The silver state. [volume] (Winnemucca, Nev.) 1909-1925, 1918-08-15

took our trench back, I started out for
the rear and hospital. The wound had
been hurting for some time. They ar
ned the captain out on a stretcher
about the same time, but he died on
the way from loss OF blood. Fresh
troops came up to relieve us, but u
men refused Il 20, and though official
II they we're not there In the trench,
they stayed until they took the cap
tain away Then. back to billets-not
bullets. this time. I believe that we re-
ceived an army citation for that piece
Of work, but ] do not know, as 1 we
in the hospital for a short time after.
ward. / do not remember much about
going to the hospital except that the
ambulance made an awful racket going
over the stone-paved streets OF Etaples,
and that the bearer who picked up n
end Of my stretcher, had eyes like dead
fish floating on water also, that there
were some civvies standing around the
entrance as we were being carried In.
The first thing they do In the hos
.pital is to take OF your old dirty band
ages and slide your stretcher under a
big electric magnet. A doctor comes
In and places his hand over your
wound. and they let down the magnet
over his hand and turn on the Juice.
II the shell fragment or bullet in you
is more than seven centimeters deep,
you cannot feel the pain. The first
doctor reports to the chief how deep
your wound is. and where II Is stu
ated, and then a nurse comes up to
you, where you lie, with your clothes
still on. and asks you to take the
pressure"
Then they lift you on a four-wheeled
cart, and roll you to the operating the
alter. They take OF your clothes there.
/ remember I liked to look at the
nurses and surgeons; they looked so
good In their clean white clothes.
Then they stick hollow needles into
you, which hurt a good deal, and you
take the pressure. After a while, they
begin cutting away the bruised and
maybe rotten flesh, removing the old
cloth. pieces OF dirt. and so forth, and
scraping away the splinters Of bone.
You think for sure you are going to
bleed to death. The blood rushes
through you like lightning. and II you
get a sight Of yourself. you can feel
yourself turning pale. Then they hurry
you to your bed, and cover you over
with blankets and hot-water bottles.
They raise your bed on chairs, SO the
blood will run up toward your head.
and after a while. your Eyes open and
the doctor says. "Oui. oui, II ~vivra."
meaning that you still had some time
to spend before finally going west.
The treatment we got In the hospital
was great. We received cigarettes, to-
bacco. matches, magazines. and clean
clothes. The men do not talk about
their wounds much, and everybody
tries 70 be happy and show Il. The
food was fine, and there vas lots OF II.
/ do not think there were any doc
tors In the world better than ours, and
they were always trying to make
things easy for Us. They did not rip
the dressings OF your wounds like
some OF the butchers do In some of our
dispensaries that / know OF, but took
them on carefully. Everything was
very clean and sanitary. and some of
the hospitals had sun parlors. which
were well used, you can be sure.
Some OF the men made toys and
fancy articles. such as button hooks
and paper knives. They made the
handles from empty shell cases. or
shrapnel. or pieces OF Zeppelins, or
anything else picked up along the
front.
When they are getting well. the men
learn harness making. mechanical
drawing. telegraphy. gardening. poul-
try raising. typewriting. bookkeeping
and the men teach the nurses how TO
make III OF shell cases, and
rings OF aluminium, and slippers and
gloves out Of blankets.
The nurses certainly work hard.
They always have more to do than
they ought to. but they never complain.
and are always cheerful and ready to
play games when they have the time,
or e TO some poilu. And their work
is pretty dirty too: I would not like
TO have TO do II. They say there were
lots Of French society ladies working
as nurses, u you never heard mucn
about society. oil any talk about Lord
Helpus. or Count Whosis. or pink teas
or anything like that from these
nurses.
A few shells landed near our hos
pital. while / was there. but no patient
was hit. They knocked a shrine Of Our
Lady to splinters, though. and bowled
over a big crucilx. The kitchen was
near by, and 1t was just the chefs luck
that he had walked ove TO our ward
to see a pal OF his, when a shell landed
plumb In the center of the kitchen.
and all you could see all over the bar
racks was stew.
That was a regular eatless day for
us, until they rugged up bogies and got
some more dixies. and mixed up some