Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1918-06-04
WHILE hundreds of youthful Ameri-

! w SdilS WHO ndZlly realize lnaI SCl1le
| day they may be called upon to fight in
France disport themselves in the waves
| OF the Atlantic at Cape May $50 Amer
| lcan boys who have been wounded In
| service over there are longingly gazing
| across the waters as they impatiently
await discharge from the United states
Army Hospital No. II. recently estab-
lished there.
Spacious corridors and ocean-view
| rooms that not long ago constituted the
! fashionable New Cape May Hotel are
like fairyland to the soldiers who for
months fought rats and cooties s. well
as Germans in the trenches.
| Yet throughout the wards there is an
air of restlessness Every man is wait
| ing with pathetic eagerness for the next
step in his life history.
Minus an eye, an ear or limb per-
haps d!sfigured for life or happily near
ing complete return to normal health.
each has had his vision broadened by
experiences that make him shudder to
recall them. War is the chief interest
in the mems lives now, and after that
home. Convalescing as they are, hos
pitals hold no enchantment for them.
They want n glimpse of home and then
return to service.
All Want TO Go Back
We'll win. but it's long fight, and 1
| want to be BACK IN II.
| That is the general sentiment among
the patients. Some probably will be
sent back to fight and others may be
| put into limited service. For the rest it
| is a question of how best they can help
| back home and how they can earn live
| lihood United for military service,
they are also untitled for most of their
! former occupations because of their
| wounds
I'm going to run errands for my sis
/ ter, who owns a millinery store" said
! a private sent back because his system
| had become filled with rheumatism till
even his eyes were affected. He went
across with group of Philadelphia
boys.
a red-haired Irishman OF tae same
regiment, whose best eye was lost in
| dynamite explosion at Ichatille, while he
was helping constructing railroad, re-
! marked with characteristic cheeriness,
''Therell sure be something for me to
! do somewhere W. D. Kelley, for that
, is his real name, was machnist in
Trenton, n. j.. before he enlisted ten
months ago. a sister, living in Trenton
is the only relative he has.
Wonder Mt so Many Civilians
1T was a distinct shock to see so
many healthy looking young men In
civilian clothes on the streets. de-
clared a lieutenant who. with seven
others, came to the hospital with the
last group of wounded from France
few days ago
II know they are Just waiting for
their call to arms, but somehow they
seem so far removed from all sense or
| the realness of the war. / suppose II Is
| lust the contrast between America and
the country in which the war is being
waged There every man is soldier
unless he is too old or i'll to carry gun.
These luxurious automobiles USED SO ap-
parently for pleasure seem almost sac
rilegious. and yet I suppose the time
hasn't come for Americans to have to
give up so much.
fscated every automobile, private as
we'll as public conveyances. Stages that
used to carry passengers ana express
now haul military supplies, and beau
tifu, cars formerly owned by wealthy
aristocrats are carrying soldiers
| The lieutenant--he expressly asked
that his name not be used-is not
hero, At least he so announced when
the interview began. An AMBITIOUS
Wisconsin University graduate ne en-
listed more than nine months ago and
was sent to the artillery school at sau-
muir. France. last December
| During the monkey drill four
n,onths ago he was thrown from his
horse, His skull was fractured, result
ing in paralysis of the left SIDE OF his
face and affecting his left ear ana eye
He still hopes surgeons may patch MN
IN sufficiently that he can return to the
front.
Extremes Meet IN Hospital
II is in the hospitals the men get to
Lnow one another. "Where'd you come
the boys, utterly homesick, strive
Isaeer,v to find a comrade from their
home town or even the same State.
That sort of kindred spirit draws the
college men together just as the men
of various occupations are attracted to
one another. And yet the big thing,
war. has them all in its grip and hnds
them all brothers,
| An Arkansas University man, whose
athletic record won him intercollegiate
honors. has become the stanch friend
of a laborer from Worcester Mass, at
Cane MAY hospital The college man
has only one arm and his race still
bears the marks Of the torture he suf-
fered In being gassed. The laborer's
face is full of powder and his mouth
and nose are terribly disfigured as
result of a hand-grenade explosion. He
was a member of a company which
was almost wiped out at scissors
March IL to Is.
II guess I was lucky" the wounded
Irishman said. II was hurt in February.
on Valentines Day. and sent to the
hospital. Most of my comrades were
killed a month later or else taken pris-
oner. But I'm sorry I wasn't in the
big fight"
Trench Life "No Fun"
Private Monahan went over last Sep
tember, entering a French training
camp at Harreville, where he remained
two months. II think 1t was the first
village God ever made" he said in his
attempt to tell of the oddities there.
I'VE rode in cattle cars from the
camp to the trenches at scissors, where
we lived In dugouts for week and a
half. It was hard to sleep at first.
You couldn't help thinking of that awful
gas and fearing 1t might come any time.
That was worse than actual fighting to
most of us. Then gradually we gained
confidence In the knowledge that horn
Is sounded as a warning.
II really isn't any fun. especially those
0rst nights In the duEouta- There were
four ather fellows With me We had
~ n1p,Est tNIlt ~ "a leHee