The Penn's Grove record., 1919-04-25

chanical continuance hat takes the
place of the natural one and by con-
slant practice the owner becomes ex-
pert in its or their use. 1 have seen
men thus incapacitated playing pool
and dancing, the latter diversion
being in charge of an instructress, Miss
King, who is in the Reconstruction De-
partment of the Surgeon-Generals
office.
There are five p~sycopathic or she'll
shock wards and they made and left a
most disheartening impression on me.
Two of them are occupied by cases
that require guards to prevent the in
mates from wandering off, though few
Of the sufferers are violent. They all
appear to be mentally depressed or
constantly restless. And speaking Of
shell shock there is a wide difference
of opinion among the ~alienists and
other professional men, making a
study of the malady, whether it is
caused by prenatal or hereditary in
Huences. Personally, I went through
the Santiago campaign in 1898 and par
ticipated in the fighting at San Juan
Hill and ] do not recall that a member
of the regiment, with which I was con-
necltus ever SllitIta IfOIl lpSS OF
mind; but you must remember. tina
there was very little artillery fire
there, while the combined firing of can
non. grenades, bursting Of shells and
the incessant crack of machine guns
and small arms in the recent conflict
created a noise or din that few writer's
have been able to describe. The ma
jority of the men I saw, who were
afflicted, were not of a high order of
Intelligence or rank. which is one of
the reasons advanced by those medical
authorities, who incline to the pre-
natal belief.
Captain Masters. the adjutant of the
post, was talking to Mrs. White when
entered the information house. Here
visitors are provided with passes to
visit Red Cross headquarters between
.. end 4 o'clock in the afternoon. Arm
ed guards are there to keep you out I'M
less you are fortified with one of the
little pieces of cardboard. Mrs. White
was gathering up a large contribution
of flowers, which are daily sent in to
the hospital, in addition to those that
are gathered from the Government
green houses on which the Red Cross
pays the rent. Flowers have a wonder
full soothing effect upon the pyscopaths
and little bands of them are taken to
the hot houses or Conservatives daily.
The wards are always filled with the
beautiful blooms and the boys eagerly
hold up their hands in bed and ask for
them.
And now I came to Ward u, the last
of my itinerary. There were probably
EA Of fha mo d~an0hhouS Uho arrival
the day before from Newport News,
lying on cots, occupying wheel chairs
or seated on chairs alongside their
beds. Not one was walking around.
Mrs. Evans told me that they were the
worst cases she mac seen, since she
had been there, in over a year, and 1
believed her. The first cot we came to
contained two "buddies." who became
chums on the transport, coming Owe
from st. Nazaire, where they embarked
for the United States. One was from
Georgia, the other from Nebraska, but
distance made no difference to these
two, they were brothers in glory and
brothers in suffering. Each had lost
his right leg above the nee and singu-
larly both had been wounded in the
other leg so badly that they could not
stand on it and therefore could not use
crutches, as yet.
Ten feet away was a remarkable
case. A young fellow from Louisiana
was in a wheel chair %trundling it along
the foor with the only hand he had
left. His left arm was gone at the
socket and both legs were missing at
the body. 1 did not have the heart to
question him for it was in my mouth
and 1 could not speak. He was laugh
ing at a one-armed negro boy trying
to shuttle a pack of cards, which the
latter, however, was doing quite dex-
terously by placing the pack on the
table and mixing the ~pasteboards by a
deft movement of his fingers. At this
moment another overseas chap came
along in his wheel chair, also badly
wounded, and entered into conversation
with him.
where do you come FROM" 1 casu-
ally asked him.
'Millville, n. j." he replied to my
establishment.
why. I just came from Penns
Grove" said.
Were you at duPonts'?" and upon
receiving my answer that l had been at
the D.. o. p. and having described the
depot at Perkintown to him, he con-
tinued: "All of my company, the ll3th,
goth Division, were recruited from
around there. We came from Bridge
ton, Millville and Salem and he small
towns in the three counties in South
Jersey. Did you know George Hires,
Jr, of Salem? You spell his name ike
the famous root beer. Well, George
was supply train cook when l left over
there. You can tell the folks back
home that we gave a good account OF
ourselves. There was a lot of other
'fellers' from Salem, that l cannot re-
call their names. but they were a good
bunch. Come and see me again. and L
am going out to see Charlie Lawrence,
hat is his name. in the near future,
and get his story in full.
1 spent six hours at the Walter Reed
Hospita and came away a much en-
lightened man as to what our country
is doing for the badly wounded boys.
To anyone in and aroun Penns Grove
u-bo has q son brother. husband,