Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1919-09-12

packages, piled the length OF the
platform at every station, like wreck
age high on a beach after a storm;
and of sitting bolt upright the night
long, very cold and uncomfortable
and yet almost suffocated for fresh
air. yet infinitely better off than my
khaki-clad compatriots and blue clad
allies, standing, sitting in cramped
postures or lying prone in the narrow
corridors outside.
At stations, under the dim blue
lamps, could see French and Amer
lean troop trains going up to the
front. and other troops boarding
trains, for the great drive was still
on. Opposite me sat young French
officer Poilus were in the other
seats, but they finally hung their
worn accoutrements all over them
selves and vanished, and in the gray
dawn the young officer made his only
attempt at conversation, waving
cigarette toward me. l smiled and
shook my head, thinking he was Of
fer.lg it to me; but it presently
dawned on me he was only asking
permission to smoke.
The day dawned, showing a world
had formerly believed existed only
in the Imagination of artists. 1t was
Brittany, all trim fields, hedgerows.
groups of quaint stone houses and on
the skyline the inevitable village
spire, with it's wondrous Gothic deli
cacy of line. And then the sea,
looked upon from a height-a great
harbOr. and many ships dissolving in
the mist, and an old, old city. with
slate roofs and myriads of chimney
pots, and sweet chimes proclaiming
Sunday morning, with crooked ways
redolent of history and romance, a
! feudal castle whose torture chambers
l was to visit later, and encompass
ing walls and moat dating back to
Roman days.
Something had gone wrong with
the telegram announcing my arrival.
and nobody met me. Never mind
the American army and navy saw per-
sonally to my disembarking, q repre-
sentative Of each assuming charge of
my bags. One of these guardian
angels of the S. 0. S., an NJ. p, vol
unteered to procure me transporta-
! ton uptown~ There were no taxis,
turned the job over to a small boy
with a two-wheeled hand cart
My heavy bags on board, the boy
started off up the steep cobbled street
at such a pace could scarcely fol-
low. l found hotel. and with the
assistance of the army again-a
doughboy this time-called on the
provost marshal. and then and not
till then, being duly accredited,
sought breakfast in a cafe and later
presented myself at the Red Cross
headquarters, where l was received
with due apologies for my lack of a
reception.
l was assigned to big camp hos
pital few miles from the city. After
few days in the rather dismal hotel,
going out to the hospital every morn
ing in the rickety Red Cross canton
cite, driven by a reckless young
devil who knew so little English he
was safe in pretending not to com
pree when you called on him to slow
down. will never know how we
escaped running down a French child
or deaf old peasant woman
begged so hard for quarters at the
camp my prayer was granted. l was
assigned room in the barracks
which were the nurses quarters, and
a place at the nurses mess.
This hospital was adjunct to g
great camp we'll and unfcvorably
known the length and breadth OF
France, and later in the United
States. and deserving the worst that
ever was said of it, 1t was mixture
of picturesque and unsanitary stone
barracks that once housed Napo
Icons troops, with a hospital build
ing of stone. and of the regulation
barracks and wards called Dixie
houses. The mud has passed into
proverb; even everything the stone
paved roads with a fluid mixture OF
indescribable richness and consist
ency. its ingredients doubtless an in
heritance from Napoleonc day;
down to the inception of the Yanks
The insignia of Pontanezm is the
blackboard.
There were wards in many of the
stone barracks, and the newer wards
were of wood and corrugated iron
as were also the mess halls and bust
ness offices. and the barracks housing
the nurses. Our barracks consisted
of long Dixie house" of wood. wit
\ a hallway running from end to end
and small rooms opening on eithe'
side, each containing two hospita
beds furnished with mattress. blan
kets and pillows. a chair perhaps ant
a homemade washstand There wa!
no heat in the individual rooms, bu
a big coal stove in each end of tn,
corridor. There was a rough sor
OF bathhouse and laundry near b.
and in one of the stone cottages
very cosy sitting-room, with writing
tables, victrola. etc. furnished by tn
4 Red Cross. where the nurses coul,
/ receive their friends.
!. 4 housekeeper looked after on