
and on the next day | went on hos
pital train from ROuen to Havre. Here
| was placed on a hospital ship which
every medical officer in our army
ought to have a chance to inspect
Nothing ingenuity could cOntrive for
convenience and comfort was missing
Patients were sent below decks in ele-
vators and then placed in swinging
cradles which hung level no matter
what the ships motion might be. AS
soon as l had been made comfortable
in my particular cradle l was given q
box which had engraved upon it: "Pre-
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