Abilene weekly reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1888-1935, 1918-07-11

1 n
freshman. then n strong Cockney ac-
cent would butt In In favor OF Lon
Ion regiment. Before long a Welsh
man, followed by member OF York
shire regiment. and. perhaps, Cana
llan Intrude themselves and the argu-
ment wakes loud and furious. The
patients In the beds start bowling for
hem 10 settle their dispute outside
and The ward is In an upr0ar. The
head sister comes along and with
wave OF the hand completely routs the
doughty warriors and again silence
reigns supreme.
Wednesday and Sunday of each week
we're visiting days and we're looked
forward to by the men. because they
meant parcels containing fruit. sweets
Or flags. When patient had a regular
visitor, he was generally kept well
supplied with these delIcacies. Great
jealousy IL shown among the men as
to their visitors and many word wars
ensue after the visitors leave.
When a man Is sent to a 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
woundlng In same. Several Tommies
try 10 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 II for them and Tommy Is
stung into telling his experiences.
The questions asked Tommy by visl-
tors would make 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 have always wanted to know, did 1t
hurt worse going In or coming out?'
Tommy generally replies that he did
not stop to figure 1t out when he was
hit.
One very nlce-looklng. overenthusi-
astic young thing. stopped at my bed
and asked, "What wounded you In the
faceT'
In polite but bored tone I an
swered. "A rifle bullet"
With look OF dlsdaln she passed
TO the next bed, first calculating. ooh
Only bullet2 l thought 1t was
shell" Why she should think a she'll
wound was more of distinction beats
me. don't see 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 milf
tary discipline. The only fault was
that the mems passes were restricted.
To get pass required an act of p9r
lament. Tommy tried many tricks to
get out, but the commandant, an old
Boer war officer, was wise to them all,
and It took a new and clever ruse to
make him aflix his signature to the
coveted slip Of paper. a.'A@"gN
As soon as 1t would get dark many a |
patient climbed over the wall and went |
ION his own" regardless of many signs
and then he asked, "How do you feel,
smashed up bit?"
Il answered I'm all right, but I'd |
give a Quid for drink of Bass"
He nodded to the sergeant, who dis
appeared, and I'll be darned If he
didn't return with glass of ale.
could only open my mouth about
quarter of an inch, but got away with
every drop of that ale. 1t tasted just
like Blighty, and that is heaven to
Tommy.
The doctor said something to an or
derby, the only word could catch was
"chloroform" then they put some kind
of an arrangement over my nose and
mouth and it was me for dreamland.
When | opened my eyes | was lying
on strctcher, in a low wooden
building. Everywhere looked l saw
rows of Tommles on stretchers, some
dead to the world, and the rest with
Tags in their mouths.
The main topic of their conversation
was Blighty Nearly all had grin on
their faces, except those who didn't
have enough face left to grin with. L
grlnned with my right eye, the other
was bandaged.
observation-disclosures came In and be-
gan to carry the Tommies outside. You
could hear the chug of the engines in
the waiting ambulances.
was put into an ambulance with
three others and away we went for an
ride.
was on bottom stretcher. The
lad right across from me was smashed
up something horrible.
Right above me was man from the
Royal Irish rifles, while across from
him was q Scotchman.