Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1918-03-05
of being a good cook"

| of oelnk q Booo COOK
Mrs. Tiffany In another letter de-
scribes in interesting detail the rou-
tine Of the canteen's might shift"
which she regards as m ore strenuous
than the day relief.
| The station Is always empty when
We arrive. but Is minutes later 1t fills
up as il by magic" Mrs. Tiffany says.
This crowd keeps on pretty con-
tinuously. II is never an overpower-
ing rush, but a steady stream until
about 2.2G and sometimes until 4.30.
The men buy their tickets at the first
window and then pass on to the
/ counter where the food is served. OF
| course they are always in a tearing
hurry and push and shove each other
as il they were going to get left II
they didn't But there is no reason
for il, because they don't come In for
meals unless they have at least an
hour and usually they have a wait OF
ference. They act as II they had one
| minute in which to get and eat-their
food. But all are good natured, and
if the regular food gives out, they
will cheerfully accept any substitute.
AT ll.55 comes the big platform
service which lasts about an hour. II
was the one thing ] dreaded before
coming. but far from minding it now
l enjoy it. 1t certainly is amusing and
tn ough on a cold or windy night lit Is
rather trying. you feel that you are
OF so much more use. just because 1t
Is so cold and disagreeable.
Well. this crowd keeps on till after
| two. when we have our second plat
form service, but II the first train
in this case Is late the canteen Is full
until 4.30 as the men won't trust
themselves to sleep in the dormitory
when they have only an hour or two
to wait
Then we get the dishes washed.
the tables wiped off and the marmites
secured and at three or four our
French volunteers leave us. The
cook stays until six when the day
cook comes on duty. At that time
the day scrub woman comes and also
one or two French volunteers. who
stay until eight and help with the
break akfast rush and cleaning up. We
have to have the soup and the rag
out started and fresh coffee and cocoa
ready to serve at six-thirty or seven
but the scrubbing Of floors comes in
the day shift-the one that works
from seven to three. And for US, at
seven the night Is over"
1T has been very hard up to now;
but we are all very TIT and well.
Fourteen or sixteen hours at a shift
have not been at all unusual. and
~ hours are habitual to me, but 1t
has been so very well worth while.
Can you imagine feeding an average
Of 5000 men a day. a shifting popula-
ton, infantry, cavalry, artillery, ma
rines, chasseurs Alpines. engineers.
Turcos. Egyptians. Senegalese, and
today about 500 Annamites?"
Mrs. Tiffany writing one letter is
interrupted by the arrival Of a train
load of wounded. At the conclusion
OF her duties she resumed her letter:
-Four hours have just come back
from the canteen. Such an afternoon!
A great train Of seriously wounded,
which is firing, as one has to climb
in all the carriages. The men adore
cocoa. We get into the sanitary trains
and begin with the men who are
we'll enough to sit up and handle tin
cups, and afterwards those who are
too Ill to LIT iheir- heads or use their
hands. Those. Of course, we have to
lift and feed ourselves; as there are
usually between two and three hun
dred men in a train you can see one
has to work quickly to get through.
The work is hard and takes a real
vision and inspiration to keep on day
after day.
Il have personally dressed and
bandaged the frozen feet Of 20 Sem
agalese in the last ten days: great
huge blacks. they were. whose feet
were swollen three times the usual
size. The station doctor brought us
certain simple remedies for common
hurts. and four Of US took bandaging
lessons at Neuilly. There Is a lot Of
dressing. Sixty have been done this
week. The other day we had sani-
tary train with two wagons full Of
nothing but chest wounds-twenty-
four men whose coughing disturbed
others. so they were put together.
The dressings I find the hardest
part. / can stand the wounds and
the blood. but the face wounds are
so much the worst for me.
LAS long as live shall be CRATE
full that l have had the chance to
do this work. 1t is far bigger and
more important than had any idea
Of"