Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1919-03-03
NURSE HOME FROM
ITALY IS ASKED TO
SERVE in SIBERIA.
Miss Marguerite ,Hummel Had
Interesting Experience in
War-Torn Europe

There has returned to her home
at Steelton-329 Poplar street, in the
industrial borough-Miss Marguerite
Hummel, an American Red Cross
nurse, who has seen much of the
war-torn area of Europe during the
last five months. For two months
she served in Italy and had many
interesting experiences among the
refugees.
Within a day or two Miss Hum
mel has had an inquiry from the
Red Cross headquarters at ,Phila-
delphla as to her Willingness to
accompany party of forty nurses
now being organized to sail from
San Francisco, March 21, for serv-
Ice in the Vladivostok section of ST.
IBERIA. She thinks for the present
she will remain in the LAND of the
FREQ and the home of the brave"
Her trip home was not without
some excitement. An interesting in
cldent of the return to America
from Genoa was a little happening
when the Dante Aligheri, an Italian
transport, anchored at Quarantine
i'll the outer harbor of New York.
There were thirty American sailors
aboard who had been interned in
Turkey for two years and who were
beside themselves with joy when
they got the first glimpse of the
nome land They at once proceeded
to celebrate without regard to pro-
hibition and during the night had a
time all of their own. Suddenly in
the stiffness of the early morning a
hugler sounded reveille and every
soldier on board, including the Off
GERS, several hundred of them,
quickly tumbled out of their berths
and hustled into their uniforms
ready for business. Then some one
discovered it was only o'clock in
the morning and an investigation
showed that the guard had not Civ
en- the alarm, but that one of the
sailors had sounded the morning
call to duty. All on board were
so glad to get home that the Incl
dent was passed over as a good joke.
Miss Hummel met Captain Meade
ID. Detweiler, of Harrisburg, at MI
Ian. She says he did wonderful
work as an ambulance driver for the
Red Cross in Italy and was en-
gagged with the Red Cross personnel
at Milan. He expected to get home
soon.
The Red Cross is doing wonder
full work for the refugees" said Miss
Hummel. I'm Turin, Italy, they have
opened two large refugee homes.
Here they clothe, feed and take care
of children until claimed. If not
claimed they find homes if possible
for them. The children are taught
hygiene and physical exercise and
how to use a toothbrush with which
they have never before been ia
miliar. When they leave they take
the brushes with them. 1t is very
hard to teach the French and Ital-
ian people the benefit of fresh air.
The children usually are unhealthy
and the cause is often lack of fresh
air and from having five to six
people sleep in one room. Our one
idea is to teach them the care of
their bodies and how to avoid tuber-
culosis. But they do not seem to be
convinced and often when we order
and give them milk for their babies
they do not listen and our work
seems to have been done without re-
suit.
Refugee work is very difficult,
but the Red Cross perseveres. Our
work on the Italian front was quite
interesting. We had one man killed
in action at the time of the often
sive and u few injured. Soon after
an epidemic of influenza and pneu-
monia broke out in the Three Hun
dred and Thirty Infantry
and Supply Company. We lost about
twenty-eig
"At Christmas time the Red
Cross gave each bed patient a pair
of warm pajamas, cigarets and sweets
which the boys appreciated very
much. They talk very highly of the
Red Cross and feel they are well
taken care of by the American or
ganization. The Red Cross hospitals
and supply houses in Italy that are
beins closed are giving all supplies
that haven't been used to the Ital-
ians.
"In Rome there is no real evil
dence of war any more than one
sees in New York. but the havoc is
shown near the front"