Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1921-07-06
COMFORTS OF HOME.
Work and Play of Soldiers in Con.
valescing Hospital.

| ValeScmg Hospital.
| ellsworth people will be interested
in the following sketch by Jimmy We'll
| don in a Kansas City paper, telling of
| tn : U. S. convalescing hospital in that
city at the head of which is DR.. George
| Parcher, an Ellsworth boy)
There is building at Eleventh
and Harrison streets, through the
doors of which men, women and
children come and go throughout
the day. 1t is a large, airy, roomy
building. On the first floor is a vast
lobby, where men lounge and talk
and smoke. Women, too, sit there
and talk. On one side Of the room
is a desk, a clerks desk. To all ap-
pearances it is hotel, a family hotel,
where people feel at home and where
one person knows another. Yet it
is not a hotel in the ordinary sense.
1t is place for reconstruction of
soldiers. That is horrid word
Reconstruction" ~a word that does
little justice to The place, the men
who come there and the scientists in
charge of it.
The word brings vision of depress-
ing, shiny instruments, of grave
faced doctors, silent nurses, gray
walls and silence-the eternal 81
lence of an operating room. Yet the
building at Eleventh and Harrison
streets has none of these sorrowful
things. Doctors are cheerful, nurses
happy, and for silence-that old bug
bear long since was banished.
In the building are sun parlors
where men gather and smoke and
talk and work. And they turn on
strains of wild jazz record or play
bits of grand opera or other things.
These men lounge about in robes and
| take life easily and cheerfully.
The word reconstruction" has set
up a lot of vagaries in the minds of
people and it is time they were dis
persed People seem to think that
in the government hospital men lie
forever on operating tables, or go
win back a mind that stumbled in the
dark. They seem to think, when
they hear of vocational work, of max
ing baskets, bead work, belts, leather
articles, and that these men are in
capable of other work. They seem
to nod their heads with pursuing of
the lips, as though to say that these
men indeed are to be pitied greatly
Yet these popular fancies themselves
are to be pitied.
Men come to the United States
public health service hospital from
| four states-Missouri, Kansas, Iowa
and Nebraska.
Perhaps it is a wound that has not
healed entirely; perhaps headache
that recurs from time to time, remin-
iscent of shellshock or nervous dis
order brought about through ex-
posture.
Perhaps the former soldier is suf-
fering from some ordinary illness,
stomach trouble or the like. He
needs attention and he gets it at the
| government hospital. And, of
course, when man is at hospital,
he cannot sit forever and twaddle his
| thumbs. He must do something to
pass the time. And that is the work
| that most people misinterpret. the
work they believe is done by childish
minds.
To pass the time, there are loung-
ing chairs and sun parlors; victrolas
and records innumerable; cards and
books; magazines and papers. Yet
even these things become tiresOme.
The mind of a man forever is long
ing for constructive work and the
mind is satisfied only through accom-
plishment Whether a man is build
ing bridges or making bead bags, he
feels the thrill of accomplishment.
| h, ivu u ic
eyes. And so former soldiers make
bead bags and wicker baskets. They
paint and draw; make leather belts
and carve wood.
1t would indeed be weary for a
man to lie in bed and look through
the window upon constant vista.
Yet, if in his hands he is building a
thing, and then can rest and look
out, life has variety and fullness.
Then, too, the artisan may sell ar
ticles he makes and realize a little
profit. Should he make two baskets
and sell them, he keeps the money
realized from one and the hospital
takes the other, as part reimburse
ment for material But the greater
number of men make the articles for
friends and do not sell them. Many
forms of recreation are furnished
through the efforts of the Red Cross.
Entertainers are brought into the
hospital almost every day to sing
and play. Games are played and
stories snapped.
1t is not long before the con-
valescent is ready to leave and to GO
about his work. OF course, some
men require long months of treat
ment, in which event special precau-
tions are taken to serve them un-