Ladysmith news-budget. [volume] (Ladysmith, Rusk County, Wis.) 1907-1927, 1919-01-31

rne blo5nnin' road and one o. those
blinkin' tanks craWled over y0u.'
This rather frightened me. and In
a pleading voice I asked.
.splease tell me; what is the matter
with me?'
The stretcher bearer leaned over
and read from a little tag pinned to
my tunic:
&C.. S. w. left face-(two) left
shoulder. Cot"
Then he carried on:
sH'it means that you ave rife
bullet through the left side of your
clock (face) and two bullets through
your left shoulder, and that you're a
cot case, which means that you won't
ave to bloody we'll walk. Two of us
poor blOkes will ave to carry you on
q stretCher You sure are lucky
bloke; pretty cushy, calls it"
asked him if the wounds were good
for Blighty.
He answered:
"Yes, you're good for Blighty, and
I'm a-thinkin' that they're good for
discharge. That left harm o. your'n
will be out O. commission for the rest
o. your life. Your wife, if you've got
one, will bloomin' well ave TO cut
your meat for you, that is if you're
lucky enough to get any blinkin' meat
on the pension the Top ATS 'ome will
and YOU"
A feeling of pride surged through
me. In a hospital Of wounded soldiers
a severely wounded case is more or
less looked up to, while a man with a
superficial wound is treated as an or
binary mortal | could read respect,
perhaps intermixed with little envy,
in theseyes of the surrounding Tom
mics and medical men.
The door at the end of the ward
opened. A howl came from the cot at
my right. and a gruff Irish voice
shouted:
"Close that damned door. You
bioomin' hospital men have no sinse
at all. Here I am, knocked about by q
shell, and the likes O. youse puts me
In a bloody draft It's good thing we
have q navy; with the likes o. you
blokes in the army, we certainly need
one."
A smoker went up from the patients.
Then a Tommy on my left answered
this outburst with:
"Bloody nerve, I call it. Ere e is,
a. covered with blankets, and grOusin'
about a little draWft, and not many
hours back e was lynn in blOomin'
she'll 'ole, with the wind a-blowin' the
whiskers off i'm, and e a-prayin for
stretcher bearers. I'll wager quid e
belongs to the Royal Irish Rifles
The man on my right ret0rted:
"Naw, I'm not in the Royal Irish
Rifles, but | belong to q good outfit
the Royal Dublin Fusiliers, and / can
lick the man that says they ANTI
Just then, from corner of the ward,
came the voice of stretcher bearer:
"Jones, get the M. Q. (medical Of
ficer). Hurry up-quick-this poor
bloke's a-goin' vest
The man holding my hand suddenly
released his grip, and rising to his feet
hurriedly left the ward. A dead ST.
lence ensued. I tried to turn in the
direction from which the first voice
had come, but the sharp pain in rSy
shoulder warned me that it was use
less.
In a few sec0n6s the door opened
and l could hear low voices down in
the corner. I could see the Tommies
around me intently gazing in the di-
rection Of the voices. After a few
minutes the door opened again, then
closed, and Jones came hack. I looked
up at him and he solemnly nodded.
One more son Of Britain had paid
the toll Of war.
My unbandaged eye suddenly be-
came cloudy and misty and a hot tear
rolled down my cheek.
The door at the other end Of the
ward opened and two stretcher bear
ers entered, going in the direction OF
the dead man. Pretty soon they left
the ward, carrying stretcher, on
which was a still form covered with a
blanket. The Irishman on my right
was repeating to himself:
"Poor bloke, poor bloke: he sure
done his bit, and it won't be long be-
fore he'll be pushin' up the daisies
somewhere in France. And before this
war is over, there'll be lots more in the
same fix"
One of the TOmmiss, in an effort to
be brave, addressed Jones:
"What's is nyme, Mike? What bat
talon is e from?"
Jones answered.:
"James Collins, lance corporal out
Of the Royal Warwicks; five machine
gun bullets through the right lung
hemorrhage."
The door opened again and two
Stretcher bearers entered, carrying a
Tommy, his head lying fiat, and q
smell of ether pervaded the ward. We
knew it was case from the Pictures
Operating room) The stretcher bear
ers placed him on the right of the
IriShman.
Jones now left me, and getting lit