Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1919-05-01
CANTEEN WORK
FOR REQ CROSS
Miss Constance Wheeler Tells
Members of Klifa Club Some
thing of Her Experiences in
France and Germany-Amer-
lean Boys Very Appreciative

Constance Wheeler CAV n most interest
ing talk Thursday afternoon on her
experiences while doing cantecn work for
the Red Cross in France
Miss Wheeler brought out one fact of
which probably many people do not think,
and that Is that after the army of oc-
cupation went into Germany it had more
need of hospitals than ever before, for
while no more men were being wounded,
the excitement of fighting was over and
if they were Ill or suffering from wounds
received previous to the armistice they
suddenly began to realize it. Then, too,
many of the men got Influenza and pneu-
monia more easily because their health
had been neglected during the pressure
of the drives.
Miss Wheeler's work, as she said. was
TO do the things which would make the
wounded men especially. and everybody
in general, more comfortable. to do the
things that the Red Cross nurses wanted
to do but didn't have the time to carry
out. FOR oftentimes a nurse had charge
OF three wards of 40 patients each and
all of them needing attention. She said
that one of the most amusing things
about the work in one place where she
was stationed was the effect of having
so many different elements working
together. For instance, in a tiny kitchen
there was a French cool who was very
eNcitable, two American boys doing
kitchen police, washing dishes, two Ger
man prisoners scrubbing the floor and
herself working in another part of the
room. All but the German prisoners
created some disturbance from time to
time. They, however, did not dare do
anything but silently obey orders. The
M nSt @xy- 49, .-.1
liked to work with and to do things for,
because they were always so apprecia-
tive and some times those who on the
outside seemed most rough were the
most thoughtful for the women who had
come over to serve them.
Last October Miss Wheeler was ordered
for emergency work to an evacuation
hospital at the front.
On her way she passed through Chateau
Thierry and as it was just two and one
half months after the big fight there, all
along the roads there were fresh shell
holes, barbed wire entanglements, etc,
that reminded one of what had Just
happened there.
AT this hospital the women who were
working as canteen workers did all they
could to make everyone comfortable.
They distributed chocolate and cigarettes
to the men in the evacuation trains
VINO were going on to hospitals farther
on behind the lines. This. Miss Wheeler
said, also gave them a chance to help
the wounded men to be more comfort
able. for as they passed through the
trains they were often asked to move
a pillow or to adjust the position of n
shattered leg just enough so the man
was more comfortable. In loading them
on to the train the work had to be
done so rapidly that the men were not
always placed in the most comfortable
position.
Evacuation Hospital Four. where Miss
Wheeler spent the last months of her
service, was most interesting to her, for
It was made up almost entirely of tents
and she had to learn just what she
could do that would be of the most
help to the doctors and nurses. This
hospital was just about IS miles behind
the lines and even the operating room
was a tent. The canvass, though, was
very thick and the floor was covered
with a rubber blanket, SO it was dry and
could be kept warm. In one of the
tents the men who were most seriously
ounde were brought in on filters and
laid down in rows to await their turn,
'S'6 N''AN ~ i"A Va Ildi u 81
to the X-ray room to see what was the
matter with them and there was only
one machine for this purpose. Many of
these men had ridden miles in ambu-
lances and as the roads in that section
are not good they suffered much. So
they were given cigarettes or gum. They
could not have hot chocolate for they
might have to go under ether soon and
hot chocolate then would be disastrous.
The behavior of these men, some of them
so badly wounded, she said. was an in
SEPARATION, for they insisted on having
other men cared for before they were,
and the feeling between the officers and
men too was splendid. One sergeant,
lying on a stretcher near his captain,
said to Miss Wheeler: II went through
the drive beside my captain and here ]
am lying beside him"
One thing in such a place that a COM
manding officer hates most is to have
anyone around asking what she can do.
Everyone is too busy to bother with such
a question and the person who inds
things to do herself is the most useful.
Another thing Miss Wheeler did at this
hospital was to go through the wards
with writing paper and if the men were
too badly wounded to write, to write let
ters for them, or, If they did not live,
to write to their parents. At this par
ticular hospital Il was very difficult to
get the proper food for the men who
were seriously i'll, for they were so fan
from their sources of supplies. so she
started to make oatmeal and she gave
that out to those who needed it most
The stove she had to use was n tiny
affair, which got red hot in two minutes
and cold in as many more, IL it were
not continually fed, so making oatmea
on such a stove was anything but easy
She said that they were fairly comfort
able there. but there was very little
water and SO they could take very few
baths and could do no washing.
As the line moves one way or another
these evacuation hospitals move, 80
while Miss Wheeler was with Hospita
No. Four she saw one moved.
The hospital was moved to a little vii
lage where the only thing left STANDING
was a little church and the nurses wer.
billeted in that. Everything of a sacred
nature had been removed and there wer,
lines of beds on either side for the nurses
Above each bed was a candle and as thu
nurses were asleep it gave the effect o
many bodies laid out. until they sat VI,
and looked to see who had entered. Thei
clothes, which they had hung on tn,
walls beside the bed, added to the weird
ness of the sight. The hospital wa
shelled once and all of the patients wer,
evacuated in an hour but they returne,
as there was nowhere else to go and the.
were not shelled again. Miss Wheele
Inaar,hal