Bogalusa enterprise and American. (Bogalusa, La.) 1918-19??, 1918-08-01
MISS PECK TELLS
OF CARING FOR
REFUGEES
Fed as Many as 5000 a Day !;
Conditions Found To Be
Extremely Pathetic

/ DeareSC amlly:
know you think / have been most
neglectful, but it just could not be
helped. / have worked for the past
fortnight as / have never worked
before. If get through this year,
feel as if / had earned rest for
the remainder of my life. / know
this will all make you smile.
About three weeks ago, when this
last dreadful drive began, / worked
for about week in the Refugee Can
teens at the big railway stations; that
meant from 7 80 in the morning un-
il eleven P. M. many nights. When
we had heavy rush we fed as many
persons in a day as 5000. Poor souls
some Of them had left their homes
at the last moment and had nothing
with them except the clothes on their
backs; some of them had been as
many as five days enroute, first, on
foot, then in carts, and at last the
railway. One sees pathetic sights.
/ am lost in admiration of the French
people, they are so patient and COM
plain so little. For hours and hours
upon the train mothers with three
and four small children would come
into the canteens so weary that they
could hardly speak; but for the
simplest thing you did for, them it
was always ''merci biers nille," and
would always insist upon their child
rem thanking you so prettily.
All of one night / spent at st.
Sulplice Ga famous old /, Catholic
Seminary before the war;, where
many of the people stayed over night
before sending them further south;
corridors, every place filed with
beds-many Of them i'll and in need
of care and attention; so much of
it was heart-rending; but / forgot my
tired back and feet in feeling that
l was being of little real use. |
was able to make things more en-
durable for these brave, patient peo-
Hple. On top of this came the rush
Of wounded men to Paris, hospitals
literally overlooking into their court
yards; doctors and nurses working
day and night could not care for
their patients. An appeal was made
for volunteers, and women who had
ever scarcely seen the inside of a
hospital were drafted into the service.
On account of having a little nursing
experience | was sent to a large
military hospital at Neuilly near
Paris $1,000 beds), and there l have
been about fortnight. 1t has been
a wonderful experience, but there
have been times when / felt that /
could not endure it for aother day;
| have seen sights that / pray to
forget and | have done things that
| thought were beyond my fortitude
and courage; but some strength was
given because here was the need and
it had to be done. When / went out
there first the court ward and cor
ridors were filed with men on
stretchers; there were no beds for
them-no one had time to take off
their dirty, blood-soaked clothing,
only to give them drink or bit
of food The operating rooms work
day and night, and men lay waiting
to be operated upon for hours. This
is only slight idea Of conditions.
/ worked for the first days in a huge
tent, erected on a terrace where one
morning / had, alone, 20 patients
just coming out of ether. One could
only do the necessary things; it has
surely been war nursing for the first
time. The real horror Of war has
come home to me. / do realize now
what Sherman meant when he said.
WAR is hell"
Things have ceased up bit now,
and men whose wounds were slight
have been evacuated and moved
further south and most of the men
are improving rapidly, poor boys,
many Of them have lost legs and
arms, but the marvel is to see SO
many recover. The miracles OF
modern surgery are almost beyond
words. / certainly am proud Of our
boys and my heart aches for many
of them for they are so homesick.
At odd moments / write for them all
kind letters, so dear ones, perhaps
you understand bit why you haven't
heard from me. ] have arisen at |
half past six in the morning and it |
has been eight at night before left
the hospital Then | ate my dinner
and got into bed, was SO weary in
every nerve, bone and muscle that
my brain could not move.
Don't worry about me, because
am well and am beginning now to
get accusomed to the hard physical