The Washington times., 1920-06-12
Presidents and Pies
An Interesting Account of Washington Peo'
Die of Yesterday and Today BY the wife
of the Well. KnOWn DiDLOmatist
rxW By Mrs Larx Anderson.
BY Mrs. Larx Anderson.

surgeons who had not been over
seas were loath TO use the Dakin
solution as freely as the freneh
hospitals had been employing IL. IL
Was much more trouble and per
haps not 80 we'll understood. but
fortunately 1t finally came into
more general use. AS time went on
conditions everywhere became bet
ter.
We often piled the motor high
with small gifts, fruit and home
made jams, magazines. and postal
cards, and other things that sol
diers like, and drove TO the hospi-
tails. generally went TO the iso-
lated barracks where no one was
allowed TO visit, ordinarily. but 1
had secured permits for certain
wards. for these patients especially
needed gifts and CHEEKY words.
The consumptives. poor. weak.
white-faced things. were out on the
plaza in beds. but more pathetic
than they-inSeed. mostPathetic or
all-were the shell-shock Vases.
A boy came into the station can
teen one day who said he had just
left the hospital. which he guessed
was a "Christian Science establish
ment," because he had been sent
there to be treated for rheumatism
and all they had done for him was
to give him a bed. Now he had just
been discharged, no better than
when he went in. 1t Is. OF course.
possible that more had been done
for him than he realized.
OF quite another sort were my
experiences with the wounded SOL
diers on Colonel Thompson's house
boat. Everglades. During good
weather this was used daily to give
the doushboys an outing. Nearly
all of them had come from overseas.
some on stretchers. bandaged, leg
less or armless. for further treat
ment at tho Walter Reed. AS fast
as their wounds healed they were
ftted out with arms and legs, and
those who were well enough were
given trips down the river. Fifty
or more would arrive at the dock in
an electric car and hobble aboard
the houseboat. where they could sit
or lie about on the broad deck in
the sunshine and enjoy the scenery
as they glided down the Potomac.
There were always several wom-
en- on hand to talk with them, play
games, and serve luncheon. This
meal consisted of bowls of oyster
soup. ham sandwiches coffee, pies.
candies. apples, and cigarettes
There was plenty of everything and
] never in my life saw so much food
disappear in such a short time. Be
sides cards, checkers. and games for
the soldiers amusement, there were
magazines and newspapers, and. OF
course. the evcr-present phono-
graph
fat FOL 80 IL
bama, a cheerful soul who talked
with such a Southern accent could
hardly understand him. He under
stood how to play checkers. how
ever, and beat me badly several
times. He was minus one arm. and
had not acquired an artificial one
probably his stump had not
yet healed. We did not get on the
subject OF the war, but conversed
principally about games of which
he said he was pretty tired. he had
played so much in the hospitals.
We were Joined by a blonde soldier
rather dandy with gold ring
and wrist watch-who talked with
a foreign accent. He proved to be
an Italian from New York and we
discussed the war in French. AS he
knew several languages he hoped to
get position with the Government
as translator. Most of the returned
soldiers wanted to go into the civil
service--it paid better, they said,
One of the boys had a rubber hand
such as | had not seen before.
Although they seemed to like to
tell you all about their wounds, on
the whole they were not as com
municative as the poilus, who would
at once give you their names and
ask yours and display pictures of
their families. Our boys asked few
questions, and it was like pulling
teeth 10. get much out of them.
Copyright, Houghton. Mifflin Coz
(To he Continued MondayD