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+The Project Gutenberg eBook, Field Hospital and Flying Column, by Violetta
+Thurstan
+
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+
+
+
+Title: Field Hospital and Flying Column
+       Being the Journal of an English Nursing Sister in Belgium & Russia
+
+
+Author: Violetta Thurstan
+
+
+
+Release Date: January 23, 2006  [eBook #17587]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+
+***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FIELD HOSPITAL AND FLYING COLUMN***
+
+
+E-text prepared by Irma Spehar and the Project Gutenberg Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team (https://www.pgdp.net/) from page images
+generously made available by Internet Archive/Canadian Libraries
+(http://www.archive.org/details/toronto)
+
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+      (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/7/5/8/17587/17587-h.zip)
+
+      Images of the original pages are available through
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+
+
+
+FIELD HOSPITAL AND FLYING COLUMN
+
+Being the Journal of an English Nursing Sister in Belgium & Russia
+
+by
+
+VIOLETTA THURSTAN
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+London and New York
+G. P. Putnam's Sons
+1915
+First Impression April 1915
+
+
+
+
+M. R.
+
+
+    _Allons! After the great Companions, and to belong to them.
+    They too are on the road.
+    They are the swift and majestic men, they are the greatest women.
+    They know the universe itself as a road, as many roads,
+    As roads for travelling souls.
+    Camerados, I will give you my hand,
+    I give you my love more precious than money.
+    Will you give me yourselves, will you come travel with me?
+    Shall we stick by each other as long as we live?_
+
+
+
+
+Contents
+
+CHAPTER                                      PAGE
+
+      I. THE BEGINNING OF IT ALL               1
+
+     II. CHARLEROI AND ROUND ABOUT            16
+
+    III. OUR HOSPITAL AND PATIENTS            37
+
+     IV. THE RETURN TO BRUSSELS               53
+
+      V. A MEMORABLE JOURNEY                  76
+
+     VI. A PEACEFUL INTERLUDE                 92
+
+    VII. OUR WORK IN WARSAW                  113
+
+   VIII. THE BOMBARDMENT OF LODZ             128
+
+     IX. MORE DOINGS OF THE FLYING COLUMN    144
+
+      X. BY THE TRENCHES AT RADZIVILOW       161
+
+         INDEX                               179
+
+
+
+
+I
+
+THE BEGINNING OF IT ALL
+
+
+War, war, war. For me the beginning of the war was a torchlight tattoo
+on Salisbury Plain. It was held on one of those breathless evenings in
+July when the peace of Europe was trembling in the balance, and when
+most of us had a heartache in case--_in case_ England, at this time of
+internal crisis, did not rise to the supreme sacrifice.
+
+It was just the night for a tattoo--dark and warm and still. Away across
+the plain a sea of mist was rolling, cutting us off from the outside
+world, and only a few pale stars lighted our stage from above.
+
+The field was hung round with Chinese lanterns throwing weird lights and
+shadows over the mysterious forms of men and beasts that moved therein.
+It was fascinating to watch the stately entrance into the field,
+Lancers, Irish Rifles, Welsh Fusiliers, Grenadiers and many another
+gallant regiment, each marching into the field in turn to the swing of
+their own particular regimental tune until they were all drawn up in
+order.
+
+There followed a very fine exhibition of riding and the usual torchlight
+tricks, and then the supreme moment came. The massed bands had thundered
+out the first verse of the Evening Hymn, the refrain was taken up by a
+single silver trumpet far away--a sweet thin almost unearthly note more
+to be felt than heard--and then the bands gathered up the whole melody
+and everybody sang the last verse together.
+
+The Last Post followed, and then I think somehow we all knew.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+A week later I had a telegram from the Red Cross summoning me to London.
+
+London was a hive of ceaseless activity. Territorials were returning
+from their unfinished training, every South Coast train was crowded with
+Naval Reserve men who had been called up, every one was buying kits,
+getting medical comforts, and living at the Army and Navy Stores. Nurses
+trained and untrained were besieging the War Office demanding to be
+sent to the front, Voluntary Aid Detachment members were feverishly
+practising their bandaging, working parties and ambulance classes were
+being organized, crowds without beginning and without end were surging
+up and down the pavements between Westminster and Charing Cross, wearing
+little flags, buying every half-hour edition of the papers and watching
+the stream of recruits at St. Martin's. All was excitement--no one knew
+what was going to happen. Then the bad news began to come through from
+Belgium, and every one steadied down and settled themselves to their
+task of waiting or working, whichever it might happen to be.
+
+I was helping at the Red Cross Centre in Vincent Square, and all day
+long there came an endless procession of women wanting to help, some
+trained nurses, many--far too many--half-trained women; and a great many
+raw recruits, some anxious for adventure and clamouring "to go to the
+front at once," others willing and anxious to do the humblest service
+that would be of use in this time of crisis.
+
+Surely after this lesson the Bill for the State Registration of Trained
+Nurses cannot be ignored or held up much longer. Even now in this
+twentieth century, girls of twenty-one, nurses so-called with six
+months' hospital training, somehow manage to get out to the front,
+blithely undertaking to do work that taxes to its very utmost the skill,
+endurance, and resource of the most highly trained women who have given
+up the best years of their life to learning the principles that underlie
+this most exacting of professions. For it is not only medical and
+surgical nursing that is learnt in a hospital ward, it is discipline,
+endurance, making the best of adverse circumstances, and above all the
+knowledge of mankind. These are the qualities that are needed at the
+front, and they cannot be imparted in a few bandaging classes or
+instructions in First Aid.
+
+This is not a diatribe against members of Voluntary Aid Detachments.
+They do not, as a rule, pretend to be what they are not, and I have
+found them splendid workers in their own department. They are not
+half-trained nurses but fully trained ambulance workers, ready to do
+probationer's work under the fully trained sisters, or if necessary to
+be wardmaid, laundress, charwoman, or cook, as the case may be. The
+difficulty does not lie with them, but with the women who have a few
+weeks' or months' training, who blossom out into full uniform and call
+themselves Sister Rose, or Sister Mabel, and are taken at their own
+valuation by a large section of the public, and manage through influence
+or bluff to get posts that should only be held by trained nurses, and
+generally end by bringing shame and disrepute upon the profession.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The work in the office was diversified by a trip to Faversham with some
+very keen and capable Voluntary Aid Detachment members, to help
+improvise a temporary hospital for some Territorials who had gone sick.
+And then my turn came for more active service. I was invited by the St.
+John Ambulance to take out a party of nurses to Belgium for service
+under the Belgian Red Cross Society.
+
+Very little notice was possible, everything was arranged on Saturday
+afternoon of all impossible afternoons to arrange anything in London,
+and we were to start for Brussels at eight o'clock on Tuesday morning.
+
+On Monday afternoon I was interviewing my nurses, saying good-bye
+to friends--shopping in between--wildly trying to get everything
+I wanted at the eleventh hour, when suddenly a message came
+to say that the start would not be to-morrow after all. Great
+excitement--telephones--wires--interviews. It seemed that there
+was some hitch in the arrangements at Brussels, but at last it
+was decided by the St. John's Committee that I should go over
+alone the next day to see the Belgian Red Cross authorities before
+the rest of the party were sent off. The nurses were to follow the
+day after if it could be arranged, as having been all collected in
+London, it was very inconvenient for them to be kept waiting long.
+
+Early Tuesday morning saw me at Charing Cross Station. There were not
+many people crossing--two well-known surgeons on their way to Belgium,
+Major Richardson with his war-dogs, and a few others. A nurse going to
+Antwerp, with myself, formed the only female contingent on board. It was
+asserted that a submarine preceded us all the way to Ostend, but as I
+never get further than my berth on these occasions, I cannot vouch for
+the truth of this.
+
+Ostend in the middle of August generally means a gay crowd of bathers,
+Cook's tourists tripping to Switzerland and so on; but our little party
+landed in silence, and anxious faces and ominous whispers met us on our
+arrival on Belgian soil. It was even said that the Germans were marching
+on Brussels, but this was contradicted afterwards as a sensational
+canard. The Red Cross on my luggage got me through the _douane_
+formalities without any trouble. I entered the almost empty train and we
+went to Brussels without stopping.
+
+At first sight Brussels seemed to be _en fête_, flags were waving from
+every window, Boy Scouts were everywhere looking very important, and the
+whole population seemed to be in the streets. Nearly every one wore
+little coloured flags or ribbons--a favourite badge was the Belgian
+colours with the English and French intertwined. It did not seem
+possible that war could be so near, and yet if one looked closer one saw
+that many of the flags giving such a gay appearance were Red Cross
+flags denoting that there an ambulance had been prepared for the
+wounded, and the Garde Civile in their picturesque uniform were
+constantly breaking up the huge crowds into smaller groups to avoid a
+demonstration.
+
+The first thing to arrange was about the coming of my nurses, whether
+they were really needed and if so where they were to go. I heard from
+the authorities that it was highly probable that Brussels _would_ be
+occupied by the Germans, and that it would be best to put off their
+coming, for a time at any rate. Private telegrams had long been stopped,
+but an official thought he might be able to get mine through, so I sent
+a long one asking that the nurses might not be sent till further notice.
+As a matter of fact it never arrived, and the next afternoon I heard
+that twenty-six nurses--instead of sixteen as was originally
+arranged--were already on their way. There were 15,000 beds in Brussels
+prepared for the reception of the wounded, and though there were not
+many wounded in the city just then, the nurses would certainly all be
+wanted soon if any of the rumours were true that we heard on all sides,
+of heavy fighting in the neighbourhood, and severe losses inflicted on
+the gallant little Belgian Army.
+
+It was impossible to arrange for the nurses to go straight to their work
+on arrival, so it was decided that they should go to a hotel for one
+night and be drafted to their various posts the next day. Anyhow, they
+could not arrive till the evening, so in the afternoon I went out to the
+barriers to see what resistance had been made against the possible
+German occupation of Brussels. It did not look very formidable--some
+barbed-wire entanglements, a great many stones lying about, and the
+Gardes Civiles in their quaint old-fashioned costume guarding various
+points. That was all.
+
+In due time my large family arrived and were installed at the hotel.
+Then we heard, officially, that the Germans were quite near the city,
+and that probably the train the nurses had come by would be the last to
+get through, and this proved to be the case. _Affiches_ were pasted
+everywhere on the walls with the Burgomaster's message to his people:
+
+     A SAD HOUR! THE GERMANS ARE AT OUR GATES!
+
+     PROCLAMATION OF THE BURGOMASTER OF BRUSSELS
+
+     CITIZENS,--In spite of the heroic resistance of our
+     troops, seconded by the Allied Armies, it is to be feared that the
+     enemy may invade Brussels.
+
+     If this eventuality should take place, I hope that I may be able to
+     count on the calmness and steadiness of the population.
+
+     Let every one keep himself free from terror--free from panic.
+
+     The Communal Authorities will not desert their posts. They will
+     continue to exercise their functions with that firmness of purpose
+     that you have the right to demand from them under such grave
+     circumstances.
+
+     I need hardly remind my fellow-citizens of their duty to their
+     country. The laws of war forbid the enemy to force the population
+     to give information as to the National Army and its method of
+     defence. The inhabitants of Brussels must know that they are within
+     their rights in refusing to give any information on this point to
+     the invader. This refusal is their duty in the interests of their
+     country.
+
+     Let none of you act as a guide to the enemy.
+
+     Let every one take precautions against spies and foreign agents,
+     who will try to gather information or provoke manifestations.
+
+     The enemy cannot legitimately harm the family honour nor the life
+     of the citizens, nor their private property, nor their philosophic
+     or religious convictions, nor interfere with their religious
+     services.
+
+     Any abuse committed by the invader must be immediately reported to
+     me.
+
+     As long as I have life and liberty, I shall protect with all my
+     might the dignity and rights of my fellow-citizens. I beg the
+     inhabitants to facilitate my task by abstaining from all acts of
+     hostility, all employment of arms, and by refraining from
+     intervention in battles or encounters.
+
+     Citizens, whatever happens, listen to the voice of your Burgomaster
+     and maintain your confidence in him; he will not betray it.
+
+     Long live Belgium free and independent!
+
+     Long live Brussels!
+
+     ADOLPHE MAX.
+
+All that night refugees from Louvain and Termonde poured in a steady
+stream into Brussels, seeking safety. I have never seen a more pitiful
+sight. Little groups of terror-stricken peasants fleeing from their
+homes, some on foot, some more fortunate ones with their bits of
+furniture in a rough cart drawn by a skeleton horse or a large dog. All
+had babies, aged parents, or invalids with them. I realized then for the
+first time what war meant. We do not know in England. God grant we never
+may. It was not merely rival armies fighting battles, it was
+civilians--men, women, and children--losing their homes, their
+possessions, their country, even their lives. This invasion of
+unfortunates seemed to wake Brussels up to the fact that the German army
+was indeed at her gate. Hordes of people rushed to the Gare du Nord in
+the early dawn to find it entirely closed, no trains either entering or
+leaving it. It was said that as much rolling-stock as was possible had
+been sent to France to prevent it being taken by the Germans. There was
+then a stampede to the Gare du Midi, from whence a few trains were still
+leaving the city crammed to their utmost capacity.
+
+In the middle of the morning I got a telephone message from the Belgian
+Red Cross that the Germans were at the barriers, and would probably
+occupy Brussels in half an hour, and that all my nurses must be in their
+respective posts before that time.
+
+Oh dear, what a stampede it was. I told the nurses they must leave their
+luggage for the present and be ready in five minutes, and in less than
+that time we left the hotel, looking more like a set of rag-and-bone men
+than respectable British nursing sisters. One had seized a large
+portmanteau, another a bundle of clean aprons, another soap and toilet
+articles; yet another provident soul had a tea-basket. I am glad that
+the funny side of it did not strike me then, but in the middle of the
+next night I had helpless hysterics at the thought of the spectacle we
+must have presented. Mercifully no one took much notice of us--the
+streets were crowded and we had difficulty in getting on in some
+places--just at one corner there was a little cheer and a cry of "Vive
+les Anglais!"
+
+It took a long time before my flock was entirely disposed of. It had
+been arranged that several of them should work at one of the large
+hospitals in Brussels where 150 beds had been set apart for the wounded,
+five in another hospital at the end of the city, two in an ambulance
+station in the centre of Brussels, nine were taken over to a large
+fire-station that was converted into a temporary hospital with 130 beds,
+and two had been promised for a private hospital outside the barriers.
+It was a work of time to get the last two to their destinations; the
+Germans had begun to come in by that time, and we had to wait two hours
+to cross a certain street that led to the hospital, as all traffic had
+been stopped while the enemy entered Brussels.
+
+It was an imposing sight to watch the German troops ride in. The
+citizens of Brussels behaved magnificently, but what a bitter
+humiliation for them to undergo. How should we have borne it, I wonder,
+if it had been London? The streets were crowded, but there was hardly a
+sound to be heard, and the Germans took possession of Brussels in
+silence. First the Uhlans rode in, then other cavalry, then the
+artillery and infantry. The latter were dog-weary, dusty and
+travel-stained--they had evidently done some forced marching. When the
+order was given to halt for a few minutes, many of them lay down in the
+street just as they were, resting against their packs, some too
+exhausted to eat, others eating sausages out of little paper bags
+(which, curiously enough, bore the name of a Dutch shop printed on the
+outside) washed down with draughts of beer which many of the inhabitants
+of Brussels, out of pity for their weary state, brought them from the
+little drinking-houses that line the Chaussée du Nord.
+
+The rear was brought up by Red Cross wagons and forage carts,
+commissariat wagons, and all the miscellaneous kit of an army on the
+march. It took thirty-six hours altogether for the army to march in and
+take possession. They installed themselves in the Palais de Justice and
+the Hôtel de Ville, having requisitioned beds, food and everything that
+they wanted from the various hotels. Poor Madame of the Hotel X. wept
+and wrung her hands over the loss of her beautiful beds. Alas, poor
+Madame! The next day her husband was shot as a spy, and she cared no
+longer about the beds.
+
+In the meantime, just as it got dark, I installed my last two nurses in
+the little ambulance out beyond the barriers.
+
+
+
+
+II
+
+CHARLEROI AND ROUND ABOUT
+
+
+The Germans had asked for three days to pass through the city of
+Brussels; a week had passed and they showed no signs of going. The first
+few days more and more German soldiers poured in--dirty, footsore, and
+for the most part utterly worn out. At first the people of Brussels
+treated them with almost unnecessary kindness--buying them cake and
+chocolate, treating them to beer, and inviting them into their houses to
+rest--but by the end of the week these civilities ceased.
+
+Tales of the German atrocities began to creep in--stories of Liège and
+Louvain were circulated from mouth to mouth, and doubtless lost nothing
+by being repeated.
+
+[Illustration: MAP OF BELGIUM]
+
+There was no _real_ news at all. Think how cut off we were--certainly it
+was nothing in comparison with what it was afterwards--but we could
+not know that then--and anyway we learnt to accommodate ourselves to the
+lack of news by degrees. Imagine a Continental capital suddenly without
+newspapers, without trains, telephones, telegraphs; all that we had
+considered up to now essentials of civilized life. Personally, I heard a
+good deal of Belgian news, one way and another, as I visited all my
+flock each day in their various hospitals and ambulances stationed in
+every part of the city.
+
+The hospital that we had to improvise at the fire-station was one of the
+most interesting pieces of work we had to do in Brussels. There were 130
+beds altogether in six large wards, and the Sisters had to sleep at
+first in one, later in two large dormitories belonging to firemen absent
+on active service. The firemen who were left did all the cooking
+necessary for the nursing staff and patients, and were the most charming
+of men, leaving nothing undone that could augment the Sisters' comfort.
+
+It is a great strain on temper and endurance for women to work and sleep
+and eat together in such close quarters, and on the whole they stood
+the test well. In a very few days the fire-station was transformed into
+a hospital, and one could tell the Sisters with truth that the wards
+looked _almost_ like English ones. Alas and alas! At the end of the week
+the Germans put in eighty soldiers with sore feet, who had over-marched,
+and the glorious vision of nursing Tommy Atkins at the front faded into
+the prosaic reality of putting hundreds of cold compresses on German
+feet, that they might be ready all the sooner to go out and kill our
+men. War is a queer thing!!
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+On the following Tuesday afternoon the Burgomaster of Charleroi came
+into Brussels in an automobile asking for nurses and bringing with him a
+permit for this purpose from the German authorities. Charleroi, which
+was now also in German hands, was in a terrible state, and most of the
+city burnt down to the ground. It was crammed with wounded--both French
+and German--every warehouse and cottage almost were full of them, and
+they were very short of trained people.
+
+The Central Red Cross Bureau sent a message, asking if three of us
+would go back with him. _Would we!_ Was it not the chance we had been
+longing for. In ten minutes Sister Elsie, Sister Grace and I were in
+that automobile speeding to Charleroi. I had packed quickly into a
+portmanteau all I thought I was likely to want in the way of uniform and
+other clothing, with a few medical comforts for the men, and a little
+tea and cocoa for ourselves. The two Sisters had done likewise--so we
+were rather horrified when we got to Hal, where we had to change
+automobiles, the Burgomaster said he could not possibly take any of our
+luggage, as we must get into quite a small car--the big one having to
+return to Brussels. He assured us that our things would be sent on in a
+few days--so back to Brussels went my portmanteau with all my clean
+aprons and caps and everything else, and I did not see it again for
+nearly a week. But such is war!
+
+We waited nearly an hour at Hal while our German permits were examined,
+and then went off in the small car. It was heart-breaking to see the
+scenes of desolation as we passed along the road. Jumet--the
+working-class suburb of Charleroi--was entirely burnt down, there did
+not seem to be one house left intact. It is indeed terrible when
+historic and consecrated buildings such as those at Louvain and Rheims
+are burnt down, but in a way it is more pathetic to see these poor
+little cottages destroyed, that must have meant so much to their owners,
+and it makes one's heart ache to see among the crumbling ruins the
+remains of a baby's perambulator, or the half-burnt wires of an old
+four-post bed. Probably the inhabitants of Jumet had all fled, as there
+was no one to be seen as we went through the deserted village, except
+some German sentries pacing up and down.
+
+Parts of Charleroi were still burning as we got to it, and a terrible
+acrid smoke pervaded everything. Here the poorer streets were spared,
+and it was chiefly the rich shops and banks and private houses that had
+been destroyed. Charleroi was the great Birmingham of Belgium--coal-pits
+all round, with many great iron and steel works, now of course all idle,
+and most of the owners entirely ruined. The town was absolutely crammed
+with German troops as we passed through; it had now been occupied for
+two or three days and was being used as a great military depot.
+
+But Charleroi was not to be our final destination--we went on a few more
+kilometres along the Beaumont road, and drew up at a fairly large
+building right out in the country. It was a hospital that had been three
+parts built ten years ago, then abandoned for some reason and never
+finished. Now it was being hastily fitted up as a Red Cross hospital,
+and stretcher after stretcher of wounded--both French and German--were
+being brought in as we arrived.
+
+The confusion that reigned within was indescribable. There were some
+girls there who had attended first-aid lectures, and they were doing
+their best; but there were no trained nurses and no one particularly in
+command. The German doctor had already gone, one of the Belgian doctors
+was still working there, but he was absolutely worn out and went off
+before long, as he had still cases to attend to in the town before he
+went to his well-earned bed. He carried off the two Sisters with him,
+till the morning, and I was left alone with two or three Red Cross
+damsels to face the night. It is a dreadful nightmare to look back at.
+Blood-stained uniforms hastily cut off the soldiers were lying on the
+floor--half-open packets of dressings were on every locker; basins of
+dirty water or disinfectant had not been emptied; men were moaning with
+pain, calling for water, begging that their dressings might be done
+again; and several new cases just brought in were requiring urgent
+attention. And the cannon never ceased booming. I was not accustomed to
+it then, and each crash meant to me rows of men mown down--maimed or
+killed. I soon learnt that comparatively few shells do any damage,
+otherwise there would soon be no men left at all. In time, too, one gets
+so accustomed to cannon that one hardly hears it, but I had not arrived
+at that stage then: this was my baptism of fire.
+
+Among the other miseries of that night was the dreadful shortage of all
+hospital supplies, and the scarcity of food for the men. There was a
+little coffee which they would have liked, but there was no possibility
+of hot water. The place had been hastily fitted up with electric light,
+and the kitchen was arranged for steam cooking, so there was not even a
+gas-jet to heat anything on. I had a spirit-lamp and methylated spirit
+in my portmanteau, but, as I said, my luggage had been all wafted away
+at Hal.
+
+But the night wore away somehow, and with the morning light came plans
+of organization and one saw how things could be improved in many ways,
+and the patients made more comfortable. The hospital was a place of
+great possibilities in some ways; its position standing almost at the
+top of a high hill in its own large garden was ideal, and the air was
+gloriously bracing, but little of it reached the poor patients as
+unfortunately the Germans had issued a proclamation forbidding any
+windows to be open, in case, it was said, anyone should fire from
+them--and as we were all prisoners in their hands, we had to do as we
+were bid.
+
+At nine o'clock the Belgian doctor and the German commandant appeared,
+and I went off with the former to help with an amputation of arm, in one
+of the little temporary ambulances in the town of M----, three
+kilometres away. The building had been a little dark shop and not very
+convenient, and if the patient had not been so desperately ill, he
+would have been moved to Charleroi for his operation. He was a French
+tirailleur--a lad about twenty, his right arm had been severely injured
+by shrapnel several days before, and was gangrenous right up to the
+shoulder. He was unconscious and moaning slightly at intervals, but he
+stood the operation very well, and we left him fairly comfortable when
+we had to return to the hospital.
+
+We got back about twelve, which is the hour usually dedicated to
+patients' dinner, but it was impossible to find anything to eat except
+potatoes. We sent everywhere to get some meat, but without success,
+though in a day or two we got some kind of dark meat which I thought
+must be horse. (Now from better acquaintance with ancient charger, I
+know it to have been so.) There was just a little milk that was reserved
+for the illest patients, no butter or bread. I was beginning to feel
+rather in need of food myself by that time. There had been, of course,
+up to then no time to bother about my own meals, and I had had nothing
+since breakfast the day before, that is about thirty hours ago, except
+a cup of coffee which I had begged from the concierge before starting
+with the doctor for the amputation case.
+
+Well, there was nothing to eat and only the dirtiest old woman in all
+the world to cook it, but at three o'clock we managed to serve the
+patients with an elegant dish of underdone lentils for the first course,
+and overdone potatoes for the second, and partook ourselves gratefully
+thereof, after they had finished. In the afternoon of that day a meeting
+of the Red Cross Committee was held at the hospital, and I was sent for
+and formally installed as Matron of the hospital with full authority to
+make any improvements I thought necessary, and with the stipulation that
+I might have two or three days' leave every few weeks, to go and visit
+my scattered flock in Brussels. The appointment had to be made subject
+to the approval of the German commandant, but apparently he made no
+objection--at any rate I never heard of any.
+
+And then began a very happy time for me, in spite of many difficulties
+and disappointments. I can never tell the goodness of the Committee and
+the Belgian doctor to me, and their kindness in letting me introduce all
+our pernickety English ways to which they were not accustomed, won my
+gratitude for ever. Never were Sisters so loyal and unselfish as mine.
+The first part of the time they were overworked and underfed, and no
+word of grumbling or complaint was ever heard from them. They worked
+from morning till night and got the hospital into splendid order. The
+Committee were good enough to allow me to keep the best of the Red Cross
+workers as probationers and to forbid entrance to the others. We had
+suffered so much at their hands before this took place, that I was truly
+grateful for this permission as no discipline or order was possible with
+a large number of young girls constantly rushing in and out, sitting on
+patients' beds, meddling with dressings, and doing all kinds of things
+they shouldn't.
+
+I am sure that no hospital ever had nicer patients than ours were. The
+French patients, though all severely wounded and prisoners in the hands
+of the Germans, bore their troubles cheerfully, even gaily. We had a
+great variety of regiments represented in the hospital: Tirailleurs,
+Zouaves, one Turco from Algeria--our big good-natured Adolphe--soldiers
+from Paris, from Brittany and from Normandy, especially from Calvados.
+The German soldiers, too, behaved quite well, and were very grateful for
+everything done for them--mercifully we had no officers. We had not
+separate rooms for them--French and German soldiers lay side by side in
+the public wards.
+
+One of the most harrowing things during that time was the way all the
+Belgians were watching for the English troops to deliver them from the
+yoke of their oppressor. Every day, many times a day, when German rules
+got more and more stringent and autocratic, and fresh tales of
+unnecessary harshness and cruelty were circulated, they would say over
+and over again, "Where are the English? If only the English would come!"
+Later they got more bitter and we heard, "Why don't the English come and
+help us as they promised? If only the English would come, it would be
+all right." And so on, till I almost felt as if I could not bear it any
+longer. One morning some one came in and said English soldiers had been
+seen ten kilometres away. We heard the sound of distant cannon in a new
+direction, and watched and waited, hoping to see the English ride in.
+But some one must have mistaken the German khaki for ours, for no
+English were ever near that place. There was no news of what was really
+happening in the country, no newspapers ever got through, and we had
+nothing to go upon but the German _affiches_ proclaiming victories
+everywhere, the German trains garlanded with laurels and faded roses,
+marked "Destination--Paris," and the large batches of French prisoners
+that were constantly marched through the town. An inscription written
+over a doorway in Charleroi amused us rather: "Vive Guillaume II, roi de
+l'univers." Not yet, not yet, William.
+
+Later on the Belgians issued a wonderful little newspaper at irregular
+intervals of three or four days, typewritten and passed from hand to
+hand. The most amazing news was published in it, which we always firmly
+believed, till it was contradicted in the next issue. I collected two or
+three copies of this paper as a curiosity, but unfortunately lost them
+later on, with all my papers and luggage. One or two items I remember
+quite well. One gave a vivid account of how the Queen of Holland had
+killed her husband because he had allowed the Germans to pass through
+Maestricht; another even more circumstantial story was that England had
+declared war on Holland, Holland had submitted at once, and England
+imposed many stringent conditions, of which I only remember two. One
+was, that all her trade with Germany should cease at once; secondly,
+that none of her lighthouses should show light at night.
+
+One of the German surgeons who used to operate at our hospital was
+particularly ingenious in inventing tortures for me; I used to have to
+help him in his operations, and he would recount to me with gusto how
+the English had retreated from Mons, how the Germans were getting nearer
+and nearer to Paris, how many English killed, wounded and prisoners
+there were, and so on. One morning he began about the Fleet and said
+that a great battle was going on in the North Sea, and going very badly
+for the English. I had two brothers fighting in the North Sea of whom I
+had no news since the war began, and I could bear it no longer, but fled
+from the operating-room.
+
+Charleroi and its neighbourhood was just one large German camp, its
+position on the railway making it a particularly valuable base for them.
+The proclamations and rules for the behaviour of the inhabitants became
+daily more and more intolerant. It was forbidden to lock the door, or
+open the window, or pull down the blinds, or allow your dog out of the
+house; all German officers were to be saluted--and if there was any
+doubt, any German soldier was to be saluted, and so on, day after day.
+One really funny one I wish I could reproduce. It forbade anyone to
+"wear a menacing look" but it did not say who was to be the judge of
+this look.
+
+Every one was too restless and unhappy to settle to anything, all the
+most important shops were burnt down, and very few of those that were
+left were open. The whole population seemed to spend all their time in
+the street waiting for something to happen. Certainly the Germans seem
+to have had a special "down" on Charleroi and its neighbourhood, so many
+villages in its vicinity were burnt down and most abominable cruelties
+practised on its inhabitants. The peasants who were left were simply
+terrorized, as no doubt the Germans meant them to be, and a white flag
+hung from nearly every cottage window denoting complete submission. In
+one village some German soldier wrote in chalk on the door of a house
+where he had been well received, "Güte Leute hier," and these poor
+people got chalk and tried to copy the difficult German writing on every
+door in the street. I am afraid that did not save them, however, when
+their turn came. It was the utter ruthlessness and foresight with which
+every contingency was prepared for that appalled me and made me realize
+what a powerful enemy we were up against. Everything was thought out
+down to the last detail and must have been prepared months beforehand.
+Even their wagons for transport were all painted the same slate-grey
+colour, while the English and Belgians were using any cart they could
+commandeer in the early days, as I afterwards saw in a German camp
+Pickford's vans and Lyons' tea carts that they had captured from us.
+Even their postal arrangements were complete; we saw their grey
+"Feld-Post" wagons going to and fro quite at the beginning of the war.
+
+Several people in Charleroi told me that the absolute system and
+organization of destruction frightened them more than the actual fire
+itself. Every German soldier had a little hatchet, and when Charleroi
+was fired, they simply went down the street as if they had been drilled
+to it for months, cutting a square hole in the panel of each door, and
+throwing a ball of celluloid filled with benzine inside. This exploded
+and set the house on fire, and later on the soldiers would return to see
+if it was burning well. They were entirely indifferent as to whether
+anyone were inside or not, as the following incident, which came under
+my notice, will show. Two English Red Cross Sisters were working at an
+ambulance in Charleroi, and lodging with some people in the centre of
+the city. When the town was being burnt they asked leave to go and try
+to save some of their possessions. They arrived at the house, however,
+and found it entirely burnt down, and all their things destroyed. They
+were returning rather sorrowfully to their hospital when an old woman
+accosted them and told them that a woman with a new-born infant was
+lying in bed in one of the burning houses.
+
+The house was not burning badly, and they got into it quite easily and
+found the woman lying in bed with her little infant beside her, almost
+out of her wits with terror, but too weak to move. The nurses found they
+could not manage alone, so went down into the street to find a man. They
+found, after some trouble, a man who had only one arm and got him to
+help them take the woman to the hospital. One of the nurses was carrying
+the baby, the other with the one-armed man was supporting the mother,
+when the German soldiers fired at the little party, and the one-armed
+man fell bleeding at the side of the road. The Sisters were obliged to
+leave him for the moment, and went on with the mother and infant to the
+hospital, got a stretcher and came back and fetched the man and brought
+him also to the hospital. It was only a flesh wound in the shoulder and
+he made a good recovery, but what a pitiful little group to waste
+ammunition on--a newly confined mother and her infant, two Red Cross
+Sisters and a crippled man.
+
+One can only imagine that they were drunk when they did these kind of
+things, for individually the German soldier is generally a decent
+fellow, though some of the Prussian officers are unspeakable. Discipline
+is very severe and the soldiers are obliged to carry out orders without
+troubling themselves about rights and wrongs. It is curious that very
+few German soldiers know why they are fighting, and they are always told
+such wonderful stories of German victories that they think the war will
+soon be over. When they arrived at Charleroi, for instance, they were
+told they were at Charleville, and nearly all our wounded German
+soldiers thought they were already in France. They also thought Paris
+was already taken and London in flames. It hardly seems worth while to
+lie to them in this way, for they are bound to find out the truth sooner
+or later.
+
+
+
+
+III
+
+OUR HOSPITAL AND PATIENTS
+
+
+After we had had a long week of night and day work, two more of my
+nurses suddenly turned up at the hospital. They had most unexpectedly
+got a message that I had sent in by hand to Brussels, begging for nurses
+and saying how hard pressed we were, and had got permission to come out
+in a Red Cross motor-ambulance. I was, of course, delighted to see them,
+and with their help we soon settled down into the ordinary routine of
+hospital life, and forgot we were prisoners under strict supervision,
+having all kinds of tiresome rules and regulations to keep.
+
+The question of supplies was a very difficult one from the first. We
+were short of everything, very short of dressings, chloroform and all
+kinds of medical supplies, and especially (even worse in one way) very
+short of hospital linen such as sheets and towels and shirts and
+drawers, and we had the greatest difficulty in getting anyone to come
+and wash for us. One might have thought that with almost every one out
+of work, there would have been no lack of women; but the hospital was a
+long way from the nearest town and I suppose they were afraid to come;
+also, of course, many, very many, had had their houses burnt, lost their
+all and fled away. The food question was a very difficult one also. We
+had to live just from day to day and be thankful for small mercies.
+Naturally for ourselves it would not have mattered at all, but it _did_
+matter very much for our poor patients, who were nearly all very ill.
+Meat was always difficult often impossible to get, and at first there
+was no bread, which, personally, I missed more than anything else;
+afterwards we got daily rations of this. Butter there was none; eggs and
+milk very scarce, only just enough for the very severely wounded.
+Potatoes and lentils we had in great quantities, and on that diet one
+would never starve, though it was not an ideal one for sick men.
+
+I remember one morning when we had only potatoes for the men's dinner;
+the cook had just peeled an immense bucket of them and was putting them
+on to boil when some German soldiers came and took the lot, and this so
+infuriated the cook that we had to wait hours before we could get
+another lot prepared and cooked for the patients' dinner. The
+water-supply was another of our difficulties. All the watercourses in
+the neighbourhood were polluted with dead bodies of men and horses and
+no water was fit to drink. There was a horrible, greenish, foul-smelling
+stream near the hospital, which I suppose eventually found its way into
+the river, and it sickened me to imagine what we were drinking, even
+though it was well boiled.
+
+It was very hot weather and the men all dreadfully thirsty. There was
+one poor Breton soldier dying of septicæmia, who lay in a small room off
+the large ward. He used to shriek to every passer-by to give him drink,
+and no amount of water relieved his raging thirst. That voice calling
+incessantly night and day, "A boire, à boire!" haunted me long after he
+was dead. The taste of long-boiled water is flat and nasty, so we made
+weak decoctions of camomile-tea for the men, which they seemed to like
+very much. We let it cool, and kept a jug of it on each locker so that
+they could help themselves whenever they liked.
+
+Some of the ladies of the town were very kind indeed in bringing in wine
+and little delicacies for our sick, and for ourselves, too, sometimes.
+We were very grateful to them for all their kindness in the midst of
+their own terrible trouble and anxieties.
+
+All the first ten days the cannon boomed without ceasing; by degrees it
+got more distant, and we knew the forts of Maubeuge were being bombarded
+by the famous German howitzers, which used to shake the hospital to its
+foundations. The French soldiers in the wards soon taught us to
+distinguish the sounds of the different cannon. In a few days we knew as
+well as they did whether it was French or German artillery firing.
+
+Our hospital was on the main Beaumont road, and in the midst of our work
+we would sometimes glance out and watch the enormous reinforcements of
+troops constantly being sent up. Once we saw a curious sight. Two large
+motor-omnibuses with "Leipziger lokal-anzeiger" painted on their side
+went past, each taking about twenty-five German Béguine nuns to the
+battlefield, the contrast between this very modern means of transport
+and the archaic appearance of the nuns in their mediæval dress was very
+striking.
+
+Suddenly one Sunday morning the cannonading ceased--there was dead
+silence--Maubeuge was taken, and the German army passed on into France.
+It is difficult to explain the desolating effect when the cannon
+suddenly ceases. At first one fears and hates it, then one gets
+accustomed to it and one feels at least _something is being done_--there
+is still a chance. When it ceases altogether there is a sense of utter
+desertion, as if all hope had been given up.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+On the morning of September 1 the German commandant suddenly appeared in
+the wards at 7 o'clock, and said that all the German wounded were going
+to be sent off to Germany at once, and that wagons would be coming in an
+hour's time to take them to the station. We had several men who were not
+fit to travel, amongst them a soldier who had had his leg amputated only
+twelve hours before. I ought to have learnt by that time the futility
+of argument with a German official, but I pleaded very hard that a few
+of the men might be left till they were a little better able to stand
+the journey, for there is no nationality among wounded, and we could not
+bear even German patients to undergo unnecessary suffering. But my
+remonstrances were quite in vain, and one could not help wondering what
+would become of _our_ wounded if the Germans treated their own so
+harshly. I heard from other ambulances that it was their experience as
+well as mine that the lightly wounded were very well looked after, but
+the severely wounded were often very inconsiderately treated. They were
+no longer any use as fighting machines and only fit for the scrap-heap.
+It is all part of the German system. They are out for one purpose only,
+that is to win--and they go forward with this one end in
+view--everything else, including the care of the wounded, is a
+side-issue and must be disregarded and sacrificed if necessary.
+
+We prepared the men as well as we could for the long ride in the wagons
+that must precede the still longer train journey. Once on the
+ambulance-train, however, they would be well looked after; it was the
+jolting on the country road I feared for many of them. None of us were
+permitted to accompany them to Charleroi station, but the driver of one
+of the wagons told me afterwards that the man with the amputated leg had
+been taken out dead at the station, as he had had a severe hæmorrhage on
+the way, which none of his comrades knew how to treat. He also told us
+that all the big hospitals at Charleroi were evacuating their German
+wounded, and that he had seen two other men taken out of carts quite
+dead. We took this to mean very good news for us, thinking that the
+Germans must have had a severe reverse to be taking away their wounded
+in such a hurry. So we waited and hoped, but as usual nothing happened
+and there was no news.
+
+We had a very joyful free sort of feeling at having got rid of the
+German patients. The French soldiers began to sing The Marseillaise as
+soon as they had gone, but we were obliged to stop them as we feared the
+German doctor or commandant, who were often prowling about, might hear.
+Losing so many patients made the work much lighter for the time being,
+and about this time, too, several of the severely wounded men died. They
+had suffered so frightfully that it was a great relief when they died
+and were at rest. The curé of the parish church was so good to them,
+never minding how many times a day he toiled up that long hill in the
+blazing sunshine, if he could comfort some poor soul, or speed them on
+their way fortified with the last rites of the Church.
+
+One poor Breton soldier could not bear the thought of being buried
+without a coffin--he spoke about it for days before he died, till Madame
+D----, a lady living in the town to whom we owe countless acts of
+kindness, promised that she would provide a coffin, so the poor lad died
+quite happily and peacefully, and the coffin and a decent funeral were
+provided in due course, though, of course, he was not able to have a
+soldier's funeral. Some of these poor French soldiers were dreadfully
+homesick--most of them were married, and some were fathers of families
+who had to suddenly leave their peaceful occupations to come to the war.
+Jules, a dapper little pastrycook with pink cheeks and bright black
+eyes, had been making a batch of tarts when his summons had come. And he
+was much better suited to making tarts than to fighting, poor little
+man, for he was utterly unnerved by what he had gone through, and used
+to have dreadful fits of crying and sobbing which it was very difficult
+to stop.
+
+Some of the others, and especially the Zouaves, one could not imagine in
+any other profession than that of soldiering. How jolly and cheerful
+they were, always making the best of everything, and when the German
+patients had gone we really had time to nurse them and look after them
+properly. Those who were able for the exertion were carried out to the
+garden, and used to lie under the pear-trees telling each other
+wonderful stories of what they had been through, and drinking in fresh
+health and strength every day from the beautiful breeze that we had on
+the very hottest days up on our hill. We had to guard them very
+carefully while they were in the garden, however, for if one man had
+tried to escape the hospital would have been burnt down and the
+officials probably shot. So two orderlies and two Red Cross
+probationers were always on duty there, and I think they enjoyed it as
+much as the men.
+
+Suddenly a fresh thunderbolt fell.
+
+One Sunday morning the announcement was made that every French patient
+was to go to Germany on Monday morning at eight.
+
+We were absolutely in despair. We had one man actually dying, several
+others who must die before long, eight or ten who were very severely
+wounded in the thigh and quite unable to move, two at least who were
+paralysed, many who had not set foot out of bed and were not fit to
+travel--we had not forgotten the amputation case of a few days before,
+who was taken out dead at Charleroi station. I was so absolutely
+miserable about it that I persuaded the Belgian doctor to go to the
+commandant, and beg that the worst cases might be left to us, which he
+very pluckily did, but without the slightest effect--they must all go,
+ill or well, fit or unfit. After all the German patients were returning
+to their own country and people, but these poor French soldiers were
+going ill and wounded as prisoners to suffer and perhaps die in an
+enemy's country--an enemy who knew no mercy.
+
+I could hardly bear to go into the wards at all that day, and busied
+myself with seeing about their clothes. Here was a practical
+illustration of the difference in equipment between the German and
+French soldiers. The German soldiers came in well equipped, with money
+in their pockets and all they needed with them. Their organization was
+perfect, and they were prepared for the war; the French were not. When
+they arrived at the hospital their clothes had been cut off them anyhow,
+with jagged rips and splits by the untrained Red Cross girls. Trained
+ambulance workers are always taught to cut by the seam when possible.
+Many had come without a cap, some without a great-coat, some without
+boots; all had to be got ready somehow. The hospital was desperately
+short of supplies--we simply could not give them all clean shirts and
+drawers as we longed to do. The trousers were our worst problem, hardly
+any of them were fit to put on. We had a few pairs of grey and black
+striped trousers, the kind a superior shopman might wear, but we were
+afraid to give those to the men as we thought the Germans would think
+they were going to try to escape if they appeared in civil trousers, and
+might punish them severely. So we mended up these remnants of French red
+pantaloons as best we could. One man we _had_ to give civil trousers as
+he had only a few shreds of pantaloon left, and these he promised to
+carry in his hand to show that he really could not put them on.
+
+The men were laughing and joking and teasing one another about their
+garments, but my heart was as heavy as lead. I simply could not _bear_
+to let the worst cases go. One or two of the Committee came up and we
+begged them to try what they could do with the commandant, but they said
+it was not the least use, and from what I had seen myself, I had to
+confess that I did not think it would be. The patient I was most unhappy
+about was a certain French count we had in the hospital. He had been
+shot through the back at the battle of Nalinnes, and was three days on
+the battlefield before he was picked up. Now he lay dying in a little
+side room off the ward. The least movement caused him acute agony, even
+the pillow had to be moved an inch at a time before it could be turned,
+and it took half an hour to change his shirt. The doctor had said in the
+morning he could not last another forty-eight hours. But if he was alive
+the next morning he would be put in those horrible springless carts, and
+jolted, jolted down to the station, taken out and transferred to a
+shaky, vibrating train, carrying him far away into Germany.
+
+Mercifully he died very peacefully in his sleep that evening, and we
+were all very thankful that the end should have come a little earlier
+than was expected.
+
+Late that night came a message that the men were not to start till
+midday, so we got them all dressed somehow by eleven. All had had bad
+nights, nearly all had temperatures, and they looked very poor things
+when they were dressed; even fat, jolly Adolphe looked pale and subdued.
+We had not attempted to do anything with the bad bed cases; if they
+_must_ go they must just go wrapped up in their blankets. But we
+unexpectedly got a reprieve. A great German chief came round that
+morning, accompanied by the German doctor and German commandant, and
+gave the order that the very bad cases were to remain for the present. I
+cannot say how thankful we were for this respite and so were the men.
+Poor Jules, who was very weak from pain and high temperature, turned to
+the wall and cried from pure relief.
+
+At 11.30 the patients had their dinner--we tried to give them a good one
+for the last--and then every moment we expected the wagons to come. We
+waited and waited till at length we began to long for them to come and
+get the misery of it over. At last they arrived, and we packed our
+patients into it as comfortably as we could on the straw. Each had a
+parcel with a little money and a few delicacies our ever-generous Madame
+D---- had provided. It was terrible to think of some of these poor men
+in their shoddy uniforms, without an overcoat, going off to face a long
+German winter.
+
+So we said good-bye with smiles and tears and thanks and salutations.
+And the springless wagons jolted away over the rough road, and
+fortunately we had our bad cases to occupy our thoughts. An order came
+to prepare at once for some more wounded who might be coming in at any
+time, so we started at once to get ready for any emergency. The beds
+were disinfected and made up with our last clean sheets and
+pillow-cases, and the wards scrubbed, when there was a shout from some
+one that they were bringing in wounded at the hospital gate. We looked
+out and true enough there were stretchers being brought in. I went along
+to the operating theatre to see that all was ready there in case of
+necessity, when I heard shrieks and howls of joy, and turned round and
+there were all our dear men back again, and they, as well as the entire
+staff, were half mad with delight. They were all so excited, talking at
+once, one could hardly make out what had happened; but at last I made
+one of them tell me quietly. It appeared that when the wagons got down
+to Charleroi station, the men were unloaded and put on stretchers, and
+were about to be carried into the station when an officer came and
+pointed a pistol at them (why, no one knew, for they were only obeying
+orders), and said they were to wait. So they waited there outside the
+station for a long time, guarded by a squad of German soldiers, and at
+last were told that the train to Germany was already full and that they
+must return to the hospital. They all had to be got back into bed (into
+our disinfected beds, with the last of the clean sheets!) and fed and
+their dressings done, and so on, and they were so excited that it took a
+long time before they could settle down for the night. But it was a very
+short reprieve, for the next day they had to go off again and there was
+no coming back this time.
+
+I often think of those poor lads in Germany and wonder what has become
+of them, and if those far-off mothers all think their sons are dead. If
+so, what a joyful surprise some of them will have some day--after the
+war.
+
+
+
+
+IV
+
+THE RETURN TO BRUSSELS
+
+
+This seemed a favourable moment for me to go to Brussels for a day or
+two to visit my flock. The Committee gave me leave to go, but begged me
+to be back in two days, which I promised to do. A _laissez-passer_ had
+been obtained from the German commandant for a Red Cross automobile to
+go into Brussels to fetch some supplies of dressings and bandages of
+which all the hospitals in the neighbourhood were woefully short. And I
+was also graciously accorded a ticket of leave by the same august
+authority to go for two days, which might be extended to three according
+to the length of stay of the automobile.
+
+The night before I left, an aeroplane which had been flying very high
+above the town dropped some papers. The doctor with whom I was lodging
+secured one and brought it back triumphantly. It contained a message
+from the Burgomaster of Antwerp to his fellow-citizens, and ended thus:
+"Courage, fellow-citizens, in a fortnight our country will be delivered
+from the enemy."
+
+We were all absurdly cheered by this message, and felt that it was only
+a matter of a short time now before the Germans were driven out of
+Belgium. We had had no news for so long that we thought probably the
+Antwerp Burgomaster had information of which we knew nothing, and I was
+looking forward to hearing some good news when I got to Brussels.
+
+I found Brussels very much changed since I had left it some weeks
+before. Then it was in a fever of excitement, now it was in the chill of
+dark despair. German rule was firmly established, and was growing daily
+more harsh and humiliating for its citizens. Everything was done to
+Germanize the city, military automobiles were always dashing through,
+their hooters playing the notes of the Emperor's salute, Belgian
+automobiles that had been requisitioned whirred up and down the streets
+filled with German officers' wives and children, German time was kept,
+German money was current coin, and every café and confectioner's shop
+was always crowded with German soldiers. Every day something new was
+forbidden. Now it was taking photographs--the next day no cyclist was
+allowed to ride, and any cyclist in civil dress might be shot at sight,
+and so on. The people were only _just_ kept in hand by their splendid
+Burgomaster, M. Max, but more than once it was just touch and go whether
+he would be able to restrain them any longer.
+
+What made the people almost more angry than anything else was the loss
+of their pigeons, as many of the Belgians are great pigeon fanciers and
+have very valuable birds. Another critical moment was when they were
+ordered to take down all the Belgian flags. Up to that time the Belgian
+flag, unlike every other town that the Germans had occupied, had floated
+bravely from nearly every house in Brussels. M. Max had issued a
+proclamation encouraging the use of it early in the war. Now this was
+forbidden as it was considered an insult to the Germans. Even the Red
+Cross flag was forbidden except on the German military hospitals, and I
+thought Brussels looked indeed a melancholy city as we came in from
+Charleroi that morning in torrents of rain in the Red Cross car.
+
+My first business was to go round and visit all my nurses. I found most
+of them very unhappy because they had no work. All the patients had been
+removed from the fire-station hospital and nearly all the private
+hospitals and ambulances were empty too. It was said that Germans would
+rather have all their wounded die than be looked after by Englishwomen,
+and there were dreadful stories afloat which I cannot think any German
+believed, of English nurses putting out the eyes of the German wounded.
+Altogether there were a good many English Sisters and doctors in
+Brussels--three contingents sent out by the Order of St. John of
+Jerusalem, to which we belonged, a large unit sent by the British Red
+Cross Society, and a good many sent out privately. It certainly was not
+worth while for more than a hundred English nurses to remain idle in
+Brussels, and the only thing to do now was to get them back to England
+as soon as possible. In the meantime a few of them took the law into
+their own hands, and slipped away without a passport, and got back to
+England safely by unofficial means.
+
+The second afternoon I was in Brussels I received a note from one of my
+nurses who had been sent to Tirlemont in my absence by the Belgian Red
+Cross Society. The contents of the note made me very anxious about her,
+and I determined to go and see her if possible. I had some Belgian
+acquaintances who had come from that direction a few days before, and I
+went to ask their advice as to how I should set about it. They told me
+the best way, though rather the longest, was to go first to Mâlines and
+then on to Tirlemont from there, and the only possible way of getting
+there was to walk, as they had done a few days previously, and trust to
+getting lifts in carts. There had been no fighting going on when they
+had passed, and they thought I should get through all right.
+
+So I set out very early in the morning accompanied by another Sister,
+carrying a little basket with things for one or two nights. I did not
+ask for any _laissez-passer_, knowing well enough that it would not be
+granted. We were lucky enough to get a tram the first part of the way,
+laden with peasants who had been in to Brussels to sell country produce
+to the German army, and then we set out on our long walk. It was a
+lovely late September morning, and the country looked so peaceful one
+could hardly believe that a devastating war was going on. Our way led
+first through a park, then through a high-banked lane all blue with
+scabious, and then at last we got on to a main road, when the owner of a
+potato cart crawling slowly along, most kindly gave us a long lift on
+our way.
+
+We then walked straight along the Mâlines road, and I was just remarking
+to my companion that it was odd we should not have met a single German
+soldier, when we came into a village that was certainly full of them. It
+was about 11 o'clock and apparently their dinner hour, for they were all
+hurrying out of a door with cans full of appetizing stew in their hands.
+They took no notice of us and we walked on, but very soon came to a
+sandy piece of ground where a good many soldiers were entrenched and
+where others were busily putting up barbed-wire entanglements. They
+looked at us rather curiously but did not stop us, and we went on.
+Suddenly we came to a village where a hot skirmish was going on, two
+Belgian and German outposts had met. Some mitrailleuses were there in
+the field beside us, and the sound of rifle fire was crackling in the
+still autumn air. There was nothing to do but to go forward, so we went
+on through the village, and presently saw four German soldiers running
+up the street. It is not a pretty sight to see men running away. These
+men were livid with terror and gasping with deep breaths as they ran.
+One almost brushed against me as he passed, and then stopped for a
+moment, and I thought he was going to shoot us. But in a minute they
+went on towards the barbed-wire barricades and we made our way up the
+village street. Bullets were whistling past now, and every one was
+closing their shops and putting up their shutters. Several people were
+taking refuge behind a manure heap, and we went to join them, but the
+proprietor came out and said we must not stay there as it was dangerous
+for him. He advised us to go to the hotel, so we went along the street
+until we reached it, but it was not a very pleasant walk, as bullets
+were flying freely and the mitrailleuse never stopped going pom-pom-pom.
+
+We found the hotel closed when we got to it, and the people absolutely
+refused to let us come in, so we stood in the road for a few minutes,
+not knowing which way to go. Then a Red Cross doctor saw us, and came
+and told us to get under cover at once. We explained that we desired
+nothing better, but that the hotel was shut, so he very kindly took us
+to a convent near by. It was a convent of French nuns who had been
+expelled from France and come to settle in this little village, and when
+they heard who we were they were perfectly charming to us, bringing
+beautiful pears from their garden and offering to keep us for the night.
+We could not do that, however, it might have brought trouble on them;
+but we rested half an hour and then made up our minds to return to
+Brussels. We could not go forward as the Mâlines road was blocked with
+soldiers, and we were afraid we could not get back the way we had come,
+past the barbed-wire barricades, but the nuns told us of a little lane
+at the back of their convent which led to the high road to Brussels,
+about fifteen miles distant. We went down this lane for about an hour,
+and then came to a road where four roads met, just as the nuns had said.
+I did not know which road to take, so asked a woman working outside the
+farm. She spoke Flemish, of which I only know a few words, and either I
+misunderstood her, or she thought we were German Sisters, for she
+pointed to another lane at the left which we had not noticed, and we
+thought it was another short cut to Brussels.
+
+We had only gone a few yards down this lane when we met a German sentry
+who said "Halt!" We were so accustomed to them that we did not take much
+notice, and I just showed my Red Cross brassard as I had been accustomed
+to do in Charleroi when stopped. This had the German eagle stamped on it
+as well as the Belgian Red Cross stamp. The man saluted and let us pass.
+_Now_ I realize that he too thought we were German Sisters.
+
+We went on calmly down the lane and in two minutes we fell into a whole
+German camp. There were tents and wagons and cannon and camp fires, and
+thousands of soldiers. I saw some carts there which they must have
+captured from the English bearing the familiar names of "Lyons' Tea" and
+"Pickford" vans! An officer came up and asked in German what we wanted.
+I replied in French that we were two Sisters on our way to Brussels.
+Fortunately I could produce my Belgian Carte d'Identité, which had also
+been stamped with the German stamp. The only hope was to let him think
+we were Belgians. Had they known we were English I don't think anything
+would have saved us from being shot as spies. The officer had us
+searched, but found nothing contraband on us and let us go, though he
+did not seem quite satisfied. He really thought he had found something
+suspicious when he spied in my basket a small metal case. It contained
+nothing more compromising, however, than a piece of Vinolia soap. We had
+not the least idea which way to go when we were released, and went wrong
+first, and had to come back through that horrible camp again. Seven
+times we were stopped and searched, and each time I pointed to my German
+brassard and produced my Belgian Carte d'Identité. Sister did not speak
+French or German, but she was very good and did not lose her head, or
+give us away by speaking English to me. And at last--it seemed hours to
+us--we got safely past the last sentry. Footsore and weary, but very
+thankful, we trudged back to Brussels.
+
+But that was not quite the end of our adventure, for just as we were
+getting into Brussels an officer galloped after us, and dismounted as
+soon as he got near us. He began asking in broken French the most
+searching questions as to our movements. I could not keep it up and had
+to tell him that we were English. He really nearly fell down with
+surprise, and wanted to know, naturally enough, what we were doing
+there. I told him the exact truth--how we had started out for Mâlines,
+were unable to get there and so were returning to Brussels. "But," he
+said at once, "you are not on the Mâlines road." He had us there, but I
+explained that we had rested at a convent and that the nuns had shown us
+a short cut, and that we had got on to the wrong road quite by mistake.
+He asked a thousand questions, and wanted the whole history of our lives
+from babyhood up. Eventually I satisfied him apparently, for he saluted,
+and said in English as good as mine, "Truly the English are a wonderful
+nation," mounted his horse and rode away.
+
+I did not try any more excursions to Tirlemont after that, but heard
+later on that my nurse was safe and in good hands.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+My business in Brussels was now finished, and I wanted to return to my
+hospital at M. The German authorities met my request with a blank
+refusal. I was not at all prepared for this. I had only come in for two
+days and had left all my luggage behind me. Also one cannot leave one's
+hospital in this kind of way without a word of explanation to anyone. I
+could not go without permission, and it was more than sixty kilometres,
+too far to walk. I kept on asking, and waited and waited, hoping from
+day to day to get permission to return.
+
+Instead of that came an order that every private ambulance and hospital
+in Brussels was to be closed at once, and that no wounded at all were to
+be nursed by the English Sisters. The doctor and several of the Sisters
+belonging to the Red Cross unit were imprisoned for twenty-four hours
+under suspicion of being spies. Things could not go on like this much
+longer. What I wanted to do was to send all my nurses back to England if
+it could be arranged, and return myself to my work at M. till it was
+finished. We were certainly not wanted in Brussels. The morning that the
+edict to close the hospitals had been issued, I saw about 200 German Red
+Cross Sisters arriving at the Gare du Nord.
+
+I am a member of the International Council of Nurses, and our last big
+congress was held in Germany. I thus became acquainted with a good many
+of the German Sisters, and wondered what the etiquette would be if I
+should meet some of them now in Brussels. But I never saw any I knew.
+
+After the Red Cross doctor with his Sisters had been released, he went
+to the German authorities and asked in the name of us all what they
+proposed doing with us. As they would no longer allow us to follow our
+profession, we could not remain in Brussels. The answer was rather
+surprising as they said they intended sending the whole lot of us to
+Liège. That was not pleasant news. Liège was rather uncomfortably near
+Germany, and as we were not being sent to work there it sounded
+remarkably like being imprisoned. Every one who could exerted themselves
+on our behalf; the American Consul in particular went over and over
+again to vainly try to get the commandant to change his mind. We were to
+start on Monday morning, and on Sunday at midday the order still stood.
+But at four o'clock that afternoon we got a message to say that our
+gracious masters had changed our sentence, and that we were to go to
+England when it suited their pleasure to send us. But this did not suit
+_my_ pleasure at all. Twenty-six nurses had been entrusted to my care by
+the St. John's Committee, four were still at M., and one at Tirlemont,
+and I did not mean to quit Belgian soil if I could help it, leaving five
+of them behind. So I took everything very quietly, meaning to stay
+behind at the last minute, and change into civilian dress, which I took
+care to provide myself with.
+
+Then began a long period of waiting. Not one of my nurses was working,
+though there were a great many wounded in Brussels, and we knew that
+they were short-handed. There was nothing to do but to walk about the
+streets and read the new _affiches_, or proclamations, which were put up
+almost every day, one side in French, the other side in German, so that
+all who listed might read. They were of two kinds. One purported to give
+the news, which was invariably of important German successes and
+victories. The other kind were orders and instructions for the behaviour
+of the inhabitants of Brussels. It was possible at that time to buy
+small penny reprints of all the proclamations issued since the German
+occupation. They were not sold openly as the Germans were said to forbid
+their sale, but after all they could hardly punish people for reissuing
+what they themselves had published. Unfortunately I afterwards lost my
+little books of proclamations, but can reproduce a translation of a
+characteristic one that appeared on October 5. The italics are mine.
+
+     BRUSSELS: October 5, 1914.
+
+     During the evening of September 25 the railway line and the
+     telegraph wires were destroyed on the line Lovenjoul-Vertryck. In
+     consequence of this, these two places have had to render an account
+     of this, and had to give hostages on the morning of September 30.
+     In future, the localities nearest to the place where similar acts
+     take place _will be punished without pity--it matters little
+     whether the inhabitants are guilty or not_. For this purpose
+     hostages have been taken from all localities near the railway line
+     thus menaced, and at the first attempt to destroy either the
+     railway line or telephone or telegraph, _the hostages will be
+     immediately shot_. Further, all the troops charged with the duty of
+     guarding the railway have been ordered _to shoot any person with a
+     suspicious manner_ who approaches the line or telegraph or
+     telephone wires.
+
+     VON DER GOLST.
+
+And Von der Golst was recalled from Brussels later on because he was too
+lenient!
+
+There is no reparation the Germans can ever make for iniquities of this
+kind--and they cannot deny these things as they have others, for they
+stand condemned out of their own mouths. Their own proclamations are
+quite enough evidence to judge them on.
+
+One cannot help wondering what the German standard of right and wrong
+really is, because their private acts as well as their public ones have
+been so unworthy of a great nation. Some Belgian acquaintances of mine
+who had a large chateau in the country told me that such stealing among
+officers as took place was unheard of in any war before between
+civilized countries. The men had little opportunity of doing so, but the
+officers sent whole wagon-loads of things back to Germany with their
+name on. My friends said naturally they expected them to take food and
+wine and even a change of clothing, but in their own home the German
+officers quartered there had taken the very carpets off the floor and
+the chandeliers from the ceiling, and old carved cupboards that had been
+in the family for generations, and sent them back to Germany. They all
+begged me to make these facts public when I got back to England. Writing
+letters was useless as they never got through. Other Belgian friends
+told me of the theft of silver, jewellery, and even women's
+undergarments.
+
+It was not etiquette in Brussels to watch the Germans, and particularly
+the officers. One could not speak about them in public, spies were
+everywhere, and one would be arrested at once at the first indiscreet
+word--but no one could be forced to look at them--and the habit was to
+ignore them altogether, to avert one's head, or shut one's eyes, or in
+extreme cases to turn one's back on them, and this hurt their feelings
+more than anything else could do. They _could_ not believe apparently
+that Belgian women did not enjoy the sight of a beautiful officer in
+full dress--as much as German women would do.
+
+All English papers were very strictly forbidden, but a few got in
+nevertheless by runners from Ostend. At the beginning of the German
+occupation the _Times_ could be obtained for a franc. Later it rose to 3
+francs then 5, then 9, then 15 francs. Then with a sudden leap it
+reached 23 francs on one day. That was the high-water mark, for it came
+down after that. The _Times_ was too expensive for the likes of me. I
+used to content myself with the _Flandres Libérale_, a half-penny paper
+published then in Ghent and sold in Brussels for a franc or more
+according to the difficulty in getting it in. These papers used to be
+wrapped up very tight and small and smuggled into Brussels in a basket
+of fruit or a cart full of dirty washing. They could not of course be
+bought in the shops, and the Germans kept a very keen look-out for them.
+We used to get them nevertheless almost every day in spite of them.
+
+The mode of procedure was this: When it was getting dusk you sauntered
+out to take a turn in the fresh air. You strolled through a certain
+square where there were men selling picture post-cards, etc. You
+selected a likely looking man and went up and looked over his cards,
+saying under your breath "_Journal Anglais?_" or "_Flandres Libérale?_"
+which ever it happened to be. Generally you were right, but occasionally
+the man looked at you with a blank stare and you knew you had made a bad
+shot, and if perchance he had happened to be a spy, your lot would not
+have been a happy one. But usually you received a whispered "Oui,
+madame," in reply, and then you loudly asked the way to somewhere, and
+the man would conduct you up a side street, pointing the way with his
+finger. When no one was looking he slipped a tiny folded parcel into
+your hand, you slipped a coin into his, and the ceremony was over. But
+it was not safe to read your treasure at a front window or anywhere
+where you might be overlooked.
+
+Sometimes these newspaper-sellers grew bold and transacted this business
+too openly and then there was trouble. One evening some of the nurses
+were at Benediction at the Carmelite Church, when a wretched newspaper
+lad rushed into the church and hid himself in a Confessional. He was
+followed by four or five German soldiers. They stopped the service and
+forbade any of the congregation to leave, and searched the church till
+they found the white and trembling boy, and dragged him off to his fate.
+We heard afterwards that a German spy had come up and asked him in
+French if he had a paper, and the boy was probably new at the game and
+fell into the trap.
+
+About this time the Germans were particularly busy in Brussels. A great
+many new troops were brought in, amongst them several Austrian regiments
+and a great many naval officers and men. It was quite plain that some
+big undertaking was planned. Then one day we saw the famous heavy guns
+going out of the city along the Antwerp road. I had heard them last at
+Maubeuge, now I was to hear them again. Night and day reinforcements of
+soldiers poured into Brussels at the Gare du Nord, and poured out at the
+Antwerp Gate. No one whatever was permitted to pass to leave the city,
+the trams were all stopped at the barriers, and aeroplanes were
+constantly hovering above the city like huge birds of prey.
+
+On Sunday, September 27, we woke to hear cannon booming and the house
+shaking with each concussion. The Germans had begun bombarding the forts
+which lay between Brussels and Antwerp. Looking from the heights of
+Brussels with a good glass, one could see shells bursting near Waelheim
+and Wavre St. Catherine. The Belgians were absolutely convinced that
+Antwerp was impregnable, and as we had heard that large masses of
+English troops had been landed there, we hoped very much that this would
+be the turning-point of the war, and that the Germans might be driven
+back out of the country.
+
+On Wednesday, September 30, the sounds of cannon grew more distant, and
+we heard that Wavre St. Catherine had been taken. The Belgians were
+still confident, but it seems certain that the Germans were convinced
+that nothing could withstand their big guns, for they made every
+preparation to settle down in Brussels for the winter. They announced
+that from October 1 Brussels would be considered as part of German
+territory, and that they intended to re-establish the local postal
+service from that date. They reckoned without their host there, for the
+Brussels postmen refused to a man to take service under them, so the
+arrangement collapsed. They did re-establish postal communication
+between Brussels and Germany, and issued a special set of four stamps.
+They were the ordinary German stamps of 3, 5, 10 and 20 pfennig, and
+were surcharged in black "Belgien 3, 5, 10 and 20 centimes."
+
+About this time, too, they took M. Max, the Burgomaster, off to Liège as
+prisoner, on the pretext that Brussels had not yet paid the enormous
+indemnity demanded of it. He held the people in the hollow of his hand,
+and the Brussels authorities very much feared a rising when he was taken
+off. But the Echevins, or College of Sheriffs, rose to the occasion,
+divided his work between them, and formed a local police composed of
+some of the most notable citizens of the town. They were on duty all day
+and night and divided the work into four-hour shifts, and did splendid
+work in warning the people against disorderly acts and preventing
+disturbances. It is not difficult to guess what would have happened if
+these patriotic citizens had not acted in this way--there would most
+certainly have been a rising among the people, and the German reprisals
+would have been terrible. As it was a German soldier who was swaggering
+alone down the Rue Basse was torn in pieces by the angry crowd, but for
+some reason this outbreak was hushed up by the German authorities.
+
+
+
+
+V
+
+A MEMORABLE JOURNEY
+
+
+The authorities seemed to be far too busy to trouble themselves about
+our affairs, and we could get no news as to what was going to happen to
+us. There was a good deal of typhoid fever in Brussels, and I thought I
+would employ this waiting time in getting inoculated against it, as I
+had not had time to do so before leaving England.
+
+This operation was performed every Saturday by a doctor at the Hôpital
+St. Pierre, so on Saturday, October 3, I repaired there to take my turn
+with the others. The prick was nothing, and it never occurred to me that
+I should take badly, having had, I believe, typhoid when a child. But I
+soon began to feel waves of hot and cold, then a violent headache came
+on, and I was forced to go to bed with a very painful arm and a high
+temperature. I tossed about all night, and the next morning I was worse
+rather than better. At midday I received a message that every English
+Sister and doctor in Brussels was to leave for England the next day, via
+Holland, in a special train that had been chartered by some Americans
+and accompanied by the American Consul. How I rejoiced at my fever, for
+now I had a legitimate excuse for staying behind, for except at the
+point of the sword I did not mean to leave Belgium while I still had
+nurses there who might be in danger. The heads of all the various
+parties were requested to let their nurses know that they must be at the
+station the next day at 2 P. M. Several of my nurses were
+lodging in the house I was in, and I sent a message to them and to all
+the others that they must be ready at the appointed place and time. I
+also let a trusted few know that I did not mean to go myself, and gave
+them letters and messages for England.
+
+The next morning I was still not able to get up, but several of my
+people came in to say good-bye to me in bed, and I wished them good luck
+and a safe passage back to England. By 1 P. M. they were all
+gone, and a great peace fell over the house. I struggled out of bed,
+put all traces of uniform away, and got out my civilian dress. I was no
+longer an official, but a private person out in Belgium on my own
+account, and intended to walk to Charleroi by short stages as soon as I
+was able. I returned to bed, and at five o'clock I was half asleep, half
+picturing my flock on their way to England, when there was a great
+clamour and clatter, and half a dozen of them burst into my room. They
+were all back once more!
+
+They told me they had gone down to the station as they were told, and
+found the special train for Americans going off to the Dutch frontier.
+Their names were all read out, but they were not allowed to get into the
+train, and were told they were not going that day after all. The German
+officials present would give no reason for the change, and were
+extremely rude to the nurses. They told me my name had been read out
+amongst the others. They had been asked why I was not there, and had
+replied that I was ill in bed.
+
+Just then a letter arrived marked "Urgent," and in it was an order that
+I should be at the station at 12 P. M. the next day _without
+fail_, accompanied by my nurses. I was very sad that they had discovered
+I did not want to go, because I knew now that they would leave no stone
+unturned to make me, but I determined to resist to the last moment and
+not go if I could help it. So I sent back a message to the Head Doctor
+of the Red Cross unit, asking him to convey to the German authorities
+the fact that I was ill in bed and could not travel the next day. Back
+came a message to say that they regretted to hear I was ill, and that I
+should be transferred at once to a German hospital and be attended by a
+German doctor. That, of course, was no good at all--I should then
+probably have been a German prisoner till the end of the war, and not
+have been the slightest use to anyone.
+
+I very reluctantly gave in and said I would go. We were told that we
+should be safely conducted as far as the Dutch frontier, and so I
+determined to get across to Antwerp if I could from there and work my
+way back to Brussels in private clothes.
+
+I scrambled up somehow the next day, and found a very large party
+assembled outside the Gare du Nord, as every single English nurse and
+doctor in Brussels was to be expelled. There must have been fifteen or
+twenty doctors and dressers altogether, and more than a hundred Sisters
+and nurses.
+
+A squad of German soldiers were lined up outside the station, and two
+officers guarded the entrance. They had a list of our names, and as each
+name was read out, we were passed into the station, where a long, black
+troop-train composed of third-class carriages was waiting for us. The
+front wagons were, I believe, full of either wounded or prisoners, as
+only a few carriages were reserved for us. However, we crowded in, eight
+of us in a carriage meant for six, and found, greatly to our surprise,
+that there were two soldiers with loaded rifles sitting at the window in
+each compartment. There was nothing to be said, we were entirely in
+their hands, and after all the Dutch frontier was not so very far off.
+
+The soldiers had had orders to sit at the two windows and prevent us
+seeing out, but our two guards were exceedingly nice men, not Prussians
+but Danish Germans from Schleswig-Holstein, who did not at all enjoy the
+job they had been put to, so our windows were not shut nor our blinds
+down as those in some of the other carriages were.
+
+A whistle sounded, and we were off. We went very very slowly, and waited
+an interminable time at each station. When evening came on we had only
+arrived as far as Louvain, and were interested to see two Zeppelins
+looming clear and black against the sunset sky, in the Mâlines direction
+flying towards Antwerp. It was not too dark to see the fearful
+destruction that had been dealt out to this famous Catholic University,
+only built and endowed during the last eighty years by great and heroic
+sacrifices on the part of both clergy and people. The two German
+soldiers in our carriage were themselves ashamed when they saw from the
+window the crumbling ruins and burnt-out buildings which are all that
+remain of Louvain now. One of them muttered: "If only the people had not
+fired at the soldiers, this would never have happened." Since he felt
+inclined to discuss the matter, one of us quoted the clause from The
+Hague Convention of 1907 which was signed by Germany:
+
+     The territory of neutral states is inviolable.
+
+     The fact of a neutral Power resisting even by force, attempts to
+     violate its neutrality cannot be regarded as a hostile act.
+
+This was beyond him, but he reiterated: "No civilians have any right to
+fire at soldiers." And all the time they were killing civilians by bombs
+thrown on open cities. So deep has the sanctity of the army sunk into
+the German heart.
+
+Night drew on, and one after another dropped into an uneasy sleep. But
+we were squeezed so tight, and the wooden third-class carriages were so
+hard, that it was almost more uncomfortable to be asleep than to be
+awake. We persuaded the two German soldiers to sit together as that made
+a little more room, and they soon went to sleep on each other's
+shoulders, their rifles between their knees. I was still feverish and
+seedy and could not sleep, but watched the beautiful starry sky, and
+meditated upon many things. We passed through Tirlemont, and I thought
+of my poor nurse and wished I could get out and see what she was doing.
+Then I began to be rather puzzled by the way we were going. I knew this
+line pretty well, but could not make out where we were. About three
+o'clock in the morning I saw great forts on a hill sending out powerful
+search-lights. I knew I could not be mistaken, this must be Liège. And
+then we drew up in the great busy station, and I saw that it was indeed
+Liège. So we were on our way to Germany after all, and not to the Dutch
+frontier as we had been promised.
+
+Next morning this was quite apparent, for we passed through Verviers and
+then Herbesthal the frontier town. At the latter place the doors of all
+our carriages were thrown violently open, and a Prussian officer shouted
+in a raucous voice "Heraus." Few of our party understood German, and
+they did not get out quickly enough to please his lordship, for he
+bellowed to the soldiers: "Push those women out of the train if they
+don't go quicker." Our things were thrown out after us as we scrambled
+out on to the platform, while two officers walked up and down having
+every bag and portmanteau turned out for their inspection. All
+scissors, surgical instruments and other useful articles were taken away
+from the Sisters, who protested in vain against this unfair treatment.
+The soldiers belonging to our carriage, seeing this, tumbled all our
+possessions back into the carriage, pretending that they had been
+examined--for we had become fast friends since we had shared our scanty
+stock of food and chocolate together. I was personally very thankful not
+to have my belongings looked at too closely, for I had several things I
+did not at all want to part with; one was my camera, which was sewn up
+inside my travelling cushion, a little diary that I had kept in Belgium,
+and a sealed letter that had been given me as we stood outside the
+station at Brussels by a lady who implored me to take it to England and
+post it for her there, as it was to her husband in Petrograd, who had
+had no news of her since the war began. I had this in an inside secret
+pocket, and very much hoped I should get it through successfully.
+
+We were ordered into the train again in the same polite manner that we
+had been ordered out. Our two soldiers were much upset by the treatment
+we had received. One had tears in his eyes when he told us how sorry he
+was, for he had the funny old-fashioned idea that Red Cross Sisters on
+active service should be treated with respect--even if they were
+English. He then told us that their orders were to accompany us to
+Cologne; he did not know what was going to happen to us after that. So
+Germany was to be our destination after all.
+
+At the next station we stopped for a long time, and then the doors of
+the carriages were opened and we were each given a bowl of soup. It was
+very good and thick, and we christened it "hoosh" with remembrance of
+Scott's rib-sticking compound in the Antarctic; and there was plenty of
+it, so we providently filled up a travelling kettle with it for the
+evening meal. Then we went on again and crawled through that
+interminable day over the piece of line between Herbesthal and Cologne.
+Evening came, and we thought of the "hoosh," but when it came to the
+point no one could look at it, and we threw it out of the window. A
+horrible yellow scum had settled on the top of it and clung to the
+sides, so that it spoilt the kettle for making tea--and we _were_ so
+thirsty.
+
+At last, late at night, we saw the lights of Cologne. We had been
+thirty-two hours doing a journey that ordinarily takes six or seven. We
+were ordered out of the train when we reached the station, and were
+marched along between two rows of soldiers to a waiting-room. No porters
+were allowed to help us, so we trailed all along those underground
+corridors at Cologne station with our own luggage. Fortunately it was so
+late that there were not many people about. We were allowed to have a
+meal here, and could order anything we liked. Some coffee was a great
+comfort, and we were able to buy rolls and fruit for the journey.
+
+An incident happened here that made my blood boil, but nothing could be
+done, so we had to set our teeth and bear it. A waiter came in smiling
+familiarly, with a bundle of papers under his arm, and put one of these
+illustrated weeklies beside each plate. On the front page was a horrible
+caricature of England--so grossly indecent that it makes me hot now
+even to think of it. As soon as I saw what they were, I went round to
+each place, gathered them up and put them aside.
+
+As we waited I wondered what was to be the next step, and could not help
+thinking of my last visit to Cologne two years before. Then I went as a
+delegate to a very large Congress and Health Exhibition, when we were
+the honoured guests of the German National Council of Nurses. Then we
+were fêted by the Municipality of Cologne--given a reception at the
+Botanical Gardens, a free pass to all the sights of Cologne, a concert,
+tableaux, a banquet, I don't know what more. Now I was a prisoner
+heavily guarded, weary, dirty, humiliated in the very city that had done
+us so much honour.
+
+After about three hours' wait we were ordered into another train,
+mercifully for our poor bones rather a more comfortable one this time,
+with plenty of room, and we went on our way, over the Rhine, looking
+back at Cologne Cathedral, on past Essen and Dusseldorf, into the very
+heart of Germany. It was rather an original idea--this trip through the
+enemy's country in the middle of the war!
+
+In the morning we had a nice surprise. We arrived at Münster, and found
+breakfast awaiting us. The Red Cross ladies of that town kindly provide
+meals for all prisoners and wounded soldiers passing through. They
+seemed very surprised when all we English people turned up, but they
+were very kind in waiting on us, and after breakfast we got what was
+better than anything in the shape of a good wash. We had a long wait at
+Münster so there was no hurry, and we all got our turn under the
+stand-pipe and tap that stood in the station. Then on and on and on, and
+it seemed that we had always been in the train, till at last, late one
+evening, we arrived at Hamburg.
+
+We were ordered out of the train here for a meal, and this was by far
+the most unpleasant time we had. Evidently the news of our arrival had
+preceded us, and a whole crowd of Hamburgers were at the station waiting
+to see us emerge from the train.
+
+They were not allowed on to the platform, but lined the outside of the
+railing all the way down, laughing at us, spitting, hissing, jeering,
+and making insulting remarks. And though we were English we had to take
+it lying down. At the first indiscreet word from any of us they would
+have certainly taken off the men of our party to prison, though they
+would have probably done nothing more to us women than to delay our
+journey. There were about fifteen doctors and dressers with us, and we
+were naturally much more afraid for their safety than for our own. I
+think I shall never forget walking down that platform at Hamburg. We
+were hurried into a waiting-room, the door of which was guarded by two
+soldiers, and a meal of bread and cold meat ordered for us. The German
+waiters evidently much resented being asked to serve us, for they nearly
+threw the food at us.
+
+Then something happened that made up for everything. A young German
+officer came up and asked in very good English if there was anything he
+could do for us in any way.
+
+"I beg your pardon for speaking to you," he said, "but I received so
+much kindness from every one when I was in England, that it would be the
+greatest pleasure I could have if I could help you at all." And he
+started by giving the waiter the biggest blowing-up he had ever had in
+his life, for which I could have hugged him. He then went off and came
+back in a few minutes with fruit and chocolate and everything he could
+find for us to take with us. He was a very bright and shining star in a
+dark place. Then along the platform past that horrible, jeering crowd
+and into the train once more.
+
+It was night, and most of us were asleep when the train stopped with a
+jerk, the doors of the train were thrown open, and the fresh, salty
+smell of the sea met our nostrils. Some of the party, hardly awake,
+thought they had to get out, and began to descend, but such volumes of
+wrath met their attempt that they hastily got in again. Every window in
+the train was shut, every blind pulled down and curtains closed, and a
+soldier with loaded rifle stood at each window. We were crossing the
+Kiel Canal. There were a great many people in England who would have
+given anything to have been in our shoes just then. But we saw
+absolutely nothing.
+
+They forgot to give us any breakfast that day, but we did not mind.
+Every mile now, along this flat, marshy country, was a mile nearer
+Denmark and freedom, and our spirits rose higher every moment. Though
+why the Germans should take us all through Germany and Denmark, when
+they could just as easily have dropped us on the Dutch frontier, I
+cannot even now imagine.
+
+Early that afternoon we arrived at Vendrup, the Danish frontier, and the
+soldiers and the train that had brought us all the way from Cologne went
+back to Germany. It was difficult to realize that we were free once
+more, after two months of being prisoners with no news of home, tied
+down to a thousand tiresome regulations, and having witnessed terrible
+sights that none of us will ever forget. Strange and delightful it was
+to be able to send a telegram to England once more and to buy a paper;
+wonderful to see the friendly, smiling faces all round us. It felt
+almost like getting home again.
+
+
+
+
+VI
+
+A PEACEFUL INTERLUDE
+
+
+Late that night we arrived in Copenhagen. The kindness we received there
+surpasses all imagination. The Danish people opened their arms in
+welcome and gave us of their best with both hands. Every one went out of
+their way to be good to us, from the manager of the delightful Hotel
+Cosmopolite, where we were staying, to the utter strangers who sent us
+flowers, fruit, sweets, illustrated papers and invitations to every
+possible meal in such profusion.
+
+Miss Jessen, the secretary of the Danish Council of Nurses, called at
+once and arranged a most delightful programme for every day of our stay
+in Copenhagen, bringing us invitations to see over the most important
+hospitals, and the Finsen Light Institute, the old Guildhall, the
+picture gallery, and anything else any of us wanted to see.
+
+[Illustration: MAP OF OUR NORTHERN JOURNEY]
+
+The president, Madame Tscherning, and the members of the same council,
+arranged a most delightful afternoon reception for us at the Palace
+Hotel, at which Dr. Norman Hansen welcomed us in the name of Denmark,
+and read us a poem which he had written in our honour.
+
+     TO THE BRITISH SURGEONS AND NURSES PASSING COPENHAGEN ON THEIR WAY
+     FROM BELGIUM
+
+    Silent, we bid you welcome, in silence you answer'd our greeting
+    Because our lips must be closed, and your teeth are set
+                              Against the gale.
+    Our mouths are mute, our minds are open--
+    We shall greet you farewell in silence;
+    Sowers of good-will on fields where hate is sown--
+                              Fare ye well.
+
+     C. NORMAN HANSEN, M.D.
+
+That evening at dinner we all found a beautiful bunch of violets tied up
+with the Danish colours on our plates, and a pretty Danish medal with
+the inscription "Our God--our Land--our Honour" which had been issued to
+raise a fund for the Danish Red Cross Society. This was a little
+surprise for us on the part of the manager of the hotel, who, like
+every one else, simply overwhelmed us with kindness. One simply felt
+dreadfully ashamed of oneself for not having done more to deserve all
+this.
+
+On the first day of our arrival in Denmark came the news of the downfall
+of Antwerp, and through all these delightful invitations and receptions
+there was a feeling in my heart that I was not free yet to enjoy myself.
+The downfall of Antwerp seemed almost like a personal loss. We had been
+so close to it, had shared our Belgian friends' hopes and fears, had
+watched the big German howitzers going out on the Antwerp road, had
+heard the bombardment of the forts, on our long journey through Belgium
+had seen the enormous reinforcements being sent up to take it. And now
+it had gone, and the Germans were marching on Ostend. What was the end
+of all this going to be? We _must_ win in the end--but they are so
+strong and well organized--so _dreadfully_ strong.
+
+In that same paper I read an account from a Russian correspondent,
+telling of the distress in Poland, which they described as the "Belgium
+of Russia." It stated that the news just then was not good; the Germans
+were approaching Warsaw, and that the people in many of the villages
+were almost starving, as the Germans had eaten up almost everything.
+(How well I could believe that!) The paper went on to say that the
+troops were suffering severely from cholera and from typhoid fever and
+that there was a great scarcity of trained nurses. That gave me the clue
+for which I was unconsciously seeking--we had been turned out of
+Belgium, and now, perhaps, our work was to be in that other Belgium of
+Russia.
+
+Three other Sisters wished to join me, and I telegraphed to St. John's
+to ask permission to offer our services to the Russian Red Cross. The
+answer was delayed, and as we could not go to Russia without permission
+from headquarters, we most reluctantly prepared to go back to England
+with all the others.
+
+On the last morning our luggage, labelled Christiania-Bergen-Newcastle,
+had already gone down to the station when the expected telegram arrived:
+"You and three Sisters named may volunteer Russian Red Cross." We flew
+down to the station and by dint of many tips and great exertions we got
+our luggage out again. I should have been sorry to have lost my little
+all for the second time.
+
+This permission to serve with the Russian Red Cross was confirmed later
+by a most kind letter from Sir Claude Macdonald, chairman of the St.
+John's Committee, so we felt quite happy about our enterprise.
+
+We could not start for Russia for another ten days. We were to be
+inoculated against cholera for one thing, and then there were passports
+and visés to get and arrangements for the journey to be made. The
+ordinary route was by Abö, Stockholm and Helsingfors, but we were very
+strongly advised not to go this way, first, because of the possibility
+of mines in the Baltic, and, secondly, because a steamer, recently
+crossing that way, had been actually boarded, and some English people
+taken off by the Germans. And we had no desire to be caught a second
+time.
+
+So it was decided to my great joy that we should travel all the way
+round by land, through Sweden, through a little bit of Lapland, just
+touching the Arctic Circle, through Finland and so to Petrograd. The
+thought of the places we had to go through thrilled me to the
+core--Karungi, Haparanda, Lapptrask, Torneo--the very names are as
+honey to the lips.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+One might have expected that all the kindness and hospitality would
+cease on the departure of the majority of the party, but it was not so.
+Invitations of all kinds were showered on us. Lunches were the chief
+form of entertainment and very interesting and delightful they were.
+There was a lunch at the British Legation, one at the French Legation,
+one at the Belgian Legation where the minister was so pathetically glad
+of any crumbs of news of his beloved country; a delightful dinner to
+meet Prince Gustav of Denmark, an invitation to meet Princess Mary of
+Greece, another lunch with Madame Tscherning, the president of the
+Danish Council of Nurses, and the "Florence Nightingale of Denmark."
+Altogether we should have been thoroughly spoilt if it had lasted any
+longer! One of the most delightful invitations was to stay at Vidbek for
+the remainder of our time, a dear little seaside place with beautiful
+woods, just then in their full glory of autumnal colouring. It was
+within easy reach of Copenhagen and we went in almost every day, for
+one reason or another, and grew very fond of the beautiful old city.
+
+The time came for us to say good-bye. I was very sorry indeed to leave
+dear little Denmark where we had had such a warm welcome. Denmark is, of
+course, officially, absolutely neutral, but she cannot forget the ties
+of blood and friendship that bind the two island countries together.
+They are indeed a splendid people to be kin to, tall and fair and
+strong, as becomes an ancient race of sea-kings. I only hope that it may
+be my good fortune, some day, to be able to repay in some small measure
+all the wealth of kindness so freely poured out for us.
+
+On Saturday, October 24, at 7 P. M. we started for Lapland! Many
+of our very kind friends came down to the station to give us a good
+send-off and with last presents of flowers, fruit, chocolates and
+papers. We crossed first to Malmö on the ferry, which took about an hour
+and a half. It was very calm and clear, and we watched the little
+twinkling lights of Denmark gradually disappear and the lights of Sweden
+gradually emerge in exchange. At Malmö there was a customs examination
+which was not very severe, as our things were all marked with a huge Red
+Cross, and then we got into a funny little horse tram that conveyed us
+to the station.
+
+When morning broke we were speeding along towards Stockholm. The country
+was very different from Denmark, much wilder, with rocks and trees and
+sand and an occasional glimpse of lake. At that time Sweden was supposed
+to bear little good-will towards England, and certainly our reception in
+that land was distinctly a chilly one. We drove on arrival to a hotel
+which had been recommended to us and asked the concierge if there were
+rooms. He said there were, so we had our luggage taken down and
+dismissed the cab. The concierge then looked at us suspiciously, and
+said, "You are English?" "Yes, we are English." He then went and
+confabbed for some minutes with the manageress, and returned. "There are
+people still in the rooms, they will not be ready for twenty minutes."
+"Then we will have breakfast now and go to our rooms after." Another
+long conversation with the manageress, and then he returned again.
+"There are no rooms." "But you said there were rooms." "There are no
+rooms." Evidently there were none for English travellers anyway, so we
+went to another hotel opposite the station, where they were civil, but
+no more. We had to stay in Stockholm twenty-four hours and simply hated
+it. I had heard much of this "Venice of the North," but the physical
+atmosphere was as chilly and unfriendly as the mental one.
+
+The recollection stamped on my memory is of a grey, cheerless town where
+it rained hard almost the whole time, and a bitter wind blowing over the
+quays which moaned and sobbed like a lost banshee.
+
+I was asked to luncheon at the British Legation, and this proved a very
+fortunate occurrence for us all, as the minister was so kind as to go to
+great trouble in getting us a special permit from the Swedish Foreign
+Office to sleep at Boden. Boden is a fortified frontier town and no
+foreigners are, as a rule, allowed to stay the night there, but have to
+go on to Lulea, and return to Boden the next morning. We started off on
+the next lap of our northern journey that evening, and again through
+the minister's kind intervention were lucky in getting a carriage to
+ourselves in a very full train, and arrived twenty-four hours later at
+Boden.
+
+It was extraordinarily interesting to sleep in that little shanty at
+Boden, partly, no doubt, because it was not ordinarily allowed. The
+forbidden has always charms. It was the most glorious starlight night I
+have ever seen, but bitterly cold, with the thermometer ten degrees
+below zero, and everything sparkling with hoar frost. It was here we
+nearly lost a bishop. A rather pompous Anglican bishop had been
+travelling in the same train from Stockholm, and hearing that we
+insignificant females had been permitted to sleep at Boden, he did not
+see why he should not do the same and save himself the tiresome journey
+to Lulea and back. So in spite of all remonstrances he insisted on
+alighting at Boden, and with the whole force of his ecclesiastical
+authority announced his intention of staying there. However, it was not
+allowed after all, and he missed the train, and while we were
+comfortably having our supper in the little inn, we saw the poor bishop
+and his chaplain being driven off to Lulea. They turned up again next
+morning, but so late that we were afraid they had got lost on the way
+the night before.
+
+All the next morning we went through the same kind of country, past
+innumerable frozen lakelets, and copses of stubby pines and silver
+birches, till we arrived at Karungi where the railway ends. We made
+friends with a most delightful man, who was so good in helping us all
+the way through that we christened him St. Raphael, the patron saint of
+travellers. He was a fur trader from Finland, and had immense stores of
+information about the land and the queer beasts that live in it. He was
+a sociable soul, but lived in such out-of-the-way places that he seldom
+saw anyone to talk to except the peasants, and it was a great treat, he
+said, to meet some of his fellow-countrymen, and his satisfaction knew
+no bounds when he heard that one of us hailed from Lancashire, near his
+old home.
+
+From Karungi we had to drive to Haparanda. Our carriage was already
+booked by telegram, but a very irate gentleman from Port Said got into
+it with his family and declined to get out, using such dreadful
+language that I wondered the snow did not begin to sizzle. We did not
+want to have a scene there, so when "St. Raphael" said if we would wait
+till the evening he would take us over by starlight, we graciously let
+the dusky gentleman with the bad temper keep our carriage.
+
+We went in the meantime to the little wooden inn and ate largely of
+strange dishes, dried reindeer flesh, smoked strips of salmon, lax, I
+think it is called, served with a curious sweet sauce, and drank many
+glasses of tea. At 9 P. M. behold an open motor-car arrived to
+take us the thirty miles' drive to Haparanda. It seemed absolutely
+absurd to see a motor-car up there on the edge of the Arctic Circle,
+where there was not even a proper road. There were several reindeer
+sleighs about, and I felt that one of those would have been much more in
+keeping. The drivers look most attractive, they wear very gay reindeer
+leggings, big sheep-skin coats and wild-looking wolf-skin caps.
+
+The frozen track was so uneven that we rocked from side to side, and
+were thrown violently about in the car, like little kernels in a very
+large nut. But it was a wonderful night all the same, the air was thin
+and intoxicating like champagne, and the stars up in these northern
+latitudes more dazzlingly brilliant than anything I have seen before. We
+had to get out at Haparanda and walk over the long bridge which led to
+Torneo, where the Finnish Custom House was, and where our luggage and
+passports had to be examined.
+
+We arrived there very cheerful and well pleased with ourselves, to find
+all our old travelling companions waiting till the Custom House was
+open; the bishop and his party; the bad-tempered man and his family; a
+Russian and a Chinese student who were travelling together, and some
+others. They had been waiting in the cold for hours, and had not had
+their papers or luggage examined yet, so we had had the best of it after
+all.
+
+And we scored yet once more, for "St. Raphael," who spoke fluent
+Finnish, at once secured the only cart to take our things over the ferry
+to the railway station about half a mile away.
+
+It was borne in upon me during this journey what an immense country
+Russia is. From Torneo to Petrograd does not look far on the map, but
+we left Torneo on Wednesday night, and did not arrive in Petrograd till
+12.30 A. M. on Saturday, about fifty-two hours' hard travelling
+to cover this little track--a narrow thread, almost lost the immensity
+of this great Empire.
+
+Petrograd is not one of those cities whose charms steal upon you
+unawares. It is immense, insistent, arresting, almost thrusting itself
+on your imagination. It is a city for giants to dwell in, everything is
+on such an enormous scale, dealt out in such careless profusion. The
+river, first of all, is immense; the palaces grandiose, the very blocks
+of which they are fashioned seem to have been hewn by Titans. The names
+are full of romance and mystery. The fortress of St. Peter and St. Paul,
+for instance, how it brings back a certain red and gold book of one's
+youth, full of innocent prisoners in clanking chains confined in fetid
+underground dungeons. It seemed incredible to really behold its slender,
+golden minarets on the other side of the Neva. But this was no time for
+sight-seeing, we were all very anxious to get to work at once. So my
+first excursion in Petrograd was to the Central Bureau of the Red
+Cross.
+
+The director of the Red Cross received me most kindly and promised that
+we should have work very soon. He suggested that in the meantime we
+should go and stay in a Russian Community of Sisters, who had a hospital
+in Petrograd. I was very glad to accept this offer for us all, for we
+must assimilate Russian methods and ways of thought as soon as possible,
+if we were to be of real use to them. Still I very much hoped that we
+should not be kept in Petrograd very long, as we wanted, if possible, to
+get nearer the front. I told the director that we had been inoculated
+against cholera and typhoid, and would be quite pleased to be sent to
+the infectious hospitals if that would be more help, as there are always
+plenty of people to nurse the wounded, but comparatively few who for one
+reason or another are able to devote themselves to this other very
+necessary work.
+
+We betook ourselves without delay to the Community of Russian Sisters,
+and were installed in dear little cell-like rooms at the top of the
+house devoted to the Sisters. The other side of the house is a
+beautiful little hospital with several wards set apart for wounded
+soldiers. There are a great many similar communities in Russia--all
+nursing orders. They are called Sisters of Mercy, but are not nuns in
+any sense, as they take no vows and are free to leave whenever they
+like. The course of training varies from two to three years and is very
+complete, comprising courses in dispensing and other useful subjects.
+The pity of it is that there are comparatively few of these trained
+Sisters at the front; the vast majority of those working there have only
+been through a special "War Course" of two months' training, and are apt
+to think that bandaging is the beginning and the end of the art of
+nursing.
+
+The Russian Sisters were most interested in our adventures, and most
+kind and nice to us in every way, but assured us that we should not be
+allowed anywhere near the front, as only Russian Sisters were allowed
+there. They were very surprised when the order came a few days after our
+arrival, that we were to get ready to go to Warsaw at once. That was
+certainly not quite at the front at that moment, as just then Russia
+was in the flush of victory, following the retreating Germans back from
+Warsaw to the German frontier. But it was a good long step on the way.
+
+One errand still remained to be done. I had not posted the letter given
+me by the English lady at the Brussels station to her husband in
+Petrograd, wishing to have the pleasure of delivering it myself after
+carrying it at such risks all through Germany. Directly I arrived I made
+inquiries for this Englishman, picturing his joy at getting the
+long-deferred news of his wife. Almost the first person I asked knew him
+quite well, but imagine what a blow it was to hear that he had a Russian
+wife in Petrograd! I vowed never again to carry any more letters to
+sorrowing husbands.
+
+Before we went I received a very kind message that the Empress Marie
+Federovna would like to see us before our departure. Prince Gustav of
+Denmark had been most kind in writing to his aunt, the Empress, about
+us, and had also been good enough to give me a letter of introduction to
+her which I sent through the British Embassy.
+
+A day was appointed to go to the Gatchina Palace to be presented to her
+Majesty. The palace is a little way out of Petrograd and stands in a
+beautiful park between the Black and the White Lake.
+
+We were greeted by General K----, one of the Empress's bodyguard, and
+waited for a few minutes in the throne room downstairs, chatting to him.
+Soon we were summoned upstairs, a door was thrown open by an enormous
+negro in scarlet livery, and we were ushered into the Empress's private
+boudoir. The Empress was there, and was absolutely charming to us,
+making us sit down beside her and talking to us in fluent English. She
+was so interested in hearing all we could tell her of Belgium, and we
+stayed about half an hour talking to her. Then the Empress rose and held
+out her hand, and said, "Thank you very much for coming to help us in
+Russia. I shall always be interested in hearing about you. May God bless
+you in your work," and we were dismissed.
+
+I would not have missed that for anything, it seemed such a nice start
+to our work in Russia.
+
+Every spare moment till our work began had to be devoted to learning
+Russian. It is a brain-splitting language. Before I went to Russia I was
+told that two words would carry me through the Empire: "Nichevo" meaning
+"never mind," and "Seechas" which means "immediately" or "to-morrow" or
+"next week." But we had to study every moment to learn as much Russian
+as possible, as of course the soldiers could not understand any other
+language. French is understood everywhere in society, but in the shops
+no other tongue than Russian is any use. German is understood pretty
+widely--but it is absolutely forbidden now to be spoken under penalty of
+a 3000 rouble fine. In all the hotels there is a big notice put up in
+Russian, French, and English in the public rooms "It is forbidden to
+speak German," and just at first it added rather to the complications of
+life not to be able to use it.
+
+
+
+
+VII
+
+OUR WORK IN WARSAW
+
+
+In two or three days' time after our visit to the Empress we were off to
+Warsaw and reported ourselves to Monsieur Goochkoff, the head of the Red
+Cross Society there.
+
+We received our marching orders at once. We were not to be together at
+first, as they thought we should learn Russian more quickly if we were
+separated, so two of us were to go to one hospital in Warsaw, two to
+another. My fate was a large Red Cross hospital close to the station,
+worked by a Community of Russian Sisters. I must say I had some anxious
+moments as I drove with Sister G. to the hospital that afternoon. I
+wondered if Monsieur Goochkoff had said we were coming, and thought if
+two Russian Sisters suddenly turned up without notice at an English
+hospital how very much surprised they would be. Then I hoped they were
+very busy, as perhaps then they would welcome our help. But again, I
+meditated, if they were really busy, we with our stumbling Russian
+phrases might be only in the way. It was all very well in Denmark to
+think one would come and help Russia--but supposing they did not want us
+after all?
+
+By the time I got so far we had arrived at the hospital, the old
+familiar hospital smell of disinfectants met my nostrils, and I felt at
+home at once. I found that I had been tormenting myself in vain, for
+they were expecting us and apparently were not at all displeased at our
+arrival. The Sister Superior had worked with English people in the
+Russo-Japanese War and spoke English almost perfectly, and several of
+the other Sisters spoke French or German. She was very worried as to
+where we should sleep, as they were dreadfully overcrowded themselves;
+even she had shared her small room with another Sister. However, she
+finally found us a corner in a room which already held six Sisters.
+Eight of us in a small room with only one window! The Sisters sleeping
+there took our advent like angels, said there was plenty of room, and
+moved their beds closer together so that we might have more space.
+Again I wondered whether if it were England we should be quite so
+amiable under like circumstances. I hope so.
+
+I began to unpack, but there was nowhere to put anything; there was no
+furniture in the room whatsoever except our straw beds, a table, and a
+large tin basin behind a curtain in which we all washed--and, of course,
+the ikon or holy picture which hangs in every Russian room. We all kept
+our belongings under our beds--not a very hygienic proceeding, but _à la
+guerre comme à la guerre_. The patients were very overcrowded too, every
+corridor was lined with beds, and the sanitars, or orderlies, slept on
+straw mattresses in the hall. The hospital had been a large college and
+was originally arranged to hold five hundred patients, but after the
+last big battle at Soldau every hospital in Warsaw was crammed with
+wounded, and more than nine hundred patients had been sent in here and
+had to be squeezed into every available corner.
+
+My work was in the dressing-room, which meant dressing wounds all day
+and sometimes well into the night, and whatever time we finished there
+were all the dressings for the next day to be cut and prepared before
+we could go to bed. The first week was one long nightmare with the awful
+struggle for the Russian names of dressings and instruments and with
+their different methods of working, but after that I settled down very
+happily.
+
+Sister G. was in the operating-room on the next floor, and she, too,
+found that first week a great strain. The other two Sisters who had come
+out with us and had been sent to another hospital apparently found the
+same, for they returned to England after the first five days, much to my
+disappointment, as I had hoped that our little unit of four might have
+got a small job of our own later, when we could speak Russian better and
+had learnt their ways and customs.
+
+After the first few days we began to be very busy. In England we should
+consider that hospital very badly staffed, as there were only twenty
+Sisters to sometimes nearly a thousand patients, all very serious cases
+moreover, as we were not supposed to take in the lightly wounded at all
+in this hospital. The sanitars, or orderlies, do all that probationers
+in an English hospital would do for the patients, and all the heavy
+lifting and carrying, so that the work is not very hard though very
+continuous. There was no night staff. We all took it in turns to stay up
+at night three at a time, so that our turn came about once a week. That
+meant being on duty all day, all night, and all the next day, except for
+a brief rest and a walk in the afternoon. Most of the Sisters took no
+exercise beyond one weekly walk, but we two English people longed for
+fresh air, and went out whenever possible even if it was only for ten
+minutes. English views on ventilation are not at all accepted in Russia.
+It is a great concession to open the windows of the ward for ten minutes
+twice a day to air it, and the Sisters were genuinely frightened for the
+safety of the patients when I opened the windows of a hot, stuffy ward
+one night. "It is _never_ done," they reiterated, "before daylight."
+
+The Sister Superior was the mainspring of the hospital. She really was a
+wonderful person, small and insignificant to look at, except for her
+eyes, which looked you through and through and weighed you in the
+balance; absolutely true and straight, with a heart of gold, and the
+very calmest person in all the world. I remember her, late one evening,
+when everybody was rather agitated at a message which had come to say
+that 400 patients were on their way to the hospital, and room could only
+be made for 200 at the most. "Never mind," she said, not in the least
+perturbed, "they must be made as comfortable as possible on stretchers
+for the night, and to-morrow we must get some of the others moved away."
+And the Sisters took their cue from her, and those 400 patients were all
+taken in and looked after with less fuss than the arrival of forty
+unexpected patients in most hospitals.
+
+All night long that procession of shattered men brought in on stretchers
+never ceased. The kitchen Sister stayed up all night so that each man
+should have some hot soup on arrival, and all the other Sisters were at
+their posts. Each man was undressed on the stretcher (often so badly
+wounded that all his clothing had to be cut off him) and hastily
+examined by the doctor. He was then dressed in a clean cotton shirt and
+trousers and lifted into bed, either to enjoy a bowl of hot soup, or,
+if the case was urgent, to be taken off in his turn to the
+operating-room. And though she was no longer young and not at all
+strong, there was dear Sister Superior herself all night, taking round
+the big bowls of soup or sitting beside the dying patients to cheer and
+comfort their last hours. How the men loved her.
+
+It was she who gave the whole tone to the hospital--there the patients
+and their welfare were the first consideration and nothing else mattered
+in comparison. The hospital was not "smart" or "up to date," the wards
+were not even tidy, the staff was inadequate, overworked, and
+villainously housed, the resources very scanty, but for sheer
+selflessness and utter devotion to their work the staff of that hospital
+from top to bottom could not have been surpassed. I never heard a
+grumble or a complaint all the time I was there either from a doctor, a
+Sister, or an orderly, and I never saw in this hospital a dressing
+slurred over, omitted, or done without the usual precautions however
+tired or overworked everybody might be.
+
+Of course the art of nursing as practised in England does not exist in
+Russia--even the trained Sisters do things every hour that would horrify
+us in England. One example of this is their custom of giving strong
+narcotic or stimulating drugs indiscriminately, such as morphine,
+codeine, camphor, or ether without doctors' orders. When untrained
+Sisters and inexperienced dressers do this (which constantly happens)
+the results are sometimes very deplorable. I have myself seen a dresser
+give a strong hypodermic stimulant to a man with a very serious
+hæmorrhage. The bleeding vessel was deep down and very difficult to
+find, and the hæmorrhage became so severe after the stimulant that for a
+long time his life was despaired of from extreme exhaustion due to loss
+of blood. I have also heard a Sister with no training except the two
+months' war course say she had given a certain man _ten_ injections of
+camphor within an hour because he was so collapsed, but she had not seen
+fit to tell the doctor she had done this, nor had she let him know his
+patient was so much worse until he was at the point of death. Neither of
+these particular incidents could have happened in the Red Cross
+hospital at Warsaw as the Sisters there were properly trained; but even
+there they gave drugs at their own sweet will without consulting
+anyone--particularly in the night.
+
+We were so busy at the hospital that we did not see much of Warsaw. To
+the casual observer it looks a busy, modern, rather gay capital, but
+almost every inch of the city is interesting historically, and nearly
+all the pages of that history are red with blood. War, revolutions, and
+riots seem to have been almost its normal condition, and the great broad
+Vistula that flows sluggishly through it has been many a time before
+stained crimson with the blood of its citizens. But this time the war is
+being fought under different conditions. Russians and Poles are for the
+first time working together with a common aim in view. If the only
+outcome of this war was the better mutual understanding of these two
+great nations, it would not have been fought entirely in vain.
+
+When we first arrived the Russians had beaten the Germans back to the
+frontier, and every one was elated with the great victory. Now at the
+end of October things did not look quite so happy. The people who knew
+looked anxious and harassed. The newspapers, as usual, told nothing at
+all, but the news which always filters in somehow from mouth to mouth
+was not good. Terrific fighting was going on outside Lodz, it was said,
+and enormous German reinforcements were being poured in. Warsaw was full
+to overflowing with troops going through to reinforce on the Russian
+side. A splendid set of men they looked, sturdy, broad-chested, and
+hardy--not in the least smart, but practical and efficient in their warm
+brown overcoats and big top boots.
+
+There are two things one notices at once about the Russian soldier. One
+is his absolute disregard of appearances. If he is cold he will tie a
+red comforter round his head without minding in the least whether he is
+in the most fashionable street in Warsaw or in camp at the front. The
+other noticeable characteristic is the friendly terms he is on with his
+officers. The Prussian soldiers rarely seem to like their officers, and
+it is not to be wondered at, as they treat their men in a very harsh,
+overbearing way. On duty the Russian discipline is strict, but off duty
+an officer may be heard addressing one of his men as "little pigeon" or
+"comrade" and other terms of endearment, and the soldier, on the other
+hand, will call his officer "little father" or "little brother." I
+remember one most touching scene when a soldier servant accompanied his
+wounded officer to hospital. The officer was quite a young,
+delicate-looking boy, who had been shot through the chest. His servant
+was a huge, rough Cossack, who would hardly let any of us touch his
+master if he could help it, and stayed by his bed night and day till the
+end, when, his great frame heaving with sobs and tears streaming down
+the seamed and rugged face, he threw himself over the officer's body and
+implored God to let him die too.
+
+The hospital began to grow empty and the work slackened down, as every
+possible patient was sent away to Moscow or Petrograd to make room for
+the rush of wounded that must be coming from the Lodz direction. But no
+patients arrived, and we heard that the railway communications had been
+cut. But this proved to be untrue.
+
+One Sunday afternoon Sister G. and I, being free, betook ourselves to
+tea at the Hotel d'Europe--that well-named hostelry which has probably
+seen more history made from its windows than any other hotel in Europe.
+We favoured it always on Sunday when we could, for not only was a
+particularly nice tea to be had, but one could also read there a not
+_too_ old French newspaper. I think just at first we felt almost as cut
+off from news of what was happening on the English side as we did in
+Belgium. No English or French papers could be bought and the Polish and
+Russian papers were as sealed books to us, and when I did succeed in
+getting some long-suffering person to translate them to me, the news was
+naturally chiefly of the doings of the Russian side. Later on I had
+English papers sent out to me which kept me in touch with the western
+front, and also by that time, too, I could make out the substance of the
+Russian papers; but just at first it was very trying not to know what
+was going on. We had had tea and had read of an Anglo-French success
+near Ypres and returned rested and cheered to the hospital to find
+Sister Superior asking for us. She had had a message from the Red Cross
+Office that we were to go to Lodz next day, and were to go at once to
+the Hotel Bristol to meet Prince V., who would give us full particulars.
+
+We went off at once to the Bristol and saw Prince V., but did not get
+any particulars--that was not the Prince's way. He was sitting reading
+in the lounge when we arrived, a very tall, lean, handsome man with kind
+brown eyes and a nose hooked like an eagle's. He greeted us very kindly
+and said he would take us to Lodz next day in one of the Red Cross
+automobiles, and that we must be ready at 10 A. M. I think we
+earned his everlasting gratitude by asking no questions as to where and
+how we were going to work, but simply said we would be ready at that
+time and returned to hospital to pack, fully realizing what lucky people
+we were to be going right into the thick of things, and only hoping that
+we should rise to the occasion and do the utmost that was expected of
+us.
+
+We were now officially transferred from the hospital to the Flying
+Column, of which Prince V. was the head. A flying column works directly
+under the head of the Red Cross, and is supposed to go anywhere and do
+anything at any hour of the day or night. Our Column consisted of five
+automobiles that conveyed us and all our equipment to the place where we
+were to work, and then were engaged in fetching in wounded, and taking
+them on to the field hospital or ambulance train. The staff consisted of
+Prince and Princess V., we two English Sisters, with generally, but not
+always, some Russian ones in addition, an English surgeon, Colonel S.,
+some Russian dressers and students, and some sanitars, or orderlies. The
+luggage was a dreadful problem, and the Prince always groaned at the
+amount we would take with us, but we could not reduce it, as we had to
+carry big cases of cotton-wool, bandages and dressings, anæsthetics,
+field sterilizer, operating-theatre equipment, and a certain amount of
+stores--such as soap, candles, benzine and tinned food--as the column
+would have been quite useless if it had not been to a large extent
+self-supporting. Our Column was attached to the Second Army, which
+operated on the eastern front of Warsaw. The Russian front changes so
+much more rapidly than the Anglo-French front, where progress is
+reckoned in metres, that these mobile columns are a great feature of
+ambulance work here. Our front changed many miles in a week sometimes,
+so that units that can move anywhere at an hour's notice are very
+useful. The big base hospitals cannot quite fulfil the same need on such
+a rapidly changing front.
+
+
+
+
+VIII
+
+THE BOMBARDMENT OF LODZ
+
+
+It took us a long time to get to Lodz, though it is not much more than
+200 kilometres away. Russian roads are villainously bad anyhow, and the
+Germans, though their retreat had been hasty, had had time to destroy
+the roads and bridges as they went. Another thing that delayed us were
+the enormous reinforcements of troops going up from Warsaw to the front.
+It was very interesting to watch the different groups as we passed,
+first a Cossack regiment going up, then an immense convoy followed with
+about 200 wagons of forage. Just ahead of that we passed the
+remounts--sturdy, shaggy Siberian ponies. They are the most delightful
+creatures in the world, as tame as a dog, and not much bigger, and many
+of them of a most unusual and beautiful shade of golden cream. They have
+been brought from Siberia by the thousand, and most of the little
+things had never seen a motor-car before, and pranced and kicked and
+jumped, and went through all kinds of circus tricks as we passed.
+
+[Illustration: MAP OF THE POLISH FRONT]
+
+As we grew nearer to Lodz it was sad to see a good many dead horses
+lying by the roadside, mostly killed by shell-fire. The shells had made
+great holes in the road too, and the last part of our journey was like a
+ride on a switchback railway. It began to get dark as we came to
+Breeziny, where a large number of Russian batteries were stationed. It
+looked very jolly there, these large camps of men and horses having
+their supper by the light of a camp-fire, with only the distant rumble
+of the guns to remind them that they were at war. Two hours later we
+jolted into the streets of Lodz.
+
+Lodz is a large cotton manufacturing town--sometimes called the
+Manchester of Poland--but now of course all the factories were closed,
+and many destroyed by shell. I should not think it was a very festive
+place at the best of times; it looked squalid and grimy, and the large
+bulk of its population was made up of the most abject Jews I have ever
+seen.
+
+We had to make a long detour and get into the town by an unfrequented
+country road, as Lodz was being heavily bombarded by the German guns. We
+were put down at a large building which we were told was the military
+hospital. Princess V., Colonel S., and a Russian student were working
+hard in the operating-room, and we hastily put on clean overalls and
+joined them. They all looked absolutely worn out, and the doctor dropped
+asleep between each case; but fresh wounded were being brought in every
+minute and there was no one else to help. Lodz was one big hospital. We
+heard that there were more than 18,000 wounded there, and I can well
+believe it. Every building of any size had been turned into a hospital,
+and almost all the supplies of every kind had given out.
+
+The building we were in had been a day-school, and the top floor was
+made up of large airy schoolrooms that were quite suitable for wards.
+But the shelling recommenced so violently that the wounded all had to be
+moved down to the ground floor and into the cellars. The place was an
+absolute inferno. I could never have imagined anything worse. It was
+fearfully cold, and the hospital was not heated at all, for there was no
+wood or coal in Lodz, and for the same reason the gas-jets gave out only
+the faintest glimmer of light. There was no clean linen, and the poor
+fellows were lying there still in their verminous, blood-soaked shirts,
+shivering with cold, as we had only one small blanket each for them.
+They were lucky if they had a bed at all, for many were lying with only
+a little straw between them and the cold stone floor. There were no
+basins or towels or anything to wash up with, and no spittoons, so the
+men were spitting all over the already filthy floor. In the largest ward
+where there were seventy or eighty men lying, there was a lavatory
+adjoining which had got blocked up, and a thin stream of dirty water
+trickled under the door and meandered in little rivulets all over the
+room. The smell was awful, as some of the men had been there already
+several days without having had their dressings done.
+
+This was the state in which the hospital had been handed over to us. It
+was a military hospital whose staff had had orders to leave at four
+o'clock that morning, and they handed the whole hospital with its 270
+patients over to us just as it was; and we could do very little towards
+making it more comfortable for them. The stench of the whole place was
+horrible, but it was too cold to do more than open the window for a
+minute or two every now and then. It was no one's fault that things were
+in such a horrible condition--it was just the force of circumstances and
+the fortune of war that the place had been taxed far beyond its possible
+capacities.
+
+All night long the most terribly wounded men were being brought in from
+the field, some were already dead when they arrived, others had only a
+few minutes to live; all the rest were very cold and wet and exhausted,
+and we had _nothing_ to make them comfortable. What a blessing hot-water
+bottles would have been--but after all there would have been no hot
+water to fill them if we had had them. But the wounded _had_ to be
+brought in for shelter somewhere, and at least we had a roof over their
+heads, and hot tea to give them.
+
+At 5 A. M. there came a lull. The tragic procession ceased for
+a while, and we went to lie down. At seven o'clock we were called
+again--another batch of wounded was being brought in.
+
+The shelling had begun again, and was terrific; crash, crash, over our
+heads the whole time. A clock-tower close to the hospital was demolished
+and windows broken everywhere. The shells were bursting everywhere in
+the street, and civilians were being brought in to us severely wounded.
+A little child was carried in with half its head blown open, and then an
+old Jewish woman with both legs blown off, and a terrible wound in her
+chest, who only lived an hour or two. Apparently she suffered no pain,
+but was most dreadfully agitated, poor old dear, at having lost her wig
+in the transit. They began bringing in so many that we had to stop
+civilians being brought in at all, as it was more than we could do to
+cope with the wounded soldiers that were being brought in all the time.
+
+At midday we went to a hotel for a meal. There was very, very little
+food left in Lodz, but they brought what they could. Coming back to the
+hospital we tried everywhere to get some bread, but there was none to be
+had anywhere--all the provision shops were quite empty, and the
+inhabitants looked miserable and starved, the Jewish population
+particularly so, though they were probably not among the poorest.
+
+On our way back a shell burst quite close to us in the street, but no
+one was hurt. These shells make a most horrible scream before bursting,
+like an animal in pain. Ordinarily I am the most dreadful coward in the
+world about loud noises--I even hate a sham thunderstorm in a
+theatre--but here somehow the shells were so part of the whole thing
+that one did not realize that all this was happening to _us_, one felt
+rather like a disinterested spectator at a far-off dream. It was
+probably partly due to want of sleep; one's hands did the work, but
+one's mind was mercifully numbed. Mercifully, for it was more like hell
+than anything I can imagine. The never-ending processions of groaning
+men being brought in on those horrible blood-soaked stretchers,
+suffering unimagined tortures, the filth, the cold, the stench, the
+hunger, the vermin, and the squalor of it all, added to one's utter
+helplessness to do more than very little to relieve their misery, was
+almost enough to make even Satan weep.
+
+On the third day after our arrival a young Russian doctor and some
+Russian sisters arrived to relieve us for a few hours, and we most
+thankfully went to bed--at least it was not a bed in the ordinary sense,
+but a wire bedstead on which we lay down in all our clothes; but we were
+very comfortable all the same.
+
+When we woke up we were told that the military authorities had given
+orders for the patients to be evacuated, and that Red Cross carts were
+coming all night to take them away to the station, where some ambulance
+trains awaited them. So we worked hard all night to get the dressings
+done before the men were sent away, and as we finished each case, he was
+carried down to the hall to await his turn to go; but it was very
+difficult as all the time they were bringing in fresh cases as fast as
+they were taking the others away, and alas! many had to go off without
+having had their dressings done at all. The next afternoon we were
+still taking in, when we got another order that all the fresh patients
+were to be evacuated and the hospital closed, as the Russians had
+decided to retire from Lodz. Again we worked all night, and by ten the
+next morning we had got all the patients away. The sanitars collected
+all the bedding in the yard to be burnt, the bedsteads were piled high
+on one another, and we opened all the windows wide to let the clean cold
+wind blow over everything.
+
+We had all our own dressings and equipment to pack, and were all just
+about at our last gasp from want of food and sleep, when a very kind
+Polish lady came and carried princess, we two Sisters, and Colonel S.
+off to her house, where she had prepared bedrooms for us. I never looked
+forward to anything so much in my life as I did to my bed that night.
+Our hostess simply heaped benefits on us by preparing us each a hot bath
+in turn. We had not washed or had our clothes off since we came to Lodz,
+and were covered with vermin which had come to us from the patients; men
+and officers alike suffer terribly from this plague of insects, which
+really do make one's life a burden. There are three varieties commonly
+met with: ordinary fleas that no one minds in the least; white insects
+that are the commonest and live in the folds of one's clothes, whose
+young are most difficult to find, and who grow middle-aged and very
+hungry in a single night; and, lastly, the red insects with a good many
+legs, which are much less numerous but much more ravenous than the other
+kinds.
+
+After the bath and the hunt, we sat down to a delicious supper, and were
+looking forward to a still more delicious night in bed, when suddenly
+Prince V. arrived and said we must leave at once. We guessed instantly
+that the Germans must be very near, but that he did not wish us to ask
+questions, as it seemed very mean to go off ourselves and leave our kind
+hosts without a word of explanation, though of course we could only obey
+orders. So we left our unfinished supper and quickly collected our
+belongings and took them to the hotel where our Red Cross car should
+have been waiting for us. But the Red Cross authorities had sent off our
+car with some wounded, which of course was just as it should be, and we
+were promised another "seechas," which literally translated signifies
+"immediately," but in Russia means to-day or to-morrow or not at all.
+
+"Let us come into the hotel and get a meal while we wait," suggested the
+Prince, mindful of our uneaten supper, and we followed him to the
+restaurant--still mourning those beautiful beds we had left behind us,
+and so tired we didn't much care whether the Germans came or not.
+Nothing can express utter desolation much more nakedly than a Grand
+Hotel that has been through a week or two's bombardment. Here indeed
+were the mighty fallen. A large hole was ripped out of the wall of the
+big restaurant, close to the alcove where the band used to play while
+the smart people dined. An elaborate wine-list still graced each little
+table, but coffee made from rye bread crusts mixed with a little chicory
+was the only drink that a few white-faced waiters who crept about the
+room like shadows could apologetically offer us. We sat there till
+nearly 3 A. M., and Colonel S., utterly worn out, was fast
+asleep with his head on the little table, and there was no sign of any
+car, or of any Germans, so we went to lie down till morning.
+
+In the morning things began to look cheerful. The Germans had still not
+arrived, our own car turned up, and best of all the Prince heard
+officially that every wounded man who was at all transportable had now
+been successfully got out of Lodz. It was a gigantic task, this
+evacuation of over 18,000 wounded in four days, and it is a great
+feather in the Russian cap to have achieved it so successfully.
+
+It was a most lovely day with a soft blue sky, and all the world bathed
+in winter sunshine. Shelling had ceased during the night, but began
+again with terrific force in the morning, and we started off under a
+perfect hail of shells. There were four German aeroplanes hovering just
+above us, throwing down bombs at short intervals. The shells aimed at
+them looked so innocent, like little white puff-balls bursting up in the
+blue sky. We hoped they would be brought down, but they were too high
+for that. The bombs were only a little diversion of theirs by the
+way--they were really trying to locate the Russian battery, as they were
+evidently making signals to their own headquarters. Danger always adds
+a spice to every entertainment, and as the wounded were all out and we
+had nobody but ourselves to think about, we could enjoy our thrilling
+departure from Lodz under heavy fire to the uttermost. And I must say I
+have rarely enjoyed anything more. It was simply glorious spinning along
+in that car, and we got out safely without anyone being hurt.
+
+We passed through Breeziny, where the tail-end of a battle was going on,
+and the Prince stopped the car for a few minutes so that we could see
+the men in the trenches. On our way we passed crowds of terrified
+refugees hurrying along the road with their few possessions on their
+backs or in their arms; it reminded me of those sad processions of
+flying peasants in Belgium, but I think these were mostly much poorer,
+and had not so much to lose. Just as the sun was setting we stopped for
+a rest at a place the Prince knew of, half inn, half farm-house. We
+looked back, and the sky was bloody and lurid over the western plain
+where Lodz lay. To us it seemed like an ill omen for the unhappy town,
+but it may be that the Germans took those flaming clouds to mean that
+even the heavens themselves were illuminated to signal their victory.
+
+Some bread and some pale golden Hungarian Tokay were produced by our
+host for our refreshment. The latter was delicious, but it must have
+been much more potent than it looked, for though I only had one small
+glass of it, I collapsed altogether afterwards, and lay on the floor of
+the car, and could not move till the lights of Warsaw were in sight. In
+a few minutes more we arrived at the Hotel Bristol, and then the Flying
+Column went to bed at last.
+
+
+
+
+IX
+
+MORE DOINGS OF THE FLYING COLUMN
+
+
+The Grand Duchess Cyril happened to be staying at the Hotel Bristol too.
+Like most of the other members of the Russian Royal Family, since the
+beginning of the war she has been devoting her whole time to helping
+wounded soldiers, and is the centre of a whole network of activities.
+She has a large hospital in Warsaw for men and officers, a very
+efficient ambulance train that can hold 800 wounded, and one of the best
+surgeons in Petrograd working on it, and a provision train which sets up
+feeding-stations for the troops and for refugees in places where food is
+very scarce, which last is an indescribable boon to all who benefit by
+it. The Grand Duchess's hospital in Warsaw, like every other just at
+this time, was crammed to overflowing with wounded from Lodz, and the
+staff was inadequate to meet this unexpected need.
+
+The Grand Duchess met Princess V. in the lounge just as we arrived from
+Lodz, and begged that our Column might go and help for a time at her
+hospital. Accordingly, the next day, the consent of the Red Cross Office
+having been obtained, we went off to the Grand Duchess's hospital for a
+time to supplement and relieve their staff. They met us with open arms,
+as they were all very tired and very thankful for our help. They only
+had room for fifty patients and had had about 150 brought in.
+Fortunately the Grand Duchess's ambulance train had just come back to
+Warsaw, so the most convalescent of the old cases were taken off to
+Petrograd, but even then we were working in the operating-theatre till
+twelve or one every night. They hoped we had come for two or three weeks
+and were very disgusted when, in five days' time, the order came for us
+to go off to Skiernevice with the automobiles. The hospital staff gave
+us such a nice send-off, and openly wished that they belonged to a
+flying column too. I must say it was very interesting these startings
+off into the unknown, with our little fleet of automobiles containing
+ourselves and our equipment. We made a very flourishing start out of
+Warsaw, but very soon plunged into an appalling mess of mud. One could
+really write an epic poem on Russian roads. At the best of times they
+are awful; on this particular occasion they were full of large holes
+made by shells and covered with thick swampy mud that had been snow the
+week before. It delayed us so much that we did not get to Skiernevice
+till late that night.
+
+Skiernevice is a small town, important chiefly as a railway junction, as
+two lines branch off here towards Germany and Austria north-west and
+south-west. The Tsar has a shooting-box here in the midst of beautiful
+woods, and two rooms had been set apart in this house for our Column.
+
+We arrived late in the evening, secretly hoping that we should get a
+night in bed, and were rather rejoiced at finding that there were no
+wounded there at all at present, though a large contingent was expected
+later. So we camped in the two rooms allotted to us: Princess, Sister
+G., and myself in one, and all the men of the party in the other. No
+wounded arrived for two or three days, and we thoroughly enjoyed the
+rest and, above all, the beautiful woods. How delicious the pines smelt
+after that horrible Lodz. Twice a day we used to go down the railway
+line, where there was a restaurant car for the officers; it seemed odd
+to be eating our meals in the Berlin-Warsaw International Restaurant
+Car. There was always something interesting going on at the station. One
+day a regiment from Warsaw had just been detrained there when a German
+Taube came sailing over the station throwing down grenades. Every man
+immediately began to fire up in the air, and we ran much more risk of
+being killed by a Russian bullet than by the German Taube. It was like
+being in the middle of a battle, and I much regretted I had not my
+camera with me. Another day all the débris of a battlefield had been
+picked up and was lying in piles in the station waiting to be sent off
+to Warsaw. There were truck-loads of stuff; German and Russian
+overcoats, boots, rifles, water-bottles, caps, swords, and helmets and
+all sorts of miscellaneous kit.
+
+We often saw gangs of prisoners, mostly Austrian, but some German, and
+they always seemed well treated by the Russians. The Austrian prisoners
+nearly always looked very miserable, cold, hungry, and worn out. Once we
+saw a spy being put into the train to go to Warsaw, I suppose to be
+shot--an old Jewish man with white hair in a long, black gaberdine,
+strips of coloured paper still in his hand with which he had been caught
+signalling to the Germans. _How_ angry the soldiers were with him--one
+gave him a great punch in the back, another kicked him up into the
+train, and a soldier on the platform who saw what was happening ran as
+fast as he could and was just in time to give him a parting hit on the
+shoulder. The old man did not cry out or attempt to retaliate, but his
+face was ashy-white with terror, and one of his hands was dripping with
+blood. It was a very horrible sight and haunted me all the rest of the
+day. It was quite right that he should be shot as a spy, but the
+unnecessary cruelty first sickened me.
+
+There were masses of troops constantly going up to the positions from
+Skiernevice, and as there was a short cut through the park, which they
+generally used, we could see all that was going on from our rooms. On
+Sunday it was evident that another big battle was pending. Several
+batteries went up through our woods, each gun-carriage almost up to its
+axles in mud, dragged by eight strong horses. They were followed by a
+regiment of Cossacks, looking very fierce in their great black fur
+head-dresses, huge sheep-skin coats, and long spears. There was one
+small Cossack boy who was riding out with his father to the front and
+who could not have been more than eleven or twelve years old. There are
+quite a number of young boys at the front who make themselves very
+useful in taking messages, carrying ammunition, and so on. We had one
+little boy of thirteen in the hospital at Warsaw, who was badly wounded
+while carrying a message to the colonel, and he was afterwards awarded
+the St. George's Cross.
+
+There were enormous numbers of other troops too: Siberians, Tartars,
+Asiatic Russians from Turkestan, Caucasians in their beautiful
+black-and-silver uniforms, Little Russians from the south, and great
+fair-haired giants from the north.
+
+The little Catholic Church in the village was full to overflowing at the
+early Mass that Sunday morning with men in full marching kit on their
+way out to the trenches. A very large number of them made their
+Confession and received the Blessed Sacrament before starting out, and
+for many, many of these it was their Viaticum, for the great battle
+began that afternoon, and few of the gallant fellows we saw going up to
+the trenches that morning ever returned again.
+
+That afternoon the Prince had business at the Staff Headquarters out
+beyond Lowice, and I went out there in the automobile with him and
+Monsieur Goochkoff. We went through Lowice on the way there. The little
+town had been severely bombarded (it was taken two or three days later
+by the Germans), and we met many of the peasants hurrying away from it
+carrying their possessions with them. You may know the peasants of
+Lowice anywhere by their distinctive dress, which is the most
+brilliantly coloured peasant dress imaginable. The women wear gorgeous
+petticoats of orange, red and blue, or green in vertical stripes and a
+cape of the same material over their shoulders, a bright-coloured shawl,
+generally orange, on their heads, and brilliant bootlaces--magenta is
+the colour most affected. The men, too, wear trousers of the same kind
+of vertical stripes, generally of orange and black. These splashes of
+bright colour are delicious in this sad, grey country.
+
+The General of the Staff was quartered at Radzivilow Castle, and I
+explored the place while the Prince and Monsieur Goochkoff did their
+business. The old, dark hall, with armour hanging on the walls and
+worm-eaten furniture covered with priceless tapestry, would have made a
+splendid picture. A huge log fire burning on the open hearth lighted up
+the dark faces of the two Turkestan soldiers who were standing on guard
+at the door. In one corner a young lieutenant was taking interminable
+messages from the field telephone, and under the window another
+Turkestan soldier stood sharpening his dagger. The Prince asked him
+what he was doing, and his dark face lighted up. "Every night at eight,"
+he said, still sharpening busily, "I go out and kill some Germans." The
+men of this Turkestan regiment are said to be extraordinarily brave men.
+They do not care at all about a rifle, but prefer to be at closer
+quarters with the enemy with their two-edged dagger, and the Germans
+like them as little as they like our own Gurkhas and Sikhs.
+
+The next day the wounded began to arrive in Skiernevice, and in two
+days' time the temporary hospital was full.
+
+The Tsar had a private theatre at Skiernevice with a little separate
+station of its own about 200 yards farther down the line than the
+ordinary station, and in many ways this made quite a suitable hospital
+except for the want of a proper water-supply.
+
+The next thing we heard was that the Russian General had decided to fall
+back once more, and we must be prepared to move at any moment.
+
+All that day we heard violent cannonading going on and all the next
+night, though the hospital was already full, the little country carts
+came in one after another filled with wounded. They were to only stay
+one night, as in the morning ambulance trains were coming to take them
+all away, and we had orders to follow as soon as the last patient had
+gone. Another operating- and dressing-room was quickly improvised, but
+even with the two going hard all night it was difficult to keep pace
+with the number brought in.
+
+The scenery had never been taken down after the last dramatic
+performance played in the theatre, and wounded men lay everywhere
+between the wings and drop scenes. The auditorium was packed so closely
+that you could hardly get between the men without treading on some one's
+hands and feet as they lay on the floor. The light had given out--in the
+two dressing-rooms there were oil-lamps, but in the rest of the place we
+had to make do with candle-ends stuck into bottles. The foyer had been
+made into a splendid kitchen, where hot tea and boiling soup could be
+got all night through. This department was worked by the local Red
+Cross Society, and was a great credit to them.
+
+About eight o'clock in the morning the first ambulance train came in,
+and was quickly filled with patients. We heard that the Germans were now
+very near, and hoped we should manage to get away all the wounded before
+they arrived.
+
+The second train came up about eleven, and by that time a fierce rifle
+encounter was going on. From the hospital window we could see the
+Russian troops firing from the trenches near the railway. Soon there was
+a violent explosion that shook the place; this was the Russians blowing
+up the railway bridge on the western side of the station.
+
+The second train went off, and there were very few patients left now,
+though some were still being brought in at intervals by the Red Cross
+carts. Our automobiles had started off to Warsaw with some wounded
+officers, but the rest of the column had orders to go to Zyradow by the
+last train to leave Skiernevice.
+
+The sanitars now began to pack up the hospital; we did not mean to leave
+anything behind for the enemy if we could help it. The few bedsteads
+were taken to pieces and tied up, the stretchers put together and the
+blankets tied up in bundles. When the last ambulance train came up about
+2 P. M. the patients were first put in, and then every portable
+object that could be removed was packed into the train too. At the last
+moment, when the train was just about to start, one of the sanitars ran
+back and triumphantly brought out a pile of dirty soup plates to add to
+the collection. Nothing was left in the hospital but two dead men we had
+not time to bury.
+
+The wounded were all going to Warsaw and the other Russian Sisters went
+on in the train with them. But our destination was Zyradow, only the
+next station but one down the line.
+
+When we arrived at Zyradow about three o'clock we were looking forward
+to a bath and tea and bed, as we had been up all night and were very
+tired; but the train most unkindly dropped us about a quarter of a mile
+from the station, and we had to get out all our equipment and heavy
+cases of dressings, and put them at the side of the line, while Julian,
+the Prince's soldier servant, went off to try and find a man and a cart
+for the things. There was a steady downpour of rain, and we were soaked
+by the time he came back saying that there was nothing to be had at all.
+The station was all in crumbling ruins, so we could not leave the things
+there, and our precious dressings were beginning to get wet. Finally we
+got permission to put them in a closed cinema theatre near the station,
+but it was dark by that time, and we were wet and cold and began once
+more to centre our thoughts on baths and tea. We were a small
+party--only six of us--Princess, we two Sisters, Colonel S., a Russian
+dresser, and Julian. We caught a local Red Crosser. "Where is the
+hotel?" "There is no hotel here." "Where can we lodge for to-night?" "I
+don't know where you could lodge." "Where is the Red Cross Bureau?"
+asked Princess, in desperation. "About a quarter of an hour's walk. I
+will show you the way."
+
+We got to the Red Cross Bureau to find that Monsieur Goochkoff had not
+yet arrived, though he was expected, and they could offer no solution of
+our difficulties, except to advise us to go to the Factory Hospital and
+see if they could make any arrangement for us. The Matron there was
+_very_ kind, and telephoned to every one she could think of, and finally
+got a message that we were expected, and were to sleep at the Reserve.
+So we trudged once more through the mud and rain. The "Reserve" was two
+small, empty rooms, where thirty Sisters were going to pass the night.
+They had no beds, and not even straw, but were just going to lie on the
+floor in their clothes. There was obviously no room for six more of us,
+and finally we went back once more to the Red Cross Bureau. Princess
+seized an empty room, and announced that we were going to sleep in it.
+We were told we couldn't, as it had been reserved for somebody else; but
+we didn't care, and got some patients' stretchers from the depot and lay
+down on them in our wet clothes just as we were. In the middle of the
+night the "somebody" for whom the room had been kept arrived, strode
+into the room, and turned up the electric light. The others were really
+asleep, and I pretended to be. He had a good look at us, and then strode
+out again grunting. We woke up every five minutes, it was so dreadfully
+cold, and though we were so tired, I was not sorry when it was time to
+get up.
+
+We had breakfast at a dirty little restaurant in the town, and then got
+a message from the Red Cross that there would be nothing for us to do
+that day, but that we were probably going to be sent to Radzowill the
+following morning. So we decided to go off to the Factory Hospital and
+see if we could persuade the Matron to let us have a bath there.
+
+Zyradow is one very large cotton and woollen factory, employing about
+5000 hands. In Russia it is the good law that for every hundred workmen
+employed there shall be one hospital bed provided. In the small
+factories a few beds in the local hospital are generally subsidized, in
+larger ones they usually find it more convenient to have their own. So
+here there was a very nice little hospital with fifty beds, which had
+been stretched now to hold twice as many more, as a great many wounded
+had to be sent in here. The Matron is a Pole of Scottish extraction, and
+spoke fluent but quite foreign English with a strong Scotch accent.
+There are a good many Scotch families here, who came over and settled in
+Poland about a hundred years ago, and who are all engaged in different
+departments in the factory. She was kindness itself, and gave us tea
+first and then prepared a hot bath for us all in turn. We got rid of
+most of our tormentors and were at peace once more.
+
+As we left the hospital we met three footsore soldiers whose boots were
+absolutely worn right through. They were coming up to the hospital to
+see if the Matron had any dead men's boots that would fit them. It
+sounded rather gruesome--but she told us that that was quite a common
+errand. The Russian military boots are excellent, but, of course, all
+boots wear out very quickly under such trying circumstances of roads and
+weather. They are top boots, strong and waterproof, and very often made
+by the men themselves. The uniform, too, is very practical and so strong
+that the men have told me that carpets are made from the material. The
+colour is browner than our own khaki--and quite different both from the
+German, which is much greyer, and the Austrian, which is almost blue. I
+heard in Belgium that at the beginning of the war German soldiers were
+constantly mistaken for our men.
+
+
+
+
+X
+
+BY THE TRENCHES AT RADZIVILOW
+
+
+The next morning we went up to Radzivilow. It is the next station to
+Skiernevice, and there was very heavy fighting going on there when we
+went up. We were told we were going up on an armoured train, which
+sounded very thrilling, but when we got to the station we only found a
+quite ordinary carriage put on to the engine to take us up. The Russian
+battery was at that time at the south of the railway line, the German
+battery on the north of it--and we were in the centre of the sandwich.
+At Zyradow these cannon sounded distant, but as we neared Radzivilow the
+guns were crashing away as they did at Lodz, and we prepared for a hot
+time. The station had been entirely wrecked and was simply in ruins, but
+the station-master's house near by was still intact, and we had orders
+to rig up a temporary dressing-station there.
+
+Before we had time to unpack our dressings, a messenger arrived to tell
+us that the Germans had succeeded in enfilading a Russian trench close
+by, and that they were bringing fifty very badly wounded men to us
+almost at once. We had just time to start the sterilizer when the little
+carts began to arrive with some terribly wounded men. The machine guns
+had simply swept the trench from end to end. The worst of it was that
+some lived for hours when death would have been a more merciful release.
+Thank God we had plenty of morphia with us and could thus ease their
+terrible sufferings. One man had practically his whole face blown off,
+another had all his clothes and the flesh of his back all torn away.
+Another poor old fellow was brought in with nine wounds in the abdomen.
+He looked quite a patriarch with a long flowing beard--quite the oldest
+man I have seen in the Russian army. Poor Ivan, he had only just been
+called up to the front and this was his first battle. He was beautifully
+dressed, and so clean; his wife had prepared everything for him with
+such loving care, a warm knitted vest, and a white linen shirt most
+beautifully embroidered with scarlet in a intricate key-pattern. Ivan
+was almost more unhappy at his wife's beautiful work having to be cut
+than at his own terrible wounds. He was quite conscious and not in much
+pain, and did so long to live even a week or two longer, so that he
+might see his wife once again. But it was not to be, and he died early
+the next morning--one of the dearest old men one could ever meet, and so
+pathetically grateful for the very little we could do for him.
+
+The shells were crashing over our heads and bursting everywhere, but we
+were too busy to heed them, as more and more men were brought to the
+dressing-station. It was an awful problem what to do with them: the
+house was small and we were using the two biggest rooms downstairs as
+operating- and dressing-rooms. Straw was procured and laid on the floors
+of all the little rooms upstairs, and after each man's wounds were
+dressed he was carried with difficulty up the narrow winding staircase
+and laid on the floor.
+
+The day wore on and as it got dark we began to do the work under great
+difficulties, for there were no shutters or blinds to the upstairs
+windows, and we dared not have any light--even a candle--there, as it
+would have brought down the German fire on us at once. So those poor men
+had to lie up there in the pitch dark, and one of us went round from
+time to time with a little electric torch. Downstairs we managed to
+darken the windows, but the dressings and operations had all to be done
+by candle-light.
+
+The Germans were constantly sending up rockets of blue fire which
+illuminated the whole place, and we were afraid every moment they would
+find us out. Some of the shells had set houses near by on fire too, and
+the sky was lighted up with a dull red glow. The carts bringing the men
+showed no lights, and they were lifted out in the dark when they arrived
+and laid in rows in the lobby till we had time to see to them. By nine
+o'clock that evening we had more than 300 men, and were thankful to see
+an ambulance train coming up the line to take them away. The sanitars
+had a difficult job getting these poor men downstairs and carrying them
+to the train, which was quite dark too. But the men were thankful
+themselves to get away, I think--it was nerve-racking work for them,
+lying wounded in that little house with the shells bursting continually
+over it.
+
+All night long the men were being brought in from the trenches. About
+four in the morning there was a little lull and some one made tea. I
+wonder what people in England would have thought if they had seen us at
+that meal. We had it in the stuffy dressing-room where we had been
+working without a stop for sixteen hours with tightly closed windows,
+and every smell that can be imagined pervading it, the floor covered
+with mud, blood and débris of dressings wherever there were not
+stretchers on which were men who had just been operated on. The meal of
+milkless tea, black bread, and cheese, was spread on a sterilized towel
+on the operating-table, illuminated by two candles stuck in bottles.
+Princess sat in the only chair, and the rest of us eased our weary feet
+by sitting on the edge of the dressing-boxes. Two dead soldiers lay at
+our feet--it was not safe just at that moment to take them out and bury
+them. People would probably ask how we _could_ eat under those
+conditions. I don't know how we could either, but we _did_ and were
+thankful for it--for immediately after another rush began.
+
+At eleven o'clock in the morning another ambulance train arrived and was
+quickly filled. By that time we had had more than 750 patients through
+our hands, and they were still being brought in large numbers. The
+fighting must have been terrific, for the men were absolutely worn out
+when they arrived, and fell asleep at once from exhaustion, in spite of
+their wounds. Some of them must have been a long time in the trenches,
+for many were in a terribly verminous condition. On one poor boy with a
+smashed leg the insects could have only been counted by the million.
+About ten minutes after his dressing was done, his white bandage was
+quite grey with the army of invaders that had collected on it from his
+other garments.
+
+Early that afternoon we got a message that another Column was coming to
+relieve us, and that we were to return to Zyradow for a rest. We were
+very sorry to leave our little dressing-station, but rejoiced to hear
+that we were to go up again in two days' time to relieve this second
+Column, and that we were to work alternately with them, forty-eight
+hours on, and then forty-eight hours off duty.
+
+We had left Zyradow rather quiet, but when we came back we found the
+cannon going hard, both from the Radzivilow and the Goosof direction. It
+would have taken much more than cannon to keep _us_ awake, however, and
+we lay down most gratefully on our stretchers in the empty room at the
+Red Cross Bureau and slept. A forty-eight hours' spell is rather long
+for the staff, though probably there would have been great difficulty in
+changing the Columns more often.
+
+I woke up in the evening to hear the church bells ringing, and
+remembered that it was Christmas Eve and that they were ringing for the
+Midnight Mass, so I got up quickly. The large church was packed with
+people, every one of the little side chapels was full and people were
+even sitting on the altar steps. There must have been three or four
+thousand people there, most of them of course the people of the place,
+but also soldiers, Red Cross workers and many refugees mostly from
+Lowice. Poor people, it was a sad Christmas for them--having lost so
+much already and not knowing from day to day if they would lose all, as
+at that time it was a question whether or not the Russian authorities
+would decide for strategic reasons to fall back once more.
+
+And then twelve o'clock struck and the Mass began.
+
+Soon a young priest got up into the pulpit and gave them a little
+sermon. It was in Polish, but though I could not understand the words, I
+could tell from the people's faces what it was about. When he spoke of
+the horrors of war, the losses and the deaths and the suffering that had
+come to so many of them, one woman put her apron to her face and sobbed
+aloud in the tense silence. And in a moment the whole congregation began
+sobbing and moaning and swaying themselves to and fro. The young priest
+stopped and left them alone a moment or two, and then began to speak in
+a low persuasive voice. I do not know what he said, but he gradually
+soothed them and made them happy. And then the organ began pealing out
+triumphantly, and while the guns crashed and thundered outside, the
+choir within sang of peace and goodwill to all men.
+
+Christmas Day was a very mournful one for us, as we heard of the loss of
+our new and best automobile, which had just been given as a present to
+the Column. One of the boys was taking it to Warsaw from Skiernevice
+with some wounded officers, and it had broken down just outside the
+village. The mud was awful, and with the very greatest difficulty they
+managed to get it towed as far as Rawa, but had to finally abandon it to
+the Germans, though fortunately they got off safely themselves. It was a
+great blow to the Column, as it was impossible to replace it, these big
+ambulance cars costing something like 8000 roubles.
+
+So our Christmas dinner eaten at our usual dirty little restaurant could
+not be called a success.
+
+Food was very scarce at that time in Zyradow; there was hardly any meat
+or sugar, and no milk or eggs or white bread. One of us had brought a
+cake for Christmas from Warsaw weeks before, and it was partaken of on
+this melancholy occasion without enthusiasm. Even the punch made out of
+a teaspoonful of brandy from the bottom of Princess's flask mixed with
+about a pint of water and two lumps of sugar failed to move us to any
+hilarity. Our menu did not vary in any particular from that usually
+provided at the restaurant, though we did feel we might have had a clean
+cloth for once.
+
+MENU
+
+CHRISTMAS 1914
+
+Gravy Soup.
+
+Roast Horse. Boiled Potatoes.
+
+Currant Cake.
+
+Tea. Punch.
+
+We were very glad to go up to Radzivilow once more. Our former
+dressing-station had been abandoned as too dangerous for staff and
+patients, and the dressing- and operating-room was now in a train about
+five versts down the line from Radzivilow station. Our train was a
+permanency on the line, and we lived and worked in it, while twice a day
+an ambulance train came up, our wounded were transferred to it and taken
+away, and we filled up once more. We found things fairly quiet this
+time when we went up. The Germans had been making some very fierce
+attacks, trying to cross the river Rawka, and therefore their losses
+must have been very heavy, but the Russians were merely holding their
+ground, and so there were comparatively few wounded on our side. This
+time we were able to divide up into shifts for the work--a luxury we
+were very seldom able to indulge in.
+
+We had previously made great friends with a Siberian captain, and we
+found to our delight that he was living in a little hut close to our
+train. He asked me one day if I would like to go up to the positions
+with him and take some Christmas presents round to the men. Of course I
+was more than delighted, and as he was going up that night and I was not
+on duty, the general very kindly gave permission for me to go up too. In
+the end Colonel S. and one of the Russian Sisters accompanied us as
+well. The captain got a rough cart and horse to take us part of the way,
+and he and another man rode on horseback beside us. We started off about
+ten o'clock, a very bright moonlight night--so bright that we had to
+take off our brassards and anything that could have shown up white
+against the dark background of the woods. We drove as far as the
+pine-woods in which the Russian positions were, and left the cart and
+horses in charge of a Cossack while we were away. The general had
+intended that we should see the reserve trenches, but we had seen plenty
+of them before, and our captain meant that we should see all the fun
+that was going, so he took us right up to the front positions. We went
+through the wood silently in single file, taking care that if possible
+not even a twig should crackle under our feet, till we came to the very
+front trenches at the edge of the wood. We crouched down and watched for
+some time. Everything was brilliantly illuminated by the moonlight, and
+we had to be very careful not to show ourselves. A very fierce German
+attack was going on, and the bullets were pattering like hail on the
+trees all round us. We could see nothing for some time but the smoke of
+the rifles.
+
+The Germans were only about a hundred yards away from us at this time,
+and we could see the river Rawka glittering below in the moonlight. What
+an absurd little river to have so much fighting about. That night it
+looked as if we could easily wade across it. The captain made a sign,
+and we crept with him along the edge of the wood, till we got to a
+Siberian officer's dug-out. At first we could not see anything, then we
+saw a hole between two bushes, and after slithering backwards down the
+hole, we got into a sort of cave that had been roofed in with poles and
+branches, and was absolutely invisible a few steps away. It was
+fearfully hot and frowzy--a little stove in the corner threw out a great
+heat, and the men all began to smoke, which made it worse.
+
+We stayed a while talking, and then crawled along to visit one of the
+men's dug-outs, a German bullet just missing us as we passed, and
+burying itself in a tree. There were six men already in the dug-out, so
+we did not attempt to get in, but gave them tobacco and matches, for
+which they were very grateful. These men had an "ikon" or sacred picture
+hanging up inside their cave; the Russian soldiers on active service
+carry a regimental ikon, and many carry them in their pockets too. One
+man had his life saved by his ikon. He showed it to us; the bullet had
+gone just between the Mother and the Child, and was embedded in the
+wood.
+
+It was all intensely interesting, and we left the positions with great
+reluctance, to return through the moonlit pine-woods till we reached our
+cart. We had indeed made a night of it, for it was five o'clock in the
+morning when we got back to the train once more, and both the doctor and
+I were on duty again at eight. But it was well worth losing a night's
+sleep to go up to the positions during a violent German attack. I wonder
+what the general would have said if he had known!
+
+We finished our forty-eight hours' duty and returned once more to
+Zyradow. I was always loth to leave Radzivilow. The work there was
+splendid, and there more than anywhere else I have been to one feels the
+war as a High Adventure.
+
+War would be the most glorious game in the world if it were not for the
+killing and wounding. In it one tastes the joy of comradeship to the
+full, the taking and giving, and helping and being helped in a way that
+would be impossible to conceive in the ordinary world. At Radzivilow,
+too, one could see the poetry of war, the zest of the frosty mornings,
+and the delight of the camp-fire at night, the warm, clean smell of the
+horses tethered everywhere, the keen hunger, the rough food sweetened by
+the sauce of danger, the riding out in high hope in the morning; even
+the returning wounded in the evening did not seem altogether such a bad
+thing out there. One has to die some time, and the Russian peasants
+esteem it a high honour to die for their "little Mother" as they call
+their country. The vision of the High Adventure is not often vouchsafed
+to one, but it is a good thing to have had it--it carries one through
+many a night at the shambles. Radzivilow is the only place it came to
+me. In Belgium one's heart was wrung by the poignancy of it all, its
+littleness and defencelessness; in Lodz one could see nothing for the
+squalor and "frightfulness"; in other places the ruined villages, the
+flight of the dazed, terrified peasants show one of the darkest sides of
+war.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+It was New Year's Eve when we returned to Zyradow, and found ourselves
+billeted in a new house where there was not only a bed each, but a
+bathroom and a bath. Imagine what that meant to people who had not
+undressed at night for more than three weeks.
+
+Midnight struck as we were having supper, and we drank the health of the
+New Year in many glasses of tea. What would the lifted veil of time
+disclose in this momentous year just opening for us?
+
+It did not begin particularly auspiciously for me, for within the first
+few days of it I got a wound in the leg from a bit of shrapnel, was
+nearly killed by a bomb from a German Taube, and caught a very bad chill
+and had to go to bed with pleurisy--all of which happenings gave me
+leisure to write this little account of my adventures.
+
+The bomb from the Taube was certainly the nearest escape I am ever
+likely to have in this world. I was walking over a piece of open ground,
+saw nothing, heard nothing, was dreaming in fact, when suddenly I heard
+a whirring overhead, and just above me was a German aeroplane. Before I
+had time to think, down came a bomb with a fearful explosion. I could
+not see anything for a minute, and then the smoke cleared away, and I
+was standing at the edge of a large hole. The bomb had fallen into a bed
+of soft mud, and exploded upwards. Some soldiers who were not very far
+off rushed to see if I were killed, and were very surprised to find that
+I was practically unhurt. A bomb thrown that same afternoon that
+exploded on the pavement killed and wounded nine people.
+
+The wound was from a stray bit of shrapnel and was only a trifle,
+fortunately, and soon healed. The pleurisy was a longer job and
+compelled me to go to bed for a fortnight. I was very miserable at being
+the only idle person I knew, till it occurred to me to spend my time in
+writing this little book, and a subsequent short holiday in Petrograd
+enabled me to finish it.
+
+My enforced holiday is over now and I am on my way back to my beloved
+column once more--to the life on the open road--with its joys and
+sorrows, its comradeship, its pain and its inexplicable happiness--back
+once more to exchange the pen for the more ready weapon of the forceps.
+
+And so I will leave this brief account of what I have seen in this great
+war. I know better than anyone can tell me what an imperfect sketch it
+is, but the history of the war will have to be studied from a great many
+different angles before a picture of it will be able to be presented in
+its true perspective, and it may be that this particular angle will be
+of some little interest to those who are interested in Red Cross work in
+different countries. Those who are workers themselves will forgive the
+roughness of the sketch, which was written during my illness in snatches
+and at odd times, on all sorts of stray pieces of paper and far from any
+books of reference; they will perhaps forget the imperfections in
+remembering that it has been written close to the turmoil of the
+battlefield, to the continual music of the cannon and the steady tramp
+of feet marching past my window.
+
+
+
+
+Index
+
+Aeroplanes, Taube, 145, 176
+  throwing down proclamations, 53
+
+_Affiches_, of the Burgomaster of Antwerp, 53
+  of the Burgomaster of Brussels, 10, 11, 181, 182
+  forbidding a menacing look, etc., 32
+  German, proclaiming victories, 30, 67
+  German, of Von der Golst, 67, 68
+  instructions to citizens, 67
+
+American Consul, help from, 66, 77
+
+Antwerp, the forts of, 73
+  the heavy guns, 73
+  news of the downfall of, 96
+
+Austrian prisoners, 148
+
+Automobiles of the Flying Column, 146, 169
+
+
+Belgian Red Cross Society, 5, 12
+
+Bishop, sad fate of the, 103
+
+Boden, a night at, 103, 104
+
+Brassard, the Red Cross, 61
+
+Brussels, fortifications of, 9
+  German patients in fire-station hospital at, 20
+  hospitals in, 13
+  occupied by the Germans, 14
+  the start to, 6, 7
+
+Burgomaster of Antwerp, 53
+  of Brussels, 10, 11, 54, 74
+  of Charleroi, 20
+
+
+Camp, a German, 61, 62
+
+Cannon, distinction between French and German, 40
+
+Cholera, rumours of, 97
+
+Charleroi, burning of, 20, 22, 32
+  and Charleville, 36
+  terrorization of peasants in, 33
+
+Christmas Eve in Zyradow, 167
+  fare, 170
+
+Cologne, arrival at, 85-87
+
+Copenhagen, arrival at, 92
+
+
+Danish-German soldiers as guards, 81
+
+Danish welcome, a, 92
+
+Death of a Breton soldier, 44
+  of a certain French count, 48, 49
+
+Difference in French and German equipment, 47
+
+
+Echevins of Brussels, 74
+
+Empress Marie Federovna, interview with, 111
+
+Equipment of French and German soldiers, 47
+
+Expulsion of nurses and doctors from Brussels, 80
+
+
+Firing at the Red Cross, 35
+
+Fire-station hospital, 13, 19, 20
+
+_Flandres Libérale_, 71
+
+Flying Column, 125, 126
+
+Fortress of St. Peter and St. Paul, 107
+
+French convent, a, 60
+  prisoners as patients, 28, 29
+
+
+German officers' behaviour at Herbesthal, 83
+  patients at fire-station, 20
+  patients at M----, 41
+  preparations for war, 33
+  surgeon at M----, 31
+
+Grand Duchess Cyril's Hospital in Warsaw, 144
+
+
+Hamburg, 88, 89
+
+Hansen, Dr. Norman, 95
+
+Harsh treatment of wounded, 42
+
+Haparanda, 104
+
+Herbesthal, search at, 83
+
+Holland, rumoured war with, 31
+
+"Hoosh," 85
+
+Hotel Cosmopolite, Copenhagen, 92
+
+Hotel d'Europe, Warsaw, 124
+
+Hotel at Lodz, 140
+
+
+Ikons, 115, 173
+
+Improvised hospital from theatre, 152
+
+Infiladed trench, a, 162
+
+Insects, 139
+
+Inscription over gateway in Charleroi, 30
+
+Interview with Dowager Empress of Russia, 111
+
+
+St. John Ambulance Society, 5, 97
+
+Jumet, the burning of, 21
+
+
+Karungi, 104
+
+Kiel Canal, 90
+
+
+Liège, 65, 83
+
+Lodz, 131
+  hospital at, 132-38
+  shelling of, 132, 135
+
+London, first week of the war, 2
+
+Louvain, destruction of, 81
+  refugees from, 11
+
+Lowice, 150
+
+Luggage problem, the, 126
+
+
+Mâlines, 60, 63, 81
+
+M---- Red Cross Hospital, 23
+  Committee, 28
+  dinner-time, 27
+  a night on duty, 23-24
+  the curé of, 44
+
+Max, Monsieur, 10, 11, 55, 74
+
+Maubeuge taken, 41
+
+Münster, breakfast at, 88
+
+
+Neutrality of Belgium, 82
+  of Denmark, 100
+
+Newspaper boy caught by Germans, 71, 72
+
+Night in the trenches, a, 171-74
+
+Nurses in Brussels, 8, 19, 66
+
+
+Operation, a severe, 25, 26
+
+Ostend in August, 7
+
+
+Patients sent off to Germany, 41, 46
+
+Petrograd, 107, 108
+
+Pigeons, loss of, 55
+
+Poem to British surgeons and nurses, 95
+
+Poland, distress in, 97
+
+Prisoners, Austrian, 148
+  French, 28
+  German, 148
+
+Proclamation of Burgomaster of Brussels, 10, 11
+  forbidding "a menacing look," 32
+  German announcing victories, 30, 67
+  of Von der Golst, 67, 68
+
+
+Queen of Holland, 31
+
+
+Radzivilow, 161
+  Castle, 151
+
+Raphael, St., 104
+
+Rawka, the river, 172
+
+Refugees from Termonde and Louvain, 11
+  in Poland, 142
+
+Registration of trained nurses, 4
+
+Red Cross flag in Brussels, 55
+  hospital in Warsaw, 113-21
+  workers in Belgium, 23, 28, 46
+
+Russian factory laws, 158
+
+Russian Red Cross, Committee, 108
+  permission to serve, 97
+
+Russian roads, 146
+
+Russian sisterhoods, 109
+
+Russian soldiers, 123
+  their relationship with their officers, 123
+
+
+Scarcity of supplies, 24, 37, 169
+
+Searched by German sentries, 62
+
+Siberian ponies, 128
+
+Skiernevice, 146
+
+Skirmish between Belgian and German outposts, 59
+
+Spies, 148
+
+Stamps, issue of Belgian, 74
+
+State registration of nurses, 4
+
+St. Raphael, 104, 106
+
+Stockholm, 102
+
+
+Taube aeroplane, 147, 176
+
+Termonde, refugees from, 11
+
+Theatre at Skiernevice, 152
+
+_Times_, the price of, 70
+
+Tirlemont, 57, 82
+
+Torchlight tattoo, 1
+
+Turco soldiers, 29
+
+Turkestan soldiers, 151, 152
+
+
+Untrained nurses, the danger, 5, 120
+
+
+Vendrup, 91
+
+Voluntary Aid Detachments, 5
+
+
+Waelheim, forts of, 73
+
+Water-supply difficulties, 39
+
+Warsaw, the city of, 121
+  the Red Cross Hospital, 113-20
+
+Wavre St. Catherine, forts of, 73
+
+Wounded French prisoners sent to Germany, 46
+  German soldiers at M----, 41
+
+Zeppelins, 81
+
+Zouave patients, 45
+
+Zyradow Hospital, 158
+
+
+_Printed by_ BALLANTYNE, HANSON & CO. LTD.
+_At the Ballantyne Press_
+LONDON AND EDINBURGH
+
+
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+Transcriber's note: Spelling and punctuation have been normalized.
+
+
+
+***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FIELD HOSPITAL AND FLYING COLUMN***
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+<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1" />
+<title>The Project Gutenberg eBook of Field Hospital and Flying Column, by Violetta Thurstan</title>
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+<h1>The Project Gutenberg eBook, Field Hospital and Flying Column, by Violetta
+Thurstan</h1>
+<pre>
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at <a href = "http://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a></pre>
+<p>Title: Field Hospital and Flying Column</p>
+<p>       Being the Journal of an English Nursing Sister in Belgium &amp; Russia</p>
+<p>Author: Violetta Thurstan</p>
+<p>Release Date: January 23, 2006  [eBook #17587]</p>
+<p>Language: English</p>
+<p>Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1</p>
+<p>***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FIELD HOSPITAL AND FLYING COLUMN***</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<h3>E-text prepared by Irma Spehar<br />
+    and the Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team<br />
+    (<a href="http://www.pgdp.net/">http://www.pgdp.net/</a>)<br />
+    from page images generously made available by<br />
+    Internet Archive/Canadian Libraries<br />
+    (<a href="http://www.archive.org/details/toronto">http://www.archive.org/details/toronto</a>)</h3>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<table border="0" cellpadding="10" style="background-color: #ccccff;">
+  <tr>
+    <td valign="top">
+      Note:
+    </td>
+    <td>
+      Images of the original pages are available through
+      Internet Archive/Canadian Libraries. See
+      <a href="http://www.archive.org/details/fieldhosflyingcolumn00thuruoft">
+      http://www.archive.org/details/fieldhosflyingcolumn00thuruoft</a>
+    </td>
+  </tr>
+</table>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<hr class="full" />
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+
+<h1>
+Field Hospital and<br />
+Flying Column</h1>
+
+<h3><i>Being the</i></h3>
+
+<h3>Journal of an English Nursing Sister<br />
+in Belgium &amp; Russia</h3>
+
+
+<h3>By</h3>
+<h2>Violetta Thurstan</h2>
+
+
+
+<p class='center'>London and New York<br />
+<b>G. P. Putnam's Sons</b><br />
+1915</p>
+
+<p class='center'><i>First Impression April 1915</i></p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+<p class='center'>M. R.</p>
+
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i4"><i>Allons! After the great Companions, and to belong to them.</i><br /></span>
+<span class="i4"><i>They too are on the road.</i><br /></span>
+<span class="i4"><i>They are the swift and majestic men, they are the greatest women.</i><br /></span>
+<span class="i4"><i>They know the universe itself as a road, as many roads,</i><br /></span>
+<span class="i4"><i>As roads for travelling souls.</i><br /></span>
+<span class="i4"><i>Camerados, I will give you my hand,</i><br /></span>
+<span class="i4"><i>I give you my love more precious than money.</i><br /></span>
+<span class="i4"><i>Will you give me yourselves, will you come travel with me?</i><br /></span>
+<span class="i4"><i>Shall we stick by each other as long as we live?</i><br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2>Contents</h2>
+
+
+
+<div class='center'>
+<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="">
+<tr><td align='left'><b>CHAP.</b></td><td align='left'><b>PAGE</b></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>I. THE BEGINNING OF IT ALL</td><td align='center'><a href="#Page_1">1</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>II. CHARLEROI AND ROUND ABOUT</td><td align='center'><a href="#Page_16">16</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>III. OUR HOSPITAL AND PATIENTS</td><td align='center'><a href="#Page_37">37</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>IV. THE RETURN TO BRUSSELS</td><td align='center'><a href="#Page_53">53</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>V. A MEMORABLE JOURNEY</td><td align='center'><a href="#Page_76">76</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>VI. A PEACEFUL INTERLUDE</td><td align='center'><a href="#Page_92">92</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>VII. OUR WORK IN WARSAW</td><td align='center'><a href="#Page_113">113</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>VIII. THE BOMBARDMENT OF LODZ</td><td align='center'><a href="#Page_128">128</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>IX. MORE DOINGS OF THE FLYING COLUMN</td><td align='center'><a href="#Page_144">144</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>X. BY THE TRENCHES AT RADZIVILOW</td><td align='center'><a href="#Page_161">161</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>INDEX</td><td align='center'><a href="#Page_179">179</a></td></tr>
+</table></div>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1" id="Page_1">[1]</a></span></p>
+<h3>I</h3>
+
+<h3>THE BEGINNING OF IT ALL</h3>
+
+
+<p>War, war, war. For me the beginning of the war was a torchlight tattoo
+on Salisbury Plain. It was held on one of those breathless evenings in
+July when the peace of Europe was trembling in the balance, and when
+most of us had a heartache in case&mdash;<i>in case</i> England, at this time of
+internal crisis, did not rise to the supreme sacrifice.</p>
+
+<p>It was just the night for a tattoo&mdash;dark and warm and still. Away across
+the plain a sea of mist was rolling, cutting us off from the outside
+world, and only a few pale stars lighted our stage from above.</p>
+
+<p>The field was hung round with Chinese lanterns throwing weird lights and
+shadows over the mysterious forms of men and beasts that moved therein.
+It was fascinating to watch the stately entrance into the field,
+Lancers, Irish Rifles, Welsh Fusiliers,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2">[2]</a></span> Grenadiers and many another
+gallant regiment, each marching into the field in turn to the swing of
+their own particular regimental tune until they were all drawn up in
+order.</p>
+
+<p>There followed a very fine exhibition of riding and the usual torchlight
+tricks, and then the supreme moment came. The massed bands had thundered
+out the first verse of the Evening Hymn, the refrain was taken up by a
+single silver trumpet far away&mdash;a sweet thin almost unearthly note more
+to be felt than heard&mdash;and then the bands gathered up the whole melody
+and everybody sang the last verse together.</p>
+
+<p>The Last Post followed, and then I think somehow we all knew.</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<p>A week later I had a telegram from the Red Cross summoning me to London.</p>
+
+<p>London was a hive of ceaseless activity. Territorials were returning
+from their unfinished training, every South Coast train was crowded with
+Naval Reserve men who had been called up, every one was buying kits,
+getting medical comforts, and living at the Army and Navy Stores. Nurses
+trained <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">[3]</a></span>and untrained were besieging the War Office demanding to be
+sent to the front, Voluntary Aid Detachment members were feverishly
+practising their bandaging, working parties and ambulance classes were
+being organized, crowds without beginning and without end were surging
+up and down the pavements between Westminster and Charing Cross, wearing
+little flags, buying every half-hour edition of the papers and watching
+the stream of recruits at St. Martin's. All was excitement&mdash;no one knew
+what was going to happen. Then the bad news began to come through from
+Belgium, and every one steadied down and settled themselves to their
+task of waiting or working, whichever it might happen to be.</p>
+
+<p>I was helping at the Red Cross Centre in Vincent Square, and all day
+long there came an endless procession of women wanting to help, some
+trained nurses, many&mdash;far too many&mdash;half-trained women; and a great many
+raw recruits, some anxious for adventure and clamouring "to go to the
+front at once," others willing and anxious to do the humblest service
+that would be of use in this time of crisis.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">[4]</a></span></p><p>Surely after this lesson the Bill for the State Registration of Trained
+Nurses cannot be ignored or held up much longer. Even now in this
+twentieth century, girls of twenty-one, nurses so-called with six
+months' hospital training, somehow manage to get out to the front,
+blithely undertaking to do work that taxes to its very utmost the skill,
+endurance, and resource of the most highly trained women who have given
+up the best years of their life to learning the principles that underlie
+this most exacting of professions. For it is not only medical and
+surgical nursing that is learnt in a hospital ward, it is discipline,
+endurance, making the best of adverse circumstances, and above all the
+knowledge of mankind. These are the qualities that are needed at the
+front, and they cannot be imparted in a few bandaging classes or
+instructions in First Aid.</p>
+
+<p>This is not a diatribe against members of Voluntary Aid Detachments.
+They do not, as a rule, pretend to be what they are not, and I have
+found them splendid workers in their own department. They are not
+half-trained nurses but fully trained ambulance <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[5]</a></span>workers, ready to do
+probationer's work under the fully trained sisters, or if necessary to
+be wardmaid, laundress, charwoman, or cook, as the case may be. The
+difficulty does not lie with them, but with the women who have a few
+weeks' or months' training, who blossom out into full uniform and call
+themselves Sister Rose, or Sister Mabel, and are taken at their own
+valuation by a large section of the public, and manage through influence
+or bluff to get posts that should only be held by trained nurses, and
+generally end by bringing shame and disrepute upon the profession.</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<p>The work in the office was diversified by a trip to Faversham with some
+very keen and capable Voluntary Aid Detachment members, to help
+improvise a temporary hospital for some Territorials who had gone sick.
+And then my turn came for more active service. I was invited by the St.
+John Ambulance to take out a party of nurses to Belgium for service
+under the Belgian Red Cross Society.</p>
+
+<p>Very little notice was possible, everything was arranged on Saturday
+afternoon of all <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[6]</a></span>impossible afternoons to arrange anything in London,
+and we were to start for Brussels at eight o'clock on Tuesday morning.</p>
+
+<p>On Monday afternoon I was interviewing my nurses, saying good-bye to
+friends&mdash;shopping in between&mdash;wildly trying to get everything I wanted
+at the eleventh hour, when suddenly a message came to say that the start
+would not be to-morrow after all. Great
+excitement&mdash;telephones&mdash;wires&mdash;interviews. It seemed that there was some
+hitch in the arrangements at Brussels, but at last it was decided by the
+St. John's Committee that I should go over alone the next day to see the
+Belgian Red Cross authorities before the rest of the party were sent
+off. The nurses were to follow the day after if it could be arranged, as
+having been all collected in London, it was very inconvenient for them
+to be kept waiting long.</p>
+
+<p>Early Tuesday morning saw me at Charing Cross Station. There were not
+many people crossing&mdash;two well-known surgeons on their way to Belgium,
+Major Richardson with his war-dogs, and a few others. A nurse going to
+Antwerp, with myself, formed the only female contingent on board. It was
+asserted <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[7]</a></span>that a submarine preceded us all the way to Ostend, but as I
+never get further than my berth on these occasions, I cannot vouch for
+the truth of this.</p>
+
+<p>Ostend in the middle of August generally means a gay crowd of bathers,
+Cook's tourists tripping to Switzerland and so on; but our little party
+landed in silence, and anxious faces and ominous whispers met us on our
+arrival on Belgian soil. It was even said that the Germans were marching
+on Brussels, but this was contradicted afterwards as a sensational
+canard. The Red Cross on my luggage got me through the <i>douane</i>
+formalities without any trouble. I entered the almost empty train and we
+went to Brussels without stopping.</p>
+
+<p>At first sight Brussels seemed to be <i>en f&ecirc;te</i>, flags were waving from
+every window, Boy Scouts were everywhere looking very important, and the
+whole population seemed to be in the streets. Nearly every one wore
+little coloured flags or ribbons&mdash;a favourite badge was the Belgian
+colours with the English and French intertwined. It did not seem
+possible that war could be so near, and yet if one looked closer one saw
+that many of <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[8]</a></span>the flags giving such a gay appearance were Red Cross
+flags denoting that there an ambulance had been prepared for the
+wounded, and the Garde Civile in their picturesque uniform were
+constantly breaking up the huge crowds into smaller groups to avoid a
+demonstration.</p>
+
+<p>The first thing to arrange was about the coming of my nurses, whether
+they were really needed and if so where they were to go. I heard from
+the authorities that it was highly probable that Brussels <i>would</i> be
+occupied by the Germans, and that it would be best to put off their
+coming, for a time at any rate. Private telegrams had long been stopped,
+but an official thought he might be able to get mine through, so I sent
+a long one asking that the nurses might not be sent till further notice.
+As a matter of fact it never arrived, and the next afternoon I heard
+that twenty-six nurses&mdash;instead of sixteen as was originally
+arranged&mdash;were already on their way. There were 15,000 beds in Brussels
+prepared for the reception of the wounded, and though there were not
+many wounded in the city just then, the nurses would certainly all be
+wanted soon if any of the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[9]</a></span>rumours were true that we heard on all sides,
+of heavy fighting in the neighbourhood, and severe losses inflicted on
+the gallant little Belgian Army.</p>
+
+<p>It was impossible to arrange for the nurses to go straight to their work
+on arrival, so it was decided that they should go to a hotel for one
+night and be drafted to their various posts the next day. Anyhow, they
+could not arrive till the evening, so in the afternoon I went out to the
+barriers to see what resistance had been made against the possible
+German occupation of Brussels. It did not look very formidable&mdash;some
+barbed-wire entanglements, a great many stones lying about, and the
+Gardes Civiles in their quaint old-fashioned costume guarding various
+points. That was all.</p>
+
+<p>In due time my large family arrived and were installed at the hotel.
+Then we heard, officially, that the Germans were quite near the city,
+and that probably the train the nurses had come by would be the last to
+get through, and this proved to be the case. <i>Affiches</i> were pasted
+everywhere on the walls with the Burgomaster's message to his people:</p>
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[10]</a></span></p>
+<p class='center'><span class="smcap">A Sad Hour! The Germans are at our Gates!</span></p>
+
+<p class='center'>PROCLAMATION OF THE BURGOMASTER OF BRUSSELS</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p><span class="smcap">Citizens</span>,&mdash;In spite of the heroic resistance of our
+troops, seconded by the Allied Armies, it is to be feared that the
+enemy may invade Brussels.</p>
+
+<p>If this eventuality should take place, I hope that I may be able to
+count on the calmness and steadiness of the population.</p>
+
+<p>Let every one keep himself free from terror&mdash;free from panic.</p>
+
+<p>The Communal Authorities will not desert their posts. They will
+continue to exercise their functions with that firmness of purpose
+that you have the right to demand from them under such grave
+circumstances.</p>
+
+<p>I need hardly remind my fellow-citizens of their duty to their
+country. The laws of war forbid the enemy to force the population
+to give information as to the National Army and its method of
+defence. The inhabitants of Brussels must know that they are within
+their rights in refusing to give any information on this point to
+the invader. This refusal is their duty in the interests of their
+country.</p>
+
+<p>Let none of you act as a guide to the enemy.</p>
+
+<p>Let every one take precautions against spies and foreign agents,
+who will try to gather information or provoke manifestations.</p>
+
+<p>The enemy cannot legitimately harm the family <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[11]</a></span>honour nor the life
+of the citizens, nor their private property, nor their philosophic
+or religious convictions, nor interfere with their religious
+services.</p>
+
+<p>Any abuse committed by the invader must be immediately reported to
+me.</p>
+
+<p>As long as I have life and liberty, I shall protect with all my
+might the dignity and rights of my fellow-citizens. I beg the
+inhabitants to facilitate my task by abstaining from all acts of
+hostility, all employment of arms, and by refraining from
+intervention in battles or encounters.</p>
+
+<p>Citizens, whatever happens, listen to the voice of your Burgomaster
+and maintain your confidence in him; he will not betray it.</p>
+
+<p>Long live Belgium free and independent!</p>
+
+<p>Long live Brussels!</p>
+
+<p class='right'><span class="smcap">Adolphe Max.</span></p></div>
+
+<p>All that night refugees from Louvain and Termonde poured in a steady
+stream into Brussels, seeking safety. I have never seen a more pitiful
+sight. Little groups of terror-stricken peasants fleeing from their
+homes, some on foot, some more fortunate ones with their bits of
+furniture in a rough cart drawn by a skeleton horse or a large dog. All
+had babies, aged parents, or invalids with them. I realized then for the
+first time what war meant. We do not know in England. God grant we never
+may. It was not merely <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[12]</a></span>rival armies fighting battles, it was
+civilians&mdash;men, women, and children&mdash;losing their homes, their
+possessions, their country, even their lives. This invasion of
+unfortunates seemed to wake Brussels up to the fact that the German army
+was indeed at her gate. Hordes of people rushed to the Gare du Nord in
+the early dawn to find it entirely closed, no trains either entering or
+leaving it. It was said that as much rolling-stock as was possible had
+been sent to France to prevent it being taken by the Germans. There was
+then a stampede to the Gare du Midi, from whence a few trains were still
+leaving the city crammed to their utmost capacity.</p>
+
+<p>In the middle of the morning I got a telephone message from the Belgian
+Red Cross that the Germans were at the barriers, and would probably
+occupy Brussels in half an hour, and that all my nurses must be in their
+respective posts before that time.</p>
+
+<p>Oh dear, what a stampede it was. I told the nurses they must leave their
+luggage for the present and be ready in five minutes, and in less than
+that time we left the hotel, looking more like a set of rag-and-bone men
+than respectable British nursing sisters. One <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[13]</a></span>had seized a large
+portmanteau, another a bundle of clean aprons, another soap and toilet
+articles; yet another provident soul had a tea-basket. I am glad that
+the funny side of it did not strike me then, but in the middle of the
+next night I had helpless hysterics at the thought of the spectacle we
+must have presented. Mercifully no one took much notice of us&mdash;the
+streets were crowded and we had difficulty in getting on in some
+places&mdash;just at one corner there was a little cheer and a cry of "Vive
+les Anglais!"</p>
+
+<p>It took a long time before my flock was entirely disposed of. It had
+been arranged that several of them should work at one of the large
+hospitals in Brussels where 150 beds had been set apart for the wounded,
+five in another hospital at the end of the city, two in an ambulance
+station in the centre of Brussels, nine were taken over to a large
+fire-station that was converted into a temporary hospital with 130 beds,
+and two had been promised for a private hospital outside the barriers.
+It was a work of time to get the last two to their destinations; the
+Germans had begun to come in by that time, and we had to wait two hours
+to cross a certain <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[14]</a></span>street that led to the hospital, as all traffic had
+been stopped while the enemy entered Brussels.</p>
+
+<p>It was an imposing sight to watch the German troops ride in. The
+citizens of Brussels behaved magnificently, but what a bitter
+humiliation for them to undergo. How should we have borne it, I wonder,
+if it had been London? The streets were crowded, but there was hardly a
+sound to be heard, and the Germans took possession of Brussels in
+silence. First the Uhlans rode in, then other cavalry, then the
+artillery and infantry. The latter were dog-weary, dusty and
+travel-stained&mdash;they had evidently done some forced marching. When the
+order was given to halt for a few minutes, many of them lay down in the
+street just as they were, resting against their packs, some too
+exhausted to eat, others eating sausages out of little paper bags
+(which, curiously enough, bore the name of a Dutch shop printed on the
+outside) washed down with draughts of beer which many of the inhabitants
+of Brussels, out of pity for their weary state, brought them from the
+little drinking-houses that line the Chauss&eacute;e du Nord.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[15]</a></span></p><p>The rear was brought up by Red Cross wagons and forage carts,
+commissariat wagons, and all the miscellaneous kit of an army on the
+march. It took thirty-six hours altogether for the army to march in and
+take possession. They installed themselves in the Palais de Justice and
+the H&ocirc;tel de Ville, having requisitioned beds, food and everything that
+they wanted from the various hotels. Poor Madame of the Hotel X. wept
+and wrung her hands over the loss of her beautiful beds. Alas, poor
+Madame! The next day her husband was shot as a spy, and she cared no
+longer about the beds.</p>
+
+<p>In the meantime, just as it got dark, I installed my last two nurses in
+the little ambulance out beyond the barriers.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[16]</a></span></p>
+<h3>II</h3>
+
+<h3>CHARLEROI AND ROUND ABOUT</h3>
+
+
+<p>The Germans had asked for three days to pass through the city of
+Brussels; a week had passed and they showed no signs of going. The first
+few days more and more German soldiers poured in&mdash;dirty, footsore, and
+for the most part utterly worn out. At first the people of Brussels
+treated them with almost unnecessary kindness&mdash;buying them cake and
+chocolate, treating them to beer, and inviting them into their houses to
+rest&mdash;but by the end of the week these civilities ceased.</p>
+
+<p>Tales of the German atrocities began to creep in&mdash;stories of Li&egrave;ge and
+Louvain were circulated from mouth to mouth, and doubtless lost nothing
+by being repeated.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[17]</a></span></p><div class="figcenter" style="width: 640px;">
+<img src="images/map1.jpg" width="640" height="410" alt="MAP OF BELGIUM" title="Map of Belgium" />
+</div>
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[18]</a></span></p>
+<p>There was no <i>real</i> news at all. Think how cut off we were&mdash;certainly it
+was nothing in comparison with what it was afterwards&mdash;but we could
+not know that then&mdash;and anyway we learnt to accommodate ourselves to the
+lack of news by degrees. Imagine a Continental capital suddenly without
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[19]</a></span>newspapers, without trains, telephones, telegraphs; all that we had
+considered up to now essentials of civilized life. Personally, I heard a
+good deal of Belgian news, one way and another, as I visited all my
+flock each day in their various hospitals and ambulances stationed in
+every part of the city.</p>
+
+<p>The hospital that we had to improvise at the fire-station was one of the
+most interesting pieces of work we had to do in Brussels. There were 130
+beds altogether in six large wards, and the Sisters had to sleep at
+first in one, later in two large dormitories belonging to firemen absent
+on active service. The firemen who were left did all the cooking
+necessary for the nursing staff and patients, and were the most charming
+of men, leaving nothing undone that could augment the Sisters' comfort.</p>
+
+<p>It is a great strain on temper and endurance for women to work and sleep
+and eat together in such close quarters, and on <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[20]</a></span>the whole they stood
+the test well. In a very few days the fire-station was transformed into
+a hospital, and one could tell the Sisters with truth that the wards
+looked <i>almost</i> like English ones. Alas and alas! At the end of the week
+the Germans put in eighty soldiers with sore feet, who had over-marched,
+and the glorious vision of nursing Tommy Atkins at the front faded into
+the prosaic reality of putting hundreds of cold compresses on German
+feet, that they might be ready all the sooner to go out and kill our
+men. War is a queer thing!!</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<p>On the following Tuesday afternoon the Burgomaster of Charleroi came
+into Brussels in an automobile asking for nurses and bringing with him a
+permit for this purpose from the German authorities. Charleroi, which
+was now also in German hands, was in a terrible state, and most of the
+city burnt down to the ground. It was crammed with wounded&mdash;both French
+and German&mdash;every warehouse and cottage almost were full of them, and
+they were very short of trained people.</p>
+
+<p>The Central Red Cross Bureau sent a <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[21]</a></span>message, asking if three of us
+would go back with him. <i>Would we!</i> Was it not the chance we had been
+longing for. In ten minutes Sister Elsie, Sister Grace and I were in
+that automobile speeding to Charleroi. I had packed quickly into a
+portmanteau all I thought I was likely to want in the way of uniform and
+other clothing, with a few medical comforts for the men, and a little
+tea and cocoa for ourselves. The two Sisters had done likewise&mdash;so we
+were rather horrified when we got to Hal, where we had to change
+automobiles, the Burgomaster said he could not possibly take any of our
+luggage, as we must get into quite a small car&mdash;the big one having to
+return to Brussels. He assured us that our things would be sent on in a
+few days&mdash;so back to Brussels went my portmanteau with all my clean
+aprons and caps and everything else, and I did not see it again for
+nearly a week. But such is war!</p>
+
+<p>We waited nearly an hour at Hal while our German permits were examined,
+and then went off in the small car. It was heart-breaking to see the
+scenes of desolation as we passed along the road. Jumet&mdash;the
+working-class suburb of Charleroi&mdash;was en<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[22]</a></span>tirely burnt down, there did
+not seem to be one house left intact. It is indeed terrible when
+historic and consecrated buildings such as those at Louvain and Rheims
+are burnt down, but in a way it is more pathetic to see these poor
+little cottages destroyed, that must have meant so much to their owners,
+and it makes one's heart ache to see among the crumbling ruins the
+remains of a baby's perambulator, or the half-burnt wires of an old
+four-post bed. Probably the inhabitants of Jumet had all fled, as there
+was no one to be seen as we went through the deserted village, except
+some German sentries pacing up and down.</p>
+
+<p>Parts of Charleroi were still burning as we got to it, and a terrible
+acrid smoke pervaded everything. Here the poorer streets were spared,
+and it was chiefly the rich shops and banks and private houses that had
+been destroyed. Charleroi was the great Birmingham of Belgium&mdash;coal-pits
+all round, with many great iron and steel works, now of course all idle,
+and most of the owners entirely ruined. The town was absolutely crammed
+with German troops as we passed through; it had now been occupied for
+two <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[23]</a></span>or three days and was being used as a great military depot.</p>
+
+<p>But Charleroi was not to be our final destination&mdash;we went on a few more
+kilometres along the Beaumont road, and drew up at a fairly large
+building right out in the country. It was a hospital that had been three
+parts built ten years ago, then abandoned for some reason and never
+finished. Now it was being hastily fitted up as a Red Cross hospital,
+and stretcher after stretcher of wounded&mdash;both French and German&mdash;were
+being brought in as we arrived.</p>
+
+<p>The confusion that reigned within was indescribable. There were some
+girls there who had attended first-aid lectures, and they were doing
+their best; but there were no trained nurses and no one particularly in
+command. The German doctor had already gone, one of the Belgian doctors
+was still working there, but he was absolutely worn out and went off
+before long, as he had still cases to attend to in the town before he
+went to his well-earned bed. He carried off the two Sisters with him,
+till the morning, and I was left alone with two or three Red Cross
+damsels to face the night. It is a <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[24]</a></span>dreadful nightmare to look back at.
+Blood-stained uniforms hastily cut off the soldiers were lying on the
+floor&mdash;half-open packets of dressings were on every locker; basins of
+dirty water or disinfectant had not been emptied; men were moaning with
+pain, calling for water, begging that their dressings might be done
+again; and several new cases just brought in were requiring urgent
+attention. And the cannon never ceased booming. I was not accustomed to
+it then, and each crash meant to me rows of men mown down&mdash;maimed or
+killed. I soon learnt that comparatively few shells do any damage,
+otherwise there would soon be no men left at all. In time, too, one gets
+so accustomed to cannon that one hardly hears it, but I had not arrived
+at that stage then: this was my baptism of fire.</p>
+
+<p>Among the other miseries of that night was the dreadful shortage of all
+hospital supplies, and the scarcity of food for the men. There was a
+little coffee which they would have liked, but there was no possibility
+of hot water. The place had been hastily fitted up with electric light,
+and the kitchen <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[25]</a></span>was arranged for steam cooking, so there was not even a
+gas-jet to heat anything on. I had a spirit-lamp and methylated spirit
+in my portmanteau, but, as I said, my luggage had been all wafted away
+at Hal.</p>
+
+<p>But the night wore away somehow, and with the morning light came plans
+of organization and one saw how things could be improved in many ways,
+and the patients made more comfortable. The hospital was a place of
+great possibilities in some ways; its position standing almost at the
+top of a high hill in its own large garden was ideal, and the air was
+gloriously bracing, but little of it reached the poor patients as
+unfortunately the Germans had issued a proclamation forbidding any
+windows to be open, in case, it was said, anyone should fire from
+them&mdash;and as we were all prisoners in their hands, we had to do as we
+were bid.</p>
+
+<p>At nine o'clock the Belgian doctor and the German commandant appeared,
+and I went off with the former to help with an amputation of arm, in one
+of the little temporary ambulances in the town of M&mdash;&mdash;, three
+kilometres away. The building had been a little dark shop and not very
+convenient, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[26]</a></span>and if the patient had not been so desperately ill, he
+would have been moved to Charleroi for his operation. He was a French
+tirailleur&mdash;a lad about twenty, his right arm had been severely injured
+by shrapnel several days before, and was gangrenous right up to the
+shoulder. He was unconscious and moaning slightly at intervals, but he
+stood the operation very well, and we left him fairly comfortable when
+we had to return to the hospital.</p>
+
+<p>We got back about twelve, which is the hour usually dedicated to
+patients' dinner, but it was impossible to find anything to eat except
+potatoes. We sent everywhere to get some meat, but without success,
+though in a day or two we got some kind of dark meat which I thought
+must be horse. (Now from better acquaintance with ancient charger, I
+know it to have been so.) There was just a little milk that was reserved
+for the illest patients, no butter or bread. I was beginning to feel
+rather in need of food myself by that time. There had been, of course,
+up to then no time to bother about my own meals, and I had had nothing
+since breakfast the day before, that is about <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[27]</a></span>thirty hours ago, except
+a cup of coffee which I had begged from the concierge before starting
+with the doctor for the amputation case.</p>
+
+<p>Well, there was nothing to eat and only the dirtiest old woman in all
+the world to cook it, but at three o'clock we managed to serve the
+patients with an elegant dish of underdone lentils for the first course,
+and overdone potatoes for the second, and partook ourselves gratefully
+thereof, after they had finished. In the afternoon of that day a meeting
+of the Red Cross Committee was held at the hospital, and I was sent for
+and formally installed as Matron of the hospital with full authority to
+make any improvements I thought necessary, and with the stipulation that
+I might have two or three days' leave every few weeks, to go and visit
+my scattered flock in Brussels. The appointment had to be made subject
+to the approval of the German commandant, but apparently he made no
+objection&mdash;at any rate I never heard of any.</p>
+
+<p>And then began a very happy time for me, in spite of many difficulties
+and disappointments. I can never tell the goodness of <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[28]</a></span>the Committee and
+the Belgian doctor to me, and their kindness in letting me introduce all
+our pernickety English ways to which they were not accustomed, won my
+gratitude for ever. Never were Sisters so loyal and unselfish as mine.
+The first part of the time they were overworked and underfed, and no
+word of grumbling or complaint was ever heard from them. They worked
+from morning till night and got the hospital into splendid order. The
+Committee were good enough to allow me to keep the best of the Red Cross
+workers as probationers and to forbid entrance to the others. We had
+suffered so much at their hands before this took place, that I was truly
+grateful for this permission as no discipline or order was possible with
+a large number of young girls constantly rushing in and out, sitting on
+patients' beds, meddling with dressings, and doing all kinds of things
+they shouldn't.</p>
+
+<p>I am sure that no hospital ever had nicer patients than ours were. The
+French patients, though all severely wounded and prisoners in the hands
+of the Germans, bore their troubles cheerfully, even gaily. We <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[29]</a></span>had a
+great variety of regiments represented in the hospital: Tirailleurs,
+Zouaves, one Turco from Algeria&mdash;our big good-natured Adolphe&mdash;soldiers
+from Paris, from Brittany and from Normandy, especially from Calvados.
+The German soldiers, too, behaved quite well, and were very grateful for
+everything done for them&mdash;mercifully we had no officers. We had not
+separate rooms for them&mdash;French and German soldiers lay side by side in
+the public wards.</p>
+
+<p>One of the most harrowing things during that time was the way all the
+Belgians were watching for the English troops to deliver them from the
+yoke of their oppressor. Every day, many times a day, when German rules
+got more and more stringent and autocratic, and fresh tales of
+unnecessary harshness and cruelty were circulated, they would say over
+and over again, "Where are the English? If only the English would come!"
+Later they got more bitter and we heard, "Why don't the English come and
+help us as they promised? If only the English would come, it would be
+all right." And so on, till I almost felt as if I could not bear it any
+longer. One morning some one came <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[30]</a></span>in and said English soldiers had been
+seen ten kilometres away. We heard the sound of distant cannon in a new
+direction, and watched and waited, hoping to see the English ride in.
+But some one must have mistaken the German khaki for ours, for no
+English were ever near that place. There was no news of what was really
+happening in the country, no newspapers ever got through, and we had
+nothing to go upon but the German <i>affiches</i> proclaiming victories
+everywhere, the German trains garlanded with laurels and faded roses,
+marked "Destination&mdash;Paris," and the large batches of French prisoners
+that were constantly marched through the town. An inscription written
+over a doorway in Charleroi amused us rather: "Vive Guillaume II, roi de
+l'univers." Not yet, not yet, William.</p>
+
+<p>Later on the Belgians issued a wonderful little newspaper at irregular
+intervals of three or four days, typewritten and passed from hand to
+hand. The most amazing news was published in it, which we always firmly
+believed, till it was contradicted in the next issue. I collected two or
+three copies of this paper as a curiosity, but un<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[31]</a></span>fortunately lost them
+later on, with all my papers and luggage. One or two items I remember
+quite well. One gave a vivid account of how the Queen of Holland had
+killed her husband because he had allowed the Germans to pass through
+Maestricht; another even more circumstantial story was that England had
+declared war on Holland, Holland had submitted at once, and England
+imposed many stringent conditions, of which I only remember two. One
+was, that all her trade with Germany should cease at once; secondly,
+that none of her lighthouses should show light at night.</p>
+
+<p>One of the German surgeons who used to operate at our hospital was
+particularly ingenious in inventing tortures for me; I used to have to
+help him in his operations, and he would recount to me with gusto how
+the English had retreated from Mons, how the Germans were getting nearer
+and nearer to Paris, how many English killed, wounded and prisoners
+there were, and so on. One morning he began about the Fleet and said
+that a great battle was going on in the North Sea, and going very badly
+for the English. I had two brothers fighting in <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[32]</a></span>the North Sea of whom I
+had no news since the war began, and I could bear it no longer, but fled
+from the operating-room.</p>
+
+<p>Charleroi and its neighbourhood was just one large German camp, its
+position on the railway making it a particularly valuable base for them.
+The proclamations and rules for the behaviour of the inhabitants became
+daily more and more intolerant. It was forbidden to lock the door, or
+open the window, or pull down the blinds, or allow your dog out of the
+house; all German officers were to be saluted&mdash;and if there was any
+doubt, any German soldier was to be saluted, and so on, day after day.
+One really funny one I wish I could reproduce. It forbade anyone to
+"wear a menacing look" but it did not say who was to be the judge of
+this look.</p>
+
+<p>Every one was too restless and unhappy to settle to anything, all the
+most important shops were burnt down, and very few of those that were
+left were open. The whole population seemed to spend all their time in
+the street waiting for something to happen. Certainly the Germans seem
+to have had a special "down" on Charleroi and its neighbourhood, so many
+villages in its vicinity <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[33]</a></span>were burnt down and most abominable cruelties
+practised on its inhabitants. The peasants who were left were simply
+terrorized, as no doubt the Germans meant them to be, and a white flag
+hung from nearly every cottage window denoting complete submission. In
+one village some German soldier wrote in chalk on the door of a house
+where he had been well received, "G&uuml;te Leute hier," and these poor
+people got chalk and tried to copy the difficult German writing on every
+door in the street. I am afraid that did not save them, however, when
+their turn came. It was the utter ruthlessness and foresight with which
+every contingency was prepared for that appalled me and made me realize
+what a powerful enemy we were up against. Everything was thought out
+down to the last detail and must have been prepared months beforehand.
+Even their wagons for transport were all painted the same slate-grey
+colour, while the English and Belgians were using any cart they could
+commandeer in the early days, as I afterwards saw in a German camp
+Pickford's vans and Lyons' tea carts that they had captured from us.
+Even their postal arrangements <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[34]</a></span>were complete; we saw their grey
+"Feld-Post" wagons going to and fro quite at the beginning of the war.</p>
+
+<p>Several people in Charleroi told me that the absolute system and
+organization of destruction frightened them more than the actual fire
+itself. Every German soldier had a little hatchet, and when Charleroi
+was fired, they simply went down the street as if they had been drilled
+to it for months, cutting a square hole in the panel of each door, and
+throwing a ball of celluloid filled with benzine inside. This exploded
+and set the house on fire, and later on the soldiers would return to see
+if it was burning well. They were entirely indifferent as to whether
+anyone were inside or not, as the following incident, which came under
+my notice, will show. Two English Red Cross Sisters were working at an
+ambulance in Charleroi, and lodging with some people in the centre of
+the city. When the town was being burnt they asked leave to go and try
+to save some of their possessions. They arrived at the house, however,
+and found it entirely burnt down, and all their things destroyed. They
+were returning rather sorrowfully to their hospital <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[35]</a></span>when an old woman
+accosted them and told them that a woman with a new-born infant was
+lying in bed in one of the burning houses.</p>
+
+<p>The house was not burning badly, and they got into it quite easily and
+found the woman lying in bed with her little infant beside her, almost
+out of her wits with terror, but too weak to move. The nurses found they
+could not manage alone, so went down into the street to find a man. They
+found, after some trouble, a man who had only one arm and got him to
+help them take the woman to the hospital. One of the nurses was carrying
+the baby, the other with the one-armed man was supporting the mother,
+when the German soldiers fired at the little party, and the one-armed
+man fell bleeding at the side of the road. The Sisters were obliged to
+leave him for the moment, and went on with the mother and infant to the
+hospital, got a stretcher and came back and fetched the man and brought
+him also to the hospital. It was only a flesh wound in the shoulder and
+he made a good recovery, but what a pitiful little group to waste
+ammunition on&mdash;a newly confined mother <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[36]</a></span>and her infant, two Red Cross
+Sisters and a crippled man.</p>
+
+<p>One can only imagine that they were drunk when they did these kind of
+things, for individually the German soldier is generally a decent
+fellow, though some of the Prussian officers are unspeakable. Discipline
+is very severe and the soldiers are obliged to carry out orders without
+troubling themselves about rights and wrongs. It is curious that very
+few German soldiers know why they are fighting, and they are always told
+such wonderful stories of German victories that they think the war will
+soon be over. When they arrived at Charleroi, for instance, they were
+told they were at Charleville, and nearly all our wounded German
+soldiers thought they were already in France. They also thought Paris
+was already taken and London in flames. It hardly seems worth while to
+lie to them in this way, for they are bound to find out the truth sooner
+or later.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[37]</a></span></p>
+<h3>III</h3>
+
+<h3>OUR HOSPITAL AND PATIENTS</h3>
+
+
+<p>After we had had a long week of night and day work, two more of my
+nurses suddenly turned up at the hospital. They had most unexpectedly
+got a message that I had sent in by hand to Brussels, begging for nurses
+and saying how hard pressed we were, and had got permission to come out
+in a Red Cross motor-ambulance. I was, of course, delighted to see them,
+and with their help we soon settled down into the ordinary routine of
+hospital life, and forgot we were prisoners under strict supervision,
+having all kinds of tiresome rules and regulations to keep.</p>
+
+<p>The question of supplies was a very difficult one from the first. We
+were short of everything, very short of dressings, chloroform and all
+kinds of medical supplies, and especially (even worse in one way) very
+short of hospital <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[38]</a></span>linen such as sheets and towels and shirts and
+drawers, and we had the greatest difficulty in getting anyone to come
+and wash for us. One might have thought that with almost every one out
+of work, there would have been no lack of women; but the hospital was a
+long way from the nearest town and I suppose they were afraid to come;
+also, of course, many, very many, had had their houses burnt, lost their
+all and fled away. The food question was a very difficult one also. We
+had to live just from day to day and be thankful for small mercies.
+Naturally for ourselves it would not have mattered at all, but it <i>did</i>
+matter very much for our poor patients, who were nearly all very ill.
+Meat was always difficult often impossible to get, and at first there
+was no bread, which, personally, I missed more than anything else;
+afterwards we got daily rations of this. Butter there was none; eggs and
+milk very scarce, only just enough for the very severely wounded.
+Potatoes and lentils we had in great quantities, and on that diet one
+would never starve, though it was not an ideal one for sick men.</p>
+
+<p>I remember one morning when we had only <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[39]</a></span>potatoes for the men's dinner;
+the cook had just peeled an immense bucket of them and was putting them
+on to boil when some German soldiers came and took the lot, and this so
+infuriated the cook that we had to wait hours before we could get
+another lot prepared and cooked for the patients' dinner. The
+water-supply was another of our difficulties. All the watercourses in
+the neighbourhood were polluted with dead bodies of men and horses and
+no water was fit to drink. There was a horrible, greenish, foul-smelling
+stream near the hospital, which I suppose eventually found its way into
+the river, and it sickened me to imagine what we were drinking, even
+though it was well boiled.</p>
+
+<p>It was very hot weather and the men all dreadfully thirsty. There was
+one poor Breton soldier dying of septic&aelig;mia, who lay in a small room off
+the large ward. He used to shriek to every passer-by to give him drink,
+and no amount of water relieved his raging thirst. That voice calling
+incessantly night and day, "A boire, &agrave; boire!" haunted me long after he
+was dead. The taste of long-boiled water is flat and nasty, so we made
+weak decoctions of camomile-<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[40]</a></span>tea for the men, which they seemed to like
+very much. We let it cool, and kept a jug of it on each locker so that
+they could help themselves whenever they liked.</p>
+
+<p>Some of the ladies of the town were very kind indeed in bringing in wine
+and little delicacies for our sick, and for ourselves, too, sometimes.
+We were very grateful to them for all their kindness in the midst of
+their own terrible trouble and anxieties.</p>
+
+<p>All the first ten days the cannon boomed without ceasing; by degrees it
+got more distant, and we knew the forts of Maubeuge were being bombarded
+by the famous German howitzers, which used to shake the hospital to its
+foundations. The French soldiers in the wards soon taught us to
+distinguish the sounds of the different cannon. In a few days we knew as
+well as they did whether it was French or German artillery firing.</p>
+
+<p>Our hospital was on the main Beaumont road, and in the midst of our work
+we would sometimes glance out and watch the enormous reinforcements of
+troops constantly being sent up. Once we saw a curious sight. Two large
+motor-omnibuses with "Leipziger lokal-anzeiger" painted on their <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[41]</a></span>side
+went past, each taking about twenty-five German B&eacute;guine nuns to the
+battlefield, the contrast between this very modern means of transport
+and the archaic appearance of the nuns in their medi&aelig;val dress was very
+striking.</p>
+
+<p>Suddenly one Sunday morning the cannonading ceased&mdash;there was dead
+silence&mdash;Maubeuge was taken, and the German army passed on into France.
+It is difficult to explain the desolating effect when the cannon
+suddenly ceases. At first one fears and hates it, then one gets
+accustomed to it and one feels at least <i>something is being done</i>&mdash;there
+is still a chance. When it ceases altogether there is a sense of utter
+desertion, as if all hope had been given up.</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<p>On the morning of September 1 the German commandant suddenly appeared in
+the wards at 7 o'clock, and said that all the German wounded were going
+to be sent off to Germany at once, and that wagons would be coming in an
+hour's time to take them to the station. We had several men who were not
+fit to travel, amongst them a soldier who had had his leg amputated only
+twelve <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[42]</a></span>hours before. I ought to have learnt by that time the futility
+of argument with a German official, but I pleaded very hard that a few
+of the men might be left till they were a little better able to stand
+the journey, for there is no nationality among wounded, and we could not
+bear even German patients to undergo unnecessary suffering. But my
+remonstrances were quite in vain, and one could not help wondering what
+would become of <i>our</i> wounded if the Germans treated their own so
+harshly. I heard from other ambulances that it was their experience as
+well as mine that the lightly wounded were very well looked after, but
+the severely wounded were often very inconsiderately treated. They were
+no longer any use as fighting machines and only fit for the scrap-heap.
+It is all part of the German system. They are out for one purpose only,
+that is to win&mdash;and they go forward with this one end in
+view&mdash;everything else, including the care of the wounded, is a
+side-issue and must be disregarded and sacrificed if necessary.</p>
+
+<p>We prepared the men as well as we could for the long ride in the wagons
+that must precede the still longer train journey. Once <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[43]</a></span>on the
+ambulance-train, however, they would be well looked after; it was the
+jolting on the country road I feared for many of them. None of us were
+permitted to accompany them to Charleroi station, but the driver of one
+of the wagons told me afterwards that the man with the amputated leg had
+been taken out dead at the station, as he had had a severe h&aelig;morrhage on
+the way, which none of his comrades knew how to treat. He also told us
+that all the big hospitals at Charleroi were evacuating their German
+wounded, and that he had seen two other men taken out of carts quite
+dead. We took this to mean very good news for us, thinking that the
+Germans must have had a severe reverse to be taking away their wounded
+in such a hurry. So we waited and hoped, but as usual nothing happened
+and there was no news.</p>
+
+<p>We had a very joyful free sort of feeling at having got rid of the
+German patients. The French soldiers began to sing The Marseillaise as
+soon as they had gone, but we were obliged to stop them as we feared the
+German doctor or commandant, who were often prowling about, might hear.
+Losing so many patients <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[44]</a></span>made the work much lighter for the time being,
+and about this time, too, several of the severely wounded men died. They
+had suffered so frightfully that it was a great relief when they died
+and were at rest. The cur&eacute; of the parish church was so good to them,
+never minding how many times a day he toiled up that long hill in the
+blazing sunshine, if he could comfort some poor soul, or speed them on
+their way fortified with the last rites of the Church.</p>
+
+<p>One poor Breton soldier could not bear the thought of being buried
+without a coffin&mdash;he spoke about it for days before he died, till Madame
+D&mdash;&mdash;, a lady living in the town to whom we owe countless acts of
+kindness, promised that she would provide a coffin, so the poor lad died
+quite happily and peacefully, and the coffin and a decent funeral were
+provided in due course, though, of course, he was not able to have a
+soldier's funeral. Some of these poor French soldiers were dreadfully
+homesick&mdash;most of them were married, and some were fathers of families
+who had to suddenly leave their peaceful occupations to come to the war.
+Jules, a dapper little pastrycook with pink <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[45]</a></span>cheeks and bright black
+eyes, had been making a batch of tarts when his summons had come. And he
+was much better suited to making tarts than to fighting, poor little
+man, for he was utterly unnerved by what he had gone through, and used
+to have dreadful fits of crying and sobbing which it was very difficult
+to stop.</p>
+
+<p>Some of the others, and especially the Zouaves, one could not imagine in
+any other profession than that of soldiering. How jolly and cheerful
+they were, always making the best of everything, and when the German
+patients had gone we really had time to nurse them and look after them
+properly. Those who were able for the exertion were carried out to the
+garden, and used to lie under the pear-trees telling each other
+wonderful stories of what they had been through, and drinking in fresh
+health and strength every day from the beautiful breeze that we had on
+the very hottest days up on our hill. We had to guard them very
+carefully while they were in the garden, however, for if one man had
+tried to escape the hospital would have been burnt down and the
+officials probably shot. So two orderlies <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[46]</a></span>and two Red Cross
+probationers were always on duty there, and I think they enjoyed it as
+much as the men.</p>
+
+<p>Suddenly a fresh thunderbolt fell.</p>
+
+<p>One Sunday morning the announcement was made that every French patient
+was to go to Germany on Monday morning at eight.</p>
+
+<p>We were absolutely in despair. We had one man actually dying, several
+others who must die before long, eight or ten who were very severely
+wounded in the thigh and quite unable to move, two at least who were
+paralysed, many who had not set foot out of bed and were not fit to
+travel&mdash;we had not forgotten the amputation case of a few days before,
+who was taken out dead at Charleroi station. I was so absolutely
+miserable about it that I persuaded the Belgian doctor to go to the
+commandant, and beg that the worst cases might be left to us, which he
+very pluckily did, but without the slightest effect&mdash;they must all go,
+ill or well, fit or unfit. After all the German patients were returning
+to their own country and people, but these poor French soldiers were
+going ill and wounded as prisoners to <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[47]</a></span>suffer and perhaps die in an
+enemy's country&mdash;an enemy who knew no mercy.</p>
+
+<p>I could hardly bear to go into the wards at all that day, and busied
+myself with seeing about their clothes. Here was a practical
+illustration of the difference in equipment between the German and
+French soldiers. The German soldiers came in well equipped, with money
+in their pockets and all they needed with them. Their organization was
+perfect, and they were prepared for the war; the French were not. When
+they arrived at the hospital their clothes had been cut off them anyhow,
+with jagged rips and splits by the untrained Red Cross girls. Trained
+ambulance workers are always taught to cut by the seam when possible.
+Many had come without a cap, some without a great-coat, some without
+boots; all had to be got ready somehow. The hospital was desperately
+short of supplies&mdash;we simply could not give them all clean shirts and
+drawers as we longed to do. The trousers were our worst problem, hardly
+any of them were fit to put on. We had a few pairs of grey and black
+striped trousers, the kind a superior shopman might wear, but we were
+afraid to give those <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[48]</a></span>to the men as we thought the Germans would think
+they were going to try to escape if they appeared in civil trousers, and
+might punish them severely. So we mended up these remnants of French red
+pantaloons as best we could. One man we <i>had</i> to give civil trousers as
+he had only a few shreds of pantaloon left, and these he promised to
+carry in his hand to show that he really could not put them on.</p>
+
+<p>The men were laughing and joking and teasing one another about their
+garments, but my heart was as heavy as lead. I simply could not <i>bear</i>
+to let the worst cases go. One or two of the Committee came up and we
+begged them to try what they could do with the commandant, but they said
+it was not the least use, and from what I had seen myself, I had to
+confess that I did not think it would be. The patient I was most unhappy
+about was a certain French count we had in the hospital. He had been
+shot through the back at the battle of Nalinnes, and was three days on
+the battlefield before he was picked up. Now he lay dying in a little
+side room off the ward. The least movement caused him acute agony, even
+the pillow <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[49]</a></span>had to be moved an inch at a time before it could be turned,
+and it took half an hour to change his shirt. The doctor had said in the
+morning he could not last another forty-eight hours. But if he was alive
+the next morning he would be put in those horrible springless carts, and
+jolted, jolted down to the station, taken out and transferred to a
+shaky, vibrating train, carrying him far away into Germany.</p>
+
+<p>Mercifully he died very peacefully in his sleep that evening, and we
+were all very thankful that the end should have come a little earlier
+than was expected.</p>
+
+<p>Late that night came a message that the men were not to start till
+midday, so we got them all dressed somehow by eleven. All had had bad
+nights, nearly all had temperatures, and they looked very poor things
+when they were dressed; even fat, jolly Adolphe looked pale and subdued.
+We had not attempted to do anything with the bad bed cases; if they
+<i>must</i> go they must just go wrapped up in their blankets. But we
+unexpectedly got a reprieve. A great German chief came round that
+morning, accompanied by the German doctor and German comman<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[50]</a></span>dant, and
+gave the order that the very bad cases were to remain for the present. I
+cannot say how thankful we were for this respite and so were the men.
+Poor Jules, who was very weak from pain and high temperature, turned to
+the wall and cried from pure relief.</p>
+
+<p>At 11.30 the patients had their dinner&mdash;we tried to give them a good one
+for the last&mdash;and then every moment we expected the wagons to come. We
+waited and waited till at length we began to long for them to come and
+get the misery of it over. At last they arrived, and we packed our
+patients into it as comfortably as we could on the straw. Each had a
+parcel with a little money and a few delicacies our ever-generous Madame
+D&mdash;&mdash; had provided. It was terrible to think of some of these poor men
+in their shoddy uniforms, without an overcoat, going off to face a long
+German winter.</p>
+
+<p>So we said good-bye with smiles and tears and thanks and salutations.
+And the springless wagons jolted away over the rough road, and
+fortunately we had our bad cases to occupy our thoughts. An order came
+to prepare at once for some more wounded who <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[51]</a></span>might be coming in at any
+time, so we started at once to get ready for any emergency. The beds
+were disinfected and made up with our last clean sheets and
+pillow-cases, and the wards scrubbed, when there was a shout from some
+one that they were bringing in wounded at the hospital gate. We looked
+out and true enough there were stretchers being brought in. I went along
+to the operating theatre to see that all was ready there in case of
+necessity, when I heard shrieks and howls of joy, and turned round and
+there were all our dear men back again, and they, as well as the entire
+staff, were half mad with delight. They were all so excited, talking at
+once, one could hardly make out what had happened; but at last I made
+one of them tell me quietly. It appeared that when the wagons got down
+to Charleroi station, the men were unloaded and put on stretchers, and
+were about to be carried into the station when an officer came and
+pointed a pistol at them (why, no one knew, for they were only obeying
+orders), and said they were to wait. So they waited there outside the
+station for a long time, guarded by a squad of German soldiers, and at
+last were told <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[52]</a></span>that the train to Germany was already full and that they
+must return to the hospital. They all had to be got back into bed (into
+our disinfected beds, with the last of the clean sheets!) and fed and
+their dressings done, and so on, and they were so excited that it took a
+long time before they could settle down for the night. But it was a very
+short reprieve, for the next day they had to go off again and there was
+no coming back this time.</p>
+
+<p>I often think of those poor lads in Germany and wonder what has become
+of them, and if those far-off mothers all think their sons are dead. If
+so, what a joyful surprise some of them will have some day&mdash;after the
+war.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[53]</a></span></p>
+<h3>IV</h3>
+
+<h3>THE RETURN TO BRUSSELS</h3>
+
+
+<p>This seemed a favourable moment for me to go to Brussels for a day or
+two to visit my flock. The Committee gave me leave to go, but begged me
+to be back in two days, which I promised to do. A <i>laissez-passer</i> had
+been obtained from the German commandant for a Red Cross automobile to
+go into Brussels to fetch some supplies of dressings and bandages of
+which all the hospitals in the neighbourhood were woefully short. And I
+was also graciously accorded a ticket of leave by the same august
+authority to go for two days, which might be extended to three according
+to the length of stay of the automobile.</p>
+
+<p>The night before I left, an aeroplane which had been flying very high
+above the town dropped some papers. The doctor with whom I was lodging
+secured one and brought it <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[54]</a></span>back triumphantly. It contained a message
+from the Burgomaster of Antwerp to his fellow-citizens, and ended thus:
+"Courage, fellow-citizens, in a fortnight our country will be delivered
+from the enemy."</p>
+
+<p>We were all absurdly cheered by this message, and felt that it was only
+a matter of a short time now before the Germans were driven out of
+Belgium. We had had no news for so long that we thought probably the
+Antwerp Burgomaster had information of which we knew nothing, and I was
+looking forward to hearing some good news when I got to Brussels.</p>
+
+<p>I found Brussels very much changed since I had left it some weeks
+before. Then it was in a fever of excitement, now it was in the chill of
+dark despair. German rule was firmly established, and was growing daily
+more harsh and humiliating for its citizens. Everything was done to
+Germanize the city, military automobiles were always dashing through,
+their hooters playing the notes of the Emperor's salute, Belgian
+automobiles that had been requisitioned whirred up and down the streets
+filled with German officers' wives and children, German time was kept,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[55]</a></span>
+German money was current coin, and every caf&eacute; and confectioner's shop
+was always crowded with German soldiers. Every day something new was
+forbidden. Now it was taking photographs&mdash;the next day no cyclist was
+allowed to ride, and any cyclist in civil dress might be shot at sight,
+and so on. The people were only <i>just</i> kept in hand by their splendid
+Burgomaster, M. Max, but more than once it was just touch and go whether
+he would be able to restrain them any longer.</p>
+
+<p>What made the people almost more angry than anything else was the loss
+of their pigeons, as many of the Belgians are great pigeon fanciers and
+have very valuable birds. Another critical moment was when they were
+ordered to take down all the Belgian flags. Up to that time the Belgian
+flag, unlike every other town that the Germans had occupied, had floated
+bravely from nearly every house in Brussels. M. Max had issued a
+proclamation encouraging the use of it early in the war. Now this was
+forbidden as it was considered an insult to the Germans. Even the Red
+Cross flag was forbidden except on the German military hospitals, and I
+thought Brussels looked indeed a <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[56]</a></span>melancholy city as we came in from
+Charleroi that morning in torrents of rain in the Red Cross car.</p>
+
+<p>My first business was to go round and visit all my nurses. I found most
+of them very unhappy because they had no work. All the patients had been
+removed from the fire-station hospital and nearly all the private
+hospitals and ambulances were empty too. It was said that Germans would
+rather have all their wounded die than be looked after by Englishwomen,
+and there were dreadful stories afloat which I cannot think any German
+believed, of English nurses putting out the eyes of the German wounded.
+Altogether there were a good many English Sisters and doctors in
+Brussels&mdash;three contingents sent out by the Order of St. John of
+Jerusalem, to which we belonged, a large unit sent by the British Red
+Cross Society, and a good many sent out privately. It certainly was not
+worth while for more than a hundred English nurses to remain idle in
+Brussels, and the only thing to do now was to get them back to England
+as soon as possible. In the meantime a few of them took the law into
+their own hands, and slipped <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[57]</a></span>away without a passport, and got back to
+England safely by unofficial means.</p>
+
+<p>The second afternoon I was in Brussels I received a note from one of my
+nurses who had been sent to Tirlemont in my absence by the Belgian Red
+Cross Society. The contents of the note made me very anxious about her,
+and I determined to go and see her if possible. I had some Belgian
+acquaintances who had come from that direction a few days before, and I
+went to ask their advice as to how I should set about it. They told me
+the best way, though rather the longest, was to go first to M&acirc;lines and
+then on to Tirlemont from there, and the only possible way of getting
+there was to walk, as they had done a few days previously, and trust to
+getting lifts in carts. There had been no fighting going on when they
+had passed, and they thought I should get through all right.</p>
+
+<p>So I set out very early in the morning accompanied by another Sister,
+carrying a little basket with things for one or two nights. I did not
+ask for any <i>laissez-passer</i>, knowing well enough that it would not be
+granted. We were lucky enough to get a tram the first <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[58]</a></span>part of the way,
+laden with peasants who had been in to Brussels to sell country produce
+to the German army, and then we set out on our long walk. It was a
+lovely late September morning, and the country looked so peaceful one
+could hardly believe that a devastating war was going on. Our way led
+first through a park, then through a high-banked lane all blue with
+scabious, and then at last we got on to a main road, when the owner of a
+potato cart crawling slowly along, most kindly gave us a long lift on
+our way.</p>
+
+<p>We then walked straight along the M&acirc;lines road, and I was just remarking
+to my companion that it was odd we should not have met a single German
+soldier, when we came into a village that was certainly full of them. It
+was about 11 o'clock and apparently their dinner hour, for they were all
+hurrying out of a door with cans full of appetizing stew in their hands.
+They took no notice of us and we walked on, but very soon came to a
+sandy piece of ground where a good many soldiers were entrenched and
+where others were busily putting up barbed-wire entanglements. They
+looked at us rather curiously <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[59]</a></span>but did not stop us, and we went on.
+Suddenly we came to a village where a hot skirmish was going on, two
+Belgian and German outposts had met. Some mitrailleuses were there in
+the field beside us, and the sound of rifle fire was crackling in the
+still autumn air. There was nothing to do but to go forward, so we went
+on through the village, and presently saw four German soldiers running
+up the street. It is not a pretty sight to see men running away. These
+men were livid with terror and gasping with deep breaths as they ran.
+One almost brushed against me as he passed, and then stopped for a
+moment, and I thought he was going to shoot us. But in a minute they
+went on towards the barbed-wire barricades and we made our way up the
+village street. Bullets were whistling past now, and every one was
+closing their shops and putting up their shutters. Several people were
+taking refuge behind a manure heap, and we went to join them, but the
+proprietor came out and said we must not stay there as it was dangerous
+for him. He advised us to go to the hotel, so we went along the street
+until we reached it, but it was not a very pleasant walk, as <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[60]</a></span>bullets
+were flying freely and the mitrailleuse never stopped going pom-pom-pom.</p>
+
+<p>We found the hotel closed when we got to it, and the people absolutely
+refused to let us come in, so we stood in the road for a few minutes,
+not knowing which way to go. Then a Red Cross doctor saw us, and came
+and told us to get under cover at once. We explained that we desired
+nothing better, but that the hotel was shut, so he very kindly took us
+to a convent near by. It was a convent of French nuns who had been
+expelled from France and come to settle in this little village, and when
+they heard who we were they were perfectly charming to us, bringing
+beautiful pears from their garden and offering to keep us for the night.
+We could not do that, however, it might have brought trouble on them;
+but we rested half an hour and then made up our minds to return to
+Brussels. We could not go forward as the M&acirc;lines road was blocked with
+soldiers, and we were afraid we could not get back the way we had come,
+past the barbed-wire barricades, but the nuns told us of a little lane
+at the back of their convent which led to the high road to Brussels,
+about fifteen miles distant.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[61]</a></span> We went down this lane for about an hour,
+and then came to a road where four roads met, just as the nuns had said.
+I did not know which road to take, so asked a woman working outside the
+farm. She spoke Flemish, of which I only know a few words, and either I
+misunderstood her, or she thought we were German Sisters, for she
+pointed to another lane at the left which we had not noticed, and we
+thought it was another short cut to Brussels.</p>
+
+<p>We had only gone a few yards down this lane when we met a German sentry
+who said "Halt!" We were so accustomed to them that we did not take much
+notice, and I just showed my Red Cross brassard as I had been accustomed
+to do in Charleroi when stopped. This had the German eagle stamped on it
+as well as the Belgian Red Cross stamp. The man saluted and let us pass.
+<i>Now</i> I realize that he too thought we were German Sisters.</p>
+
+<p>We went on calmly down the lane and in two minutes we fell into a whole
+German camp. There were tents and wagons and cannon and camp fires, and
+thousands of soldiers. I saw some carts there which they <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[62]</a></span>must have
+captured from the English bearing the familiar names of "Lyons' Tea" and
+"Pickford" vans! An officer came up and asked in German what we wanted.
+I replied in French that we were two Sisters on our way to Brussels.
+Fortunately I could produce my Belgian Carte d'Identit&eacute;, which had also
+been stamped with the German stamp. The only hope was to let him think
+we were Belgians. Had they known we were English I don't think anything
+would have saved us from being shot as spies. The officer had us
+searched, but found nothing contraband on us and let us go, though he
+did not seem quite satisfied. He really thought he had found something
+suspicious when he spied in my basket a small metal case. It contained
+nothing more compromising, however, than a piece of Vinolia soap. We had
+not the least idea which way to go when we were released, and went wrong
+first, and had to come back through that horrible camp again. Seven
+times we were stopped and searched, and each time I pointed to my German
+brassard and produced my Belgian Carte d'Identit&eacute;. Sister did not speak
+French or German, but she was very good and did <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[63]</a></span>not lose her head, or
+give us away by speaking English to me. And at last&mdash;it seemed hours to
+us&mdash;we got safely past the last sentry. Footsore and weary, but very
+thankful, we trudged back to Brussels.</p>
+
+<p>But that was not quite the end of our adventure, for just as we were
+getting into Brussels an officer galloped after us, and dismounted as
+soon as he got near us. He began asking in broken French the most
+searching questions as to our movements. I could not keep it up and had
+to tell him that we were English. He really nearly fell down with
+surprise, and wanted to know, naturally enough, what we were doing
+there. I told him the exact truth&mdash;how we had started out for M&acirc;lines,
+were unable to get there and so were returning to Brussels. "But," he
+said at once, "you are not on the M&acirc;lines road." He had us there, but I
+explained that we had rested at a convent and that the nuns had shown us
+a short cut, and that we had got on to the wrong road quite by mistake.
+He asked a thousand questions, and wanted the whole history of our lives
+from babyhood up. Eventually I satisfied him apparently, for he saluted,
+and said in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[64]</a></span> English as good as mine, "Truly the English are a wonderful
+nation," mounted his horse and rode away.</p>
+
+<p>I did not try any more excursions to Tirlemont after that, but heard
+later on that my nurse was safe and in good hands.</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<p>My business in Brussels was now finished, and I wanted to return to my
+hospital at M. The German authorities met my request with a blank
+refusal. I was not at all prepared for this. I had only come in for two
+days and had left all my luggage behind me. Also one cannot leave one's
+hospital in this kind of way without a word of explanation to anyone. I
+could not go without permission, and it was more than sixty kilometres,
+too far to walk. I kept on asking, and waited and waited, hoping from
+day to day to get permission to return.</p>
+
+<p>Instead of that came an order that every private ambulance and hospital
+in Brussels was to be closed at once, and that no wounded at all were to
+be nursed by the English Sisters. The doctor and several of the Sisters
+belonging to the Red Cross unit were imprisoned for twenty-four hours
+under <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[65]</a></span>suspicion of being spies. Things could not go on like this much
+longer. What I wanted to do was to send all my nurses back to England if
+it could be arranged, and return myself to my work at M. till it was
+finished. We were certainly not wanted in Brussels. The morning that the
+edict to close the hospitals had been issued, I saw about 200 German Red
+Cross Sisters arriving at the Gare du Nord.</p>
+
+<p>I am a member of the International Council of Nurses, and our last big
+congress was held in Germany. I thus became acquainted with a good many
+of the German Sisters, and wondered what the etiquette would be if I
+should meet some of them now in Brussels. But I never saw any I knew.</p>
+
+<p>After the Red Cross doctor with his Sisters had been released, he went
+to the German authorities and asked in the name of us all what they
+proposed doing with us. As they would no longer allow us to follow our
+profession, we could not remain in Brussels. The answer was rather
+surprising as they said they intended sending the whole lot of us to
+Li&egrave;ge. That was not pleasant news. Li&egrave;ge was rather uncomfortably near<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[66]</a></span>
+Germany, and as we were not being sent to work there it sounded
+remarkably like being imprisoned. Every one who could exerted themselves
+on our behalf; the American Consul in particular went over and over
+again to vainly try to get the commandant to change his mind. We were to
+start on Monday morning, and on Sunday at midday the order still stood.
+But at four o'clock that afternoon we got a message to say that our
+gracious masters had changed our sentence, and that we were to go to
+England when it suited their pleasure to send us. But this did not suit
+<i>my</i> pleasure at all. Twenty-six nurses had been entrusted to my care by
+the St. John's Committee, four were still at M., and one at Tirlemont,
+and I did not mean to quit Belgian soil if I could help it, leaving five
+of them behind. So I took everything very quietly, meaning to stay
+behind at the last minute, and change into civilian dress, which I took
+care to provide myself with.</p>
+
+<p>Then began a long period of waiting. Not one of my nurses was working,
+though there were a great many wounded in Brussels, and we knew that
+they were short-handed. There <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[67]</a></span>was nothing to do but to walk about the
+streets and read the new <i>affiches</i>, or proclamations, which were put up
+almost every day, one side in French, the other side in German, so that
+all who listed might read. They were of two kinds. One purported to give
+the news, which was invariably of important German successes and
+victories. The other kind were orders and instructions for the behaviour
+of the inhabitants of Brussels. It was possible at that time to buy
+small penny reprints of all the proclamations issued since the German
+occupation. They were not sold openly as the Germans were said to forbid
+their sale, but after all they could hardly punish people for reissuing
+what they themselves had published. Unfortunately I afterwards lost my
+little books of proclamations, but can reproduce a translation of a
+characteristic one that appeared on October 5. The italics are mine.</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p class='right'><span class="smcap">Brussels</span>: October 5, 1914.</p>
+
+<p>During the evening of September 25 the railway line and the
+telegraph wires were destroyed on the line Lovenjoul-Vertryck. In
+consequence of this, these two places have had to render an account
+of this, and had to give hostages on the morning of September 30.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[68]</a></span>
+In future, the localities nearest to the place where similar acts
+take place <i>will be punished without pity&mdash;it matters little
+whether the inhabitants are guilty or not</i>. For this purpose
+hostages have been taken from all localities near the railway line
+thus menaced, and at the first attempt to destroy either the
+railway line or telephone or telegraph, <i>the hostages will be
+immediately shot</i>. Further, all the troops charged with the duty of
+guarding the railway have been ordered <i>to shoot any person with a
+suspicious manner</i> who approaches the line or telegraph or
+telephone wires.</p>
+
+<p class='right'><span class="smcap">Von der Golst</span>.</p></div>
+
+<p>And Von der Golst was recalled from Brussels later on because he was too
+lenient!</p>
+
+<p>There is no reparation the Germans can ever make for iniquities of this
+kind&mdash;and they cannot deny these things as they have others, for they
+stand condemned out of their own mouths. Their own proclamations are
+quite enough evidence to judge them on.</p>
+
+<p>One cannot help wondering what the German standard of right and wrong
+really is, because their private acts as well as their public ones have
+been so unworthy of a great nation. Some Belgian acquaintances of mine
+who had a large chateau in the country told me that such stealing among
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[69]</a></span>officers as took place was unheard of in any war before between
+civilized countries. The men had little opportunity of doing so, but the
+officers sent whole wagon-loads of things back to Germany with their
+name on. My friends said naturally they expected them to take food and
+wine and even a change of clothing, but in their own home the German
+officers quartered there had taken the very carpets off the floor and
+the chandeliers from the ceiling, and old carved cupboards that had been
+in the family for generations, and sent them back to Germany. They all
+begged me to make these facts public when I got back to England. Writing
+letters was useless as they never got through. Other Belgian friends
+told me of the theft of silver, jewellery, and even women's
+undergarments.</p>
+
+<p>It was not etiquette in Brussels to watch the Germans, and particularly
+the officers. One could not speak about them in public, spies were
+everywhere, and one would be arrested at once at the first indiscreet
+word&mdash;but no one could be forced to look at them&mdash;and the habit was to
+ignore them altogether, to avert one's head, or shut one's eyes, or in
+extreme cases to turn one's back on them, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[70]</a></span>and this hurt their feelings
+more than anything else could do. They <i>could</i> not believe apparently
+that Belgian women did not enjoy the sight of a beautiful officer in
+full dress&mdash;as much as German women would do.</p>
+
+<p>All English papers were very strictly forbidden, but a few got in
+nevertheless by runners from Ostend. At the beginning of the German
+occupation the <i>Times</i> could be obtained for a franc. Later it rose to 3
+francs then 5, then 9, then 15 francs. Then with a sudden leap it
+reached 23 francs on one day. That was the high-water mark, for it came
+down after that. The <i>Times</i> was too expensive for the likes of me. I
+used to content myself with the <i>Flandres Lib&eacute;rale</i>, a half-penny paper
+published then in Ghent and sold in Brussels for a franc or more
+according to the difficulty in getting it in. These papers used to be
+wrapped up very tight and small and smuggled into Brussels in a basket
+of fruit or a cart full of dirty washing. They could not of course be
+bought in the shops, and the Germans kept a very keen look-out for them.
+We used to get them nevertheless almost every day in spite of them.</p>
+
+<p>The mode of procedure was this: When it <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[71]</a></span>was getting dusk you sauntered
+out to take a turn in the fresh air. You strolled through a certain
+square where there were men selling picture post-cards, etc. You
+selected a likely looking man and went up and looked over his cards,
+saying under your breath "<i>Journal Anglais?</i>" or "<i>Flandres Lib&eacute;rale?</i>"
+which ever it happened to be. Generally you were right, but occasionally
+the man looked at you with a blank stare and you knew you had made a bad
+shot, and if perchance he had happened to be a spy, your lot would not
+have been a happy one. But usually you received a whispered "Oui,
+madame," in reply, and then you loudly asked the way to somewhere, and
+the man would conduct you up a side street, pointing the way with his
+finger. When no one was looking he slipped a tiny folded parcel into
+your hand, you slipped a coin into his, and the ceremony was over. But
+it was not safe to read your treasure at a front window or anywhere
+where you might be overlooked.</p>
+
+<p>Sometimes these newspaper-sellers grew bold and transacted this business
+too openly and then there was trouble. One evening some of the nurses
+were at Benediction at <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[72]</a></span>the Carmelite Church, when a wretched newspaper
+lad rushed into the church and hid himself in a Confessional. He was
+followed by four or five German soldiers. They stopped the service and
+forbade any of the congregation to leave, and searched the church till
+they found the white and trembling boy, and dragged him off to his fate.
+We heard afterwards that a German spy had come up and asked him in
+French if he had a paper, and the boy was probably new at the game and
+fell into the trap.</p>
+
+<p>About this time the Germans were particularly busy in Brussels. A great
+many new troops were brought in, amongst them several Austrian regiments
+and a great many naval officers and men. It was quite plain that some
+big undertaking was planned. Then one day we saw the famous heavy guns
+going out of the city along the Antwerp road. I had heard them last at
+Maubeuge, now I was to hear them again. Night and day reinforcements of
+soldiers poured into Brussels at the Gare du Nord, and poured out at the
+Antwerp Gate. No one whatever was permitted to pass to leave the city,
+the trams were all stopped at the barriers, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[73]</a></span>and aeroplanes were
+constantly hovering above the city like huge birds of prey.</p>
+
+<p>On Sunday, September 27, we woke to hear cannon booming and the house
+shaking with each concussion. The Germans had begun bombarding the forts
+which lay between Brussels and Antwerp. Looking from the heights of
+Brussels with a good glass, one could see shells bursting near Waelheim
+and Wavre St. Catherine. The Belgians were absolutely convinced that
+Antwerp was impregnable, and as we had heard that large masses of
+English troops had been landed there, we hoped very much that this would
+be the turning-point of the war, and that the Germans might be driven
+back out of the country.</p>
+
+<p>On Wednesday, September 30, the sounds of cannon grew more distant, and
+we heard that Wavre St. Catherine had been taken. The Belgians were
+still confident, but it seems certain that the Germans were convinced
+that nothing could withstand their big guns, for they made every
+preparation to settle down in Brussels for the winter. They announced
+that from October 1 Brussels would be considered as part of German
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[74]</a></span>territory, and that they intended to re-establish the local postal
+service from that date. They reckoned without their host there, for the
+Brussels postmen refused to a man to take service under them, so the
+arrangement collapsed. They did re-establish postal communication
+between Brussels and Germany, and issued a special set of four stamps.
+They were the ordinary German stamps of 3, 5, 10 and 20 pfennig, and
+were surcharged in black "Belgien 3, 5, 10 and 20 centimes."</p>
+
+<p>About this time, too, they took M. Max, the Burgomaster, off to Li&egrave;ge as
+prisoner, on the pretext that Brussels had not yet paid the enormous
+indemnity demanded of it. He held the people in the hollow of his hand,
+and the Brussels authorities very much feared a rising when he was taken
+off. But the Echevins, or College of Sheriffs, rose to the occasion,
+divided his work between them, and formed a local police composed of
+some of the most notable citizens of the town. They were on duty all day
+and night and divided the work into four-hour shifts, and did splendid
+work in warning the people against disorderly acts and preventing
+disturbances. It is not difficult to guess <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[75]</a></span>what would have happened if
+these patriotic citizens had not acted in this way&mdash;there would most
+certainly have been a rising among the people, and the German reprisals
+would have been terrible. As it was a German soldier who was swaggering
+alone down the Rue Basse was torn in pieces by the angry crowd, but for
+some reason this outbreak was hushed up by the German authorities.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[76]</a></span></p>
+<h3>V</h3>
+
+<h3>A MEMORABLE JOURNEY</h3>
+
+
+<p>The authorities seemed to be far too busy to trouble themselves about
+our affairs, and we could get no news as to what was going to happen to
+us. There was a good deal of typhoid fever in Brussels, and I thought I
+would employ this waiting time in getting inoculated against it, as I
+had not had time to do so before leaving England.</p>
+
+<p>This operation was performed every Saturday by a doctor at the H&ocirc;pital
+St. Pierre, so on Saturday, October 3, I repaired there to take my turn
+with the others. The prick was nothing, and it never occurred to me that
+I should take badly, having had, I believe, typhoid when a child. But I
+soon began to feel waves of hot and cold, then a violent headache came
+on, and I was forced to go to bed with a very painful arm and a high
+temperature. I tossed about all night, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[77]</a></span>and the next morning I was worse
+rather than better. At midday I received a message that every English
+Sister and doctor in Brussels was to leave for England the next day, via
+Holland, in a special train that had been chartered by some Americans
+and accompanied by the American Consul. How I rejoiced at my fever, for
+now I had a legitimate excuse for staying behind, for except at the
+point of the sword I did not mean to leave Belgium while I still had
+nurses there who might be in danger. The heads of all the various
+parties were requested to let their nurses know that they must be at the
+station the next day at 2 <span class="smcap">P. M.</span> Several of my nurses were
+lodging in the house I was in, and I sent a message to them and to all
+the others that they must be ready at the appointed place and time. I
+also let a trusted few know that I did not mean to go myself, and gave
+them letters and messages for England.</p>
+
+<p>The next morning I was still not able to get up, but several of my
+people came in to say good-bye to me in bed, and I wished them good luck
+and a safe passage back to England. By 1 <span class="smcap">P. M.</span> they were all
+gone, and a great <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[78]</a></span>peace fell over the house. I struggled out of bed,
+put all traces of uniform away, and got out my civilian dress. I was no
+longer an official, but a private person out in Belgium on my own
+account, and intended to walk to Charleroi by short stages as soon as I
+was able. I returned to bed, and at five o'clock I was half asleep, half
+picturing my flock on their way to England, when there was a great
+clamour and clatter, and half a dozen of them burst into my room. They
+were all back once more!</p>
+
+<p>They told me they had gone down to the station as they were told, and
+found the special train for Americans going off to the Dutch frontier.
+Their names were all read out, but they were not allowed to get into the
+train, and were told they were not going that day after all. The German
+officials present would give no reason for the change, and were
+extremely rude to the nurses. They told me my name had been read out
+amongst the others. They had been asked why I was not there, and had
+replied that I was ill in bed.</p>
+
+<p>Just then a letter arrived marked "Urgent," and in it was an order that
+I <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[79]</a></span>should be at the station at 12 <span class="smcap">P. M.</span> the next day <i>without
+fail</i>, accompanied by my nurses. I was very sad that they had discovered
+I did not want to go, because I knew now that they would leave no stone
+unturned to make me, but I determined to resist to the last moment and
+not go if I could help it. So I sent back a message to the Head Doctor
+of the Red Cross unit, asking him to convey to the German authorities
+the fact that I was ill in bed and could not travel the next day. Back
+came a message to say that they regretted to hear I was ill, and that I
+should be transferred at once to a German hospital and be attended by a
+German doctor. That, of course, was no good at all&mdash;I should then
+probably have been a German prisoner till the end of the war, and not
+have been the slightest use to anyone.</p>
+
+<p>I very reluctantly gave in and said I would go. We were told that we
+should be safely conducted as far as the Dutch frontier, and so I
+determined to get across to Antwerp if I could from there and work my
+way back to Brussels in private clothes.</p>
+
+<p>I scrambled up somehow the next day, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[80]</a></span>and found a very large party
+assembled outside the Gare du Nord, as every single English nurse and
+doctor in Brussels was to be expelled. There must have been fifteen or
+twenty doctors and dressers altogether, and more than a hundred Sisters
+and nurses.</p>
+
+<p>A squad of German soldiers were lined up outside the station, and two
+officers guarded the entrance. They had a list of our names, and as each
+name was read out, we were passed into the station, where a long, black
+troop-train composed of third-class carriages was waiting for us. The
+front wagons were, I believe, full of either wounded or prisoners, as
+only a few carriages were reserved for us. However, we crowded in, eight
+of us in a carriage meant for six, and found, greatly to our surprise,
+that there were two soldiers with loaded rifles sitting at the window in
+each compartment. There was nothing to be said, we were entirely in
+their hands, and after all the Dutch frontier was not so very far off.</p>
+
+<p>The soldiers had had orders to sit at the two windows and prevent us
+seeing out, but our two guards were exceedingly nice men, not<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[81]</a></span> Prussians
+but Danish Germans from Schleswig-Holstein, who did not at all enjoy the
+job they had been put to, so our windows were not shut nor our blinds
+down as those in some of the other carriages were.</p>
+
+<p>A whistle sounded, and we were off. We went very very slowly, and waited
+an interminable time at each station. When evening came on we had only
+arrived as far as Louvain, and were interested to see two Zeppelins
+looming clear and black against the sunset sky, in the M&acirc;lines direction
+flying towards Antwerp. It was not too dark to see the fearful
+destruction that had been dealt out to this famous Catholic University,
+only built and endowed during the last eighty years by great and heroic
+sacrifices on the part of both clergy and people. The two German
+soldiers in our carriage were themselves ashamed when they saw from the
+window the crumbling ruins and burnt-out buildings which are all that
+remain of Louvain now. One of them muttered: "If only the people had not
+fired at the soldiers, this would never have happened." Since he felt
+inclined to discuss the matter, one of us quoted the clause from The
+Hague<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[82]</a></span> Convention of 1907 which was signed by Germany:</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>The territory of neutral states is inviolable.</p>
+
+<p>The fact of a neutral Power resisting even by force, attempts to
+violate its neutrality cannot be regarded as a hostile act.</p></div>
+
+<p>This was beyond him, but he reiterated: "No civilians have any right to
+fire at soldiers." And all the time they were killing civilians by bombs
+thrown on open cities. So deep has the sanctity of the army sunk into
+the German heart.</p>
+
+<p>Night drew on, and one after another dropped into an uneasy sleep. But
+we were squeezed so tight, and the wooden third-class carriages were so
+hard, that it was almost more uncomfortable to be asleep than to be
+awake. We persuaded the two German soldiers to sit together as that made
+a little more room, and they soon went to sleep on each other's
+shoulders, their rifles between their knees. I was still feverish and
+seedy and could not sleep, but watched the beautiful starry sky, and
+meditated upon many things. We passed through Tirlemont, and I thought
+of my poor nurse <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[83]</a></span>and wished I could get out and see what she was doing.
+Then I began to be rather puzzled by the way we were going. I knew this
+line pretty well, but could not make out where we were. About three
+o'clock in the morning I saw great forts on a hill sending out powerful
+search-lights. I knew I could not be mistaken, this must be Li&egrave;ge. And
+then we drew up in the great busy station, and I saw that it was indeed
+Li&egrave;ge. So we were on our way to Germany after all, and not to the Dutch
+frontier as we had been promised.</p>
+
+<p>Next morning this was quite apparent, for we passed through Verviers and
+then Herbesthal the frontier town. At the latter place the doors of all
+our carriages were thrown violently open, and a Prussian officer shouted
+in a raucous voice "Heraus." Few of our party understood German, and
+they did not get out quickly enough to please his lordship, for he
+bellowed to the soldiers: "Push those women out of the train if they
+don't go quicker." Our things were thrown out after us as we scrambled
+out on to the platform, while two officers walked up and down having
+every bag and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[84]</a></span>portmanteau turned out for their inspection. All
+scissors, surgical instruments and other useful articles were taken away
+from the Sisters, who protested in vain against this unfair treatment.
+The soldiers belonging to our carriage, seeing this, tumbled all our
+possessions back into the carriage, pretending that they had been
+examined&mdash;for we had become fast friends since we had shared our scanty
+stock of food and chocolate together. I was personally very thankful not
+to have my belongings looked at too closely, for I had several things I
+did not at all want to part with; one was my camera, which was sewn up
+inside my travelling cushion, a little diary that I had kept in Belgium,
+and a sealed letter that had been given me as we stood outside the
+station at Brussels by a lady who implored me to take it to England and
+post it for her there, as it was to her husband in Petrograd, who had
+had no news of her since the war began. I had this in an inside secret
+pocket, and very much hoped I should get it through successfully.</p>
+
+<p>We were ordered into the train again in the same polite manner that we
+had been <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[85]</a></span>ordered out. Our two soldiers were much upset by the treatment
+we had received. One had tears in his eyes when he told us how sorry he
+was, for he had the funny old-fashioned idea that Red Cross Sisters on
+active service should be treated with respect&mdash;even if they were
+English. He then told us that their orders were to accompany us to
+Cologne; he did not know what was going to happen to us after that. So
+Germany was to be our destination after all.</p>
+
+<p>At the next station we stopped for a long time, and then the doors of
+the carriages were opened and we were each given a bowl of soup. It was
+very good and thick, and we christened it "hoosh" with remembrance of
+Scott's rib-sticking compound in the Antarctic; and there was plenty of
+it, so we providently filled up a travelling kettle with it for the
+evening meal. Then we went on again and crawled through that
+interminable day over the piece of line between Herbesthal and Cologne.
+Evening came, and we thought of the "hoosh," but when it came to the
+point no one could look at it, and we threw <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[86]</a></span>it out of the window. A
+horrible yellow scum had settled on the top of it and clung to the
+sides, so that it spoilt the kettle for making tea&mdash;and we <i>were</i> so
+thirsty.</p>
+
+<p>At last, late at night, we saw the lights of Cologne. We had been
+thirty-two hours doing a journey that ordinarily takes six or seven. We
+were ordered out of the train when we reached the station, and were
+marched along between two rows of soldiers to a waiting-room. No porters
+were allowed to help us, so we trailed all along those underground
+corridors at Cologne station with our own luggage. Fortunately it was so
+late that there were not many people about. We were allowed to have a
+meal here, and could order anything we liked. Some coffee was a great
+comfort, and we were able to buy rolls and fruit for the journey.</p>
+
+<p>An incident happened here that made my blood boil, but nothing could be
+done, so we had to set our teeth and bear it. A waiter came in smiling
+familiarly, with a bundle of papers under his arm, and put one of these
+illustrated weeklies beside each plate. On the front page was a horrible
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[87]</a></span>caricature of England&mdash;so grossly indecent that it makes me hot now
+even to think of it. As soon as I saw what they were, I went round to
+each place, gathered them up and put them aside.</p>
+
+<p>As we waited I wondered what was to be the next step, and could not help
+thinking of my last visit to Cologne two years before. Then I went as a
+delegate to a very large Congress and Health Exhibition, when we were
+the honoured guests of the German National Council of Nurses. Then we
+were f&ecirc;ted by the Municipality of Cologne&mdash;given a reception at the
+Botanical Gardens, a free pass to all the sights of Cologne, a concert,
+tableaux, a banquet, I don't know what more. Now I was a prisoner
+heavily guarded, weary, dirty, humiliated in the very city that had done
+us so much honour.</p>
+
+<p>After about three hours' wait we were ordered into another train,
+mercifully for our poor bones rather a more comfortable one this time,
+with plenty of room, and we went on our way, over the Rhine, looking
+back at Cologne Cathedral, on past Essen and Dusseldorf, into the very
+heart of Germany. It was rather an original idea<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[88]</a></span>&mdash;this trip through the
+enemy's country in the middle of the war!</p>
+
+<p>In the morning we had a nice surprise. We arrived at M&uuml;nster, and found
+breakfast awaiting us. The Red Cross ladies of that town kindly provide
+meals for all prisoners and wounded soldiers passing through. They
+seemed very surprised when all we English people turned up, but they
+were very kind in waiting on us, and after breakfast we got what was
+better than anything in the shape of a good wash. We had a long wait at
+M&uuml;nster so there was no hurry, and we all got our turn under the
+stand-pipe and tap that stood in the station. Then on and on and on, and
+it seemed that we had always been in the train, till at last, late one
+evening, we arrived at Hamburg.</p>
+
+<p>We were ordered out of the train here for a meal, and this was by far
+the most unpleasant time we had. Evidently the news of our arrival had
+preceded us, and a whole crowd of Hamburgers were at the station waiting
+to see us emerge from the train.</p>
+
+<p>They were not allowed on to the platform, but lined the outside of the
+railing all the way down, laughing at us, spitting, hissing, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[89]</a></span>jeering,
+and making insulting remarks. And though we were English we had to take
+it lying down. At the first indiscreet word from any of us they would
+have certainly taken off the men of our party to prison, though they
+would have probably done nothing more to us women than to delay our
+journey. There were about fifteen doctors and dressers with us, and we
+were naturally much more afraid for their safety than for our own. I
+think I shall never forget walking down that platform at Hamburg. We
+were hurried into a waiting-room, the door of which was guarded by two
+soldiers, and a meal of bread and cold meat ordered for us. The German
+waiters evidently much resented being asked to serve us, for they nearly
+threw the food at us.</p>
+
+<p>Then something happened that made up for everything. A young German
+officer came up and asked in very good English if there was anything he
+could do for us in any way.</p>
+
+<p>"I beg your pardon for speaking to you," he said, "but I received so
+much kindness from every one when I was in England, that it would be the
+greatest pleasure I <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[90]</a></span>could have if I could help you at all." And he
+started by giving the waiter the biggest blowing-up he had ever had in
+his life, for which I could have hugged him. He then went off and came
+back in a few minutes with fruit and chocolate and everything he could
+find for us to take with us. He was a very bright and shining star in a
+dark place. Then along the platform past that horrible, jeering crowd
+and into the train once more.</p>
+
+<p>It was night, and most of us were asleep when the train stopped with a
+jerk, the doors of the train were thrown open, and the fresh, salty
+smell of the sea met our nostrils. Some of the party, hardly awake,
+thought they had to get out, and began to descend, but such volumes of
+wrath met their attempt that they hastily got in again. Every window in
+the train was shut, every blind pulled down and curtains closed, and a
+soldier with loaded rifle stood at each window. We were crossing the
+Kiel Canal. There were a great many people in England who would have
+given anything to have been in our shoes just then. But we saw
+absolutely nothing.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[91]</a></span></p><p>They forgot to give us any breakfast that day, but we did not mind.
+Every mile now, along this flat, marshy country, was a mile nearer
+Denmark and freedom, and our spirits rose higher every moment. Though
+why the Germans should take us all through Germany and Denmark, when
+they could just as easily have dropped us on the Dutch frontier, I
+cannot even now imagine.</p>
+
+<p>Early that afternoon we arrived at Vendrup, the Danish frontier, and the
+soldiers and the train that had brought us all the way from Cologne went
+back to Germany. It was difficult to realize that we were free once
+more, after two months of being prisoners with no news of home, tied
+down to a thousand tiresome regulations, and having witnessed terrible
+sights that none of us will ever forget. Strange and delightful it was
+to be able to send a telegram to England once more and to buy a paper;
+wonderful to see the friendly, smiling faces all round us. It felt
+almost like getting home again.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[92]</a></span></p>
+<h3>VI</h3>
+
+<h3>A PEACEFUL INTERLUDE</h3>
+
+
+<p>Late that night we arrived in Copenhagen. The kindness we received there
+surpasses all imagination. The Danish people opened their arms in
+welcome and gave us of their best with both hands. Every one went out of
+their way to be good to us, from the manager of the delightful Hotel
+Cosmopolite, where we were staying, to the utter strangers who sent us
+flowers, fruit, sweets, illustrated papers and invitations to every
+possible meal in such profusion.</p>
+
+<p>Miss Jessen, the secretary of the Danish Council of Nurses, called at
+once and arranged a most delightful programme for every day of our stay
+in Copenhagen, bringing us invitations to see over the most important
+hospitals, and the Finsen Light Institute, the old Guildhall, the
+picture gallery, and anything else any of us wanted to see.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[93]</a></span></p><div class="figcenter" style="width: 310px;">
+<img src="images/map2.jpg" width="310" height="513" alt="MAP OF OUR NORTHERN JOURNEY" title="Map of our Northern Journey" />
+</div>
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[94]</a></span><br /></p>
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[95]</a></span></p><p>The president, Madame Tscherning, and the members of the same council,
+arranged a most delightful afternoon reception for us at the Palace
+Hotel, at which Dr. Norman Hansen welcomed us in the name of Denmark,
+and read us a poem which he had written in our honour.</p>
+
+<p class='center'>TO THE BRITISH SURGEONS AND NURSES<br />
+PASSING COPENHAGEN ON THEIR WAY<br />
+FROM BELGIUM</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">Silent, we bid you welcome, in silence you answer'd our greeting<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Because our lips must be closed, and your teeth are set<br /></span>
+<span class="i26">Against the gale.<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Our mouths are mute, our minds are open&mdash;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">We shall greet you farewell in silence;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Sowers of good-will on fields where hate is sown&mdash;<br /></span>
+<span class="i26">Fare ye well.<br /></span>
+
+<span class="i26"><span class="smcap">C. Norman Hansen, M. D.</span></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>That evening at dinner we all found a beautiful bunch of violets tied up
+with the Danish colours on our plates, and a pretty Danish medal with
+the inscription "Our God&mdash;our Land&mdash;our Honour" which had been issued to
+raise a fund for the Danish Red Cross Society. This was a little
+surprise <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[96]</a></span>for us on the part of the manager of the hotel, who, like
+every one else, simply overwhelmed us with kindness. One simply felt
+dreadfully ashamed of oneself for not having done more to deserve all
+this.</p>
+
+<p>On the first day of our arrival in Denmark came the news of the downfall
+of Antwerp, and through all these delightful invitations and receptions
+there was a feeling in my heart that I was not free yet to enjoy myself.
+The downfall of Antwerp seemed almost like a personal loss. We had been
+so close to it, had shared our Belgian friends' hopes and fears, had
+watched the big German howitzers going out on the Antwerp road, had
+heard the bombardment of the forts, on our long journey through Belgium
+had seen the enormous reinforcements being sent up to take it. And now
+it had gone, and the Germans were marching on Ostend. What was the end
+of all this going to be? We <i>must</i> win in the end&mdash;but they are so
+strong and well organized&mdash;so <i>dreadfully</i> strong.</p>
+
+<p>In that same paper I read an account from a Russian correspondent,
+telling of the distress in Poland, which they described as the "Belgium
+of Russia." It stated <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[97]</a></span>that the news just then was not good; the Germans
+were approaching Warsaw, and that the people in many of the villages
+were almost starving, as the Germans had eaten up almost everything.
+(How well I could believe that!) The paper went on to say that the
+troops were suffering severely from cholera and from typhoid fever and
+that there was a great scarcity of trained nurses. That gave me the clue
+for which I was unconsciously seeking&mdash;we had been turned out of
+Belgium, and now, perhaps, our work was to be in that other Belgium of
+Russia.</p>
+
+<p>Three other Sisters wished to join me, and I telegraphed to St. John's
+to ask permission to offer our services to the Russian Red Cross. The
+answer was delayed, and as we could not go to Russia without permission
+from headquarters, we most reluctantly prepared to go back to England
+with all the others.</p>
+
+<p>On the last morning our luggage, labelled Christiania-Bergen-Newcastle,
+had already gone down to the station when the expected telegram arrived:
+"You and three Sisters named may volunteer Russian Red Cross." We flew
+down to the station and by dint of many tips and great exertions we got
+our <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[98]</a></span>luggage out again. I should have been sorry to have lost my little
+all for the second time.</p>
+
+<p>This permission to serve with the Russian Red Cross was confirmed later
+by a most kind letter from Sir Claude Macdonald, chairman of the St.
+John's Committee, so we felt quite happy about our enterprise.</p>
+
+<p>We could not start for Russia for another ten days. We were to be
+inoculated against cholera for one thing, and then there were passports
+and vis&eacute;s to get and arrangements for the journey to be made. The
+ordinary route was by Ab&ouml;, Stockholm and Helsingfors, but we were very
+strongly advised not to go this way, first, because of the possibility
+of mines in the Baltic, and, secondly, because a steamer, recently
+crossing that way, had been actually boarded, and some English people
+taken off by the Germans. And we had no desire to be caught a second
+time.</p>
+
+<p>So it was decided to my great joy that we should travel all the way
+round by land, through Sweden, through a little bit of Lapland, just
+touching the Arctic Circle, through Finland and so to Petrograd. The
+thought of the places we had to go through thrilled me to the
+core&mdash;Karungi, Haparanda,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[99]</a></span> Lapptrask, Torneo&mdash;the very names are as
+honey to the lips.</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<p>One might have expected that all the kindness and hospitality would
+cease on the departure of the majority of the party, but it was not so.
+Invitations of all kinds were showered on us. Lunches were the chief
+form of entertainment and very interesting and delightful they were.
+There was a lunch at the British Legation, one at the French Legation,
+one at the Belgian Legation where the minister was so pathetically glad
+of any crumbs of news of his beloved country; a delightful dinner to
+meet Prince Gustav of Denmark, an invitation to meet Princess Mary of
+Greece, another lunch with Madame Tscherning, the president of the
+Danish Council of Nurses, and the "Florence Nightingale of Denmark."
+Altogether we should have been thoroughly spoilt if it had lasted any
+longer! One of the most delightful invitations was to stay at Vidbek for
+the remainder of our time, a dear little seaside place with beautiful
+woods, just then in their full glory of autumnal colouring. It was
+within easy reach of Copenhagen and we <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[100]</a></span>went in almost every day, for
+one reason or another, and grew very fond of the beautiful old city.</p>
+
+<p>The time came for us to say good-bye. I was very sorry indeed to leave
+dear little Denmark where we had had such a warm welcome. Denmark is, of
+course, officially, absolutely neutral, but she cannot forget the ties
+of blood and friendship that bind the two island countries together.
+They are indeed a splendid people to be kin to, tall and fair and
+strong, as becomes an ancient race of sea-kings. I only hope that it may
+be my good fortune, some day, to be able to repay in some small measure
+all the wealth of kindness so freely poured out for us.</p>
+
+<p>On Saturday, October 24, at 7 <span class="smcap">P. M.</span> we started for Lapland! Many
+of our very kind friends came down to the station to give us a good
+send-off and with last presents of flowers, fruit, chocolates and
+papers. We crossed first to Malm&ouml; on the ferry, which took about an hour
+and a half. It was very calm and clear, and we watched the little
+twinkling lights of Denmark gradually disappear and the lights of Sweden
+gradually <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[101]</a></span>emerge in exchange. At Malm&ouml; there was a customs examination
+which was not very severe, as our things were all marked with a huge Red
+Cross, and then we got into a funny little horse tram that conveyed us
+to the station.</p>
+
+<p>When morning broke we were speeding along towards Stockholm. The country
+was very different from Denmark, much wilder, with rocks and trees and
+sand and an occasional glimpse of lake. At that time Sweden was supposed
+to bear little good-will towards England, and certainly our reception in
+that land was distinctly a chilly one. We drove on arrival to a hotel
+which had been recommended to us and asked the concierge if there were
+rooms. He said there were, so we had our luggage taken down and
+dismissed the cab. The concierge then looked at us suspiciously, and
+said, "You are English?" "Yes, we are English." He then went and
+confabbed for some minutes with the manageress, and returned. "There are
+people still in the rooms, they will not be ready for twenty minutes."
+"Then we will have breakfast now and go to our rooms after." Another
+long conversation with the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[102]</a></span>manageress, and then he returned again.
+"There are no rooms." "But you said there were rooms." "There are no
+rooms." Evidently there were none for English travellers anyway, so we
+went to another hotel opposite the station, where they were civil, but
+no more. We had to stay in Stockholm twenty-four hours and simply hated
+it. I had heard much of this "Venice of the North," but the physical
+atmosphere was as chilly and unfriendly as the mental one.</p>
+
+<p>The recollection stamped on my memory is of a grey, cheerless town where
+it rained hard almost the whole time, and a bitter wind blowing over the
+quays which moaned and sobbed like a lost banshee.</p>
+
+<p>I was asked to luncheon at the British Legation, and this proved a very
+fortunate occurrence for us all, as the minister was so kind as to go to
+great trouble in getting us a special permit from the Swedish Foreign
+Office to sleep at Boden. Boden is a fortified frontier town and no
+foreigners are, as a rule, allowed to stay the night there, but have to
+go on to Lulea, and return to Boden the next morning. We started off on
+the next <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[103]</a></span>lap of our northern journey that evening, and again through
+the minister's kind intervention were lucky in getting a carriage to
+ourselves in a very full train, and arrived twenty-four hours later at
+Boden.</p>
+
+<p>It was extraordinarily interesting to sleep in that little shanty at
+Boden, partly, no doubt, because it was not ordinarily allowed. The
+forbidden has always charms. It was the most glorious starlight night I
+have ever seen, but bitterly cold, with the thermometer ten degrees
+below zero, and everything sparkling with hoar frost. It was here we
+nearly lost a bishop. A rather pompous Anglican bishop had been
+travelling in the same train from Stockholm, and hearing that we
+insignificant females had been permitted to sleep at Boden, he did not
+see why he should not do the same and save himself the tiresome journey
+to Lulea and back. So in spite of all remonstrances he insisted on
+alighting at Boden, and with the whole force of his ecclesiastical
+authority announced his intention of staying there. However, it was not
+allowed after all, and he missed the train, and while we were
+comfortably having our supper in the little inn, we saw the poor <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[104]</a></span>bishop
+and his chaplain being driven off to Lulea. They turned up again next
+morning, but so late that we were afraid they had got lost on the way
+the night before.</p>
+
+<p>All the next morning we went through the same kind of country, past
+innumerable frozen lakelets, and copses of stubby pines and silver
+birches, till we arrived at Karungi where the railway ends. We made
+friends with a most delightful man, who was so good in helping us all
+the way through that we christened him St. Raphael, the patron saint of
+travellers. He was a fur trader from Finland, and had immense stores of
+information about the land and the queer beasts that live in it. He was
+a sociable soul, but lived in such out-of-the-way places that he seldom
+saw anyone to talk to except the peasants, and it was a great treat, he
+said, to meet some of his fellow-countrymen, and his satisfaction knew
+no bounds when he heard that one of us hailed from Lancashire, near his
+old home.</p>
+
+<p>From Karungi we had to drive to Haparanda. Our carriage was already
+booked by telegram, but a very irate gentleman from Port Said got into
+it with his family <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[105]</a></span>and declined to get out, using such dreadful
+language that I wondered the snow did not begin to sizzle. We did not
+want to have a scene there, so when "St. Raphael" said if we would wait
+till the evening he would take us over by starlight, we graciously let
+the dusky gentleman with the bad temper keep our carriage.</p>
+
+<p>We went in the meantime to the little wooden inn and ate largely of
+strange dishes, dried reindeer flesh, smoked strips of salmon, lax, I
+think it is called, served with a curious sweet sauce, and drank many
+glasses of tea. At 9 <span class="smcap">P. M.</span> behold an open motor-car arrived to
+take us the thirty miles' drive to Haparanda. It seemed absolutely
+absurd to see a motor-car up there on the edge of the Arctic Circle,
+where there was not even a proper road. There were several reindeer
+sleighs about, and I felt that one of those would have been much more in
+keeping. The drivers look most attractive, they wear very gay reindeer
+leggings, big sheep-skin coats and wild-looking wolf-skin caps.</p>
+
+<p>The frozen track was so uneven that we rocked from side to side, and
+were thrown violently about in the car, like little kernels <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[106]</a></span>in a very
+large nut. But it was a wonderful night all the same, the air was thin
+and intoxicating like champagne, and the stars up in these northern
+latitudes more dazzlingly brilliant than anything I have seen before. We
+had to get out at Haparanda and walk over the long bridge which led to
+Torneo, where the Finnish Custom House was, and where our luggage and
+passports had to be examined.</p>
+
+<p>We arrived there very cheerful and well pleased with ourselves, to find
+all our old travelling companions waiting till the Custom House was
+open; the bishop and his party; the bad-tempered man and his family; a
+Russian and a Chinese student who were travelling together, and some
+others. They had been waiting in the cold for hours, and had not had
+their papers or luggage examined yet, so we had had the best of it after
+all.</p>
+
+<p>And we scored yet once more, for "St. Raphael," who spoke fluent
+Finnish, at once secured the only cart to take our things over the ferry
+to the railway station about half a mile away.</p>
+
+<p>It was borne in upon me during this journey what an immense country
+Russia <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[107]</a></span>is. From Torneo to Petrograd does not look far on the map, but
+we left Torneo on Wednesday night, and did not arrive in Petrograd till
+12.30 <span class="smcap">A. M.</span> on Saturday, about fifty-two hours' hard travelling
+to cover this little track&mdash;a narrow thread, almost lost the immensity
+of this great Empire.</p>
+
+<p>Petrograd is not one of those cities whose charms steal upon you
+unawares. It is immense, insistent, arresting, almost thrusting itself
+on your imagination. It is a city for giants to dwell in, everything is
+on such an enormous scale, dealt out in such careless profusion. The
+river, first of all, is immense; the palaces grandiose, the very blocks
+of which they are fashioned seem to have been hewn by Titans. The names
+are full of romance and mystery. The fortress of St. Peter and St. Paul,
+for instance, how it brings back a certain red and gold book of one's
+youth, full of innocent prisoners in clanking chains confined in fetid
+underground dungeons. It seemed incredible to really behold its slender,
+golden minarets on the other side of the Neva. But this was no time for
+sight-seeing, we were all very anxious to get to work at once. So my
+first excursion <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[108]</a></span>in Petrograd was to the Central Bureau of the Red
+Cross.</p>
+
+<p>The director of the Red Cross received me most kindly and promised that
+we should have work very soon. He suggested that in the meantime we
+should go and stay in a Russian Community of Sisters, who had a hospital
+in Petrograd. I was very glad to accept this offer for us all, for we
+must assimilate Russian methods and ways of thought as soon as possible,
+if we were to be of real use to them. Still I very much hoped that we
+should not be kept in Petrograd very long, as we wanted, if possible, to
+get nearer the front. I told the director that we had been inoculated
+against cholera and typhoid, and would be quite pleased to be sent to
+the infectious hospitals if that would be more help, as there are always
+plenty of people to nurse the wounded, but comparatively few who for one
+reason or another are able to devote themselves to this other very
+necessary work.</p>
+
+<p>We betook ourselves without delay to the Community of Russian Sisters,
+and were installed in dear little cell-like rooms at the top of the
+house devoted to the Sisters. The <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[109]</a></span>other side of the house is a
+beautiful little hospital with several wards set apart for wounded
+soldiers. There are a great many similar communities in Russia&mdash;all
+nursing orders. They are called Sisters of Mercy, but are not nuns in
+any sense, as they take no vows and are free to leave whenever they
+like. The course of training varies from two to three years and is very
+complete, comprising courses in dispensing and other useful subjects.
+The pity of it is that there are comparatively few of these trained
+Sisters at the front; the vast majority of those working there have only
+been through a special "War Course" of two months' training, and are apt
+to think that bandaging is the beginning and the end of the art of
+nursing.</p>
+
+<p>The Russian Sisters were most interested in our adventures, and most
+kind and nice to us in every way, but assured us that we should not be
+allowed anywhere near the front, as only Russian Sisters were allowed
+there. They were very surprised when the order came a few days after our
+arrival, that we were to get ready to go to Warsaw at once. That was
+certainly not quite at the front at that moment, as just then Russia
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[110]</a></span>was in the flush of victory, following the retreating Germans back from
+Warsaw to the German frontier. But it was a good long step on the way.</p>
+
+<p>One errand still remained to be done. I had not posted the letter given
+me by the English lady at the Brussels station to her husband in
+Petrograd, wishing to have the pleasure of delivering it myself after
+carrying it at such risks all through Germany. Directly I arrived I made
+inquiries for this Englishman, picturing his joy at getting the
+long-deferred news of his wife. Almost the first person I asked knew him
+quite well, but imagine what a blow it was to hear that he had a Russian
+wife in Petrograd! I vowed never again to carry any more letters to
+sorrowing husbands.</p>
+
+<p>Before we went I received a very kind message that the Empress Marie
+Federovna would like to see us before our departure. Prince Gustav of
+Denmark had been most kind in writing to his aunt, the Empress, about
+us, and had also been good enough to give me a letter of introduction to
+her which I sent through the British Embassy.</p>
+
+<p>A day was appointed to go to the Gatchina<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[111]</a></span> Palace to be presented to her
+Majesty. The palace is a little way out of Petrograd and stands in a
+beautiful park between the Black and the White Lake.</p>
+
+<p>We were greeted by General K&mdash;&mdash;, one of the Empress's bodyguard, and
+waited for a few minutes in the throne room downstairs, chatting to him.
+Soon we were summoned upstairs, a door was thrown open by an enormous
+negro in scarlet livery, and we were ushered into the Empress's private
+boudoir. The Empress was there, and was absolutely charming to us,
+making us sit down beside her and talking to us in fluent English. She
+was so interested in hearing all we could tell her of Belgium, and we
+stayed about half an hour talking to her. Then the Empress rose and held
+out her hand, and said, "Thank you very much for coming to help us in
+Russia. I shall always be interested in hearing about you. May God bless
+you in your work," and we were dismissed.</p>
+
+<p>I would not have missed that for anything, it seemed such a nice start
+to our work in Russia.</p>
+
+<p>Every spare moment till our work began <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[112]</a></span>had to be devoted to learning
+Russian. It is a brain-splitting language. Before I went to Russia I was
+told that two words would carry me through the Empire: "Nichevo" meaning
+"never mind," and "Seechas" which means "immediately" or "to-morrow" or
+"next week." But we had to study every moment to learn as much Russian
+as possible, as of course the soldiers could not understand any other
+language. French is understood everywhere in society, but in the shops
+no other tongue than Russian is any use. German is understood pretty
+widely&mdash;but it is absolutely forbidden now to be spoken under penalty of
+a 3000 rouble fine. In all the hotels there is a big notice put up in
+Russian, French, and English in the public rooms "It is forbidden to
+speak German," and just at first it added rather to the complications of
+life not to be able to use it.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[113]</a></span></p>
+<h3>VII</h3>
+
+<h3>OUR WORK IN WARSAW</h3>
+
+
+<p>In two or three days' time after our visit to the Empress we were off to
+Warsaw and reported ourselves to Monsieur Goochkoff, the head of the Red
+Cross Society there.</p>
+
+<p>We received our marching orders at once. We were not to be together at
+first, as they thought we should learn Russian more quickly if we were
+separated, so two of us were to go to one hospital in Warsaw, two to
+another. My fate was a large Red Cross hospital close to the station,
+worked by a Community of Russian Sisters. I must say I had some anxious
+moments as I drove with Sister G. to the hospital that afternoon. I
+wondered if Monsieur Goochkoff had said we were coming, and thought if
+two Russian Sisters suddenly turned up without notice at an English
+hospital how very much surprised they would be. Then I hoped they were
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[114]</a></span>very busy, as perhaps then they would welcome our help. But again, I
+meditated, if they were really busy, we with our stumbling Russian
+phrases might be only in the way. It was all very well in Denmark to
+think one would come and help Russia&mdash;but supposing they did not want us
+after all?</p>
+
+<p>By the time I got so far we had arrived at the hospital, the old
+familiar hospital smell of disinfectants met my nostrils, and I felt at
+home at once. I found that I had been tormenting myself in vain, for
+they were expecting us and apparently were not at all displeased at our
+arrival. The Sister Superior had worked with English people in the
+Russo-Japanese War and spoke English almost perfectly, and several of
+the other Sisters spoke French or German. She was very worried as to
+where we should sleep, as they were dreadfully overcrowded themselves;
+even she had shared her small room with another Sister. However, she
+finally found us a corner in a room which already held six Sisters.
+Eight of us in a small room with only one window! The Sisters sleeping
+there took our advent like angels, said there was plenty of room, and
+moved <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[115]</a></span>their beds closer together so that we might have more space.
+Again I wondered whether if it were England we should be quite so
+amiable under like circumstances. I hope so.</p>
+
+<p>I began to unpack, but there was nowhere to put anything; there was no
+furniture in the room whatsoever except our straw beds, a table, and a
+large tin basin behind a curtain in which we all washed&mdash;and, of course,
+the ikon or holy picture which hangs in every Russian room. We all kept
+our belongings under our beds&mdash;not a very hygienic proceeding, but <i>&agrave; la
+guerre comme &agrave; la guerre</i>. The patients were very overcrowded too, every
+corridor was lined with beds, and the sanitars, or orderlies, slept on
+straw mattresses in the hall. The hospital had been a large college and
+was originally arranged to hold five hundred patients, but after the
+last big battle at Soldau every hospital in Warsaw was crammed with
+wounded, and more than nine hundred patients had been sent in here and
+had to be squeezed into every available corner.</p>
+
+<p>My work was in the dressing-room, which meant dressing wounds all day
+and sometimes well into the night, and whatever time we finished there
+were all the dressings <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[116]</a></span>for the next day to be cut and prepared before
+we could go to bed. The first week was one long nightmare with the awful
+struggle for the Russian names of dressings and instruments and with
+their different methods of working, but after that I settled down very
+happily.</p>
+
+<p>Sister G. was in the operating-room on the next floor, and she, too,
+found that first week a great strain. The other two Sisters who had come
+out with us and had been sent to another hospital apparently found the
+same, for they returned to England after the first five days, much to my
+disappointment, as I had hoped that our little unit of four might have
+got a small job of our own later, when we could speak Russian better and
+had learnt their ways and customs.</p>
+
+<p>After the first few days we began to be very busy. In England we should
+consider that hospital very badly staffed, as there were only twenty
+Sisters to sometimes nearly a thousand patients, all very serious cases
+moreover, as we were not supposed to take in the lightly wounded at all
+in this hospital. The sanitars, or orderlies, do all <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[117]</a></span>that probationers
+in an English hospital would do for the patients, and all the heavy
+lifting and carrying, so that the work is not very hard though very
+continuous. There was no night staff. We all took it in turns to stay up
+at night three at a time, so that our turn came about once a week. That
+meant being on duty all day, all night, and all the next day, except for
+a brief rest and a walk in the afternoon. Most of the Sisters took no
+exercise beyond one weekly walk, but we two English people longed for
+fresh air, and went out whenever possible even if it was only for ten
+minutes. English views on ventilation are not at all accepted in Russia.
+It is a great concession to open the windows of the ward for ten minutes
+twice a day to air it, and the Sisters were genuinely frightened for the
+safety of the patients when I opened the windows of a hot, stuffy ward
+one night. "It is <i>never</i> done," they reiterated, "before daylight."</p>
+
+<p>The Sister Superior was the mainspring of the hospital. She really was a
+wonderful person, small and insignificant to look at, except for her
+eyes, which looked you through and through and weighed you in <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[118]</a></span>the
+balance; absolutely true and straight, with a heart of gold, and the
+very calmest person in all the world. I remember her, late one evening,
+when everybody was rather agitated at a message which had come to say
+that 400 patients were on their way to the hospital, and room could only
+be made for 200 at the most. "Never mind," she said, not in the least
+perturbed, "they must be made as comfortable as possible on stretchers
+for the night, and to-morrow we must get some of the others moved away."
+And the Sisters took their cue from her, and those 400 patients were all
+taken in and looked after with less fuss than the arrival of forty
+unexpected patients in most hospitals.</p>
+
+<p>All night long that procession of shattered men brought in on stretchers
+never ceased. The kitchen Sister stayed up all night so that each man
+should have some hot soup on arrival, and all the other Sisters were at
+their posts. Each man was undressed on the stretcher (often so badly
+wounded that all his clothing had to be cut off him) and hastily
+examined by the doctor. He was then dressed in a clean cotton shirt and
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[119]</a></span>trousers and lifted into bed, either to enjoy a bowl of hot soup, or,
+if the case was urgent, to be taken off in his turn to the
+operating-room. And though she was no longer young and not at all
+strong, there was dear Sister Superior herself all night, taking round
+the big bowls of soup or sitting beside the dying patients to cheer and
+comfort their last hours. How the men loved her.</p>
+
+<p>It was she who gave the whole tone to the hospital&mdash;there the patients
+and their welfare were the first consideration and nothing else mattered
+in comparison. The hospital was not "smart" or "up to date," the wards
+were not even tidy, the staff was inadequate, overworked, and
+villainously housed, the resources very scanty, but for sheer
+selflessness and utter devotion to their work the staff of that hospital
+from top to bottom could not have been surpassed. I never heard a
+grumble or a complaint all the time I was there either from a doctor, a
+Sister, or an orderly, and I never saw in this hospital a dressing
+slurred over, omitted, or done without the usual precautions however
+tired or overworked everybody might be.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[120]</a></span></p><p>Of course the art of nursing as practised in England does not exist in
+Russia&mdash;even the trained Sisters do things every hour that would horrify
+us in England. One example of this is their custom of giving strong
+narcotic or stimulating drugs indiscriminately, such as morphine,
+codeine, camphor, or ether without doctors' orders. When untrained
+Sisters and inexperienced dressers do this (which constantly happens)
+the results are sometimes very deplorable. I have myself seen a dresser
+give a strong hypodermic stimulant to a man with a very serious
+h&aelig;morrhage. The bleeding vessel was deep down and very difficult to
+find, and the h&aelig;morrhage became so severe after the stimulant that for a
+long time his life was despaired of from extreme exhaustion due to loss
+of blood. I have also heard a Sister with no training except the two
+months' war course say she had given a certain man <i>ten</i> injections of
+camphor within an hour because he was so collapsed, but she had not seen
+fit to tell the doctor she had done this, nor had she let him know his
+patient was so much worse until he was at the point of death. Neither of
+these <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[121]</a></span>particular incidents could have happened in the Red Cross
+hospital at Warsaw as the Sisters there were properly trained; but even
+there they gave drugs at their own sweet will without consulting
+anyone&mdash;particularly in the night.</p>
+
+<p>We were so busy at the hospital that we did not see much of Warsaw. To
+the casual observer it looks a busy, modern, rather gay capital, but
+almost every inch of the city is interesting historically, and nearly
+all the pages of that history are red with blood. War, revolutions, and
+riots seem to have been almost its normal condition, and the great broad
+Vistula that flows sluggishly through it has been many a time before
+stained crimson with the blood of its citizens. But this time the war is
+being fought under different conditions. Russians and Poles are for the
+first time working together with a common aim in view. If the only
+outcome of this war was the better mutual understanding of these two
+great nations, it would not have been fought entirely in vain.</p>
+
+<p>When we first arrived the Russians had beaten the Germans back to the
+frontier, and every one was elated with the great victory. Now at the
+end of October things <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[122]</a></span>did not look quite so happy. The people who knew
+looked anxious and harassed. The newspapers, as usual, told nothing at
+all, but the news which always filters in somehow from mouth to mouth
+was not good. Terrific fighting was going on outside Lodz, it was said,
+and enormous German reinforcements were being poured in. Warsaw was full
+to overflowing with troops going through to reinforce on the Russian
+side. A splendid set of men they looked, sturdy, broad-chested, and
+hardy&mdash;not in the least smart, but practical and efficient in their warm
+brown overcoats and big top boots.</p>
+
+<p>There are two things one notices at once about the Russian soldier. One
+is his absolute disregard of appearances. If he is cold he will tie a
+red comforter round his head without minding in the least whether he is
+in the most fashionable street in Warsaw or in camp at the front. The
+other noticeable characteristic is the friendly terms he is on with his
+officers. The Prussian soldiers rarely seem to like their officers, and
+it is not to be wondered at, as they treat their men in a very harsh,
+overbearing way. On duty the Russian discipline is <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[123]</a></span>strict, but off duty
+an officer may be heard addressing one of his men as "little pigeon" or
+"comrade" and other terms of endearment, and the soldier, on the other
+hand, will call his officer "little father" or "little brother." I
+remember one most touching scene when a soldier servant accompanied his
+wounded officer to hospital. The officer was quite a young,
+delicate-looking boy, who had been shot through the chest. His servant
+was a huge, rough Cossack, who would hardly let any of us touch his
+master if he could help it, and stayed by his bed night and day till the
+end, when, his great frame heaving with sobs and tears streaming down
+the seamed and rugged face, he threw himself over the officer's body and
+implored God to let him die too.</p>
+
+<p>The hospital began to grow empty and the work slackened down, as every
+possible patient was sent away to Moscow or Petrograd to make room for
+the rush of wounded that must be coming from the Lodz direction. But no
+patients arrived, and we heard that the railway communications had been
+cut. But this proved to be untrue.</p>
+
+<p>One Sunday afternoon Sister G. and I, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[124]</a></span>being free, betook ourselves to
+tea at the Hotel d'Europe&mdash;that well-named hostelry which has probably
+seen more history made from its windows than any other hotel in Europe.
+We favoured it always on Sunday when we could, for not only was a
+particularly nice tea to be had, but one could also read there a not
+<i>too</i> old French newspaper. I think just at first we felt almost as cut
+off from news of what was happening on the English side as we did in
+Belgium. No English or French papers could be bought and the Polish and
+Russian papers were as sealed books to us, and when I did succeed in
+getting some long-suffering person to translate them to me, the news was
+naturally chiefly of the doings of the Russian side. Later on I had
+English papers sent out to me which kept me in touch with the western
+front, and also by that time, too, I could make out the substance of the
+Russian papers; but just at first it was very trying not to know what
+was going on. We had had tea and had read of an Anglo-French success
+near Ypres and returned rested and cheered to the hospital to find
+Sister Superior asking for us. She <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[125]</a></span>had had a message from the Red Cross
+Office that we were to go to Lodz next day, and were to go at once to
+the Hotel Bristol to meet Prince V., who would give us full particulars.</p>
+
+<p>We went off at once to the Bristol and saw Prince V., but did not get
+any particulars&mdash;that was not the Prince's way. He was sitting reading
+in the lounge when we arrived, a very tall, lean, handsome man with kind
+brown eyes and a nose hooked like an eagle's. He greeted us very kindly
+and said he would take us to Lodz next day in one of the Red Cross
+automobiles, and that we must be ready at 10 <span class="smcap">A. M.</span> I think we
+earned his everlasting gratitude by asking no questions as to where and
+how we were going to work, but simply said we would be ready at that
+time and returned to hospital to pack, fully realizing what lucky people
+we were to be going right into the thick of things, and only hoping that
+we should rise to the occasion and do the utmost that was expected of
+us.</p>
+
+<p>We were now officially transferred from the hospital to the Flying
+Column, of which Prince V. was the head. A flying column <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[126]</a></span>works directly
+under the head of the Red Cross, and is supposed to go anywhere and do
+anything at any hour of the day or night. Our Column consisted of five
+automobiles that conveyed us and all our equipment to the place where we
+were to work, and then were engaged in fetching in wounded, and taking
+them on to the field hospital or ambulance train. The staff consisted of
+Prince and Princess V., we two English Sisters, with generally, but not
+always, some Russian ones in addition, an English surgeon, Colonel S.,
+some Russian dressers and students, and some sanitars, or orderlies. The
+luggage was a dreadful problem, and the Prince always groaned at the
+amount we would take with us, but we could not reduce it, as we had to
+carry big cases of cotton-wool, bandages and dressings, an&aelig;sthetics,
+field sterilizer, operating-theatre equipment, and a certain amount of
+stores&mdash;such as soap, candles, benzine and tinned food&mdash;as the column
+would have been quite useless if it had not been to a large extent
+self-supporting. Our Column was attached to the Second Army, which
+operated on the eastern front of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[127]</a></span> Warsaw. The Russian front changes so
+much more rapidly than the Anglo-French front, where progress is
+reckoned in metres, that these mobile columns are a great feature of
+ambulance work here. Our front changed many miles in a week sometimes,
+so that units that can move anywhere at an hour's notice are very
+useful. The big base hospitals cannot quite fulfil the same need on such
+a rapidly changing front.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[128]</a></span></p>
+<h3>VIII</h3>
+
+<h3>THE BOMBARDMENT OF LODZ</h3>
+
+
+<p>It took us a long time to get to Lodz, though it is not much more than
+200 kilometres away. Russian roads are villainously bad anyhow, and the
+Germans, though their retreat had been hasty, had had time to destroy
+the roads and bridges as they went. Another thing that delayed us were
+the enormous reinforcements of troops going up from Warsaw to the front.
+It was very interesting to watch the different groups as we passed,
+first a Cossack regiment going up, then an immense convoy followed with
+about 200 wagons of forage. Just ahead of that we passed the
+remounts&mdash;sturdy, shaggy Siberian ponies. They are the most delightful
+creatures in the world, as tame as a dog, and not much bigger, and many<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[129]</a></span>
+of them of a most unusual and beautiful shade of golden cream. They have
+been brought from Siberia by the thousand, and most of the little
+had never seen a motor-car before, and pranced and kicked and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[130]</a></span>
+jumped, and went through all kinds of circus tricks as we passed.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[131]</a></span></p><div class="figcenter" style="width: 359px;">
+<img src="images/map3.jpg" width="359" height="571" alt="MAP OF THE POLISH FRONT" title="Map of the Polish front" />
+</div>
+
+<p>As we grew nearer to Lodz it was sad to see a good many dead horses
+lying by the roadside, mostly killed by shell-fire. The shells had made
+great holes in the road too, and the last part of our journey was like a
+ride on a switchback railway. It began to get dark as we came to
+Breeziny, where a large number of Russian batteries were stationed. It
+looked very jolly there, these large camps of men and horses having
+their supper by the light of a camp-fire, with only the distant rumble
+of the guns to remind them that they were at war. Two hours later we
+jolted into the streets of Lodz.</p>
+
+<p>Lodz is a large cotton manufacturing town&mdash;sometimes called the
+Manchester of Poland&mdash;but now of course all the factories were closed,
+and many destroyed by shell. I should not think it was a very festive
+place at the best of times; it looked squalid and grimy, and the large
+bulk of its population <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[132]</a></span>was made up of the most abject Jews I have ever
+seen.</p>
+
+<p>We had to make a long detour and get into the town by an unfrequented
+country road, as Lodz was being heavily bombarded by the German guns. We
+were put down at a large building which we were told was the military
+hospital. Princess V., Colonel S., and a Russian student were working
+hard in the operating-room, and we hastily put on clean overalls and
+joined them. They all looked absolutely worn out, and the doctor dropped
+asleep between each case; but fresh wounded were being brought in every
+minute and there was no one else to help. Lodz was one big hospital. We
+heard that there were more than 18,000 wounded there, and I can well
+believe it. Every building of any size had been turned into a hospital,
+and almost all the supplies of every kind had given out.</p>
+
+<p>The building we were in had been a day-school, and the top floor was
+made up of large airy schoolrooms that were quite suitable for wards.
+But the shelling recommenced so violently that the wounded all had to be
+moved down to the ground floor <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[133]</a></span>and into the cellars. The place was an
+absolute inferno. I could never have imagined anything worse. It was
+fearfully cold, and the hospital was not heated at all, for there was no
+wood or coal in Lodz, and for the same reason the gas-jets gave out only
+the faintest glimmer of light. There was no clean linen, and the poor
+fellows were lying there still in their verminous, blood-soaked shirts,
+shivering with cold, as we had only one small blanket each for them.
+They were lucky if they had a bed at all, for many were lying with only
+a little straw between them and the cold stone floor. There were no
+basins or towels or anything to wash up with, and no spittoons, so the
+men were spitting all over the already filthy floor. In the largest ward
+where there were seventy or eighty men lying, there was a lavatory
+adjoining which had got blocked up, and a thin stream of dirty water
+trickled under the door and meandered in little rivulets all over the
+room. The smell was awful, as some of the men had been there already
+several days without having had their dressings done.</p>
+
+<p>This was the state in which the hospital had <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[134]</a></span>been handed over to us. It
+was a military hospital whose staff had had orders to leave at four
+o'clock that morning, and they handed the whole hospital with its 270
+patients over to us just as it was; and we could do very little towards
+making it more comfortable for them. The stench of the whole place was
+horrible, but it was too cold to do more than open the window for a
+minute or two every now and then. It was no one's fault that things were
+in such a horrible condition&mdash;it was just the force of circumstances and
+the fortune of war that the place had been taxed far beyond its possible
+capacities.</p>
+
+<p>All night long the most terribly wounded men were being brought in from
+the field, some were already dead when they arrived, others had only a
+few minutes to live; all the rest were very cold and wet and exhausted,
+and we had <i>nothing</i> to make them comfortable. What a blessing hot-water
+bottles would have been&mdash;but after all there would have been no hot
+water to fill them if we had had them. But the wounded <i>had</i> to be
+brought in for shelter somewhere, and at least we had a roof over their
+heads, and hot tea to give them.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[135]</a></span></p><p>At 5 <span class="smcap">A. M.</span> there came a lull. The tragic procession ceased for
+a while, and we went to lie down. At seven o'clock we were called
+again&mdash;another batch of wounded was being brought in.</p>
+
+<p>The shelling had begun again, and was terrific; crash, crash, over our
+heads the whole time. A clock-tower close to the hospital was demolished
+and windows broken everywhere. The shells were bursting everywhere in
+the street, and civilians were being brought in to us severely wounded.
+A little child was carried in with half its head blown open, and then an
+old Jewish woman with both legs blown off, and a terrible wound in her
+chest, who only lived an hour or two. Apparently she suffered no pain,
+but was most dreadfully agitated, poor old dear, at having lost her wig
+in the transit. They began bringing in so many that we had to stop
+civilians being brought in at all, as it was more than we could do to
+cope with the wounded soldiers that were being brought in all the time.</p>
+
+<p>At midday we went to a hotel for a meal. There was very, very little
+food left in Lodz, but they brought what they could. Coming <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[136]</a></span>back to the
+hospital we tried everywhere to get some bread, but there was none to be
+had anywhere&mdash;all the provision shops were quite empty, and the
+inhabitants looked miserable and starved, the Jewish population
+particularly so, though they were probably not among the poorest.</p>
+
+<p>On our way back a shell burst quite close to us in the street, but no
+one was hurt. These shells make a most horrible scream before bursting,
+like an animal in pain. Ordinarily I am the most dreadful coward in the
+world about loud noises&mdash;I even hate a sham thunderstorm in a
+theatre&mdash;but here somehow the shells were so part of the whole thing
+that one did not realize that all this was happening to <i>us</i>, one felt
+rather like a disinterested spectator at a far-off dream. It was
+probably partly due to want of sleep; one's hands did the work, but
+one's mind was mercifully numbed. Mercifully, for it was more like hell
+than anything I can imagine. The never-ending processions of groaning
+men being brought in on those horrible blood-soaked stretchers,
+suffering unimagined tortures, the filth, the cold, the stench, the
+hunger, the vermin, and the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[137]</a></span>squalor of it all, added to one's utter
+helplessness to do more than very little to relieve their misery, was
+almost enough to make even Satan weep.</p>
+
+<p>On the third day after our arrival a young Russian doctor and some
+Russian sisters arrived to relieve us for a few hours, and we most
+thankfully went to bed&mdash;at least it was not a bed in the ordinary sense,
+but a wire bedstead on which we lay down in all our clothes; but we were
+very comfortable all the same.</p>
+
+<p>When we woke up we were told that the military authorities had given
+orders for the patients to be evacuated, and that Red Cross carts were
+coming all night to take them away to the station, where some ambulance
+trains awaited them. So we worked hard all night to get the dressings
+done before the men were sent away, and as we finished each case, he was
+carried down to the hall to await his turn to go; but it was very
+difficult as all the time they were bringing in fresh cases as fast as
+they were taking the others away, and alas! many had to go off without
+having had their dressings done at all. The next afternoon <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[138]</a></span>we were
+still taking in, when we got another order that all the fresh patients
+were to be evacuated and the hospital closed, as the Russians had
+decided to retire from Lodz. Again we worked all night, and by ten the
+next morning we had got all the patients away. The sanitars collected
+all the bedding in the yard to be burnt, the bedsteads were piled high
+on one another, and we opened all the windows wide to let the clean cold
+wind blow over everything.</p>
+
+<p>We had all our own dressings and equipment to pack, and were all just
+about at our last gasp from want of food and sleep, when a very kind
+Polish lady came and carried princess, we two Sisters, and Colonel S.
+off to her house, where she had prepared bedrooms for us. I never looked
+forward to anything so much in my life as I did to my bed that night.
+Our hostess simply heaped benefits on us by preparing us each a hot bath
+in turn. We had not washed or had our clothes off since we came to Lodz,
+and were covered with vermin which had come to us from the patients; men
+and officers alike suffer terribly from this plague of insects, which
+really do make one's life a <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[139]</a></span>burden. There are three varieties commonly
+met with: ordinary fleas that no one minds in the least; white insects
+that are the commonest and live in the folds of one's clothes, whose
+young are most difficult to find, and who grow middle-aged and very
+hungry in a single night; and, lastly, the red insects with a good many
+legs, which are much less numerous but much more ravenous than the other
+kinds.</p>
+
+<p>After the bath and the hunt, we sat down to a delicious supper, and were
+looking forward to a still more delicious night in bed, when suddenly
+Prince V. arrived and said we must leave at once. We guessed instantly
+that the Germans must be very near, but that he did not wish us to ask
+questions, as it seemed very mean to go off ourselves and leave our kind
+hosts without a word of explanation, though of course we could only obey
+orders. So we left our unfinished supper and quickly collected our
+belongings and took them to the hotel where our Red Cross car should
+have been waiting for us. But the Red Cross authorities had sent off our
+car with some wounded, which of course was just as it should be, and we
+were promised <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[140]</a></span>another "seechas," which literally translated signifies
+"immediately," but in Russia means to-day or to-morrow or not at all.</p>
+
+<p>"Let us come into the hotel and get a meal while we wait," suggested the
+Prince, mindful of our uneaten supper, and we followed him to the
+restaurant&mdash;still mourning those beautiful beds we had left behind us,
+and so tired we didn't much care whether the Germans came or not.
+Nothing can express utter desolation much more nakedly than a Grand
+Hotel that has been through a week or two's bombardment. Here indeed
+were the mighty fallen. A large hole was ripped out of the wall of the
+big restaurant, close to the alcove where the band used to play while
+the smart people dined. An elaborate wine-list still graced each little
+table, but coffee made from rye bread crusts mixed with a little chicory
+was the only drink that a few white-faced waiters who crept about the
+room like shadows could apologetically offer us. We sat there till
+nearly 3 <span class="smcap">A. M.</span>, and Colonel S., utterly worn out, was fast
+asleep with his head on the little table, and there was no sign of any
+car, or of <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[141]</a></span>any Germans, so we went to lie down till morning.</p>
+
+<p>In the morning things began to look cheerful. The Germans had still not
+arrived, our own car turned up, and best of all the Prince heard
+officially that every wounded man who was at all transportable had now
+been successfully got out of Lodz. It was a gigantic task, this
+evacuation of over 18,000 wounded in four days, and it is a great
+feather in the Russian cap to have achieved it so successfully.</p>
+
+<p>It was a most lovely day with a soft blue sky, and all the world bathed
+in winter sunshine. Shelling had ceased during the night, but began
+again with terrific force in the morning, and we started off under a
+perfect hail of shells. There were four German aeroplanes hovering just
+above us, throwing down bombs at short intervals. The shells aimed at
+them looked so innocent, like little white puff-balls bursting up in the
+blue sky. We hoped they would be brought down, but they were too high
+for that. The bombs were only a little diversion of theirs by the
+way&mdash;they were really trying to locate the Russian battery, as they were
+evidently <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[142]</a></span>making signals to their own headquarters. Danger always adds
+a spice to every entertainment, and as the wounded were all out and we
+had nobody but ourselves to think about, we could enjoy our thrilling
+departure from Lodz under heavy fire to the uttermost. And I must say I
+have rarely enjoyed anything more. It was simply glorious spinning along
+in that car, and we got out safely without anyone being hurt.</p>
+
+<p>We passed through Breeziny, where the tail-end of a battle was going on,
+and the Prince stopped the car for a few minutes so that we could see
+the men in the trenches. On our way we passed crowds of terrified
+refugees hurrying along the road with their few possessions on their
+backs or in their arms; it reminded me of those sad processions of
+flying peasants in Belgium, but I think these were mostly much poorer,
+and had not so much to lose. Just as the sun was setting we stopped for
+a rest at a place the Prince knew of, half inn, half farm-house. We
+looked back, and the sky was bloody and lurid over the western plain
+where Lodz lay. To us it seemed like an ill omen for the unhappy town,
+but it may be that the Germans <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[143]</a></span>took those flaming clouds to mean that
+even the heavens themselves were illuminated to signal their victory.</p>
+
+<p>Some bread and some pale golden Hungarian Tokay were produced by our
+host for our refreshment. The latter was delicious, but it must have
+been much more potent than it looked, for though I only had one small
+glass of it, I collapsed altogether afterwards, and lay on the floor of
+the car, and could not move till the lights of Warsaw were in sight. In
+a few minutes more we arrived at the Hotel Bristol, and then the Flying
+Column went to bed at last.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[144]</a></span></p>
+<h3>IX</h3>
+
+<h3>MORE DOINGS OF THE FLYING COLUMN</h3>
+
+
+<p>The Grand Duchess Cyril happened to be staying at the Hotel Bristol too.
+Like most of the other members of the Russian Royal Family, since the
+beginning of the war she has been devoting her whole time to helping
+wounded soldiers, and is the centre of a whole network of activities.
+She has a large hospital in Warsaw for men and officers, a very
+efficient ambulance train that can hold 800 wounded, and one of the best
+surgeons in Petrograd working on it, and a provision train which sets up
+feeding-stations for the troops and for refugees in places where food is
+very scarce, which last is an indescribable boon to all who benefit by
+it. The Grand Duchess's hospital in Warsaw, like every other just at
+this time, was crammed to overflowing with wounded from Lodz, and the
+staff <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[145]</a></span>was inadequate to meet this unexpected need.</p>
+
+<p>The Grand Duchess met Princess V. in the lounge just as we arrived from
+Lodz, and begged that our Column might go and help for a time at her
+hospital. Accordingly, the next day, the consent of the Red Cross Office
+having been obtained, we went off to the Grand Duchess's hospital for a
+time to supplement and relieve their staff. They met us with open arms,
+as they were all very tired and very thankful for our help. They only
+had room for fifty patients and had had about 150 brought in.
+Fortunately the Grand Duchess's ambulance train had just come back to
+Warsaw, so the most convalescent of the old cases were taken off to
+Petrograd, but even then we were working in the operating-theatre till
+twelve or one every night. They hoped we had come for two or three weeks
+and were very disgusted when, in five days' time, the order came for us
+to go off to Skiernevice with the automobiles. The hospital staff gave
+us such a nice send-off, and openly wished that they belonged to a
+flying column too. I must say it was very interesting these <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[146]</a></span>startings
+off into the unknown, with our little fleet of automobiles containing
+ourselves and our equipment. We made a very flourishing start out of
+Warsaw, but very soon plunged into an appalling mess of mud. One could
+really write an epic poem on Russian roads. At the best of times they
+are awful; on this particular occasion they were full of large holes
+made by shells and covered with thick swampy mud that had been snow the
+week before. It delayed us so much that we did not get to Skiernevice
+till late that night.</p>
+
+<p>Skiernevice is a small town, important chiefly as a railway junction, as
+two lines branch off here towards Germany and Austria north-west and
+south-west. The Tsar has a shooting-box here in the midst of beautiful
+woods, and two rooms had been set apart in this house for our Column.</p>
+
+<p>We arrived late in the evening, secretly hoping that we should get a
+night in bed, and were rather rejoiced at finding that there were no
+wounded there at all at present, though a large contingent was expected
+later. So we camped in the two <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[147]</a></span>rooms allotted to us: Princess, Sister
+G., and myself in one, and all the men of the party in the other. No
+wounded arrived for two or three days, and we thoroughly enjoyed the
+rest and, above all, the beautiful woods. How delicious the pines smelt
+after that horrible Lodz. Twice a day we used to go down the railway
+line, where there was a restaurant car for the officers; it seemed odd
+to be eating our meals in the Berlin-Warsaw International Restaurant
+Car. There was always something interesting going on at the station. One
+day a regiment from Warsaw had just been detrained there when a German
+Taube came sailing over the station throwing down grenades. Every man
+immediately began to fire up in the air, and we ran much more risk of
+being killed by a Russian bullet than by the German Taube. It was like
+being in the middle of a battle, and I much regretted I had not my
+camera with me. Another day all the d&eacute;bris of a battlefield had been
+picked up and was lying in piles in the station waiting to be sent off
+to Warsaw. There were truck-loads of stuff; German and Russian
+overcoats, boots, rifles, water-<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[148]</a></span>bottles, caps, swords, and helmets and
+all sorts of miscellaneous kit.</p>
+
+<p>We often saw gangs of prisoners, mostly Austrian, but some German, and
+they always seemed well treated by the Russians. The Austrian prisoners
+nearly always looked very miserable, cold, hungry, and worn out. Once we
+saw a spy being put into the train to go to Warsaw, I suppose to be
+shot&mdash;an old Jewish man with white hair in a long, black gaberdine,
+strips of coloured paper still in his hand with which he had been caught
+signalling to the Germans. <i>How</i> angry the soldiers were with him&mdash;one
+gave him a great punch in the back, another kicked him up into the
+train, and a soldier on the platform who saw what was happening ran as
+fast as he could and was just in time to give him a parting hit on the
+shoulder. The old man did not cry out or attempt to retaliate, but his
+face was ashy-white with terror, and one of his hands was dripping with
+blood. It was a very horrible sight and haunted me all the rest of the
+day. It was quite right that he should be shot as a spy, but the
+unnecessary cruelty first sickened me.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[149]</a></span></p><p>There were masses of troops constantly going up to the positions from
+Skiernevice, and as there was a short cut through the park, which they
+generally used, we could see all that was going on from our rooms. On
+Sunday it was evident that another big battle was pending. Several
+batteries went up through our woods, each gun-carriage almost up to its
+axles in mud, dragged by eight strong horses. They were followed by a
+regiment of Cossacks, looking very fierce in their great black fur
+head-dresses, huge sheep-skin coats, and long spears. There was one
+small Cossack boy who was riding out with his father to the front and
+who could not have been more than eleven or twelve years old. There are
+quite a number of young boys at the front who make themselves very
+useful in taking messages, carrying ammunition, and so on. We had one
+little boy of thirteen in the hospital at Warsaw, who was badly wounded
+while carrying a message to the colonel, and he was afterwards awarded
+the St. George's Cross.</p>
+
+<p>There were enormous numbers of other troops too: Siberians, Tartars,
+Asiatic<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[150]</a></span> Russians from Turkestan, Caucasians in their beautiful
+black-and-silver uniforms, Little Russians from the south, and great
+fair-haired giants from the north.</p>
+
+<p>The little Catholic Church in the village was full to overflowing at the
+early Mass that Sunday morning with men in full marching kit on their
+way out to the trenches. A very large number of them made their
+Confession and received the Blessed Sacrament before starting out, and
+for many, many of these it was their Viaticum, for the great battle
+began that afternoon, and few of the gallant fellows we saw going up to
+the trenches that morning ever returned again.</p>
+
+<p>That afternoon the Prince had business at the Staff Headquarters out
+beyond Lowice, and I went out there in the automobile with him and
+Monsieur Goochkoff. We went through Lowice on the way there. The little
+town had been severely bombarded (it was taken two or three days later
+by the Germans), and we met many of the peasants hurrying away from it
+carrying their possessions with them. You may know the peasants of
+Lowice anywhere by their <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[151]</a></span>distinctive dress, which is the most
+brilliantly coloured peasant dress imaginable. The women wear gorgeous
+petticoats of orange, red and blue, or green in vertical stripes and a
+cape of the same material over their shoulders, a bright-coloured shawl,
+generally orange, on their heads, and brilliant bootlaces&mdash;magenta is
+the colour most affected. The men, too, wear trousers of the same kind
+of vertical stripes, generally of orange and black. These splashes of
+bright colour are delicious in this sad, grey country.</p>
+
+<p>The General of the Staff was quartered at Radzivilow Castle, and I
+explored the place while the Prince and Monsieur Goochkoff did their
+business. The old, dark hall, with armour hanging on the walls and
+worm-eaten furniture covered with priceless tapestry, would have made a
+splendid picture. A huge log fire burning on the open hearth lighted up
+the dark faces of the two Turkestan soldiers who were standing on guard
+at the door. In one corner a young lieutenant was taking interminable
+messages from the field telephone, and under the window another
+Turkestan soldier stood <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[152]</a></span>sharpening his dagger. The Prince asked him
+what he was doing, and his dark face lighted up. "Every night at eight,"
+he said, still sharpening busily, "I go out and kill some Germans." The
+men of this Turkestan regiment are said to be extraordinarily brave men.
+They do not care at all about a rifle, but prefer to be at closer
+quarters with the enemy with their two-edged dagger, and the Germans
+like them as little as they like our own Gurkhas and Sikhs.</p>
+
+<p>The next day the wounded began to arrive in Skiernevice, and in two
+days' time the temporary hospital was full.</p>
+
+<p>The Tsar had a private theatre at Skiernevice with a little separate
+station of its own about 200 yards farther down the line than the
+ordinary station, and in many ways this made quite a suitable hospital
+except for the want of a proper water-supply.</p>
+
+<p>The next thing we heard was that the Russian General had decided to fall
+back once more, and we must be prepared to move at any moment.</p>
+
+<p>All that day we heard violent cannonading <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[153]</a></span>going on and all the next
+night, though the hospital was already full, the little country carts
+came in one after another filled with wounded. They were to only stay
+one night, as in the morning ambulance trains were coming to take them
+all away, and we had orders to follow as soon as the last patient had
+gone. Another operating- and dressing-room was quickly improvised, but
+even with the two going hard all night it was difficult to keep pace
+with the number brought in.</p>
+
+<p>The scenery had never been taken down after the last dramatic
+performance played in the theatre, and wounded men lay everywhere
+between the wings and drop scenes. The auditorium was packed so closely
+that you could hardly get between the men without treading on some one's
+hands and feet as they lay on the floor. The light had given out&mdash;in the
+two dressing-rooms there were oil-lamps, but in the rest of the place we
+had to make do with candle-ends stuck into bottles. The foyer had been
+made into a splendid kitchen, where hot tea and boiling soup could be
+got all night through. This department was worked by the local Red<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">[154]</a></span>
+Cross Society, and was a great credit to them.</p>
+
+<p>About eight o'clock in the morning the first ambulance train came in,
+and was quickly filled with patients. We heard that the Germans were now
+very near, and hoped we should manage to get away all the wounded before
+they arrived.</p>
+
+<p>The second train came up about eleven, and by that time a fierce rifle
+encounter was going on. From the hospital window we could see the
+Russian troops firing from the trenches near the railway. Soon there was
+a violent explosion that shook the place; this was the Russians blowing
+up the railway bridge on the western side of the station.</p>
+
+<p>The second train went off, and there were very few patients left now,
+though some were still being brought in at intervals by the Red Cross
+carts. Our automobiles had started off to Warsaw with some wounded
+officers, but the rest of the column had orders to go to Zyradow by the
+last train to leave Skiernevice.</p>
+
+<p>The sanitars now began to pack up the hospital; we did not mean to leave
+anything behind for the enemy if we could help it.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">[155]</a></span> The few bedsteads
+were taken to pieces and tied up, the stretchers put together and the
+blankets tied up in bundles. When the last ambulance train came up about
+2 <span class="smcap">P. M.</span> the patients were first put in, and then every portable
+object that could be removed was packed into the train too. At the last
+moment, when the train was just about to start, one of the sanitars ran
+back and triumphantly brought out a pile of dirty soup plates to add to
+the collection. Nothing was left in the hospital but two dead men we had
+not time to bury.</p>
+
+<p>The wounded were all going to Warsaw and the other Russian Sisters went
+on in the train with them. But our destination was Zyradow, only the
+next station but one down the line.</p>
+
+<p>When we arrived at Zyradow about three o'clock we were looking forward
+to a bath and tea and bed, as we had been up all night and were very
+tired; but the train most unkindly dropped us about a quarter of a mile
+from the station, and we had to get out all our equipment and heavy
+cases of dressings, and put them at the side of the line, while Julian,
+the Prince's soldier servant, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">[156]</a></span>went off to try and find a man and a cart
+for the things. There was a steady downpour of rain, and we were soaked
+by the time he came back saying that there was nothing to be had at all.
+The station was all in crumbling ruins, so we could not leave the things
+there, and our precious dressings were beginning to get wet. Finally we
+got permission to put them in a closed cinema theatre near the station,
+but it was dark by that time, and we were wet and cold and began once
+more to centre our thoughts on baths and tea. We were a small
+party&mdash;only six of us&mdash;Princess, we two Sisters, Colonel S., a Russian
+dresser, and Julian. We caught a local Red Crosser. "Where is the
+hotel?" "There is no hotel here." "Where can we lodge for to-night?" "I
+don't know where you could lodge." "Where is the Red Cross Bureau?"
+asked Princess, in desperation. "About a quarter of an hour's walk. I
+will show you the way."</p>
+
+<p>We got to the Red Cross Bureau to find that Monsieur Goochkoff had not
+yet arrived, though he was expected, and they could offer no solution of
+our difficulties, except <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">[157]</a></span>to advise us to go to the Factory Hospital and
+see if they could make any arrangement for us. The Matron there was
+<i>very</i> kind, and telephoned to every one she could think of, and finally
+got a message that we were expected, and were to sleep at the Reserve.
+So we trudged once more through the mud and rain. The "Reserve" was two
+small, empty rooms, where thirty Sisters were going to pass the night.
+They had no beds, and not even straw, but were just going to lie on the
+floor in their clothes. There was obviously no room for six more of us,
+and finally we went back once more to the Red Cross Bureau. Princess
+seized an empty room, and announced that we were going to sleep in it.
+We were told we couldn't, as it had been reserved for somebody else; but
+we didn't care, and got some patients' stretchers from the depot and lay
+down on them in our wet clothes just as we were. In the middle of the
+night the "somebody" for whom the room had been kept arrived, strode
+into the room, and turned up the electric light. The others were really
+asleep, and I pretended to be. He had a good look at us, and then strode
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">[158]</a></span>out again grunting. We woke up every five minutes, it was so dreadfully
+cold, and though we were so tired, I was not sorry when it was time to
+get up.</p>
+
+<p>We had breakfast at a dirty little restaurant in the town, and then got
+a message from the Red Cross that there would be nothing for us to do
+that day, but that we were probably going to be sent to Radzowill the
+following morning. So we decided to go off to the Factory Hospital and
+see if we could persuade the Matron to let us have a bath there.</p>
+
+<p>Zyradow is one very large cotton and woollen factory, employing about
+5000 hands. In Russia it is the good law that for every hundred workmen
+employed there shall be one hospital bed provided. In the small
+factories a few beds in the local hospital are generally subsidized, in
+larger ones they usually find it more convenient to have their own. So
+here there was a very nice little hospital with fifty beds, which had
+been stretched now to hold twice as many more, as a great many wounded
+had to be sent in here. The Matron is a Pole of Scottish extraction, and
+spoke fluent but <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">[159]</a></span>quite foreign English with a strong Scotch accent.
+There are a good many Scotch families here, who came over and settled in
+Poland about a hundred years ago, and who are all engaged in different
+departments in the factory. She was kindness itself, and gave us tea
+first and then prepared a hot bath for us all in turn. We got rid of
+most of our tormentors and were at peace once more.</p>
+
+<p>As we left the hospital we met three footsore soldiers whose boots were
+absolutely worn right through. They were coming up to the hospital to
+see if the Matron had any dead men's boots that would fit them. It
+sounded rather gruesome&mdash;but she told us that that was quite a common
+errand. The Russian military boots are excellent, but, of course, all
+boots wear out very quickly under such trying circumstances of roads and
+weather. They are top boots, strong and waterproof, and very often made
+by the men themselves. The uniform, too, is very practical and so strong
+that the men have told me that carpets are made from the material. The
+colour is browner than our own khaki&mdash;and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">[160]</a></span>quite different both from the
+German, which is much greyer, and the Austrian, which is almost blue. I
+heard in Belgium that at the beginning of the war German soldiers were
+constantly mistaken for our men.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">[161]</a></span></p>
+<h3>X</h3>
+
+<h3>BY THE TRENCHES AT RADZIVILOW</h3>
+
+
+<p>The next morning we went up to Radzivilow. It is the next station to
+Skiernevice, and there was very heavy fighting going on there when we
+went up. We were told we were going up on an armoured train, which
+sounded very thrilling, but when we got to the station we only found a
+quite ordinary carriage put on to the engine to take us up. The Russian
+battery was at that time at the south of the railway line, the German
+battery on the north of it&mdash;and we were in the centre of the sandwich.
+At Zyradow these cannon sounded distant, but as we neared Radzivilow the
+guns were crashing away as they did at Lodz, and we prepared for a hot
+time. The station had been entirely wrecked and was simply in ruins, but
+the station-master's house near by was still intact, and we had orders
+to rig up a temporary dressing-station there.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">[162]</a></span></p><p>Before we had time to unpack our dressings, a messenger arrived to tell
+us that the Germans had succeeded in enfilading a Russian trench close
+by, and that they were bringing fifty very badly wounded men to us
+almost at once. We had just time to start the sterilizer when the little
+carts began to arrive with some terribly wounded men. The machine guns
+had simply swept the trench from end to end. The worst of it was that
+some lived for hours when death would have been a more merciful release.
+Thank God we had plenty of morphia with us and could thus ease their
+terrible sufferings. One man had practically his whole face blown off,
+another had all his clothes and the flesh of his back all torn away.
+Another poor old fellow was brought in with nine wounds in the abdomen.
+He looked quite a patriarch with a long flowing beard&mdash;quite the oldest
+man I have seen in the Russian army. Poor Ivan, he had only just been
+called up to the front and this was his first battle. He was beautifully
+dressed, and so clean; his wife had prepared everything for him with
+such loving care, a warm knitted vest, and a white linen shirt most
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">[163]</a></span>beautifully embroidered with scarlet in a intricate key-pattern. Ivan
+was almost more unhappy at his wife's beautiful work having to be cut
+than at his own terrible wounds. He was quite conscious and not in much
+pain, and did so long to live even a week or two longer, so that he
+might see his wife once again. But it was not to be, and he died early
+the next morning&mdash;one of the dearest old men one could ever meet, and so
+pathetically grateful for the very little we could do for him.</p>
+
+<p>The shells were crashing over our heads and bursting everywhere, but we
+were too busy to heed them, as more and more men were brought to the
+dressing-station. It was an awful problem what to do with them: the
+house was small and we were using the two biggest rooms downstairs as
+operating-and dressing-rooms. Straw was procured and laid on the floors
+of all the little rooms upstairs, and after each man's wounds were
+dressed he was carried with difficulty up the narrow winding staircase
+and laid on the floor.</p>
+
+<p>The day wore on and as it got dark we began to do the work under great
+difficulties, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">[164]</a></span>for there were no shutters or blinds to the upstairs
+windows, and we dared not have any light&mdash;even a candle&mdash;there, as it
+would have brought down the German fire on us at once. So those poor men
+had to lie up there in the pitch dark, and one of us went round from
+time to time with a little electric torch. Downstairs we managed to
+darken the windows, but the dressings and operations had all to be done
+by candle-light.</p>
+
+<p>The Germans were constantly sending up rockets of blue fire which
+illuminated the whole place, and we were afraid every moment they would
+find us out. Some of the shells had set houses near by on fire too, and
+the sky was lighted up with a dull red glow. The carts bringing the men
+showed no lights, and they were lifted out in the dark when they arrived
+and laid in rows in the lobby till we had time to see to them. By nine
+o'clock that evening we had more than 300 men, and were thankful to see
+an ambulance train coming up the line to take them away. The sanitars
+had a difficult job getting these poor men downstairs and carrying them
+to the train, which was quite dark too. But the men were <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">[165]</a></span>thankful
+themselves to get away, I think&mdash;it was nerve-racking work for them,
+lying wounded in that little house with the shells bursting continually
+over it.</p>
+
+<p>All night long the men were being brought in from the trenches. About
+four in the morning there was a little lull and some one made tea. I
+wonder what people in England would have thought if they had seen us at
+that meal. We had it in the stuffy dressing-room where we had been
+working without a stop for sixteen hours with tightly closed windows,
+and every smell that can be imagined pervading it, the floor covered
+with mud, blood and d&eacute;bris of dressings wherever there were not
+stretchers on which were men who had just been operated on. The meal of
+milkless tea, black bread, and cheese, was spread on a sterilized towel
+on the operating-table, illuminated by two candles stuck in bottles.
+Princess sat in the only chair, and the rest of us eased our weary feet
+by sitting on the edge of the dressing-boxes. Two dead soldiers lay at
+our feet&mdash;it was not safe just at that moment to take them out and bury
+them. People would probably ask how we <i>could</i> eat under those
+conditions. I don't <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">[166]</a></span>know how we could either, but we <i>did</i> and were
+thankful for it&mdash;for immediately after another rush began.</p>
+
+<p>At eleven o'clock in the morning another ambulance train arrived and was
+quickly filled. By that time we had had more than 750 patients through
+our hands, and they were still being brought in large numbers. The
+fighting must have been terrific, for the men were absolutely worn out
+when they arrived, and fell asleep at once from exhaustion, in spite of
+their wounds. Some of them must have been a long time in the trenches,
+for many were in a terribly verminous condition. On one poor boy with a
+smashed leg the insects could have only been counted by the million.
+About ten minutes after his dressing was done, his white bandage was
+quite grey with the army of invaders that had collected on it from his
+other garments.</p>
+
+<p>Early that afternoon we got a message that another Column was coming to
+relieve us, and that we were to return to Zyradow for a rest. We were
+very sorry to leave our little dressing-station, but rejoiced to hear
+that we were to go up again in two days' time to relieve this second
+Column, and that we <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">[167]</a></span>were to work alternately with them, forty-eight
+hours on, and then forty-eight hours off duty.</p>
+
+<p>We had left Zyradow rather quiet, but when we came back we found the
+cannon going hard, both from the Radzivilow and the Goosof direction. It
+would have taken much more than cannon to keep <i>us</i> awake, however, and
+we lay down most gratefully on our stretchers in the empty room at the
+Red Cross Bureau and slept. A forty-eight hours' spell is rather long
+for the staff, though probably there would have been great difficulty in
+changing the Columns more often.</p>
+
+<p>I woke up in the evening to hear the church bells ringing, and
+remembered that it was Christmas Eve and that they were ringing for the
+Midnight Mass, so I got up quickly. The large church was packed with
+people, every one of the little side chapels was full and people were
+even sitting on the altar steps. There must have been three or four
+thousand people there, most of them of course the people of the place,
+but also soldiers, Red Cross workers and many refugees mostly from
+Lowice. Poor people, it was a sad<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">[168]</a></span> Christmas for them&mdash;having lost so
+much already and not knowing from day to day if they would lose all, as
+at that time it was a question whether or not the Russian authorities
+would decide for strategic reasons to fall back once more.</p>
+
+<p>And then twelve o'clock struck and the Mass began.</p>
+
+<p>Soon a young priest got up into the pulpit and gave them a little
+sermon. It was in Polish, but though I could not understand the words, I
+could tell from the people's faces what it was about. When he spoke of
+the horrors of war, the losses and the deaths and the suffering that had
+come to so many of them, one woman put her apron to her face and sobbed
+aloud in the tense silence. And in a moment the whole congregation began
+sobbing and moaning and swaying themselves to and fro. The young priest
+stopped and left them alone a moment or two, and then began to speak in
+a low persuasive voice. I do not know what he said, but he gradually
+soothed them and made them happy. And then the organ began pealing out
+triumphantly, and while the guns crashed and thundered outside, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">[169]</a></span>the
+choir within sang of peace and goodwill to all men.</p>
+
+<p>Christmas Day was a very mournful one for us, as we heard of the loss of
+our new and best automobile, which had just been given as a present to
+the Column. One of the boys was taking it to Warsaw from Skiernevice
+with some wounded officers, and it had broken down just outside the
+village. The mud was awful, and with the very greatest difficulty they
+managed to get it towed as far as Rawa, but had to finally abandon it to
+the Germans, though fortunately they got off safely themselves. It was a
+great blow to the Column, as it was impossible to replace it, these big
+ambulance cars costing something like 8000 roubles.</p>
+
+<p>So our Christmas dinner eaten at our usual dirty little restaurant could
+not be called a success.</p>
+
+<p>Food was very scarce at that time in Zyradow; there was hardly any meat
+or sugar, and no milk or eggs or white bread. One of us had brought a
+cake for Christmas from Warsaw weeks before, and it was partaken of on
+this melancholy occasion without enthusiasm. Even the punch made <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">[170]</a></span>out of
+a teaspoonful of brandy from the bottom of Princess's flask mixed with
+about a pint of water and two lumps of sugar failed to move us to any
+hilarity. Our menu did not vary in any particular from that usually
+provided at the restaurant, though we did feel we might have had a clean
+cloth for once.</p>
+
+
+
+<div class='center'>
+<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="">
+<tr><td align='center'>MENU</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='center'><span class="smcap">Christmas</span> 1914</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='center'><hr style="margin:0; width:3em;" /></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='center'>Gravy Soup.</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='center'>Roast Horse.&nbsp;&nbsp; Boiled Potatoes.</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='center'>Currant Cake.</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='center'>Tea.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Punch.</td></tr>
+</table></div>
+
+
+<p>We were very glad to go up to Radzivilow once more. Our former
+dressing-station had been abandoned as too dangerous for staff and
+patients, and the dressing- and operating-room was now in a train about
+five versts down the line from Radzivilow station. Our train was a
+permanency on the line, and we lived and worked in it, while twice a day
+an ambulance train came up, our wounded were transferred to it and taken
+away, and we filled up once more. We found <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">[171]</a></span>things fairly quiet this
+time when we went up. The Germans had been making some very fierce
+attacks, trying to cross the river Rawka, and therefore their losses
+must have been very heavy, but the Russians were merely holding their
+ground, and so there were comparatively few wounded on our side. This
+time we were able to divide up into shifts for the work&mdash;a luxury we
+were very seldom able to indulge in.</p>
+
+<p>We had previously made great friends with a Siberian captain, and we
+found to our delight that he was living in a little hut close to our
+train. He asked me one day if I would like to go up to the positions
+with him and take some Christmas presents round to the men. Of course I
+was more than delighted, and as he was going up that night and I was not
+on duty, the general very kindly gave permission for me to go up too. In
+the end Colonel S. and one of the Russian Sisters accompanied us as
+well. The captain got a rough cart and horse to take us part of the way,
+and he and another man rode on horseback beside us. We started off about
+ten o'clock, a very bright moonlight night&mdash;so bright that we had to
+take off our brassards <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">[172]</a></span>and anything that could have shown up white
+against the dark background of the woods. We drove as far as the
+pine-woods in which the Russian positions were, and left the cart and
+horses in charge of a Cossack while we were away. The general had
+intended that we should see the reserve trenches, but we had seen plenty
+of them before, and our captain meant that we should see all the fun
+that was going, so he took us right up to the front positions. We went
+through the wood silently in single file, taking care that if possible
+not even a twig should crackle under our feet, till we came to the very
+front trenches at the edge of the wood. We crouched down and watched for
+some time. Everything was brilliantly illuminated by the moonlight, and
+we had to be very careful not to show ourselves. A very fierce German
+attack was going on, and the bullets were pattering like hail on the
+trees all round us. We could see nothing for some time but the smoke of
+the rifles.</p>
+
+<p>The Germans were only about a hundred yards away from us at this time,
+and we could see the river Rawka glittering below in the moonlight. What
+an absurd little <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">[173]</a></span>river to have so much fighting about. That night it
+looked as if we could easily wade across it. The captain made a sign,
+and we crept with him along the edge of the wood, till we got to a
+Siberian officer's dug-out. At first we could not see anything, then we
+saw a hole between two bushes, and after slithering backwards down the
+hole, we got into a sort of cave that had been roofed in with poles and
+branches, and was absolutely invisible a few steps away. It was
+fearfully hot and frowzy&mdash;a little stove in the corner threw out a great
+heat, and the men all began to smoke, which made it worse.</p>
+
+<p>We stayed a while talking, and then crawled along to visit one of the
+men's dug-outs, a German bullet just missing us as we passed, and
+burying itself in a tree. There were six men already in the dug-out, so
+we did not attempt to get in, but gave them tobacco and matches, for
+which they were very grateful. These men had an "ikon" or sacred picture
+hanging up inside their cave; the Russian soldiers on active service
+carry a regimental ikon, and many carry them in their pockets too. One
+man had his life saved by his ikon. He showed <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174">[174]</a></span>it to us; the bullet had
+gone just between the Mother and the Child, and was embedded in the
+wood.</p>
+
+<p>It was all intensely interesting, and we left the positions with great
+reluctance, to return through the moonlit pine-woods till we reached our
+cart. We had indeed made a night of it, for it was five o'clock in the
+morning when we got back to the train once more, and both the doctor and
+I were on duty again at eight. But it was well worth losing a night's
+sleep to go up to the positions during a violent German attack. I wonder
+what the general would have said if he had known!</p>
+
+<p>We finished our forty-eight hours' duty and returned once more to
+Zyradow. I was always loth to leave Radzivilow. The work there was
+splendid, and there more than anywhere else I have been to one feels the
+war as a High Adventure.</p>
+
+<p>War would be the most glorious game in the world if it were not for the
+killing and wounding. In it one tastes the joy of comradeship to the
+full, the taking and giving, and helping and being helped in a way that
+would be impossible to conceive in the or<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">[175]</a></span>dinary world. At Radzivilow,
+too, one could see the poetry of war, the zest of the frosty mornings,
+and the delight of the camp-fire at night, the warm, clean smell of the
+horses tethered everywhere, the keen hunger, the rough food sweetened by
+the sauce of danger, the riding out in high hope in the morning; even
+the returning wounded in the evening did not seem altogether such a bad
+thing out there. One has to die some time, and the Russian peasants
+esteem it a high honour to die for their "little Mother" as they call
+their country. The vision of the High Adventure is not often vouchsafed
+to one, but it is a good thing to have had it&mdash;it carries one through
+many a night at the shambles. Radzivilow is the only place it came to
+me. In Belgium one's heart was wrung by the poignancy of it all, its
+littleness and defencelessness; in Lodz one could see nothing for the
+squalor and "frightfulness"; in other places the ruined villages, the
+flight of the dazed, terrified peasants show one of the darkest sides of
+war.</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<p>It was New Year's Eve when we returned to Zyradow, and found ourselves
+billeted in a <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176">[176]</a></span>new house where there was not only a bed each, but a
+bathroom and a bath. Imagine what that meant to people who had not
+undressed at night for more than three weeks.</p>
+
+<p>Midnight struck as we were having supper, and we drank the health of the
+New Year in many glasses of tea. What would the lifted veil of time
+disclose in this momentous year just opening for us?</p>
+
+<p>It did not begin particularly auspiciously for me, for within the first
+few days of it I got a wound in the leg from a bit of shrapnel, was
+nearly killed by a bomb from a German Taube, and caught a very bad chill
+and had to go to bed with pleurisy&mdash;all of which happenings gave me
+leisure to write this little account of my adventures.</p>
+
+<p>The bomb from the Taube was certainly the nearest escape I am ever
+likely to have in this world. I was walking over a piece of open ground,
+saw nothing, heard nothing, was dreaming in fact, when suddenly I heard
+a whirring overhead, and just above me was a German aeroplane. Before I
+had time to think, down came a bomb with a fearful explosion. I could
+not see anything for a minute, and then the smoke cleared away, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">[177]</a></span>and I
+was standing at the edge of a large hole. The bomb had fallen into a bed
+of soft mud, and exploded upwards. Some soldiers who were not very far
+off rushed to see if I were killed, and were very surprised to find that
+I was practically unhurt. A bomb thrown that same afternoon that
+exploded on the pavement killed and wounded nine people.</p>
+
+<p>The wound was from a stray bit of shrapnel and was only a trifle,
+fortunately, and soon healed. The pleurisy was a longer job and
+compelled me to go to bed for a fortnight. I was very miserable at being
+the only idle person I knew, till it occurred to me to spend my time in
+writing this little book, and a subsequent short holiday in Petrograd
+enabled me to finish it.</p>
+
+<p>My enforced holiday is over now and I am on my way back to my beloved
+column once more&mdash;to the life on the open road&mdash;with its joys and
+sorrows, its comradeship, its pain and its inexplicable happiness&mdash;back
+once more to exchange the pen for the more ready weapon of the forceps.</p>
+
+<p>And so I will leave this brief account of what I have seen in this great
+war. I know <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178">[178]</a></span>better than anyone can tell me what an imperfect sketch it
+is, but the history of the war will have to be studied from a great many
+different angles before a picture of it will be able to be presented in
+its true perspective, and it may be that this particular angle will be
+of some little interest to those who are interested in Red Cross work in
+different countries. Those who are workers themselves will forgive the
+roughness of the sketch, which was written during my illness in snatches
+and at odd times, on all sorts of stray pieces of paper and far from any
+books of reference; they will perhaps forget the imperfections in
+remembering that it has been written close to the turmoil of the
+battlefield, to the continual music of the cannon and the steady tramp
+of feet marching past my window.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179">[179]</a></span></p>
+<h2>Index</h2>
+
+<p>
+Aeroplanes, Taube, <a href="#Page_145">145</a>, <a href="#Page_176">176</a><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">throwing down proclamations, <a href="#Page_53">53</a></span><br />
+
+<i>Affiches</i>, of the Burgomaster of Antwerp, <a href="#Page_53">53</a><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">of the Burgomaster of Brussels, <a href="#Page_10">10</a>, <a href="#Page_11">11</a>, <a href="#Page_181">181</a>, <a href="#Page_182">182</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">forbidding a menacing look, etc., <a href="#Page_32">32</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">German, proclaiming victories, <a href="#Page_30">30</a>, <a href="#Page_67">67</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">German, of Von der Golst, <a href="#Page_67">67</a>, <a href="#Page_68">68</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">instructions to citizens, <a href="#Page_67">67</a></span><br />
+
+American Consul, help from, <a href="#Page_66">66</a>, <a href="#Page_77">77</a><br />
+
+Antwerp, the forts of, <a href="#Page_73">73</a><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the heavy guns, <a href="#Page_73">73</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">news of the downfall of, <a href="#Page_96">96</a></span><br />
+
+Austrian prisoners, <a href="#Page_148">148</a><br />
+
+Automobiles of the Flying Column, <a href="#Page_146">146</a>, <a href="#Page_169">169</a><br />
+<br />
+<br />
+Belgian Red Cross Society, <a href="#Page_5">5</a>, <a href="#Page_12">12</a><br />
+
+Bishop, sad fate of the, <a href="#Page_103">103</a><br />
+
+Boden, a night at, <a href="#Page_103">103</a>, <a href="#Page_104">104</a><br />
+
+Brassard, the Red Cross, <a href="#Page_61">61</a><br />
+
+Brussels, fortifications of, <a href="#Page_9">9</a><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">German patients in fire-station hospital at, <a href="#Page_20">20</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">hospitals in, <a href="#Page_13">13</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">occupied by the Germans, <a href="#Page_14">14</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the start to, <a href="#Page_6">6</a>, <a href="#Page_7">7</a></span><br />
+
+Burgomaster of Antwerp, <a href="#Page_53">53</a><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">of Brussels, <a href="#Page_10">10</a>, <a href="#Page_11">11</a>, <a href="#Page_54">54</a>, <a href="#Page_74">74</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">of Charleroi, <a href="#Page_20">20</a></span><br />
+<br />
+<br />
+Camp, a German, <a href="#Page_61">61</a>, <a href="#Page_62">62</a><br />
+
+Cannon, distinction between French and German, <a href="#Page_40">40</a><br />
+
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180">[180]</a></span>Cholera, rumours of, <a href="#Page_97">97</a><br />
+
+Charleroi, burning of, <a href="#Page_20">20</a>, <a href="#Page_22">22</a>, <a href="#Page_32">32</a><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">and Charleville, <a href="#Page_36">36</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">terrorization of peasants in, <a href="#Page_33">33</a></span><br />
+
+Christmas Eve in Zyradow, <a href="#Page_167">167</a><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">fare, <a href="#Page_170">170</a></span><br />
+
+Cologne, arrival at, <a href="#Page_85">85</a>-<a href="#Page_87">87</a><br />
+
+Copenhagen, arrival at, <a href="#Page_92">92</a><br />
+<br />
+<br />
+Danish-German soldiers as guards, <a href="#Page_81">81</a><br />
+
+Danish welcome, a, <a href="#Page_92">92</a><br />
+
+Death of a Breton soldier, <a href="#Page_44">44</a><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">of a certain French count, <a href="#Page_48">48</a>, <a href="#Page_49">49</a></span><br />
+
+Difference in French and German equipment, <a href="#Page_47">47</a><br />
+<br />
+<br />
+Echevins of Brussels, <a href="#Page_74">74</a><br />
+
+Empress Marie Federovna, interview with, <a href="#Page_111">111</a><br />
+
+Equipment of French and German soldiers, <a href="#Page_47">47</a><br />
+
+Expulsion of nurses and doctors from Brussels, <a href="#Page_80">80</a><br />
+<br />
+<br />
+Firing at the Red Cross, <a href="#Page_35">35</a><br />
+
+Fire-station hospital, <a href="#Page_13">13</a>, <a href="#Page_19">19</a>, <a href="#Page_20">20</a><br />
+
+<i>Flandres Lib&eacute;rale</i>, <a href="#Page_71">71</a><br />
+
+Flying Column, <a href="#Page_125">125</a>, <a href="#Page_126">126</a><br />
+
+Fortress of St. Peter and St. Paul, <a href="#Page_107">107</a><br />
+
+French convent, a, <a href="#Page_60">60</a><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">prisoners as patients, <a href="#Page_28">28</a>, <a href="#Page_29">29</a></span><br />
+<br />
+<br />
+German officers' behaviour at Herbesthal, <a href="#Page_83">83</a><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">patients at fire-station, <a href="#Page_20">20</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">patients at M&mdash;&mdash;, <a href="#Page_41">41</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">preparations for war, <a href="#Page_33">33</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">surgeon at M&mdash;&mdash;, <a href="#Page_31">31</a></span><br />
+
+Grand Duchess Cyril's Hospital in Warsaw, <a href="#Page_144">144</a><br />
+<br />
+<br />
+Hamburg, <a href="#Page_88">88</a>, <a href="#Page_89">89</a><br />
+
+Hansen, Dr. Norman, <a href="#Page_95">95</a><br />
+
+Harsh treatment of wounded, <a href="#Page_42">42</a><br />
+
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181">[181]</a></span>Haparanda, <a href="#Page_104">104</a><br />
+
+Herbesthal, search at, <a href="#Page_83">83</a><br />
+
+Holland, rumoured war with, <a href="#Page_31">31</a><br />
+
+"Hoosh," <a href="#Page_85">85</a><br />
+
+Hotel Cosmopolite, Copenhagen, <a href="#Page_92">92</a><br />
+
+Hotel d'Europe, Warsaw, <a href="#Page_124">124</a><br />
+
+Hotel at Lodz, <a href="#Page_140">140</a><br />
+<br />
+<br />
+Ikons, <a href="#Page_115">115</a>, <a href="#Page_173">173</a><br />
+
+Improvised hospital from theatre, <a href="#Page_152">152</a><br />
+
+Infiladed trench, a, <a href="#Page_162">162</a><br />
+
+Insects, <a href="#Page_139">139</a><br />
+
+Inscription over gateway in Charleroi, <a href="#Page_30">30</a><br />
+
+Interview with Dowager Empress of Russia, <a href="#Page_111">111</a><br />
+<br />
+<br />
+St. John Ambulance Society, <a href="#Page_5">5</a>, <a href="#Page_97">97</a><br />
+
+Jumet, the burning of, <a href="#Page_21">21</a><br />
+<br />
+<br />
+Karungi, <a href="#Page_104">104</a><br />
+
+Kiel Canal, <a href="#Page_90">90</a><br />
+<br />
+<br />
+Li&egrave;ge, <a href="#Page_65">65</a>, <a href="#Page_83">83</a><br />
+
+Lodz, <a href="#Page_131">131</a><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">hospital at, <a href="#Page_132">132</a>-<a href="#Page_138">138</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">shelling of, <a href="#Page_132">132</a>, <a href="#Page_135">135</a></span><br />
+
+London, first week of the war, <a href="#Page_2">2</a><br />
+
+Louvain, destruction of, <a href="#Page_81">81</a><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">refugees from, <a href="#Page_11">11</a></span><br />
+
+Lowice, <a href="#Page_150">150</a><br />
+
+Luggage problem, the, <a href="#Page_126">126</a><br />
+<br />
+<br />
+M&acirc;lines, <a href="#Page_60">60</a>, <a href="#Page_63">63</a>, <a href="#Page_81">81</a><br />
+
+M&mdash;&mdash; Red Cross Hospital, <a href="#Page_23">23</a><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Committee, <a href="#Page_28">28</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">dinner-time, <a href="#Page_27">27</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">a night on duty, <a href="#Page_23">23</a>-<a href="#Page_24">24</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the cur&eacute; of, <a href="#Page_44">44</a></span><br />
+
+Max, Monsieur, <a href="#Page_10">10</a>, <a href="#Page_11">11</a>, <a href="#Page_55">55</a>, <a href="#Page_74">74</a><br />
+
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182">[182]</a></span>Maubeuge taken, <a href="#Page_41">41</a><br />
+
+M&uuml;nster, breakfast at, <a href="#Page_88">88</a><br />
+<br />
+<br />
+Neutrality of Belgium, <a href="#Page_82">82</a><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">of Denmark, <a href="#Page_100">100</a></span><br />
+
+Newspaper boy caught by Germans, <a href="#Page_71">71</a>, <a href="#Page_72">72</a><br />
+
+Night in the trenches, a, <a href="#Page_171">171</a>-<a href="#Page_174">174</a><br />
+
+Nurses in Brussels, <a href="#Page_8">8</a>, <a href="#Page_19">19</a>, <a href="#Page_66">66</a><br />
+<br />
+<br />
+Operation, a severe, <a href="#Page_25">25</a>, <a href="#Page_26">26</a><br />
+
+Ostend in August, <a href="#Page_7">7</a><br />
+<br />
+<br />
+Patients sent off to Germany, <a href="#Page_41">41</a>, <a href="#Page_46">46</a><br />
+
+Petrograd, <a href="#Page_107">107</a>, <a href="#Page_108">108</a><br />
+
+Pigeons, loss of, <a href="#Page_55">55</a><br />
+
+Poem to British surgeons and nurses, <a href="#Page_95">95</a><br />
+
+Poland, distress in, <a href="#Page_97">97</a><br />
+
+Prisoners, Austrian, <a href="#Page_148">148</a><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">French, <a href="#Page_28">28</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">German, <a href="#Page_148">148</a></span><br />
+
+Proclamation of Burgomaster of Brussels, <a href="#Page_10">10</a>, <a href="#Page_11">11</a><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">forbidding "a menacing look," <a href="#Page_32">32</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">German announcing victories, <a href="#Page_30">30</a>, <a href="#Page_67">67</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">of Von der Golst, <a href="#Page_67">67</a>, <a href="#Page_68">68</a></span><br />
+<br />
+<br />
+Queen of Holland, <a href="#Page_31">31</a><br />
+<br />
+<br />
+Radzivilow, <a href="#Page_161">161</a><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Castle, <a href="#Page_151">151</a></span><br />
+
+Raphael, St., <a href="#Page_104">104</a><br />
+
+Rawka, the river, <a href="#Page_172">172</a><br />
+
+Refugees from Termonde and Louvain, <a href="#Page_11">11</a><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in Poland, <a href="#Page_142">142</a></span><br />
+
+Registration of trained nurses, <a href="#Page_4">4</a><br />
+
+Red Cross flag in Brussels, <a href="#Page_55">55</a><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">hospital in Warsaw, <a href="#Page_113">113</a>-<a href="#Page_121">121</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">workers in Belgium, <a href="#Page_23">23</a>, <a href="#Page_28">28</a>, <a href="#Page_46">46</a></span><br />
+
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183">[183]</a></span>Russian factory laws, <a href="#Page_158">158</a><br />
+
+Russian Red Cross, Committee, <a href="#Page_108">108</a><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">permission to serve, <a href="#Page_97">97</a></span><br />
+
+Russian roads, <a href="#Page_146">146</a><br />
+
+Russian sisterhoods, <a href="#Page_109">109</a><br />
+
+Russian soldiers, <a href="#Page_123">123</a><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">their relationship with their officers, <a href="#Page_123">123</a></span><br />
+<br />
+<br />
+Scarcity of supplies, <a href="#Page_24">24</a>, <a href="#Page_37">37</a>, <a href="#Page_169">169</a><br />
+
+Searched by German sentries, <a href="#Page_62">62</a><br />
+
+Siberian ponies, <a href="#Page_128">128</a><br />
+
+Skiernevice, <a href="#Page_146">146</a><br />
+
+Skirmish between Belgian and German outposts, <a href="#Page_59">59</a><br />
+
+Spies, <a href="#Page_148">148</a><br />
+
+Stamps, issue of Belgian, <a href="#Page_74">74</a><br />
+
+State registration of nurses, <a href="#Page_4">4</a><br />
+
+St. Raphael, <a href="#Page_104">104</a>, <a href="#Page_106">106</a><br />
+
+Stockholm, <a href="#Page_102">102</a><br />
+<br />
+<br />
+Taube aeroplane, <a href="#Page_147">147</a>, <a href="#Page_176">176</a><br />
+
+Termonde, refugees from, <a href="#Page_11">11</a><br />
+
+Theatre at Skiernevice, <a href="#Page_152">152</a><br />
+
+<i>Times</i>, the price of, <a href="#Page_70">70</a><br />
+
+Tirlemont, <a href="#Page_57">57</a>, <a href="#Page_82">82</a><br />
+
+Torchlight tattoo, <a href="#Page_1">1</a><br />
+
+Turco soldiers, <a href="#Page_29">29</a><br />
+
+Turkestan soldiers, <a href="#Page_151">151</a>, <a href="#Page_152">152</a><br />
+<br />
+<br />
+Untrained nurses, the danger, <a href="#Page_5">5</a>, <a href="#Page_120">120</a><br />
+<br />
+<br />
+Vendrup, <a href="#Page_91">91</a><br />
+
+Voluntary Aid Detachments, <a href="#Page_5">5</a><br />
+<br />
+<br />
+Waelheim, forts of, <a href="#Page_73">73</a><br />
+
+Water-supply difficulties, <a href="#Page_39">39</a><br />
+
+Warsaw, the city of, <a href="#Page_121">121</a><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the Red Cross Hospital, <a href="#Page_113">113</a>-<a href="#Page_120">120</a></span><br />
+
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184">[184]</a></span>Wavre St. Catherine, forts of, <a href="#Page_73">73</a><br />
+
+Wounded French prisoners sent to Germany, <a href="#Page_46">46</a><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">German soldiers at M&mdash;&mdash;, <a href="#Page_41">41</a></span><br />
+<br />
+<br />
+Zeppelins, <a href="#Page_81">81</a><br />
+
+Zouave patients, <a href="#Page_45">45</a><br />
+
+Zyradow Hospital, <a href="#Page_158">158</a><br />
+</p>
+
+
+
+<p class='center'><i>Printed by</i> <span class="smcap">Ballantyne, Hanson &amp; Co. Ltd.</span><br />
+<i>At the Ballantyne Press</i><br />
+<span class="smcap">London and Edinburgh</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 35%;" />
+
+<div class='center'>
+<table border="1" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="">
+<tr><td align='left'>Transcriber's note: Spelling and punctuation have been normalized.</td></tr>
+</table></div>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<hr class="full" />
+<p>***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FIELD HOSPITAL AND FLYING COLUMN***</p>
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+The Project Gutenberg eBook, Field Hospital and Flying Column, by Violetta
+Thurstan
+
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+
+
+
+Title: Field Hospital and Flying Column
+       Being the Journal of an English Nursing Sister in Belgium & Russia
+
+
+Author: Violetta Thurstan
+
+
+
+Release Date: January 23, 2006  [eBook #17587]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII)
+
+
+***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FIELD HOSPITAL AND FLYING COLUMN***
+
+
+E-text prepared by Irma Spehar and the Project Gutenberg Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team (https://www.pgdp.net/) from page images
+generously made available by Internet Archive/Canadian Libraries
+(http://www.archive.org/details/toronto)
+
+
+
+Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this
+      file which includes the original illustrations.
+      See 17587-h.htm or 17587-h.zip:
+      (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/7/5/8/17587/17587-h/17587-h.htm)
+      or
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+      Images of the original pages are available through
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+
+
+
+
+
+FIELD HOSPITAL AND FLYING COLUMN
+
+Being the Journal of an English Nursing Sister in Belgium & Russia
+
+by
+
+VIOLETTA THURSTAN
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+London and New York
+G. P. Putnam's Sons
+1915
+First Impression April 1915
+
+
+
+
+M. R.
+
+
+    _Allons! After the great Companions, and to belong to them.
+    They too are on the road.
+    They are the swift and majestic men, they are the greatest women.
+    They know the universe itself as a road, as many roads,
+    As roads for travelling souls.
+    Camerados, I will give you my hand,
+    I give you my love more precious than money.
+    Will you give me yourselves, will you come travel with me?
+    Shall we stick by each other as long as we live?_
+
+
+
+
+Contents
+
+CHAPTER                                      PAGE
+
+      I. THE BEGINNING OF IT ALL               1
+
+     II. CHARLEROI AND ROUND ABOUT            16
+
+    III. OUR HOSPITAL AND PATIENTS            37
+
+     IV. THE RETURN TO BRUSSELS               53
+
+      V. A MEMORABLE JOURNEY                  76
+
+     VI. A PEACEFUL INTERLUDE                 92
+
+    VII. OUR WORK IN WARSAW                  113
+
+   VIII. THE BOMBARDMENT OF LODZ             128
+
+     IX. MORE DOINGS OF THE FLYING COLUMN    144
+
+      X. BY THE TRENCHES AT RADZIVILOW       161
+
+         INDEX                               179
+
+
+
+
+I
+
+THE BEGINNING OF IT ALL
+
+
+War, war, war. For me the beginning of the war was a torchlight tattoo
+on Salisbury Plain. It was held on one of those breathless evenings in
+July when the peace of Europe was trembling in the balance, and when
+most of us had a heartache in case--_in case_ England, at this time of
+internal crisis, did not rise to the supreme sacrifice.
+
+It was just the night for a tattoo--dark and warm and still. Away across
+the plain a sea of mist was rolling, cutting us off from the outside
+world, and only a few pale stars lighted our stage from above.
+
+The field was hung round with Chinese lanterns throwing weird lights and
+shadows over the mysterious forms of men and beasts that moved therein.
+It was fascinating to watch the stately entrance into the field,
+Lancers, Irish Rifles, Welsh Fusiliers, Grenadiers and many another
+gallant regiment, each marching into the field in turn to the swing of
+their own particular regimental tune until they were all drawn up in
+order.
+
+There followed a very fine exhibition of riding and the usual torchlight
+tricks, and then the supreme moment came. The massed bands had thundered
+out the first verse of the Evening Hymn, the refrain was taken up by a
+single silver trumpet far away--a sweet thin almost unearthly note more
+to be felt than heard--and then the bands gathered up the whole melody
+and everybody sang the last verse together.
+
+The Last Post followed, and then I think somehow we all knew.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+A week later I had a telegram from the Red Cross summoning me to London.
+
+London was a hive of ceaseless activity. Territorials were returning
+from their unfinished training, every South Coast train was crowded with
+Naval Reserve men who had been called up, every one was buying kits,
+getting medical comforts, and living at the Army and Navy Stores. Nurses
+trained and untrained were besieging the War Office demanding to be
+sent to the front, Voluntary Aid Detachment members were feverishly
+practising their bandaging, working parties and ambulance classes were
+being organized, crowds without beginning and without end were surging
+up and down the pavements between Westminster and Charing Cross, wearing
+little flags, buying every half-hour edition of the papers and watching
+the stream of recruits at St. Martin's. All was excitement--no one knew
+what was going to happen. Then the bad news began to come through from
+Belgium, and every one steadied down and settled themselves to their
+task of waiting or working, whichever it might happen to be.
+
+I was helping at the Red Cross Centre in Vincent Square, and all day
+long there came an endless procession of women wanting to help, some
+trained nurses, many--far too many--half-trained women; and a great many
+raw recruits, some anxious for adventure and clamouring "to go to the
+front at once," others willing and anxious to do the humblest service
+that would be of use in this time of crisis.
+
+Surely after this lesson the Bill for the State Registration of Trained
+Nurses cannot be ignored or held up much longer. Even now in this
+twentieth century, girls of twenty-one, nurses so-called with six
+months' hospital training, somehow manage to get out to the front,
+blithely undertaking to do work that taxes to its very utmost the skill,
+endurance, and resource of the most highly trained women who have given
+up the best years of their life to learning the principles that underlie
+this most exacting of professions. For it is not only medical and
+surgical nursing that is learnt in a hospital ward, it is discipline,
+endurance, making the best of adverse circumstances, and above all the
+knowledge of mankind. These are the qualities that are needed at the
+front, and they cannot be imparted in a few bandaging classes or
+instructions in First Aid.
+
+This is not a diatribe against members of Voluntary Aid Detachments.
+They do not, as a rule, pretend to be what they are not, and I have
+found them splendid workers in their own department. They are not
+half-trained nurses but fully trained ambulance workers, ready to do
+probationer's work under the fully trained sisters, or if necessary to
+be wardmaid, laundress, charwoman, or cook, as the case may be. The
+difficulty does not lie with them, but with the women who have a few
+weeks' or months' training, who blossom out into full uniform and call
+themselves Sister Rose, or Sister Mabel, and are taken at their own
+valuation by a large section of the public, and manage through influence
+or bluff to get posts that should only be held by trained nurses, and
+generally end by bringing shame and disrepute upon the profession.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The work in the office was diversified by a trip to Faversham with some
+very keen and capable Voluntary Aid Detachment members, to help
+improvise a temporary hospital for some Territorials who had gone sick.
+And then my turn came for more active service. I was invited by the St.
+John Ambulance to take out a party of nurses to Belgium for service
+under the Belgian Red Cross Society.
+
+Very little notice was possible, everything was arranged on Saturday
+afternoon of all impossible afternoons to arrange anything in London,
+and we were to start for Brussels at eight o'clock on Tuesday morning.
+
+On Monday afternoon I was interviewing my nurses, saying good-bye
+to friends--shopping in between--wildly trying to get everything
+I wanted at the eleventh hour, when suddenly a message came
+to say that the start would not be to-morrow after all. Great
+excitement--telephones--wires--interviews. It seemed that there
+was some hitch in the arrangements at Brussels, but at last it
+was decided by the St. John's Committee that I should go over
+alone the next day to see the Belgian Red Cross authorities before
+the rest of the party were sent off. The nurses were to follow the
+day after if it could be arranged, as having been all collected in
+London, it was very inconvenient for them to be kept waiting long.
+
+Early Tuesday morning saw me at Charing Cross Station. There were not
+many people crossing--two well-known surgeons on their way to Belgium,
+Major Richardson with his war-dogs, and a few others. A nurse going to
+Antwerp, with myself, formed the only female contingent on board. It was
+asserted that a submarine preceded us all the way to Ostend, but as I
+never get further than my berth on these occasions, I cannot vouch for
+the truth of this.
+
+Ostend in the middle of August generally means a gay crowd of bathers,
+Cook's tourists tripping to Switzerland and so on; but our little party
+landed in silence, and anxious faces and ominous whispers met us on our
+arrival on Belgian soil. It was even said that the Germans were marching
+on Brussels, but this was contradicted afterwards as a sensational
+canard. The Red Cross on my luggage got me through the _douane_
+formalities without any trouble. I entered the almost empty train and we
+went to Brussels without stopping.
+
+At first sight Brussels seemed to be _en fete_, flags were waving from
+every window, Boy Scouts were everywhere looking very important, and the
+whole population seemed to be in the streets. Nearly every one wore
+little coloured flags or ribbons--a favourite badge was the Belgian
+colours with the English and French intertwined. It did not seem
+possible that war could be so near, and yet if one looked closer one saw
+that many of the flags giving such a gay appearance were Red Cross
+flags denoting that there an ambulance had been prepared for the
+wounded, and the Garde Civile in their picturesque uniform were
+constantly breaking up the huge crowds into smaller groups to avoid a
+demonstration.
+
+The first thing to arrange was about the coming of my nurses, whether
+they were really needed and if so where they were to go. I heard from
+the authorities that it was highly probable that Brussels _would_ be
+occupied by the Germans, and that it would be best to put off their
+coming, for a time at any rate. Private telegrams had long been stopped,
+but an official thought he might be able to get mine through, so I sent
+a long one asking that the nurses might not be sent till further notice.
+As a matter of fact it never arrived, and the next afternoon I heard
+that twenty-six nurses--instead of sixteen as was originally
+arranged--were already on their way. There were 15,000 beds in Brussels
+prepared for the reception of the wounded, and though there were not
+many wounded in the city just then, the nurses would certainly all be
+wanted soon if any of the rumours were true that we heard on all sides,
+of heavy fighting in the neighbourhood, and severe losses inflicted on
+the gallant little Belgian Army.
+
+It was impossible to arrange for the nurses to go straight to their work
+on arrival, so it was decided that they should go to a hotel for one
+night and be drafted to their various posts the next day. Anyhow, they
+could not arrive till the evening, so in the afternoon I went out to the
+barriers to see what resistance had been made against the possible
+German occupation of Brussels. It did not look very formidable--some
+barbed-wire entanglements, a great many stones lying about, and the
+Gardes Civiles in their quaint old-fashioned costume guarding various
+points. That was all.
+
+In due time my large family arrived and were installed at the hotel.
+Then we heard, officially, that the Germans were quite near the city,
+and that probably the train the nurses had come by would be the last to
+get through, and this proved to be the case. _Affiches_ were pasted
+everywhere on the walls with the Burgomaster's message to his people:
+
+     A SAD HOUR! THE GERMANS ARE AT OUR GATES!
+
+     PROCLAMATION OF THE BURGOMASTER OF BRUSSELS
+
+     CITIZENS,--In spite of the heroic resistance of our
+     troops, seconded by the Allied Armies, it is to be feared that the
+     enemy may invade Brussels.
+
+     If this eventuality should take place, I hope that I may be able to
+     count on the calmness and steadiness of the population.
+
+     Let every one keep himself free from terror--free from panic.
+
+     The Communal Authorities will not desert their posts. They will
+     continue to exercise their functions with that firmness of purpose
+     that you have the right to demand from them under such grave
+     circumstances.
+
+     I need hardly remind my fellow-citizens of their duty to their
+     country. The laws of war forbid the enemy to force the population
+     to give information as to the National Army and its method of
+     defence. The inhabitants of Brussels must know that they are within
+     their rights in refusing to give any information on this point to
+     the invader. This refusal is their duty in the interests of their
+     country.
+
+     Let none of you act as a guide to the enemy.
+
+     Let every one take precautions against spies and foreign agents,
+     who will try to gather information or provoke manifestations.
+
+     The enemy cannot legitimately harm the family honour nor the life
+     of the citizens, nor their private property, nor their philosophic
+     or religious convictions, nor interfere with their religious
+     services.
+
+     Any abuse committed by the invader must be immediately reported to
+     me.
+
+     As long as I have life and liberty, I shall protect with all my
+     might the dignity and rights of my fellow-citizens. I beg the
+     inhabitants to facilitate my task by abstaining from all acts of
+     hostility, all employment of arms, and by refraining from
+     intervention in battles or encounters.
+
+     Citizens, whatever happens, listen to the voice of your Burgomaster
+     and maintain your confidence in him; he will not betray it.
+
+     Long live Belgium free and independent!
+
+     Long live Brussels!
+
+     ADOLPHE MAX.
+
+All that night refugees from Louvain and Termonde poured in a steady
+stream into Brussels, seeking safety. I have never seen a more pitiful
+sight. Little groups of terror-stricken peasants fleeing from their
+homes, some on foot, some more fortunate ones with their bits of
+furniture in a rough cart drawn by a skeleton horse or a large dog. All
+had babies, aged parents, or invalids with them. I realized then for the
+first time what war meant. We do not know in England. God grant we never
+may. It was not merely rival armies fighting battles, it was
+civilians--men, women, and children--losing their homes, their
+possessions, their country, even their lives. This invasion of
+unfortunates seemed to wake Brussels up to the fact that the German army
+was indeed at her gate. Hordes of people rushed to the Gare du Nord in
+the early dawn to find it entirely closed, no trains either entering or
+leaving it. It was said that as much rolling-stock as was possible had
+been sent to France to prevent it being taken by the Germans. There was
+then a stampede to the Gare du Midi, from whence a few trains were still
+leaving the city crammed to their utmost capacity.
+
+In the middle of the morning I got a telephone message from the Belgian
+Red Cross that the Germans were at the barriers, and would probably
+occupy Brussels in half an hour, and that all my nurses must be in their
+respective posts before that time.
+
+Oh dear, what a stampede it was. I told the nurses they must leave their
+luggage for the present and be ready in five minutes, and in less than
+that time we left the hotel, looking more like a set of rag-and-bone men
+than respectable British nursing sisters. One had seized a large
+portmanteau, another a bundle of clean aprons, another soap and toilet
+articles; yet another provident soul had a tea-basket. I am glad that
+the funny side of it did not strike me then, but in the middle of the
+next night I had helpless hysterics at the thought of the spectacle we
+must have presented. Mercifully no one took much notice of us--the
+streets were crowded and we had difficulty in getting on in some
+places--just at one corner there was a little cheer and a cry of "Vive
+les Anglais!"
+
+It took a long time before my flock was entirely disposed of. It had
+been arranged that several of them should work at one of the large
+hospitals in Brussels where 150 beds had been set apart for the wounded,
+five in another hospital at the end of the city, two in an ambulance
+station in the centre of Brussels, nine were taken over to a large
+fire-station that was converted into a temporary hospital with 130 beds,
+and two had been promised for a private hospital outside the barriers.
+It was a work of time to get the last two to their destinations; the
+Germans had begun to come in by that time, and we had to wait two hours
+to cross a certain street that led to the hospital, as all traffic had
+been stopped while the enemy entered Brussels.
+
+It was an imposing sight to watch the German troops ride in. The
+citizens of Brussels behaved magnificently, but what a bitter
+humiliation for them to undergo. How should we have borne it, I wonder,
+if it had been London? The streets were crowded, but there was hardly a
+sound to be heard, and the Germans took possession of Brussels in
+silence. First the Uhlans rode in, then other cavalry, then the
+artillery and infantry. The latter were dog-weary, dusty and
+travel-stained--they had evidently done some forced marching. When the
+order was given to halt for a few minutes, many of them lay down in the
+street just as they were, resting against their packs, some too
+exhausted to eat, others eating sausages out of little paper bags
+(which, curiously enough, bore the name of a Dutch shop printed on the
+outside) washed down with draughts of beer which many of the inhabitants
+of Brussels, out of pity for their weary state, brought them from the
+little drinking-houses that line the Chaussee du Nord.
+
+The rear was brought up by Red Cross wagons and forage carts,
+commissariat wagons, and all the miscellaneous kit of an army on the
+march. It took thirty-six hours altogether for the army to march in and
+take possession. They installed themselves in the Palais de Justice and
+the Hotel de Ville, having requisitioned beds, food and everything that
+they wanted from the various hotels. Poor Madame of the Hotel X. wept
+and wrung her hands over the loss of her beautiful beds. Alas, poor
+Madame! The next day her husband was shot as a spy, and she cared no
+longer about the beds.
+
+In the meantime, just as it got dark, I installed my last two nurses in
+the little ambulance out beyond the barriers.
+
+
+
+
+II
+
+CHARLEROI AND ROUND ABOUT
+
+
+The Germans had asked for three days to pass through the city of
+Brussels; a week had passed and they showed no signs of going. The first
+few days more and more German soldiers poured in--dirty, footsore, and
+for the most part utterly worn out. At first the people of Brussels
+treated them with almost unnecessary kindness--buying them cake and
+chocolate, treating them to beer, and inviting them into their houses to
+rest--but by the end of the week these civilities ceased.
+
+Tales of the German atrocities began to creep in--stories of Liege and
+Louvain were circulated from mouth to mouth, and doubtless lost nothing
+by being repeated.
+
+[Illustration: MAP OF BELGIUM]
+
+There was no _real_ news at all. Think how cut off we were--certainly it
+was nothing in comparison with what it was afterwards--but we could
+not know that then--and anyway we learnt to accommodate ourselves to the
+lack of news by degrees. Imagine a Continental capital suddenly without
+newspapers, without trains, telephones, telegraphs; all that we had
+considered up to now essentials of civilized life. Personally, I heard a
+good deal of Belgian news, one way and another, as I visited all my
+flock each day in their various hospitals and ambulances stationed in
+every part of the city.
+
+The hospital that we had to improvise at the fire-station was one of the
+most interesting pieces of work we had to do in Brussels. There were 130
+beds altogether in six large wards, and the Sisters had to sleep at
+first in one, later in two large dormitories belonging to firemen absent
+on active service. The firemen who were left did all the cooking
+necessary for the nursing staff and patients, and were the most charming
+of men, leaving nothing undone that could augment the Sisters' comfort.
+
+It is a great strain on temper and endurance for women to work and sleep
+and eat together in such close quarters, and on the whole they stood
+the test well. In a very few days the fire-station was transformed into
+a hospital, and one could tell the Sisters with truth that the wards
+looked _almost_ like English ones. Alas and alas! At the end of the week
+the Germans put in eighty soldiers with sore feet, who had over-marched,
+and the glorious vision of nursing Tommy Atkins at the front faded into
+the prosaic reality of putting hundreds of cold compresses on German
+feet, that they might be ready all the sooner to go out and kill our
+men. War is a queer thing!!
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+On the following Tuesday afternoon the Burgomaster of Charleroi came
+into Brussels in an automobile asking for nurses and bringing with him a
+permit for this purpose from the German authorities. Charleroi, which
+was now also in German hands, was in a terrible state, and most of the
+city burnt down to the ground. It was crammed with wounded--both French
+and German--every warehouse and cottage almost were full of them, and
+they were very short of trained people.
+
+The Central Red Cross Bureau sent a message, asking if three of us
+would go back with him. _Would we!_ Was it not the chance we had been
+longing for. In ten minutes Sister Elsie, Sister Grace and I were in
+that automobile speeding to Charleroi. I had packed quickly into a
+portmanteau all I thought I was likely to want in the way of uniform and
+other clothing, with a few medical comforts for the men, and a little
+tea and cocoa for ourselves. The two Sisters had done likewise--so we
+were rather horrified when we got to Hal, where we had to change
+automobiles, the Burgomaster said he could not possibly take any of our
+luggage, as we must get into quite a small car--the big one having to
+return to Brussels. He assured us that our things would be sent on in a
+few days--so back to Brussels went my portmanteau with all my clean
+aprons and caps and everything else, and I did not see it again for
+nearly a week. But such is war!
+
+We waited nearly an hour at Hal while our German permits were examined,
+and then went off in the small car. It was heart-breaking to see the
+scenes of desolation as we passed along the road. Jumet--the
+working-class suburb of Charleroi--was entirely burnt down, there did
+not seem to be one house left intact. It is indeed terrible when
+historic and consecrated buildings such as those at Louvain and Rheims
+are burnt down, but in a way it is more pathetic to see these poor
+little cottages destroyed, that must have meant so much to their owners,
+and it makes one's heart ache to see among the crumbling ruins the
+remains of a baby's perambulator, or the half-burnt wires of an old
+four-post bed. Probably the inhabitants of Jumet had all fled, as there
+was no one to be seen as we went through the deserted village, except
+some German sentries pacing up and down.
+
+Parts of Charleroi were still burning as we got to it, and a terrible
+acrid smoke pervaded everything. Here the poorer streets were spared,
+and it was chiefly the rich shops and banks and private houses that had
+been destroyed. Charleroi was the great Birmingham of Belgium--coal-pits
+all round, with many great iron and steel works, now of course all idle,
+and most of the owners entirely ruined. The town was absolutely crammed
+with German troops as we passed through; it had now been occupied for
+two or three days and was being used as a great military depot.
+
+But Charleroi was not to be our final destination--we went on a few more
+kilometres along the Beaumont road, and drew up at a fairly large
+building right out in the country. It was a hospital that had been three
+parts built ten years ago, then abandoned for some reason and never
+finished. Now it was being hastily fitted up as a Red Cross hospital,
+and stretcher after stretcher of wounded--both French and German--were
+being brought in as we arrived.
+
+The confusion that reigned within was indescribable. There were some
+girls there who had attended first-aid lectures, and they were doing
+their best; but there were no trained nurses and no one particularly in
+command. The German doctor had already gone, one of the Belgian doctors
+was still working there, but he was absolutely worn out and went off
+before long, as he had still cases to attend to in the town before he
+went to his well-earned bed. He carried off the two Sisters with him,
+till the morning, and I was left alone with two or three Red Cross
+damsels to face the night. It is a dreadful nightmare to look back at.
+Blood-stained uniforms hastily cut off the soldiers were lying on the
+floor--half-open packets of dressings were on every locker; basins of
+dirty water or disinfectant had not been emptied; men were moaning with
+pain, calling for water, begging that their dressings might be done
+again; and several new cases just brought in were requiring urgent
+attention. And the cannon never ceased booming. I was not accustomed to
+it then, and each crash meant to me rows of men mown down--maimed or
+killed. I soon learnt that comparatively few shells do any damage,
+otherwise there would soon be no men left at all. In time, too, one gets
+so accustomed to cannon that one hardly hears it, but I had not arrived
+at that stage then: this was my baptism of fire.
+
+Among the other miseries of that night was the dreadful shortage of all
+hospital supplies, and the scarcity of food for the men. There was a
+little coffee which they would have liked, but there was no possibility
+of hot water. The place had been hastily fitted up with electric light,
+and the kitchen was arranged for steam cooking, so there was not even a
+gas-jet to heat anything on. I had a spirit-lamp and methylated spirit
+in my portmanteau, but, as I said, my luggage had been all wafted away
+at Hal.
+
+But the night wore away somehow, and with the morning light came plans
+of organization and one saw how things could be improved in many ways,
+and the patients made more comfortable. The hospital was a place of
+great possibilities in some ways; its position standing almost at the
+top of a high hill in its own large garden was ideal, and the air was
+gloriously bracing, but little of it reached the poor patients as
+unfortunately the Germans had issued a proclamation forbidding any
+windows to be open, in case, it was said, anyone should fire from
+them--and as we were all prisoners in their hands, we had to do as we
+were bid.
+
+At nine o'clock the Belgian doctor and the German commandant appeared,
+and I went off with the former to help with an amputation of arm, in one
+of the little temporary ambulances in the town of M----, three
+kilometres away. The building had been a little dark shop and not very
+convenient, and if the patient had not been so desperately ill, he
+would have been moved to Charleroi for his operation. He was a French
+tirailleur--a lad about twenty, his right arm had been severely injured
+by shrapnel several days before, and was gangrenous right up to the
+shoulder. He was unconscious and moaning slightly at intervals, but he
+stood the operation very well, and we left him fairly comfortable when
+we had to return to the hospital.
+
+We got back about twelve, which is the hour usually dedicated to
+patients' dinner, but it was impossible to find anything to eat except
+potatoes. We sent everywhere to get some meat, but without success,
+though in a day or two we got some kind of dark meat which I thought
+must be horse. (Now from better acquaintance with ancient charger, I
+know it to have been so.) There was just a little milk that was reserved
+for the illest patients, no butter or bread. I was beginning to feel
+rather in need of food myself by that time. There had been, of course,
+up to then no time to bother about my own meals, and I had had nothing
+since breakfast the day before, that is about thirty hours ago, except
+a cup of coffee which I had begged from the concierge before starting
+with the doctor for the amputation case.
+
+Well, there was nothing to eat and only the dirtiest old woman in all
+the world to cook it, but at three o'clock we managed to serve the
+patients with an elegant dish of underdone lentils for the first course,
+and overdone potatoes for the second, and partook ourselves gratefully
+thereof, after they had finished. In the afternoon of that day a meeting
+of the Red Cross Committee was held at the hospital, and I was sent for
+and formally installed as Matron of the hospital with full authority to
+make any improvements I thought necessary, and with the stipulation that
+I might have two or three days' leave every few weeks, to go and visit
+my scattered flock in Brussels. The appointment had to be made subject
+to the approval of the German commandant, but apparently he made no
+objection--at any rate I never heard of any.
+
+And then began a very happy time for me, in spite of many difficulties
+and disappointments. I can never tell the goodness of the Committee and
+the Belgian doctor to me, and their kindness in letting me introduce all
+our pernickety English ways to which they were not accustomed, won my
+gratitude for ever. Never were Sisters so loyal and unselfish as mine.
+The first part of the time they were overworked and underfed, and no
+word of grumbling or complaint was ever heard from them. They worked
+from morning till night and got the hospital into splendid order. The
+Committee were good enough to allow me to keep the best of the Red Cross
+workers as probationers and to forbid entrance to the others. We had
+suffered so much at their hands before this took place, that I was truly
+grateful for this permission as no discipline or order was possible with
+a large number of young girls constantly rushing in and out, sitting on
+patients' beds, meddling with dressings, and doing all kinds of things
+they shouldn't.
+
+I am sure that no hospital ever had nicer patients than ours were. The
+French patients, though all severely wounded and prisoners in the hands
+of the Germans, bore their troubles cheerfully, even gaily. We had a
+great variety of regiments represented in the hospital: Tirailleurs,
+Zouaves, one Turco from Algeria--our big good-natured Adolphe--soldiers
+from Paris, from Brittany and from Normandy, especially from Calvados.
+The German soldiers, too, behaved quite well, and were very grateful for
+everything done for them--mercifully we had no officers. We had not
+separate rooms for them--French and German soldiers lay side by side in
+the public wards.
+
+One of the most harrowing things during that time was the way all the
+Belgians were watching for the English troops to deliver them from the
+yoke of their oppressor. Every day, many times a day, when German rules
+got more and more stringent and autocratic, and fresh tales of
+unnecessary harshness and cruelty were circulated, they would say over
+and over again, "Where are the English? If only the English would come!"
+Later they got more bitter and we heard, "Why don't the English come and
+help us as they promised? If only the English would come, it would be
+all right." And so on, till I almost felt as if I could not bear it any
+longer. One morning some one came in and said English soldiers had been
+seen ten kilometres away. We heard the sound of distant cannon in a new
+direction, and watched and waited, hoping to see the English ride in.
+But some one must have mistaken the German khaki for ours, for no
+English were ever near that place. There was no news of what was really
+happening in the country, no newspapers ever got through, and we had
+nothing to go upon but the German _affiches_ proclaiming victories
+everywhere, the German trains garlanded with laurels and faded roses,
+marked "Destination--Paris," and the large batches of French prisoners
+that were constantly marched through the town. An inscription written
+over a doorway in Charleroi amused us rather: "Vive Guillaume II, roi de
+l'univers." Not yet, not yet, William.
+
+Later on the Belgians issued a wonderful little newspaper at irregular
+intervals of three or four days, typewritten and passed from hand to
+hand. The most amazing news was published in it, which we always firmly
+believed, till it was contradicted in the next issue. I collected two or
+three copies of this paper as a curiosity, but unfortunately lost them
+later on, with all my papers and luggage. One or two items I remember
+quite well. One gave a vivid account of how the Queen of Holland had
+killed her husband because he had allowed the Germans to pass through
+Maestricht; another even more circumstantial story was that England had
+declared war on Holland, Holland had submitted at once, and England
+imposed many stringent conditions, of which I only remember two. One
+was, that all her trade with Germany should cease at once; secondly,
+that none of her lighthouses should show light at night.
+
+One of the German surgeons who used to operate at our hospital was
+particularly ingenious in inventing tortures for me; I used to have to
+help him in his operations, and he would recount to me with gusto how
+the English had retreated from Mons, how the Germans were getting nearer
+and nearer to Paris, how many English killed, wounded and prisoners
+there were, and so on. One morning he began about the Fleet and said
+that a great battle was going on in the North Sea, and going very badly
+for the English. I had two brothers fighting in the North Sea of whom I
+had no news since the war began, and I could bear it no longer, but fled
+from the operating-room.
+
+Charleroi and its neighbourhood was just one large German camp, its
+position on the railway making it a particularly valuable base for them.
+The proclamations and rules for the behaviour of the inhabitants became
+daily more and more intolerant. It was forbidden to lock the door, or
+open the window, or pull down the blinds, or allow your dog out of the
+house; all German officers were to be saluted--and if there was any
+doubt, any German soldier was to be saluted, and so on, day after day.
+One really funny one I wish I could reproduce. It forbade anyone to
+"wear a menacing look" but it did not say who was to be the judge of
+this look.
+
+Every one was too restless and unhappy to settle to anything, all the
+most important shops were burnt down, and very few of those that were
+left were open. The whole population seemed to spend all their time in
+the street waiting for something to happen. Certainly the Germans seem
+to have had a special "down" on Charleroi and its neighbourhood, so many
+villages in its vicinity were burnt down and most abominable cruelties
+practised on its inhabitants. The peasants who were left were simply
+terrorized, as no doubt the Germans meant them to be, and a white flag
+hung from nearly every cottage window denoting complete submission. In
+one village some German soldier wrote in chalk on the door of a house
+where he had been well received, "Guete Leute hier," and these poor
+people got chalk and tried to copy the difficult German writing on every
+door in the street. I am afraid that did not save them, however, when
+their turn came. It was the utter ruthlessness and foresight with which
+every contingency was prepared for that appalled me and made me realize
+what a powerful enemy we were up against. Everything was thought out
+down to the last detail and must have been prepared months beforehand.
+Even their wagons for transport were all painted the same slate-grey
+colour, while the English and Belgians were using any cart they could
+commandeer in the early days, as I afterwards saw in a German camp
+Pickford's vans and Lyons' tea carts that they had captured from us.
+Even their postal arrangements were complete; we saw their grey
+"Feld-Post" wagons going to and fro quite at the beginning of the war.
+
+Several people in Charleroi told me that the absolute system and
+organization of destruction frightened them more than the actual fire
+itself. Every German soldier had a little hatchet, and when Charleroi
+was fired, they simply went down the street as if they had been drilled
+to it for months, cutting a square hole in the panel of each door, and
+throwing a ball of celluloid filled with benzine inside. This exploded
+and set the house on fire, and later on the soldiers would return to see
+if it was burning well. They were entirely indifferent as to whether
+anyone were inside or not, as the following incident, which came under
+my notice, will show. Two English Red Cross Sisters were working at an
+ambulance in Charleroi, and lodging with some people in the centre of
+the city. When the town was being burnt they asked leave to go and try
+to save some of their possessions. They arrived at the house, however,
+and found it entirely burnt down, and all their things destroyed. They
+were returning rather sorrowfully to their hospital when an old woman
+accosted them and told them that a woman with a new-born infant was
+lying in bed in one of the burning houses.
+
+The house was not burning badly, and they got into it quite easily and
+found the woman lying in bed with her little infant beside her, almost
+out of her wits with terror, but too weak to move. The nurses found they
+could not manage alone, so went down into the street to find a man. They
+found, after some trouble, a man who had only one arm and got him to
+help them take the woman to the hospital. One of the nurses was carrying
+the baby, the other with the one-armed man was supporting the mother,
+when the German soldiers fired at the little party, and the one-armed
+man fell bleeding at the side of the road. The Sisters were obliged to
+leave him for the moment, and went on with the mother and infant to the
+hospital, got a stretcher and came back and fetched the man and brought
+him also to the hospital. It was only a flesh wound in the shoulder and
+he made a good recovery, but what a pitiful little group to waste
+ammunition on--a newly confined mother and her infant, two Red Cross
+Sisters and a crippled man.
+
+One can only imagine that they were drunk when they did these kind of
+things, for individually the German soldier is generally a decent
+fellow, though some of the Prussian officers are unspeakable. Discipline
+is very severe and the soldiers are obliged to carry out orders without
+troubling themselves about rights and wrongs. It is curious that very
+few German soldiers know why they are fighting, and they are always told
+such wonderful stories of German victories that they think the war will
+soon be over. When they arrived at Charleroi, for instance, they were
+told they were at Charleville, and nearly all our wounded German
+soldiers thought they were already in France. They also thought Paris
+was already taken and London in flames. It hardly seems worth while to
+lie to them in this way, for they are bound to find out the truth sooner
+or later.
+
+
+
+
+III
+
+OUR HOSPITAL AND PATIENTS
+
+
+After we had had a long week of night and day work, two more of my
+nurses suddenly turned up at the hospital. They had most unexpectedly
+got a message that I had sent in by hand to Brussels, begging for nurses
+and saying how hard pressed we were, and had got permission to come out
+in a Red Cross motor-ambulance. I was, of course, delighted to see them,
+and with their help we soon settled down into the ordinary routine of
+hospital life, and forgot we were prisoners under strict supervision,
+having all kinds of tiresome rules and regulations to keep.
+
+The question of supplies was a very difficult one from the first. We
+were short of everything, very short of dressings, chloroform and all
+kinds of medical supplies, and especially (even worse in one way) very
+short of hospital linen such as sheets and towels and shirts and
+drawers, and we had the greatest difficulty in getting anyone to come
+and wash for us. One might have thought that with almost every one out
+of work, there would have been no lack of women; but the hospital was a
+long way from the nearest town and I suppose they were afraid to come;
+also, of course, many, very many, had had their houses burnt, lost their
+all and fled away. The food question was a very difficult one also. We
+had to live just from day to day and be thankful for small mercies.
+Naturally for ourselves it would not have mattered at all, but it _did_
+matter very much for our poor patients, who were nearly all very ill.
+Meat was always difficult often impossible to get, and at first there
+was no bread, which, personally, I missed more than anything else;
+afterwards we got daily rations of this. Butter there was none; eggs and
+milk very scarce, only just enough for the very severely wounded.
+Potatoes and lentils we had in great quantities, and on that diet one
+would never starve, though it was not an ideal one for sick men.
+
+I remember one morning when we had only potatoes for the men's dinner;
+the cook had just peeled an immense bucket of them and was putting them
+on to boil when some German soldiers came and took the lot, and this so
+infuriated the cook that we had to wait hours before we could get
+another lot prepared and cooked for the patients' dinner. The
+water-supply was another of our difficulties. All the watercourses in
+the neighbourhood were polluted with dead bodies of men and horses and
+no water was fit to drink. There was a horrible, greenish, foul-smelling
+stream near the hospital, which I suppose eventually found its way into
+the river, and it sickened me to imagine what we were drinking, even
+though it was well boiled.
+
+It was very hot weather and the men all dreadfully thirsty. There was
+one poor Breton soldier dying of septicaemia, who lay in a small room off
+the large ward. He used to shriek to every passer-by to give him drink,
+and no amount of water relieved his raging thirst. That voice calling
+incessantly night and day, "A boire, a boire!" haunted me long after he
+was dead. The taste of long-boiled water is flat and nasty, so we made
+weak decoctions of camomile-tea for the men, which they seemed to like
+very much. We let it cool, and kept a jug of it on each locker so that
+they could help themselves whenever they liked.
+
+Some of the ladies of the town were very kind indeed in bringing in wine
+and little delicacies for our sick, and for ourselves, too, sometimes.
+We were very grateful to them for all their kindness in the midst of
+their own terrible trouble and anxieties.
+
+All the first ten days the cannon boomed without ceasing; by degrees it
+got more distant, and we knew the forts of Maubeuge were being bombarded
+by the famous German howitzers, which used to shake the hospital to its
+foundations. The French soldiers in the wards soon taught us to
+distinguish the sounds of the different cannon. In a few days we knew as
+well as they did whether it was French or German artillery firing.
+
+Our hospital was on the main Beaumont road, and in the midst of our work
+we would sometimes glance out and watch the enormous reinforcements of
+troops constantly being sent up. Once we saw a curious sight. Two large
+motor-omnibuses with "Leipziger lokal-anzeiger" painted on their side
+went past, each taking about twenty-five German Beguine nuns to the
+battlefield, the contrast between this very modern means of transport
+and the archaic appearance of the nuns in their mediaeval dress was very
+striking.
+
+Suddenly one Sunday morning the cannonading ceased--there was dead
+silence--Maubeuge was taken, and the German army passed on into France.
+It is difficult to explain the desolating effect when the cannon
+suddenly ceases. At first one fears and hates it, then one gets
+accustomed to it and one feels at least _something is being done_--there
+is still a chance. When it ceases altogether there is a sense of utter
+desertion, as if all hope had been given up.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+On the morning of September 1 the German commandant suddenly appeared in
+the wards at 7 o'clock, and said that all the German wounded were going
+to be sent off to Germany at once, and that wagons would be coming in an
+hour's time to take them to the station. We had several men who were not
+fit to travel, amongst them a soldier who had had his leg amputated only
+twelve hours before. I ought to have learnt by that time the futility
+of argument with a German official, but I pleaded very hard that a few
+of the men might be left till they were a little better able to stand
+the journey, for there is no nationality among wounded, and we could not
+bear even German patients to undergo unnecessary suffering. But my
+remonstrances were quite in vain, and one could not help wondering what
+would become of _our_ wounded if the Germans treated their own so
+harshly. I heard from other ambulances that it was their experience as
+well as mine that the lightly wounded were very well looked after, but
+the severely wounded were often very inconsiderately treated. They were
+no longer any use as fighting machines and only fit for the scrap-heap.
+It is all part of the German system. They are out for one purpose only,
+that is to win--and they go forward with this one end in
+view--everything else, including the care of the wounded, is a
+side-issue and must be disregarded and sacrificed if necessary.
+
+We prepared the men as well as we could for the long ride in the wagons
+that must precede the still longer train journey. Once on the
+ambulance-train, however, they would be well looked after; it was the
+jolting on the country road I feared for many of them. None of us were
+permitted to accompany them to Charleroi station, but the driver of one
+of the wagons told me afterwards that the man with the amputated leg had
+been taken out dead at the station, as he had had a severe haemorrhage on
+the way, which none of his comrades knew how to treat. He also told us
+that all the big hospitals at Charleroi were evacuating their German
+wounded, and that he had seen two other men taken out of carts quite
+dead. We took this to mean very good news for us, thinking that the
+Germans must have had a severe reverse to be taking away their wounded
+in such a hurry. So we waited and hoped, but as usual nothing happened
+and there was no news.
+
+We had a very joyful free sort of feeling at having got rid of the
+German patients. The French soldiers began to sing The Marseillaise as
+soon as they had gone, but we were obliged to stop them as we feared the
+German doctor or commandant, who were often prowling about, might hear.
+Losing so many patients made the work much lighter for the time being,
+and about this time, too, several of the severely wounded men died. They
+had suffered so frightfully that it was a great relief when they died
+and were at rest. The cure of the parish church was so good to them,
+never minding how many times a day he toiled up that long hill in the
+blazing sunshine, if he could comfort some poor soul, or speed them on
+their way fortified with the last rites of the Church.
+
+One poor Breton soldier could not bear the thought of being buried
+without a coffin--he spoke about it for days before he died, till Madame
+D----, a lady living in the town to whom we owe countless acts of
+kindness, promised that she would provide a coffin, so the poor lad died
+quite happily and peacefully, and the coffin and a decent funeral were
+provided in due course, though, of course, he was not able to have a
+soldier's funeral. Some of these poor French soldiers were dreadfully
+homesick--most of them were married, and some were fathers of families
+who had to suddenly leave their peaceful occupations to come to the war.
+Jules, a dapper little pastrycook with pink cheeks and bright black
+eyes, had been making a batch of tarts when his summons had come. And he
+was much better suited to making tarts than to fighting, poor little
+man, for he was utterly unnerved by what he had gone through, and used
+to have dreadful fits of crying and sobbing which it was very difficult
+to stop.
+
+Some of the others, and especially the Zouaves, one could not imagine in
+any other profession than that of soldiering. How jolly and cheerful
+they were, always making the best of everything, and when the German
+patients had gone we really had time to nurse them and look after them
+properly. Those who were able for the exertion were carried out to the
+garden, and used to lie under the pear-trees telling each other
+wonderful stories of what they had been through, and drinking in fresh
+health and strength every day from the beautiful breeze that we had on
+the very hottest days up on our hill. We had to guard them very
+carefully while they were in the garden, however, for if one man had
+tried to escape the hospital would have been burnt down and the
+officials probably shot. So two orderlies and two Red Cross
+probationers were always on duty there, and I think they enjoyed it as
+much as the men.
+
+Suddenly a fresh thunderbolt fell.
+
+One Sunday morning the announcement was made that every French patient
+was to go to Germany on Monday morning at eight.
+
+We were absolutely in despair. We had one man actually dying, several
+others who must die before long, eight or ten who were very severely
+wounded in the thigh and quite unable to move, two at least who were
+paralysed, many who had not set foot out of bed and were not fit to
+travel--we had not forgotten the amputation case of a few days before,
+who was taken out dead at Charleroi station. I was so absolutely
+miserable about it that I persuaded the Belgian doctor to go to the
+commandant, and beg that the worst cases might be left to us, which he
+very pluckily did, but without the slightest effect--they must all go,
+ill or well, fit or unfit. After all the German patients were returning
+to their own country and people, but these poor French soldiers were
+going ill and wounded as prisoners to suffer and perhaps die in an
+enemy's country--an enemy who knew no mercy.
+
+I could hardly bear to go into the wards at all that day, and busied
+myself with seeing about their clothes. Here was a practical
+illustration of the difference in equipment between the German and
+French soldiers. The German soldiers came in well equipped, with money
+in their pockets and all they needed with them. Their organization was
+perfect, and they were prepared for the war; the French were not. When
+they arrived at the hospital their clothes had been cut off them anyhow,
+with jagged rips and splits by the untrained Red Cross girls. Trained
+ambulance workers are always taught to cut by the seam when possible.
+Many had come without a cap, some without a great-coat, some without
+boots; all had to be got ready somehow. The hospital was desperately
+short of supplies--we simply could not give them all clean shirts and
+drawers as we longed to do. The trousers were our worst problem, hardly
+any of them were fit to put on. We had a few pairs of grey and black
+striped trousers, the kind a superior shopman might wear, but we were
+afraid to give those to the men as we thought the Germans would think
+they were going to try to escape if they appeared in civil trousers, and
+might punish them severely. So we mended up these remnants of French red
+pantaloons as best we could. One man we _had_ to give civil trousers as
+he had only a few shreds of pantaloon left, and these he promised to
+carry in his hand to show that he really could not put them on.
+
+The men were laughing and joking and teasing one another about their
+garments, but my heart was as heavy as lead. I simply could not _bear_
+to let the worst cases go. One or two of the Committee came up and we
+begged them to try what they could do with the commandant, but they said
+it was not the least use, and from what I had seen myself, I had to
+confess that I did not think it would be. The patient I was most unhappy
+about was a certain French count we had in the hospital. He had been
+shot through the back at the battle of Nalinnes, and was three days on
+the battlefield before he was picked up. Now he lay dying in a little
+side room off the ward. The least movement caused him acute agony, even
+the pillow had to be moved an inch at a time before it could be turned,
+and it took half an hour to change his shirt. The doctor had said in the
+morning he could not last another forty-eight hours. But if he was alive
+the next morning he would be put in those horrible springless carts, and
+jolted, jolted down to the station, taken out and transferred to a
+shaky, vibrating train, carrying him far away into Germany.
+
+Mercifully he died very peacefully in his sleep that evening, and we
+were all very thankful that the end should have come a little earlier
+than was expected.
+
+Late that night came a message that the men were not to start till
+midday, so we got them all dressed somehow by eleven. All had had bad
+nights, nearly all had temperatures, and they looked very poor things
+when they were dressed; even fat, jolly Adolphe looked pale and subdued.
+We had not attempted to do anything with the bad bed cases; if they
+_must_ go they must just go wrapped up in their blankets. But we
+unexpectedly got a reprieve. A great German chief came round that
+morning, accompanied by the German doctor and German commandant, and
+gave the order that the very bad cases were to remain for the present. I
+cannot say how thankful we were for this respite and so were the men.
+Poor Jules, who was very weak from pain and high temperature, turned to
+the wall and cried from pure relief.
+
+At 11.30 the patients had their dinner--we tried to give them a good one
+for the last--and then every moment we expected the wagons to come. We
+waited and waited till at length we began to long for them to come and
+get the misery of it over. At last they arrived, and we packed our
+patients into it as comfortably as we could on the straw. Each had a
+parcel with a little money and a few delicacies our ever-generous Madame
+D---- had provided. It was terrible to think of some of these poor men
+in their shoddy uniforms, without an overcoat, going off to face a long
+German winter.
+
+So we said good-bye with smiles and tears and thanks and salutations.
+And the springless wagons jolted away over the rough road, and
+fortunately we had our bad cases to occupy our thoughts. An order came
+to prepare at once for some more wounded who might be coming in at any
+time, so we started at once to get ready for any emergency. The beds
+were disinfected and made up with our last clean sheets and
+pillow-cases, and the wards scrubbed, when there was a shout from some
+one that they were bringing in wounded at the hospital gate. We looked
+out and true enough there were stretchers being brought in. I went along
+to the operating theatre to see that all was ready there in case of
+necessity, when I heard shrieks and howls of joy, and turned round and
+there were all our dear men back again, and they, as well as the entire
+staff, were half mad with delight. They were all so excited, talking at
+once, one could hardly make out what had happened; but at last I made
+one of them tell me quietly. It appeared that when the wagons got down
+to Charleroi station, the men were unloaded and put on stretchers, and
+were about to be carried into the station when an officer came and
+pointed a pistol at them (why, no one knew, for they were only obeying
+orders), and said they were to wait. So they waited there outside the
+station for a long time, guarded by a squad of German soldiers, and at
+last were told that the train to Germany was already full and that they
+must return to the hospital. They all had to be got back into bed (into
+our disinfected beds, with the last of the clean sheets!) and fed and
+their dressings done, and so on, and they were so excited that it took a
+long time before they could settle down for the night. But it was a very
+short reprieve, for the next day they had to go off again and there was
+no coming back this time.
+
+I often think of those poor lads in Germany and wonder what has become
+of them, and if those far-off mothers all think their sons are dead. If
+so, what a joyful surprise some of them will have some day--after the
+war.
+
+
+
+
+IV
+
+THE RETURN TO BRUSSELS
+
+
+This seemed a favourable moment for me to go to Brussels for a day or
+two to visit my flock. The Committee gave me leave to go, but begged me
+to be back in two days, which I promised to do. A _laissez-passer_ had
+been obtained from the German commandant for a Red Cross automobile to
+go into Brussels to fetch some supplies of dressings and bandages of
+which all the hospitals in the neighbourhood were woefully short. And I
+was also graciously accorded a ticket of leave by the same august
+authority to go for two days, which might be extended to three according
+to the length of stay of the automobile.
+
+The night before I left, an aeroplane which had been flying very high
+above the town dropped some papers. The doctor with whom I was lodging
+secured one and brought it back triumphantly. It contained a message
+from the Burgomaster of Antwerp to his fellow-citizens, and ended thus:
+"Courage, fellow-citizens, in a fortnight our country will be delivered
+from the enemy."
+
+We were all absurdly cheered by this message, and felt that it was only
+a matter of a short time now before the Germans were driven out of
+Belgium. We had had no news for so long that we thought probably the
+Antwerp Burgomaster had information of which we knew nothing, and I was
+looking forward to hearing some good news when I got to Brussels.
+
+I found Brussels very much changed since I had left it some weeks
+before. Then it was in a fever of excitement, now it was in the chill of
+dark despair. German rule was firmly established, and was growing daily
+more harsh and humiliating for its citizens. Everything was done to
+Germanize the city, military automobiles were always dashing through,
+their hooters playing the notes of the Emperor's salute, Belgian
+automobiles that had been requisitioned whirred up and down the streets
+filled with German officers' wives and children, German time was kept,
+German money was current coin, and every cafe and confectioner's shop
+was always crowded with German soldiers. Every day something new was
+forbidden. Now it was taking photographs--the next day no cyclist was
+allowed to ride, and any cyclist in civil dress might be shot at sight,
+and so on. The people were only _just_ kept in hand by their splendid
+Burgomaster, M. Max, but more than once it was just touch and go whether
+he would be able to restrain them any longer.
+
+What made the people almost more angry than anything else was the loss
+of their pigeons, as many of the Belgians are great pigeon fanciers and
+have very valuable birds. Another critical moment was when they were
+ordered to take down all the Belgian flags. Up to that time the Belgian
+flag, unlike every other town that the Germans had occupied, had floated
+bravely from nearly every house in Brussels. M. Max had issued a
+proclamation encouraging the use of it early in the war. Now this was
+forbidden as it was considered an insult to the Germans. Even the Red
+Cross flag was forbidden except on the German military hospitals, and I
+thought Brussels looked indeed a melancholy city as we came in from
+Charleroi that morning in torrents of rain in the Red Cross car.
+
+My first business was to go round and visit all my nurses. I found most
+of them very unhappy because they had no work. All the patients had been
+removed from the fire-station hospital and nearly all the private
+hospitals and ambulances were empty too. It was said that Germans would
+rather have all their wounded die than be looked after by Englishwomen,
+and there were dreadful stories afloat which I cannot think any German
+believed, of English nurses putting out the eyes of the German wounded.
+Altogether there were a good many English Sisters and doctors in
+Brussels--three contingents sent out by the Order of St. John of
+Jerusalem, to which we belonged, a large unit sent by the British Red
+Cross Society, and a good many sent out privately. It certainly was not
+worth while for more than a hundred English nurses to remain idle in
+Brussels, and the only thing to do now was to get them back to England
+as soon as possible. In the meantime a few of them took the law into
+their own hands, and slipped away without a passport, and got back to
+England safely by unofficial means.
+
+The second afternoon I was in Brussels I received a note from one of my
+nurses who had been sent to Tirlemont in my absence by the Belgian Red
+Cross Society. The contents of the note made me very anxious about her,
+and I determined to go and see her if possible. I had some Belgian
+acquaintances who had come from that direction a few days before, and I
+went to ask their advice as to how I should set about it. They told me
+the best way, though rather the longest, was to go first to Malines and
+then on to Tirlemont from there, and the only possible way of getting
+there was to walk, as they had done a few days previously, and trust to
+getting lifts in carts. There had been no fighting going on when they
+had passed, and they thought I should get through all right.
+
+So I set out very early in the morning accompanied by another Sister,
+carrying a little basket with things for one or two nights. I did not
+ask for any _laissez-passer_, knowing well enough that it would not be
+granted. We were lucky enough to get a tram the first part of the way,
+laden with peasants who had been in to Brussels to sell country produce
+to the German army, and then we set out on our long walk. It was a
+lovely late September morning, and the country looked so peaceful one
+could hardly believe that a devastating war was going on. Our way led
+first through a park, then through a high-banked lane all blue with
+scabious, and then at last we got on to a main road, when the owner of a
+potato cart crawling slowly along, most kindly gave us a long lift on
+our way.
+
+We then walked straight along the Malines road, and I was just remarking
+to my companion that it was odd we should not have met a single German
+soldier, when we came into a village that was certainly full of them. It
+was about 11 o'clock and apparently their dinner hour, for they were all
+hurrying out of a door with cans full of appetizing stew in their hands.
+They took no notice of us and we walked on, but very soon came to a
+sandy piece of ground where a good many soldiers were entrenched and
+where others were busily putting up barbed-wire entanglements. They
+looked at us rather curiously but did not stop us, and we went on.
+Suddenly we came to a village where a hot skirmish was going on, two
+Belgian and German outposts had met. Some mitrailleuses were there in
+the field beside us, and the sound of rifle fire was crackling in the
+still autumn air. There was nothing to do but to go forward, so we went
+on through the village, and presently saw four German soldiers running
+up the street. It is not a pretty sight to see men running away. These
+men were livid with terror and gasping with deep breaths as they ran.
+One almost brushed against me as he passed, and then stopped for a
+moment, and I thought he was going to shoot us. But in a minute they
+went on towards the barbed-wire barricades and we made our way up the
+village street. Bullets were whistling past now, and every one was
+closing their shops and putting up their shutters. Several people were
+taking refuge behind a manure heap, and we went to join them, but the
+proprietor came out and said we must not stay there as it was dangerous
+for him. He advised us to go to the hotel, so we went along the street
+until we reached it, but it was not a very pleasant walk, as bullets
+were flying freely and the mitrailleuse never stopped going pom-pom-pom.
+
+We found the hotel closed when we got to it, and the people absolutely
+refused to let us come in, so we stood in the road for a few minutes,
+not knowing which way to go. Then a Red Cross doctor saw us, and came
+and told us to get under cover at once. We explained that we desired
+nothing better, but that the hotel was shut, so he very kindly took us
+to a convent near by. It was a convent of French nuns who had been
+expelled from France and come to settle in this little village, and when
+they heard who we were they were perfectly charming to us, bringing
+beautiful pears from their garden and offering to keep us for the night.
+We could not do that, however, it might have brought trouble on them;
+but we rested half an hour and then made up our minds to return to
+Brussels. We could not go forward as the Malines road was blocked with
+soldiers, and we were afraid we could not get back the way we had come,
+past the barbed-wire barricades, but the nuns told us of a little lane
+at the back of their convent which led to the high road to Brussels,
+about fifteen miles distant. We went down this lane for about an hour,
+and then came to a road where four roads met, just as the nuns had said.
+I did not know which road to take, so asked a woman working outside the
+farm. She spoke Flemish, of which I only know a few words, and either I
+misunderstood her, or she thought we were German Sisters, for she
+pointed to another lane at the left which we had not noticed, and we
+thought it was another short cut to Brussels.
+
+We had only gone a few yards down this lane when we met a German sentry
+who said "Halt!" We were so accustomed to them that we did not take much
+notice, and I just showed my Red Cross brassard as I had been accustomed
+to do in Charleroi when stopped. This had the German eagle stamped on it
+as well as the Belgian Red Cross stamp. The man saluted and let us pass.
+_Now_ I realize that he too thought we were German Sisters.
+
+We went on calmly down the lane and in two minutes we fell into a whole
+German camp. There were tents and wagons and cannon and camp fires, and
+thousands of soldiers. I saw some carts there which they must have
+captured from the English bearing the familiar names of "Lyons' Tea" and
+"Pickford" vans! An officer came up and asked in German what we wanted.
+I replied in French that we were two Sisters on our way to Brussels.
+Fortunately I could produce my Belgian Carte d'Identite, which had also
+been stamped with the German stamp. The only hope was to let him think
+we were Belgians. Had they known we were English I don't think anything
+would have saved us from being shot as spies. The officer had us
+searched, but found nothing contraband on us and let us go, though he
+did not seem quite satisfied. He really thought he had found something
+suspicious when he spied in my basket a small metal case. It contained
+nothing more compromising, however, than a piece of Vinolia soap. We had
+not the least idea which way to go when we were released, and went wrong
+first, and had to come back through that horrible camp again. Seven
+times we were stopped and searched, and each time I pointed to my German
+brassard and produced my Belgian Carte d'Identite. Sister did not speak
+French or German, but she was very good and did not lose her head, or
+give us away by speaking English to me. And at last--it seemed hours to
+us--we got safely past the last sentry. Footsore and weary, but very
+thankful, we trudged back to Brussels.
+
+But that was not quite the end of our adventure, for just as we were
+getting into Brussels an officer galloped after us, and dismounted as
+soon as he got near us. He began asking in broken French the most
+searching questions as to our movements. I could not keep it up and had
+to tell him that we were English. He really nearly fell down with
+surprise, and wanted to know, naturally enough, what we were doing
+there. I told him the exact truth--how we had started out for Malines,
+were unable to get there and so were returning to Brussels. "But," he
+said at once, "you are not on the Malines road." He had us there, but I
+explained that we had rested at a convent and that the nuns had shown us
+a short cut, and that we had got on to the wrong road quite by mistake.
+He asked a thousand questions, and wanted the whole history of our lives
+from babyhood up. Eventually I satisfied him apparently, for he saluted,
+and said in English as good as mine, "Truly the English are a wonderful
+nation," mounted his horse and rode away.
+
+I did not try any more excursions to Tirlemont after that, but heard
+later on that my nurse was safe and in good hands.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+My business in Brussels was now finished, and I wanted to return to my
+hospital at M. The German authorities met my request with a blank
+refusal. I was not at all prepared for this. I had only come in for two
+days and had left all my luggage behind me. Also one cannot leave one's
+hospital in this kind of way without a word of explanation to anyone. I
+could not go without permission, and it was more than sixty kilometres,
+too far to walk. I kept on asking, and waited and waited, hoping from
+day to day to get permission to return.
+
+Instead of that came an order that every private ambulance and hospital
+in Brussels was to be closed at once, and that no wounded at all were to
+be nursed by the English Sisters. The doctor and several of the Sisters
+belonging to the Red Cross unit were imprisoned for twenty-four hours
+under suspicion of being spies. Things could not go on like this much
+longer. What I wanted to do was to send all my nurses back to England if
+it could be arranged, and return myself to my work at M. till it was
+finished. We were certainly not wanted in Brussels. The morning that the
+edict to close the hospitals had been issued, I saw about 200 German Red
+Cross Sisters arriving at the Gare du Nord.
+
+I am a member of the International Council of Nurses, and our last big
+congress was held in Germany. I thus became acquainted with a good many
+of the German Sisters, and wondered what the etiquette would be if I
+should meet some of them now in Brussels. But I never saw any I knew.
+
+After the Red Cross doctor with his Sisters had been released, he went
+to the German authorities and asked in the name of us all what they
+proposed doing with us. As they would no longer allow us to follow our
+profession, we could not remain in Brussels. The answer was rather
+surprising as they said they intended sending the whole lot of us to
+Liege. That was not pleasant news. Liege was rather uncomfortably near
+Germany, and as we were not being sent to work there it sounded
+remarkably like being imprisoned. Every one who could exerted themselves
+on our behalf; the American Consul in particular went over and over
+again to vainly try to get the commandant to change his mind. We were to
+start on Monday morning, and on Sunday at midday the order still stood.
+But at four o'clock that afternoon we got a message to say that our
+gracious masters had changed our sentence, and that we were to go to
+England when it suited their pleasure to send us. But this did not suit
+_my_ pleasure at all. Twenty-six nurses had been entrusted to my care by
+the St. John's Committee, four were still at M., and one at Tirlemont,
+and I did not mean to quit Belgian soil if I could help it, leaving five
+of them behind. So I took everything very quietly, meaning to stay
+behind at the last minute, and change into civilian dress, which I took
+care to provide myself with.
+
+Then began a long period of waiting. Not one of my nurses was working,
+though there were a great many wounded in Brussels, and we knew that
+they were short-handed. There was nothing to do but to walk about the
+streets and read the new _affiches_, or proclamations, which were put up
+almost every day, one side in French, the other side in German, so that
+all who listed might read. They were of two kinds. One purported to give
+the news, which was invariably of important German successes and
+victories. The other kind were orders and instructions for the behaviour
+of the inhabitants of Brussels. It was possible at that time to buy
+small penny reprints of all the proclamations issued since the German
+occupation. They were not sold openly as the Germans were said to forbid
+their sale, but after all they could hardly punish people for reissuing
+what they themselves had published. Unfortunately I afterwards lost my
+little books of proclamations, but can reproduce a translation of a
+characteristic one that appeared on October 5. The italics are mine.
+
+     BRUSSELS: October 5, 1914.
+
+     During the evening of September 25 the railway line and the
+     telegraph wires were destroyed on the line Lovenjoul-Vertryck. In
+     consequence of this, these two places have had to render an account
+     of this, and had to give hostages on the morning of September 30.
+     In future, the localities nearest to the place where similar acts
+     take place _will be punished without pity--it matters little
+     whether the inhabitants are guilty or not_. For this purpose
+     hostages have been taken from all localities near the railway line
+     thus menaced, and at the first attempt to destroy either the
+     railway line or telephone or telegraph, _the hostages will be
+     immediately shot_. Further, all the troops charged with the duty of
+     guarding the railway have been ordered _to shoot any person with a
+     suspicious manner_ who approaches the line or telegraph or
+     telephone wires.
+
+     VON DER GOLST.
+
+And Von der Golst was recalled from Brussels later on because he was too
+lenient!
+
+There is no reparation the Germans can ever make for iniquities of this
+kind--and they cannot deny these things as they have others, for they
+stand condemned out of their own mouths. Their own proclamations are
+quite enough evidence to judge them on.
+
+One cannot help wondering what the German standard of right and wrong
+really is, because their private acts as well as their public ones have
+been so unworthy of a great nation. Some Belgian acquaintances of mine
+who had a large chateau in the country told me that such stealing among
+officers as took place was unheard of in any war before between
+civilized countries. The men had little opportunity of doing so, but the
+officers sent whole wagon-loads of things back to Germany with their
+name on. My friends said naturally they expected them to take food and
+wine and even a change of clothing, but in their own home the German
+officers quartered there had taken the very carpets off the floor and
+the chandeliers from the ceiling, and old carved cupboards that had been
+in the family for generations, and sent them back to Germany. They all
+begged me to make these facts public when I got back to England. Writing
+letters was useless as they never got through. Other Belgian friends
+told me of the theft of silver, jewellery, and even women's
+undergarments.
+
+It was not etiquette in Brussels to watch the Germans, and particularly
+the officers. One could not speak about them in public, spies were
+everywhere, and one would be arrested at once at the first indiscreet
+word--but no one could be forced to look at them--and the habit was to
+ignore them altogether, to avert one's head, or shut one's eyes, or in
+extreme cases to turn one's back on them, and this hurt their feelings
+more than anything else could do. They _could_ not believe apparently
+that Belgian women did not enjoy the sight of a beautiful officer in
+full dress--as much as German women would do.
+
+All English papers were very strictly forbidden, but a few got in
+nevertheless by runners from Ostend. At the beginning of the German
+occupation the _Times_ could be obtained for a franc. Later it rose to 3
+francs then 5, then 9, then 15 francs. Then with a sudden leap it
+reached 23 francs on one day. That was the high-water mark, for it came
+down after that. The _Times_ was too expensive for the likes of me. I
+used to content myself with the _Flandres Liberale_, a half-penny paper
+published then in Ghent and sold in Brussels for a franc or more
+according to the difficulty in getting it in. These papers used to be
+wrapped up very tight and small and smuggled into Brussels in a basket
+of fruit or a cart full of dirty washing. They could not of course be
+bought in the shops, and the Germans kept a very keen look-out for them.
+We used to get them nevertheless almost every day in spite of them.
+
+The mode of procedure was this: When it was getting dusk you sauntered
+out to take a turn in the fresh air. You strolled through a certain
+square where there were men selling picture post-cards, etc. You
+selected a likely looking man and went up and looked over his cards,
+saying under your breath "_Journal Anglais?_" or "_Flandres Liberale?_"
+which ever it happened to be. Generally you were right, but occasionally
+the man looked at you with a blank stare and you knew you had made a bad
+shot, and if perchance he had happened to be a spy, your lot would not
+have been a happy one. But usually you received a whispered "Oui,
+madame," in reply, and then you loudly asked the way to somewhere, and
+the man would conduct you up a side street, pointing the way with his
+finger. When no one was looking he slipped a tiny folded parcel into
+your hand, you slipped a coin into his, and the ceremony was over. But
+it was not safe to read your treasure at a front window or anywhere
+where you might be overlooked.
+
+Sometimes these newspaper-sellers grew bold and transacted this business
+too openly and then there was trouble. One evening some of the nurses
+were at Benediction at the Carmelite Church, when a wretched newspaper
+lad rushed into the church and hid himself in a Confessional. He was
+followed by four or five German soldiers. They stopped the service and
+forbade any of the congregation to leave, and searched the church till
+they found the white and trembling boy, and dragged him off to his fate.
+We heard afterwards that a German spy had come up and asked him in
+French if he had a paper, and the boy was probably new at the game and
+fell into the trap.
+
+About this time the Germans were particularly busy in Brussels. A great
+many new troops were brought in, amongst them several Austrian regiments
+and a great many naval officers and men. It was quite plain that some
+big undertaking was planned. Then one day we saw the famous heavy guns
+going out of the city along the Antwerp road. I had heard them last at
+Maubeuge, now I was to hear them again. Night and day reinforcements of
+soldiers poured into Brussels at the Gare du Nord, and poured out at the
+Antwerp Gate. No one whatever was permitted to pass to leave the city,
+the trams were all stopped at the barriers, and aeroplanes were
+constantly hovering above the city like huge birds of prey.
+
+On Sunday, September 27, we woke to hear cannon booming and the house
+shaking with each concussion. The Germans had begun bombarding the forts
+which lay between Brussels and Antwerp. Looking from the heights of
+Brussels with a good glass, one could see shells bursting near Waelheim
+and Wavre St. Catherine. The Belgians were absolutely convinced that
+Antwerp was impregnable, and as we had heard that large masses of
+English troops had been landed there, we hoped very much that this would
+be the turning-point of the war, and that the Germans might be driven
+back out of the country.
+
+On Wednesday, September 30, the sounds of cannon grew more distant, and
+we heard that Wavre St. Catherine had been taken. The Belgians were
+still confident, but it seems certain that the Germans were convinced
+that nothing could withstand their big guns, for they made every
+preparation to settle down in Brussels for the winter. They announced
+that from October 1 Brussels would be considered as part of German
+territory, and that they intended to re-establish the local postal
+service from that date. They reckoned without their host there, for the
+Brussels postmen refused to a man to take service under them, so the
+arrangement collapsed. They did re-establish postal communication
+between Brussels and Germany, and issued a special set of four stamps.
+They were the ordinary German stamps of 3, 5, 10 and 20 pfennig, and
+were surcharged in black "Belgien 3, 5, 10 and 20 centimes."
+
+About this time, too, they took M. Max, the Burgomaster, off to Liege as
+prisoner, on the pretext that Brussels had not yet paid the enormous
+indemnity demanded of it. He held the people in the hollow of his hand,
+and the Brussels authorities very much feared a rising when he was taken
+off. But the Echevins, or College of Sheriffs, rose to the occasion,
+divided his work between them, and formed a local police composed of
+some of the most notable citizens of the town. They were on duty all day
+and night and divided the work into four-hour shifts, and did splendid
+work in warning the people against disorderly acts and preventing
+disturbances. It is not difficult to guess what would have happened if
+these patriotic citizens had not acted in this way--there would most
+certainly have been a rising among the people, and the German reprisals
+would have been terrible. As it was a German soldier who was swaggering
+alone down the Rue Basse was torn in pieces by the angry crowd, but for
+some reason this outbreak was hushed up by the German authorities.
+
+
+
+
+V
+
+A MEMORABLE JOURNEY
+
+
+The authorities seemed to be far too busy to trouble themselves about
+our affairs, and we could get no news as to what was going to happen to
+us. There was a good deal of typhoid fever in Brussels, and I thought I
+would employ this waiting time in getting inoculated against it, as I
+had not had time to do so before leaving England.
+
+This operation was performed every Saturday by a doctor at the Hopital
+St. Pierre, so on Saturday, October 3, I repaired there to take my turn
+with the others. The prick was nothing, and it never occurred to me that
+I should take badly, having had, I believe, typhoid when a child. But I
+soon began to feel waves of hot and cold, then a violent headache came
+on, and I was forced to go to bed with a very painful arm and a high
+temperature. I tossed about all night, and the next morning I was worse
+rather than better. At midday I received a message that every English
+Sister and doctor in Brussels was to leave for England the next day, via
+Holland, in a special train that had been chartered by some Americans
+and accompanied by the American Consul. How I rejoiced at my fever, for
+now I had a legitimate excuse for staying behind, for except at the
+point of the sword I did not mean to leave Belgium while I still had
+nurses there who might be in danger. The heads of all the various
+parties were requested to let their nurses know that they must be at the
+station the next day at 2 P. M. Several of my nurses were
+lodging in the house I was in, and I sent a message to them and to all
+the others that they must be ready at the appointed place and time. I
+also let a trusted few know that I did not mean to go myself, and gave
+them letters and messages for England.
+
+The next morning I was still not able to get up, but several of my
+people came in to say good-bye to me in bed, and I wished them good luck
+and a safe passage back to England. By 1 P. M. they were all
+gone, and a great peace fell over the house. I struggled out of bed,
+put all traces of uniform away, and got out my civilian dress. I was no
+longer an official, but a private person out in Belgium on my own
+account, and intended to walk to Charleroi by short stages as soon as I
+was able. I returned to bed, and at five o'clock I was half asleep, half
+picturing my flock on their way to England, when there was a great
+clamour and clatter, and half a dozen of them burst into my room. They
+were all back once more!
+
+They told me they had gone down to the station as they were told, and
+found the special train for Americans going off to the Dutch frontier.
+Their names were all read out, but they were not allowed to get into the
+train, and were told they were not going that day after all. The German
+officials present would give no reason for the change, and were
+extremely rude to the nurses. They told me my name had been read out
+amongst the others. They had been asked why I was not there, and had
+replied that I was ill in bed.
+
+Just then a letter arrived marked "Urgent," and in it was an order that
+I should be at the station at 12 P. M. the next day _without
+fail_, accompanied by my nurses. I was very sad that they had discovered
+I did not want to go, because I knew now that they would leave no stone
+unturned to make me, but I determined to resist to the last moment and
+not go if I could help it. So I sent back a message to the Head Doctor
+of the Red Cross unit, asking him to convey to the German authorities
+the fact that I was ill in bed and could not travel the next day. Back
+came a message to say that they regretted to hear I was ill, and that I
+should be transferred at once to a German hospital and be attended by a
+German doctor. That, of course, was no good at all--I should then
+probably have been a German prisoner till the end of the war, and not
+have been the slightest use to anyone.
+
+I very reluctantly gave in and said I would go. We were told that we
+should be safely conducted as far as the Dutch frontier, and so I
+determined to get across to Antwerp if I could from there and work my
+way back to Brussels in private clothes.
+
+I scrambled up somehow the next day, and found a very large party
+assembled outside the Gare du Nord, as every single English nurse and
+doctor in Brussels was to be expelled. There must have been fifteen or
+twenty doctors and dressers altogether, and more than a hundred Sisters
+and nurses.
+
+A squad of German soldiers were lined up outside the station, and two
+officers guarded the entrance. They had a list of our names, and as each
+name was read out, we were passed into the station, where a long, black
+troop-train composed of third-class carriages was waiting for us. The
+front wagons were, I believe, full of either wounded or prisoners, as
+only a few carriages were reserved for us. However, we crowded in, eight
+of us in a carriage meant for six, and found, greatly to our surprise,
+that there were two soldiers with loaded rifles sitting at the window in
+each compartment. There was nothing to be said, we were entirely in
+their hands, and after all the Dutch frontier was not so very far off.
+
+The soldiers had had orders to sit at the two windows and prevent us
+seeing out, but our two guards were exceedingly nice men, not Prussians
+but Danish Germans from Schleswig-Holstein, who did not at all enjoy the
+job they had been put to, so our windows were not shut nor our blinds
+down as those in some of the other carriages were.
+
+A whistle sounded, and we were off. We went very very slowly, and waited
+an interminable time at each station. When evening came on we had only
+arrived as far as Louvain, and were interested to see two Zeppelins
+looming clear and black against the sunset sky, in the Malines direction
+flying towards Antwerp. It was not too dark to see the fearful
+destruction that had been dealt out to this famous Catholic University,
+only built and endowed during the last eighty years by great and heroic
+sacrifices on the part of both clergy and people. The two German
+soldiers in our carriage were themselves ashamed when they saw from the
+window the crumbling ruins and burnt-out buildings which are all that
+remain of Louvain now. One of them muttered: "If only the people had not
+fired at the soldiers, this would never have happened." Since he felt
+inclined to discuss the matter, one of us quoted the clause from The
+Hague Convention of 1907 which was signed by Germany:
+
+     The territory of neutral states is inviolable.
+
+     The fact of a neutral Power resisting even by force, attempts to
+     violate its neutrality cannot be regarded as a hostile act.
+
+This was beyond him, but he reiterated: "No civilians have any right to
+fire at soldiers." And all the time they were killing civilians by bombs
+thrown on open cities. So deep has the sanctity of the army sunk into
+the German heart.
+
+Night drew on, and one after another dropped into an uneasy sleep. But
+we were squeezed so tight, and the wooden third-class carriages were so
+hard, that it was almost more uncomfortable to be asleep than to be
+awake. We persuaded the two German soldiers to sit together as that made
+a little more room, and they soon went to sleep on each other's
+shoulders, their rifles between their knees. I was still feverish and
+seedy and could not sleep, but watched the beautiful starry sky, and
+meditated upon many things. We passed through Tirlemont, and I thought
+of my poor nurse and wished I could get out and see what she was doing.
+Then I began to be rather puzzled by the way we were going. I knew this
+line pretty well, but could not make out where we were. About three
+o'clock in the morning I saw great forts on a hill sending out powerful
+search-lights. I knew I could not be mistaken, this must be Liege. And
+then we drew up in the great busy station, and I saw that it was indeed
+Liege. So we were on our way to Germany after all, and not to the Dutch
+frontier as we had been promised.
+
+Next morning this was quite apparent, for we passed through Verviers and
+then Herbesthal the frontier town. At the latter place the doors of all
+our carriages were thrown violently open, and a Prussian officer shouted
+in a raucous voice "Heraus." Few of our party understood German, and
+they did not get out quickly enough to please his lordship, for he
+bellowed to the soldiers: "Push those women out of the train if they
+don't go quicker." Our things were thrown out after us as we scrambled
+out on to the platform, while two officers walked up and down having
+every bag and portmanteau turned out for their inspection. All
+scissors, surgical instruments and other useful articles were taken away
+from the Sisters, who protested in vain against this unfair treatment.
+The soldiers belonging to our carriage, seeing this, tumbled all our
+possessions back into the carriage, pretending that they had been
+examined--for we had become fast friends since we had shared our scanty
+stock of food and chocolate together. I was personally very thankful not
+to have my belongings looked at too closely, for I had several things I
+did not at all want to part with; one was my camera, which was sewn up
+inside my travelling cushion, a little diary that I had kept in Belgium,
+and a sealed letter that had been given me as we stood outside the
+station at Brussels by a lady who implored me to take it to England and
+post it for her there, as it was to her husband in Petrograd, who had
+had no news of her since the war began. I had this in an inside secret
+pocket, and very much hoped I should get it through successfully.
+
+We were ordered into the train again in the same polite manner that we
+had been ordered out. Our two soldiers were much upset by the treatment
+we had received. One had tears in his eyes when he told us how sorry he
+was, for he had the funny old-fashioned idea that Red Cross Sisters on
+active service should be treated with respect--even if they were
+English. He then told us that their orders were to accompany us to
+Cologne; he did not know what was going to happen to us after that. So
+Germany was to be our destination after all.
+
+At the next station we stopped for a long time, and then the doors of
+the carriages were opened and we were each given a bowl of soup. It was
+very good and thick, and we christened it "hoosh" with remembrance of
+Scott's rib-sticking compound in the Antarctic; and there was plenty of
+it, so we providently filled up a travelling kettle with it for the
+evening meal. Then we went on again and crawled through that
+interminable day over the piece of line between Herbesthal and Cologne.
+Evening came, and we thought of the "hoosh," but when it came to the
+point no one could look at it, and we threw it out of the window. A
+horrible yellow scum had settled on the top of it and clung to the
+sides, so that it spoilt the kettle for making tea--and we _were_ so
+thirsty.
+
+At last, late at night, we saw the lights of Cologne. We had been
+thirty-two hours doing a journey that ordinarily takes six or seven. We
+were ordered out of the train when we reached the station, and were
+marched along between two rows of soldiers to a waiting-room. No porters
+were allowed to help us, so we trailed all along those underground
+corridors at Cologne station with our own luggage. Fortunately it was so
+late that there were not many people about. We were allowed to have a
+meal here, and could order anything we liked. Some coffee was a great
+comfort, and we were able to buy rolls and fruit for the journey.
+
+An incident happened here that made my blood boil, but nothing could be
+done, so we had to set our teeth and bear it. A waiter came in smiling
+familiarly, with a bundle of papers under his arm, and put one of these
+illustrated weeklies beside each plate. On the front page was a horrible
+caricature of England--so grossly indecent that it makes me hot now
+even to think of it. As soon as I saw what they were, I went round to
+each place, gathered them up and put them aside.
+
+As we waited I wondered what was to be the next step, and could not help
+thinking of my last visit to Cologne two years before. Then I went as a
+delegate to a very large Congress and Health Exhibition, when we were
+the honoured guests of the German National Council of Nurses. Then we
+were feted by the Municipality of Cologne--given a reception at the
+Botanical Gardens, a free pass to all the sights of Cologne, a concert,
+tableaux, a banquet, I don't know what more. Now I was a prisoner
+heavily guarded, weary, dirty, humiliated in the very city that had done
+us so much honour.
+
+After about three hours' wait we were ordered into another train,
+mercifully for our poor bones rather a more comfortable one this time,
+with plenty of room, and we went on our way, over the Rhine, looking
+back at Cologne Cathedral, on past Essen and Dusseldorf, into the very
+heart of Germany. It was rather an original idea--this trip through the
+enemy's country in the middle of the war!
+
+In the morning we had a nice surprise. We arrived at Muenster, and found
+breakfast awaiting us. The Red Cross ladies of that town kindly provide
+meals for all prisoners and wounded soldiers passing through. They
+seemed very surprised when all we English people turned up, but they
+were very kind in waiting on us, and after breakfast we got what was
+better than anything in the shape of a good wash. We had a long wait at
+Muenster so there was no hurry, and we all got our turn under the
+stand-pipe and tap that stood in the station. Then on and on and on, and
+it seemed that we had always been in the train, till at last, late one
+evening, we arrived at Hamburg.
+
+We were ordered out of the train here for a meal, and this was by far
+the most unpleasant time we had. Evidently the news of our arrival had
+preceded us, and a whole crowd of Hamburgers were at the station waiting
+to see us emerge from the train.
+
+They were not allowed on to the platform, but lined the outside of the
+railing all the way down, laughing at us, spitting, hissing, jeering,
+and making insulting remarks. And though we were English we had to take
+it lying down. At the first indiscreet word from any of us they would
+have certainly taken off the men of our party to prison, though they
+would have probably done nothing more to us women than to delay our
+journey. There were about fifteen doctors and dressers with us, and we
+were naturally much more afraid for their safety than for our own. I
+think I shall never forget walking down that platform at Hamburg. We
+were hurried into a waiting-room, the door of which was guarded by two
+soldiers, and a meal of bread and cold meat ordered for us. The German
+waiters evidently much resented being asked to serve us, for they nearly
+threw the food at us.
+
+Then something happened that made up for everything. A young German
+officer came up and asked in very good English if there was anything he
+could do for us in any way.
+
+"I beg your pardon for speaking to you," he said, "but I received so
+much kindness from every one when I was in England, that it would be the
+greatest pleasure I could have if I could help you at all." And he
+started by giving the waiter the biggest blowing-up he had ever had in
+his life, for which I could have hugged him. He then went off and came
+back in a few minutes with fruit and chocolate and everything he could
+find for us to take with us. He was a very bright and shining star in a
+dark place. Then along the platform past that horrible, jeering crowd
+and into the train once more.
+
+It was night, and most of us were asleep when the train stopped with a
+jerk, the doors of the train were thrown open, and the fresh, salty
+smell of the sea met our nostrils. Some of the party, hardly awake,
+thought they had to get out, and began to descend, but such volumes of
+wrath met their attempt that they hastily got in again. Every window in
+the train was shut, every blind pulled down and curtains closed, and a
+soldier with loaded rifle stood at each window. We were crossing the
+Kiel Canal. There were a great many people in England who would have
+given anything to have been in our shoes just then. But we saw
+absolutely nothing.
+
+They forgot to give us any breakfast that day, but we did not mind.
+Every mile now, along this flat, marshy country, was a mile nearer
+Denmark and freedom, and our spirits rose higher every moment. Though
+why the Germans should take us all through Germany and Denmark, when
+they could just as easily have dropped us on the Dutch frontier, I
+cannot even now imagine.
+
+Early that afternoon we arrived at Vendrup, the Danish frontier, and the
+soldiers and the train that had brought us all the way from Cologne went
+back to Germany. It was difficult to realize that we were free once
+more, after two months of being prisoners with no news of home, tied
+down to a thousand tiresome regulations, and having witnessed terrible
+sights that none of us will ever forget. Strange and delightful it was
+to be able to send a telegram to England once more and to buy a paper;
+wonderful to see the friendly, smiling faces all round us. It felt
+almost like getting home again.
+
+
+
+
+VI
+
+A PEACEFUL INTERLUDE
+
+
+Late that night we arrived in Copenhagen. The kindness we received there
+surpasses all imagination. The Danish people opened their arms in
+welcome and gave us of their best with both hands. Every one went out of
+their way to be good to us, from the manager of the delightful Hotel
+Cosmopolite, where we were staying, to the utter strangers who sent us
+flowers, fruit, sweets, illustrated papers and invitations to every
+possible meal in such profusion.
+
+Miss Jessen, the secretary of the Danish Council of Nurses, called at
+once and arranged a most delightful programme for every day of our stay
+in Copenhagen, bringing us invitations to see over the most important
+hospitals, and the Finsen Light Institute, the old Guildhall, the
+picture gallery, and anything else any of us wanted to see.
+
+[Illustration: MAP OF OUR NORTHERN JOURNEY]
+
+The president, Madame Tscherning, and the members of the same council,
+arranged a most delightful afternoon reception for us at the Palace
+Hotel, at which Dr. Norman Hansen welcomed us in the name of Denmark,
+and read us a poem which he had written in our honour.
+
+     TO THE BRITISH SURGEONS AND NURSES PASSING COPENHAGEN ON THEIR WAY
+     FROM BELGIUM
+
+    Silent, we bid you welcome, in silence you answer'd our greeting
+    Because our lips must be closed, and your teeth are set
+                              Against the gale.
+    Our mouths are mute, our minds are open--
+    We shall greet you farewell in silence;
+    Sowers of good-will on fields where hate is sown--
+                              Fare ye well.
+
+     C. NORMAN HANSEN, M.D.
+
+That evening at dinner we all found a beautiful bunch of violets tied up
+with the Danish colours on our plates, and a pretty Danish medal with
+the inscription "Our God--our Land--our Honour" which had been issued to
+raise a fund for the Danish Red Cross Society. This was a little
+surprise for us on the part of the manager of the hotel, who, like
+every one else, simply overwhelmed us with kindness. One simply felt
+dreadfully ashamed of oneself for not having done more to deserve all
+this.
+
+On the first day of our arrival in Denmark came the news of the downfall
+of Antwerp, and through all these delightful invitations and receptions
+there was a feeling in my heart that I was not free yet to enjoy myself.
+The downfall of Antwerp seemed almost like a personal loss. We had been
+so close to it, had shared our Belgian friends' hopes and fears, had
+watched the big German howitzers going out on the Antwerp road, had
+heard the bombardment of the forts, on our long journey through Belgium
+had seen the enormous reinforcements being sent up to take it. And now
+it had gone, and the Germans were marching on Ostend. What was the end
+of all this going to be? We _must_ win in the end--but they are so
+strong and well organized--so _dreadfully_ strong.
+
+In that same paper I read an account from a Russian correspondent,
+telling of the distress in Poland, which they described as the "Belgium
+of Russia." It stated that the news just then was not good; the Germans
+were approaching Warsaw, and that the people in many of the villages
+were almost starving, as the Germans had eaten up almost everything.
+(How well I could believe that!) The paper went on to say that the
+troops were suffering severely from cholera and from typhoid fever and
+that there was a great scarcity of trained nurses. That gave me the clue
+for which I was unconsciously seeking--we had been turned out of
+Belgium, and now, perhaps, our work was to be in that other Belgium of
+Russia.
+
+Three other Sisters wished to join me, and I telegraphed to St. John's
+to ask permission to offer our services to the Russian Red Cross. The
+answer was delayed, and as we could not go to Russia without permission
+from headquarters, we most reluctantly prepared to go back to England
+with all the others.
+
+On the last morning our luggage, labelled Christiania-Bergen-Newcastle,
+had already gone down to the station when the expected telegram arrived:
+"You and three Sisters named may volunteer Russian Red Cross." We flew
+down to the station and by dint of many tips and great exertions we got
+our luggage out again. I should have been sorry to have lost my little
+all for the second time.
+
+This permission to serve with the Russian Red Cross was confirmed later
+by a most kind letter from Sir Claude Macdonald, chairman of the St.
+John's Committee, so we felt quite happy about our enterprise.
+
+We could not start for Russia for another ten days. We were to be
+inoculated against cholera for one thing, and then there were passports
+and vises to get and arrangements for the journey to be made. The
+ordinary route was by Aboe, Stockholm and Helsingfors, but we were very
+strongly advised not to go this way, first, because of the possibility
+of mines in the Baltic, and, secondly, because a steamer, recently
+crossing that way, had been actually boarded, and some English people
+taken off by the Germans. And we had no desire to be caught a second
+time.
+
+So it was decided to my great joy that we should travel all the way
+round by land, through Sweden, through a little bit of Lapland, just
+touching the Arctic Circle, through Finland and so to Petrograd. The
+thought of the places we had to go through thrilled me to the
+core--Karungi, Haparanda, Lapptrask, Torneo--the very names are as
+honey to the lips.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+One might have expected that all the kindness and hospitality would
+cease on the departure of the majority of the party, but it was not so.
+Invitations of all kinds were showered on us. Lunches were the chief
+form of entertainment and very interesting and delightful they were.
+There was a lunch at the British Legation, one at the French Legation,
+one at the Belgian Legation where the minister was so pathetically glad
+of any crumbs of news of his beloved country; a delightful dinner to
+meet Prince Gustav of Denmark, an invitation to meet Princess Mary of
+Greece, another lunch with Madame Tscherning, the president of the
+Danish Council of Nurses, and the "Florence Nightingale of Denmark."
+Altogether we should have been thoroughly spoilt if it had lasted any
+longer! One of the most delightful invitations was to stay at Vidbek for
+the remainder of our time, a dear little seaside place with beautiful
+woods, just then in their full glory of autumnal colouring. It was
+within easy reach of Copenhagen and we went in almost every day, for
+one reason or another, and grew very fond of the beautiful old city.
+
+The time came for us to say good-bye. I was very sorry indeed to leave
+dear little Denmark where we had had such a warm welcome. Denmark is, of
+course, officially, absolutely neutral, but she cannot forget the ties
+of blood and friendship that bind the two island countries together.
+They are indeed a splendid people to be kin to, tall and fair and
+strong, as becomes an ancient race of sea-kings. I only hope that it may
+be my good fortune, some day, to be able to repay in some small measure
+all the wealth of kindness so freely poured out for us.
+
+On Saturday, October 24, at 7 P. M. we started for Lapland! Many
+of our very kind friends came down to the station to give us a good
+send-off and with last presents of flowers, fruit, chocolates and
+papers. We crossed first to Malmoe on the ferry, which took about an hour
+and a half. It was very calm and clear, and we watched the little
+twinkling lights of Denmark gradually disappear and the lights of Sweden
+gradually emerge in exchange. At Malmoe there was a customs examination
+which was not very severe, as our things were all marked with a huge Red
+Cross, and then we got into a funny little horse tram that conveyed us
+to the station.
+
+When morning broke we were speeding along towards Stockholm. The country
+was very different from Denmark, much wilder, with rocks and trees and
+sand and an occasional glimpse of lake. At that time Sweden was supposed
+to bear little good-will towards England, and certainly our reception in
+that land was distinctly a chilly one. We drove on arrival to a hotel
+which had been recommended to us and asked the concierge if there were
+rooms. He said there were, so we had our luggage taken down and
+dismissed the cab. The concierge then looked at us suspiciously, and
+said, "You are English?" "Yes, we are English." He then went and
+confabbed for some minutes with the manageress, and returned. "There are
+people still in the rooms, they will not be ready for twenty minutes."
+"Then we will have breakfast now and go to our rooms after." Another
+long conversation with the manageress, and then he returned again.
+"There are no rooms." "But you said there were rooms." "There are no
+rooms." Evidently there were none for English travellers anyway, so we
+went to another hotel opposite the station, where they were civil, but
+no more. We had to stay in Stockholm twenty-four hours and simply hated
+it. I had heard much of this "Venice of the North," but the physical
+atmosphere was as chilly and unfriendly as the mental one.
+
+The recollection stamped on my memory is of a grey, cheerless town where
+it rained hard almost the whole time, and a bitter wind blowing over the
+quays which moaned and sobbed like a lost banshee.
+
+I was asked to luncheon at the British Legation, and this proved a very
+fortunate occurrence for us all, as the minister was so kind as to go to
+great trouble in getting us a special permit from the Swedish Foreign
+Office to sleep at Boden. Boden is a fortified frontier town and no
+foreigners are, as a rule, allowed to stay the night there, but have to
+go on to Lulea, and return to Boden the next morning. We started off on
+the next lap of our northern journey that evening, and again through
+the minister's kind intervention were lucky in getting a carriage to
+ourselves in a very full train, and arrived twenty-four hours later at
+Boden.
+
+It was extraordinarily interesting to sleep in that little shanty at
+Boden, partly, no doubt, because it was not ordinarily allowed. The
+forbidden has always charms. It was the most glorious starlight night I
+have ever seen, but bitterly cold, with the thermometer ten degrees
+below zero, and everything sparkling with hoar frost. It was here we
+nearly lost a bishop. A rather pompous Anglican bishop had been
+travelling in the same train from Stockholm, and hearing that we
+insignificant females had been permitted to sleep at Boden, he did not
+see why he should not do the same and save himself the tiresome journey
+to Lulea and back. So in spite of all remonstrances he insisted on
+alighting at Boden, and with the whole force of his ecclesiastical
+authority announced his intention of staying there. However, it was not
+allowed after all, and he missed the train, and while we were
+comfortably having our supper in the little inn, we saw the poor bishop
+and his chaplain being driven off to Lulea. They turned up again next
+morning, but so late that we were afraid they had got lost on the way
+the night before.
+
+All the next morning we went through the same kind of country, past
+innumerable frozen lakelets, and copses of stubby pines and silver
+birches, till we arrived at Karungi where the railway ends. We made
+friends with a most delightful man, who was so good in helping us all
+the way through that we christened him St. Raphael, the patron saint of
+travellers. He was a fur trader from Finland, and had immense stores of
+information about the land and the queer beasts that live in it. He was
+a sociable soul, but lived in such out-of-the-way places that he seldom
+saw anyone to talk to except the peasants, and it was a great treat, he
+said, to meet some of his fellow-countrymen, and his satisfaction knew
+no bounds when he heard that one of us hailed from Lancashire, near his
+old home.
+
+From Karungi we had to drive to Haparanda. Our carriage was already
+booked by telegram, but a very irate gentleman from Port Said got into
+it with his family and declined to get out, using such dreadful
+language that I wondered the snow did not begin to sizzle. We did not
+want to have a scene there, so when "St. Raphael" said if we would wait
+till the evening he would take us over by starlight, we graciously let
+the dusky gentleman with the bad temper keep our carriage.
+
+We went in the meantime to the little wooden inn and ate largely of
+strange dishes, dried reindeer flesh, smoked strips of salmon, lax, I
+think it is called, served with a curious sweet sauce, and drank many
+glasses of tea. At 9 P. M. behold an open motor-car arrived to
+take us the thirty miles' drive to Haparanda. It seemed absolutely
+absurd to see a motor-car up there on the edge of the Arctic Circle,
+where there was not even a proper road. There were several reindeer
+sleighs about, and I felt that one of those would have been much more in
+keeping. The drivers look most attractive, they wear very gay reindeer
+leggings, big sheep-skin coats and wild-looking wolf-skin caps.
+
+The frozen track was so uneven that we rocked from side to side, and
+were thrown violently about in the car, like little kernels in a very
+large nut. But it was a wonderful night all the same, the air was thin
+and intoxicating like champagne, and the stars up in these northern
+latitudes more dazzlingly brilliant than anything I have seen before. We
+had to get out at Haparanda and walk over the long bridge which led to
+Torneo, where the Finnish Custom House was, and where our luggage and
+passports had to be examined.
+
+We arrived there very cheerful and well pleased with ourselves, to find
+all our old travelling companions waiting till the Custom House was
+open; the bishop and his party; the bad-tempered man and his family; a
+Russian and a Chinese student who were travelling together, and some
+others. They had been waiting in the cold for hours, and had not had
+their papers or luggage examined yet, so we had had the best of it after
+all.
+
+And we scored yet once more, for "St. Raphael," who spoke fluent
+Finnish, at once secured the only cart to take our things over the ferry
+to the railway station about half a mile away.
+
+It was borne in upon me during this journey what an immense country
+Russia is. From Torneo to Petrograd does not look far on the map, but
+we left Torneo on Wednesday night, and did not arrive in Petrograd till
+12.30 A. M. on Saturday, about fifty-two hours' hard travelling
+to cover this little track--a narrow thread, almost lost the immensity
+of this great Empire.
+
+Petrograd is not one of those cities whose charms steal upon you
+unawares. It is immense, insistent, arresting, almost thrusting itself
+on your imagination. It is a city for giants to dwell in, everything is
+on such an enormous scale, dealt out in such careless profusion. The
+river, first of all, is immense; the palaces grandiose, the very blocks
+of which they are fashioned seem to have been hewn by Titans. The names
+are full of romance and mystery. The fortress of St. Peter and St. Paul,
+for instance, how it brings back a certain red and gold book of one's
+youth, full of innocent prisoners in clanking chains confined in fetid
+underground dungeons. It seemed incredible to really behold its slender,
+golden minarets on the other side of the Neva. But this was no time for
+sight-seeing, we were all very anxious to get to work at once. So my
+first excursion in Petrograd was to the Central Bureau of the Red
+Cross.
+
+The director of the Red Cross received me most kindly and promised that
+we should have work very soon. He suggested that in the meantime we
+should go and stay in a Russian Community of Sisters, who had a hospital
+in Petrograd. I was very glad to accept this offer for us all, for we
+must assimilate Russian methods and ways of thought as soon as possible,
+if we were to be of real use to them. Still I very much hoped that we
+should not be kept in Petrograd very long, as we wanted, if possible, to
+get nearer the front. I told the director that we had been inoculated
+against cholera and typhoid, and would be quite pleased to be sent to
+the infectious hospitals if that would be more help, as there are always
+plenty of people to nurse the wounded, but comparatively few who for one
+reason or another are able to devote themselves to this other very
+necessary work.
+
+We betook ourselves without delay to the Community of Russian Sisters,
+and were installed in dear little cell-like rooms at the top of the
+house devoted to the Sisters. The other side of the house is a
+beautiful little hospital with several wards set apart for wounded
+soldiers. There are a great many similar communities in Russia--all
+nursing orders. They are called Sisters of Mercy, but are not nuns in
+any sense, as they take no vows and are free to leave whenever they
+like. The course of training varies from two to three years and is very
+complete, comprising courses in dispensing and other useful subjects.
+The pity of it is that there are comparatively few of these trained
+Sisters at the front; the vast majority of those working there have only
+been through a special "War Course" of two months' training, and are apt
+to think that bandaging is the beginning and the end of the art of
+nursing.
+
+The Russian Sisters were most interested in our adventures, and most
+kind and nice to us in every way, but assured us that we should not be
+allowed anywhere near the front, as only Russian Sisters were allowed
+there. They were very surprised when the order came a few days after our
+arrival, that we were to get ready to go to Warsaw at once. That was
+certainly not quite at the front at that moment, as just then Russia
+was in the flush of victory, following the retreating Germans back from
+Warsaw to the German frontier. But it was a good long step on the way.
+
+One errand still remained to be done. I had not posted the letter given
+me by the English lady at the Brussels station to her husband in
+Petrograd, wishing to have the pleasure of delivering it myself after
+carrying it at such risks all through Germany. Directly I arrived I made
+inquiries for this Englishman, picturing his joy at getting the
+long-deferred news of his wife. Almost the first person I asked knew him
+quite well, but imagine what a blow it was to hear that he had a Russian
+wife in Petrograd! I vowed never again to carry any more letters to
+sorrowing husbands.
+
+Before we went I received a very kind message that the Empress Marie
+Federovna would like to see us before our departure. Prince Gustav of
+Denmark had been most kind in writing to his aunt, the Empress, about
+us, and had also been good enough to give me a letter of introduction to
+her which I sent through the British Embassy.
+
+A day was appointed to go to the Gatchina Palace to be presented to her
+Majesty. The palace is a little way out of Petrograd and stands in a
+beautiful park between the Black and the White Lake.
+
+We were greeted by General K----, one of the Empress's bodyguard, and
+waited for a few minutes in the throne room downstairs, chatting to him.
+Soon we were summoned upstairs, a door was thrown open by an enormous
+negro in scarlet livery, and we were ushered into the Empress's private
+boudoir. The Empress was there, and was absolutely charming to us,
+making us sit down beside her and talking to us in fluent English. She
+was so interested in hearing all we could tell her of Belgium, and we
+stayed about half an hour talking to her. Then the Empress rose and held
+out her hand, and said, "Thank you very much for coming to help us in
+Russia. I shall always be interested in hearing about you. May God bless
+you in your work," and we were dismissed.
+
+I would not have missed that for anything, it seemed such a nice start
+to our work in Russia.
+
+Every spare moment till our work began had to be devoted to learning
+Russian. It is a brain-splitting language. Before I went to Russia I was
+told that two words would carry me through the Empire: "Nichevo" meaning
+"never mind," and "Seechas" which means "immediately" or "to-morrow" or
+"next week." But we had to study every moment to learn as much Russian
+as possible, as of course the soldiers could not understand any other
+language. French is understood everywhere in society, but in the shops
+no other tongue than Russian is any use. German is understood pretty
+widely--but it is absolutely forbidden now to be spoken under penalty of
+a 3000 rouble fine. In all the hotels there is a big notice put up in
+Russian, French, and English in the public rooms "It is forbidden to
+speak German," and just at first it added rather to the complications of
+life not to be able to use it.
+
+
+
+
+VII
+
+OUR WORK IN WARSAW
+
+
+In two or three days' time after our visit to the Empress we were off to
+Warsaw and reported ourselves to Monsieur Goochkoff, the head of the Red
+Cross Society there.
+
+We received our marching orders at once. We were not to be together at
+first, as they thought we should learn Russian more quickly if we were
+separated, so two of us were to go to one hospital in Warsaw, two to
+another. My fate was a large Red Cross hospital close to the station,
+worked by a Community of Russian Sisters. I must say I had some anxious
+moments as I drove with Sister G. to the hospital that afternoon. I
+wondered if Monsieur Goochkoff had said we were coming, and thought if
+two Russian Sisters suddenly turned up without notice at an English
+hospital how very much surprised they would be. Then I hoped they were
+very busy, as perhaps then they would welcome our help. But again, I
+meditated, if they were really busy, we with our stumbling Russian
+phrases might be only in the way. It was all very well in Denmark to
+think one would come and help Russia--but supposing they did not want us
+after all?
+
+By the time I got so far we had arrived at the hospital, the old
+familiar hospital smell of disinfectants met my nostrils, and I felt at
+home at once. I found that I had been tormenting myself in vain, for
+they were expecting us and apparently were not at all displeased at our
+arrival. The Sister Superior had worked with English people in the
+Russo-Japanese War and spoke English almost perfectly, and several of
+the other Sisters spoke French or German. She was very worried as to
+where we should sleep, as they were dreadfully overcrowded themselves;
+even she had shared her small room with another Sister. However, she
+finally found us a corner in a room which already held six Sisters.
+Eight of us in a small room with only one window! The Sisters sleeping
+there took our advent like angels, said there was plenty of room, and
+moved their beds closer together so that we might have more space.
+Again I wondered whether if it were England we should be quite so
+amiable under like circumstances. I hope so.
+
+I began to unpack, but there was nowhere to put anything; there was no
+furniture in the room whatsoever except our straw beds, a table, and a
+large tin basin behind a curtain in which we all washed--and, of course,
+the ikon or holy picture which hangs in every Russian room. We all kept
+our belongings under our beds--not a very hygienic proceeding, but _a la
+guerre comme a la guerre_. The patients were very overcrowded too, every
+corridor was lined with beds, and the sanitars, or orderlies, slept on
+straw mattresses in the hall. The hospital had been a large college and
+was originally arranged to hold five hundred patients, but after the
+last big battle at Soldau every hospital in Warsaw was crammed with
+wounded, and more than nine hundred patients had been sent in here and
+had to be squeezed into every available corner.
+
+My work was in the dressing-room, which meant dressing wounds all day
+and sometimes well into the night, and whatever time we finished there
+were all the dressings for the next day to be cut and prepared before
+we could go to bed. The first week was one long nightmare with the awful
+struggle for the Russian names of dressings and instruments and with
+their different methods of working, but after that I settled down very
+happily.
+
+Sister G. was in the operating-room on the next floor, and she, too,
+found that first week a great strain. The other two Sisters who had come
+out with us and had been sent to another hospital apparently found the
+same, for they returned to England after the first five days, much to my
+disappointment, as I had hoped that our little unit of four might have
+got a small job of our own later, when we could speak Russian better and
+had learnt their ways and customs.
+
+After the first few days we began to be very busy. In England we should
+consider that hospital very badly staffed, as there were only twenty
+Sisters to sometimes nearly a thousand patients, all very serious cases
+moreover, as we were not supposed to take in the lightly wounded at all
+in this hospital. The sanitars, or orderlies, do all that probationers
+in an English hospital would do for the patients, and all the heavy
+lifting and carrying, so that the work is not very hard though very
+continuous. There was no night staff. We all took it in turns to stay up
+at night three at a time, so that our turn came about once a week. That
+meant being on duty all day, all night, and all the next day, except for
+a brief rest and a walk in the afternoon. Most of the Sisters took no
+exercise beyond one weekly walk, but we two English people longed for
+fresh air, and went out whenever possible even if it was only for ten
+minutes. English views on ventilation are not at all accepted in Russia.
+It is a great concession to open the windows of the ward for ten minutes
+twice a day to air it, and the Sisters were genuinely frightened for the
+safety of the patients when I opened the windows of a hot, stuffy ward
+one night. "It is _never_ done," they reiterated, "before daylight."
+
+The Sister Superior was the mainspring of the hospital. She really was a
+wonderful person, small and insignificant to look at, except for her
+eyes, which looked you through and through and weighed you in the
+balance; absolutely true and straight, with a heart of gold, and the
+very calmest person in all the world. I remember her, late one evening,
+when everybody was rather agitated at a message which had come to say
+that 400 patients were on their way to the hospital, and room could only
+be made for 200 at the most. "Never mind," she said, not in the least
+perturbed, "they must be made as comfortable as possible on stretchers
+for the night, and to-morrow we must get some of the others moved away."
+And the Sisters took their cue from her, and those 400 patients were all
+taken in and looked after with less fuss than the arrival of forty
+unexpected patients in most hospitals.
+
+All night long that procession of shattered men brought in on stretchers
+never ceased. The kitchen Sister stayed up all night so that each man
+should have some hot soup on arrival, and all the other Sisters were at
+their posts. Each man was undressed on the stretcher (often so badly
+wounded that all his clothing had to be cut off him) and hastily
+examined by the doctor. He was then dressed in a clean cotton shirt and
+trousers and lifted into bed, either to enjoy a bowl of hot soup, or,
+if the case was urgent, to be taken off in his turn to the
+operating-room. And though she was no longer young and not at all
+strong, there was dear Sister Superior herself all night, taking round
+the big bowls of soup or sitting beside the dying patients to cheer and
+comfort their last hours. How the men loved her.
+
+It was she who gave the whole tone to the hospital--there the patients
+and their welfare were the first consideration and nothing else mattered
+in comparison. The hospital was not "smart" or "up to date," the wards
+were not even tidy, the staff was inadequate, overworked, and
+villainously housed, the resources very scanty, but for sheer
+selflessness and utter devotion to their work the staff of that hospital
+from top to bottom could not have been surpassed. I never heard a
+grumble or a complaint all the time I was there either from a doctor, a
+Sister, or an orderly, and I never saw in this hospital a dressing
+slurred over, omitted, or done without the usual precautions however
+tired or overworked everybody might be.
+
+Of course the art of nursing as practised in England does not exist in
+Russia--even the trained Sisters do things every hour that would horrify
+us in England. One example of this is their custom of giving strong
+narcotic or stimulating drugs indiscriminately, such as morphine,
+codeine, camphor, or ether without doctors' orders. When untrained
+Sisters and inexperienced dressers do this (which constantly happens)
+the results are sometimes very deplorable. I have myself seen a dresser
+give a strong hypodermic stimulant to a man with a very serious
+haemorrhage. The bleeding vessel was deep down and very difficult to
+find, and the haemorrhage became so severe after the stimulant that for a
+long time his life was despaired of from extreme exhaustion due to loss
+of blood. I have also heard a Sister with no training except the two
+months' war course say she had given a certain man _ten_ injections of
+camphor within an hour because he was so collapsed, but she had not seen
+fit to tell the doctor she had done this, nor had she let him know his
+patient was so much worse until he was at the point of death. Neither of
+these particular incidents could have happened in the Red Cross
+hospital at Warsaw as the Sisters there were properly trained; but even
+there they gave drugs at their own sweet will without consulting
+anyone--particularly in the night.
+
+We were so busy at the hospital that we did not see much of Warsaw. To
+the casual observer it looks a busy, modern, rather gay capital, but
+almost every inch of the city is interesting historically, and nearly
+all the pages of that history are red with blood. War, revolutions, and
+riots seem to have been almost its normal condition, and the great broad
+Vistula that flows sluggishly through it has been many a time before
+stained crimson with the blood of its citizens. But this time the war is
+being fought under different conditions. Russians and Poles are for the
+first time working together with a common aim in view. If the only
+outcome of this war was the better mutual understanding of these two
+great nations, it would not have been fought entirely in vain.
+
+When we first arrived the Russians had beaten the Germans back to the
+frontier, and every one was elated with the great victory. Now at the
+end of October things did not look quite so happy. The people who knew
+looked anxious and harassed. The newspapers, as usual, told nothing at
+all, but the news which always filters in somehow from mouth to mouth
+was not good. Terrific fighting was going on outside Lodz, it was said,
+and enormous German reinforcements were being poured in. Warsaw was full
+to overflowing with troops going through to reinforce on the Russian
+side. A splendid set of men they looked, sturdy, broad-chested, and
+hardy--not in the least smart, but practical and efficient in their warm
+brown overcoats and big top boots.
+
+There are two things one notices at once about the Russian soldier. One
+is his absolute disregard of appearances. If he is cold he will tie a
+red comforter round his head without minding in the least whether he is
+in the most fashionable street in Warsaw or in camp at the front. The
+other noticeable characteristic is the friendly terms he is on with his
+officers. The Prussian soldiers rarely seem to like their officers, and
+it is not to be wondered at, as they treat their men in a very harsh,
+overbearing way. On duty the Russian discipline is strict, but off duty
+an officer may be heard addressing one of his men as "little pigeon" or
+"comrade" and other terms of endearment, and the soldier, on the other
+hand, will call his officer "little father" or "little brother." I
+remember one most touching scene when a soldier servant accompanied his
+wounded officer to hospital. The officer was quite a young,
+delicate-looking boy, who had been shot through the chest. His servant
+was a huge, rough Cossack, who would hardly let any of us touch his
+master if he could help it, and stayed by his bed night and day till the
+end, when, his great frame heaving with sobs and tears streaming down
+the seamed and rugged face, he threw himself over the officer's body and
+implored God to let him die too.
+
+The hospital began to grow empty and the work slackened down, as every
+possible patient was sent away to Moscow or Petrograd to make room for
+the rush of wounded that must be coming from the Lodz direction. But no
+patients arrived, and we heard that the railway communications had been
+cut. But this proved to be untrue.
+
+One Sunday afternoon Sister G. and I, being free, betook ourselves to
+tea at the Hotel d'Europe--that well-named hostelry which has probably
+seen more history made from its windows than any other hotel in Europe.
+We favoured it always on Sunday when we could, for not only was a
+particularly nice tea to be had, but one could also read there a not
+_too_ old French newspaper. I think just at first we felt almost as cut
+off from news of what was happening on the English side as we did in
+Belgium. No English or French papers could be bought and the Polish and
+Russian papers were as sealed books to us, and when I did succeed in
+getting some long-suffering person to translate them to me, the news was
+naturally chiefly of the doings of the Russian side. Later on I had
+English papers sent out to me which kept me in touch with the western
+front, and also by that time, too, I could make out the substance of the
+Russian papers; but just at first it was very trying not to know what
+was going on. We had had tea and had read of an Anglo-French success
+near Ypres and returned rested and cheered to the hospital to find
+Sister Superior asking for us. She had had a message from the Red Cross
+Office that we were to go to Lodz next day, and were to go at once to
+the Hotel Bristol to meet Prince V., who would give us full particulars.
+
+We went off at once to the Bristol and saw Prince V., but did not get
+any particulars--that was not the Prince's way. He was sitting reading
+in the lounge when we arrived, a very tall, lean, handsome man with kind
+brown eyes and a nose hooked like an eagle's. He greeted us very kindly
+and said he would take us to Lodz next day in one of the Red Cross
+automobiles, and that we must be ready at 10 A. M. I think we
+earned his everlasting gratitude by asking no questions as to where and
+how we were going to work, but simply said we would be ready at that
+time and returned to hospital to pack, fully realizing what lucky people
+we were to be going right into the thick of things, and only hoping that
+we should rise to the occasion and do the utmost that was expected of
+us.
+
+We were now officially transferred from the hospital to the Flying
+Column, of which Prince V. was the head. A flying column works directly
+under the head of the Red Cross, and is supposed to go anywhere and do
+anything at any hour of the day or night. Our Column consisted of five
+automobiles that conveyed us and all our equipment to the place where we
+were to work, and then were engaged in fetching in wounded, and taking
+them on to the field hospital or ambulance train. The staff consisted of
+Prince and Princess V., we two English Sisters, with generally, but not
+always, some Russian ones in addition, an English surgeon, Colonel S.,
+some Russian dressers and students, and some sanitars, or orderlies. The
+luggage was a dreadful problem, and the Prince always groaned at the
+amount we would take with us, but we could not reduce it, as we had to
+carry big cases of cotton-wool, bandages and dressings, anaesthetics,
+field sterilizer, operating-theatre equipment, and a certain amount of
+stores--such as soap, candles, benzine and tinned food--as the column
+would have been quite useless if it had not been to a large extent
+self-supporting. Our Column was attached to the Second Army, which
+operated on the eastern front of Warsaw. The Russian front changes so
+much more rapidly than the Anglo-French front, where progress is
+reckoned in metres, that these mobile columns are a great feature of
+ambulance work here. Our front changed many miles in a week sometimes,
+so that units that can move anywhere at an hour's notice are very
+useful. The big base hospitals cannot quite fulfil the same need on such
+a rapidly changing front.
+
+
+
+
+VIII
+
+THE BOMBARDMENT OF LODZ
+
+
+It took us a long time to get to Lodz, though it is not much more than
+200 kilometres away. Russian roads are villainously bad anyhow, and the
+Germans, though their retreat had been hasty, had had time to destroy
+the roads and bridges as they went. Another thing that delayed us were
+the enormous reinforcements of troops going up from Warsaw to the front.
+It was very interesting to watch the different groups as we passed,
+first a Cossack regiment going up, then an immense convoy followed with
+about 200 wagons of forage. Just ahead of that we passed the
+remounts--sturdy, shaggy Siberian ponies. They are the most delightful
+creatures in the world, as tame as a dog, and not much bigger, and many
+of them of a most unusual and beautiful shade of golden cream. They have
+been brought from Siberia by the thousand, and most of the little
+things had never seen a motor-car before, and pranced and kicked and
+jumped, and went through all kinds of circus tricks as we passed.
+
+[Illustration: MAP OF THE POLISH FRONT]
+
+As we grew nearer to Lodz it was sad to see a good many dead horses
+lying by the roadside, mostly killed by shell-fire. The shells had made
+great holes in the road too, and the last part of our journey was like a
+ride on a switchback railway. It began to get dark as we came to
+Breeziny, where a large number of Russian batteries were stationed. It
+looked very jolly there, these large camps of men and horses having
+their supper by the light of a camp-fire, with only the distant rumble
+of the guns to remind them that they were at war. Two hours later we
+jolted into the streets of Lodz.
+
+Lodz is a large cotton manufacturing town--sometimes called the
+Manchester of Poland--but now of course all the factories were closed,
+and many destroyed by shell. I should not think it was a very festive
+place at the best of times; it looked squalid and grimy, and the large
+bulk of its population was made up of the most abject Jews I have ever
+seen.
+
+We had to make a long detour and get into the town by an unfrequented
+country road, as Lodz was being heavily bombarded by the German guns. We
+were put down at a large building which we were told was the military
+hospital. Princess V., Colonel S., and a Russian student were working
+hard in the operating-room, and we hastily put on clean overalls and
+joined them. They all looked absolutely worn out, and the doctor dropped
+asleep between each case; but fresh wounded were being brought in every
+minute and there was no one else to help. Lodz was one big hospital. We
+heard that there were more than 18,000 wounded there, and I can well
+believe it. Every building of any size had been turned into a hospital,
+and almost all the supplies of every kind had given out.
+
+The building we were in had been a day-school, and the top floor was
+made up of large airy schoolrooms that were quite suitable for wards.
+But the shelling recommenced so violently that the wounded all had to be
+moved down to the ground floor and into the cellars. The place was an
+absolute inferno. I could never have imagined anything worse. It was
+fearfully cold, and the hospital was not heated at all, for there was no
+wood or coal in Lodz, and for the same reason the gas-jets gave out only
+the faintest glimmer of light. There was no clean linen, and the poor
+fellows were lying there still in their verminous, blood-soaked shirts,
+shivering with cold, as we had only one small blanket each for them.
+They were lucky if they had a bed at all, for many were lying with only
+a little straw between them and the cold stone floor. There were no
+basins or towels or anything to wash up with, and no spittoons, so the
+men were spitting all over the already filthy floor. In the largest ward
+where there were seventy or eighty men lying, there was a lavatory
+adjoining which had got blocked up, and a thin stream of dirty water
+trickled under the door and meandered in little rivulets all over the
+room. The smell was awful, as some of the men had been there already
+several days without having had their dressings done.
+
+This was the state in which the hospital had been handed over to us. It
+was a military hospital whose staff had had orders to leave at four
+o'clock that morning, and they handed the whole hospital with its 270
+patients over to us just as it was; and we could do very little towards
+making it more comfortable for them. The stench of the whole place was
+horrible, but it was too cold to do more than open the window for a
+minute or two every now and then. It was no one's fault that things were
+in such a horrible condition--it was just the force of circumstances and
+the fortune of war that the place had been taxed far beyond its possible
+capacities.
+
+All night long the most terribly wounded men were being brought in from
+the field, some were already dead when they arrived, others had only a
+few minutes to live; all the rest were very cold and wet and exhausted,
+and we had _nothing_ to make them comfortable. What a blessing hot-water
+bottles would have been--but after all there would have been no hot
+water to fill them if we had had them. But the wounded _had_ to be
+brought in for shelter somewhere, and at least we had a roof over their
+heads, and hot tea to give them.
+
+At 5 A. M. there came a lull. The tragic procession ceased for
+a while, and we went to lie down. At seven o'clock we were called
+again--another batch of wounded was being brought in.
+
+The shelling had begun again, and was terrific; crash, crash, over our
+heads the whole time. A clock-tower close to the hospital was demolished
+and windows broken everywhere. The shells were bursting everywhere in
+the street, and civilians were being brought in to us severely wounded.
+A little child was carried in with half its head blown open, and then an
+old Jewish woman with both legs blown off, and a terrible wound in her
+chest, who only lived an hour or two. Apparently she suffered no pain,
+but was most dreadfully agitated, poor old dear, at having lost her wig
+in the transit. They began bringing in so many that we had to stop
+civilians being brought in at all, as it was more than we could do to
+cope with the wounded soldiers that were being brought in all the time.
+
+At midday we went to a hotel for a meal. There was very, very little
+food left in Lodz, but they brought what they could. Coming back to the
+hospital we tried everywhere to get some bread, but there was none to be
+had anywhere--all the provision shops were quite empty, and the
+inhabitants looked miserable and starved, the Jewish population
+particularly so, though they were probably not among the poorest.
+
+On our way back a shell burst quite close to us in the street, but no
+one was hurt. These shells make a most horrible scream before bursting,
+like an animal in pain. Ordinarily I am the most dreadful coward in the
+world about loud noises--I even hate a sham thunderstorm in a
+theatre--but here somehow the shells were so part of the whole thing
+that one did not realize that all this was happening to _us_, one felt
+rather like a disinterested spectator at a far-off dream. It was
+probably partly due to want of sleep; one's hands did the work, but
+one's mind was mercifully numbed. Mercifully, for it was more like hell
+than anything I can imagine. The never-ending processions of groaning
+men being brought in on those horrible blood-soaked stretchers,
+suffering unimagined tortures, the filth, the cold, the stench, the
+hunger, the vermin, and the squalor of it all, added to one's utter
+helplessness to do more than very little to relieve their misery, was
+almost enough to make even Satan weep.
+
+On the third day after our arrival a young Russian doctor and some
+Russian sisters arrived to relieve us for a few hours, and we most
+thankfully went to bed--at least it was not a bed in the ordinary sense,
+but a wire bedstead on which we lay down in all our clothes; but we were
+very comfortable all the same.
+
+When we woke up we were told that the military authorities had given
+orders for the patients to be evacuated, and that Red Cross carts were
+coming all night to take them away to the station, where some ambulance
+trains awaited them. So we worked hard all night to get the dressings
+done before the men were sent away, and as we finished each case, he was
+carried down to the hall to await his turn to go; but it was very
+difficult as all the time they were bringing in fresh cases as fast as
+they were taking the others away, and alas! many had to go off without
+having had their dressings done at all. The next afternoon we were
+still taking in, when we got another order that all the fresh patients
+were to be evacuated and the hospital closed, as the Russians had
+decided to retire from Lodz. Again we worked all night, and by ten the
+next morning we had got all the patients away. The sanitars collected
+all the bedding in the yard to be burnt, the bedsteads were piled high
+on one another, and we opened all the windows wide to let the clean cold
+wind blow over everything.
+
+We had all our own dressings and equipment to pack, and were all just
+about at our last gasp from want of food and sleep, when a very kind
+Polish lady came and carried princess, we two Sisters, and Colonel S.
+off to her house, where she had prepared bedrooms for us. I never looked
+forward to anything so much in my life as I did to my bed that night.
+Our hostess simply heaped benefits on us by preparing us each a hot bath
+in turn. We had not washed or had our clothes off since we came to Lodz,
+and were covered with vermin which had come to us from the patients; men
+and officers alike suffer terribly from this plague of insects, which
+really do make one's life a burden. There are three varieties commonly
+met with: ordinary fleas that no one minds in the least; white insects
+that are the commonest and live in the folds of one's clothes, whose
+young are most difficult to find, and who grow middle-aged and very
+hungry in a single night; and, lastly, the red insects with a good many
+legs, which are much less numerous but much more ravenous than the other
+kinds.
+
+After the bath and the hunt, we sat down to a delicious supper, and were
+looking forward to a still more delicious night in bed, when suddenly
+Prince V. arrived and said we must leave at once. We guessed instantly
+that the Germans must be very near, but that he did not wish us to ask
+questions, as it seemed very mean to go off ourselves and leave our kind
+hosts without a word of explanation, though of course we could only obey
+orders. So we left our unfinished supper and quickly collected our
+belongings and took them to the hotel where our Red Cross car should
+have been waiting for us. But the Red Cross authorities had sent off our
+car with some wounded, which of course was just as it should be, and we
+were promised another "seechas," which literally translated signifies
+"immediately," but in Russia means to-day or to-morrow or not at all.
+
+"Let us come into the hotel and get a meal while we wait," suggested the
+Prince, mindful of our uneaten supper, and we followed him to the
+restaurant--still mourning those beautiful beds we had left behind us,
+and so tired we didn't much care whether the Germans came or not.
+Nothing can express utter desolation much more nakedly than a Grand
+Hotel that has been through a week or two's bombardment. Here indeed
+were the mighty fallen. A large hole was ripped out of the wall of the
+big restaurant, close to the alcove where the band used to play while
+the smart people dined. An elaborate wine-list still graced each little
+table, but coffee made from rye bread crusts mixed with a little chicory
+was the only drink that a few white-faced waiters who crept about the
+room like shadows could apologetically offer us. We sat there till
+nearly 3 A. M., and Colonel S., utterly worn out, was fast
+asleep with his head on the little table, and there was no sign of any
+car, or of any Germans, so we went to lie down till morning.
+
+In the morning things began to look cheerful. The Germans had still not
+arrived, our own car turned up, and best of all the Prince heard
+officially that every wounded man who was at all transportable had now
+been successfully got out of Lodz. It was a gigantic task, this
+evacuation of over 18,000 wounded in four days, and it is a great
+feather in the Russian cap to have achieved it so successfully.
+
+It was a most lovely day with a soft blue sky, and all the world bathed
+in winter sunshine. Shelling had ceased during the night, but began
+again with terrific force in the morning, and we started off under a
+perfect hail of shells. There were four German aeroplanes hovering just
+above us, throwing down bombs at short intervals. The shells aimed at
+them looked so innocent, like little white puff-balls bursting up in the
+blue sky. We hoped they would be brought down, but they were too high
+for that. The bombs were only a little diversion of theirs by the
+way--they were really trying to locate the Russian battery, as they were
+evidently making signals to their own headquarters. Danger always adds
+a spice to every entertainment, and as the wounded were all out and we
+had nobody but ourselves to think about, we could enjoy our thrilling
+departure from Lodz under heavy fire to the uttermost. And I must say I
+have rarely enjoyed anything more. It was simply glorious spinning along
+in that car, and we got out safely without anyone being hurt.
+
+We passed through Breeziny, where the tail-end of a battle was going on,
+and the Prince stopped the car for a few minutes so that we could see
+the men in the trenches. On our way we passed crowds of terrified
+refugees hurrying along the road with their few possessions on their
+backs or in their arms; it reminded me of those sad processions of
+flying peasants in Belgium, but I think these were mostly much poorer,
+and had not so much to lose. Just as the sun was setting we stopped for
+a rest at a place the Prince knew of, half inn, half farm-house. We
+looked back, and the sky was bloody and lurid over the western plain
+where Lodz lay. To us it seemed like an ill omen for the unhappy town,
+but it may be that the Germans took those flaming clouds to mean that
+even the heavens themselves were illuminated to signal their victory.
+
+Some bread and some pale golden Hungarian Tokay were produced by our
+host for our refreshment. The latter was delicious, but it must have
+been much more potent than it looked, for though I only had one small
+glass of it, I collapsed altogether afterwards, and lay on the floor of
+the car, and could not move till the lights of Warsaw were in sight. In
+a few minutes more we arrived at the Hotel Bristol, and then the Flying
+Column went to bed at last.
+
+
+
+
+IX
+
+MORE DOINGS OF THE FLYING COLUMN
+
+
+The Grand Duchess Cyril happened to be staying at the Hotel Bristol too.
+Like most of the other members of the Russian Royal Family, since the
+beginning of the war she has been devoting her whole time to helping
+wounded soldiers, and is the centre of a whole network of activities.
+She has a large hospital in Warsaw for men and officers, a very
+efficient ambulance train that can hold 800 wounded, and one of the best
+surgeons in Petrograd working on it, and a provision train which sets up
+feeding-stations for the troops and for refugees in places where food is
+very scarce, which last is an indescribable boon to all who benefit by
+it. The Grand Duchess's hospital in Warsaw, like every other just at
+this time, was crammed to overflowing with wounded from Lodz, and the
+staff was inadequate to meet this unexpected need.
+
+The Grand Duchess met Princess V. in the lounge just as we arrived from
+Lodz, and begged that our Column might go and help for a time at her
+hospital. Accordingly, the next day, the consent of the Red Cross Office
+having been obtained, we went off to the Grand Duchess's hospital for a
+time to supplement and relieve their staff. They met us with open arms,
+as they were all very tired and very thankful for our help. They only
+had room for fifty patients and had had about 150 brought in.
+Fortunately the Grand Duchess's ambulance train had just come back to
+Warsaw, so the most convalescent of the old cases were taken off to
+Petrograd, but even then we were working in the operating-theatre till
+twelve or one every night. They hoped we had come for two or three weeks
+and were very disgusted when, in five days' time, the order came for us
+to go off to Skiernevice with the automobiles. The hospital staff gave
+us such a nice send-off, and openly wished that they belonged to a
+flying column too. I must say it was very interesting these startings
+off into the unknown, with our little fleet of automobiles containing
+ourselves and our equipment. We made a very flourishing start out of
+Warsaw, but very soon plunged into an appalling mess of mud. One could
+really write an epic poem on Russian roads. At the best of times they
+are awful; on this particular occasion they were full of large holes
+made by shells and covered with thick swampy mud that had been snow the
+week before. It delayed us so much that we did not get to Skiernevice
+till late that night.
+
+Skiernevice is a small town, important chiefly as a railway junction, as
+two lines branch off here towards Germany and Austria north-west and
+south-west. The Tsar has a shooting-box here in the midst of beautiful
+woods, and two rooms had been set apart in this house for our Column.
+
+We arrived late in the evening, secretly hoping that we should get a
+night in bed, and were rather rejoiced at finding that there were no
+wounded there at all at present, though a large contingent was expected
+later. So we camped in the two rooms allotted to us: Princess, Sister
+G., and myself in one, and all the men of the party in the other. No
+wounded arrived for two or three days, and we thoroughly enjoyed the
+rest and, above all, the beautiful woods. How delicious the pines smelt
+after that horrible Lodz. Twice a day we used to go down the railway
+line, where there was a restaurant car for the officers; it seemed odd
+to be eating our meals in the Berlin-Warsaw International Restaurant
+Car. There was always something interesting going on at the station. One
+day a regiment from Warsaw had just been detrained there when a German
+Taube came sailing over the station throwing down grenades. Every man
+immediately began to fire up in the air, and we ran much more risk of
+being killed by a Russian bullet than by the German Taube. It was like
+being in the middle of a battle, and I much regretted I had not my
+camera with me. Another day all the debris of a battlefield had been
+picked up and was lying in piles in the station waiting to be sent off
+to Warsaw. There were truck-loads of stuff; German and Russian
+overcoats, boots, rifles, water-bottles, caps, swords, and helmets and
+all sorts of miscellaneous kit.
+
+We often saw gangs of prisoners, mostly Austrian, but some German, and
+they always seemed well treated by the Russians. The Austrian prisoners
+nearly always looked very miserable, cold, hungry, and worn out. Once we
+saw a spy being put into the train to go to Warsaw, I suppose to be
+shot--an old Jewish man with white hair in a long, black gaberdine,
+strips of coloured paper still in his hand with which he had been caught
+signalling to the Germans. _How_ angry the soldiers were with him--one
+gave him a great punch in the back, another kicked him up into the
+train, and a soldier on the platform who saw what was happening ran as
+fast as he could and was just in time to give him a parting hit on the
+shoulder. The old man did not cry out or attempt to retaliate, but his
+face was ashy-white with terror, and one of his hands was dripping with
+blood. It was a very horrible sight and haunted me all the rest of the
+day. It was quite right that he should be shot as a spy, but the
+unnecessary cruelty first sickened me.
+
+There were masses of troops constantly going up to the positions from
+Skiernevice, and as there was a short cut through the park, which they
+generally used, we could see all that was going on from our rooms. On
+Sunday it was evident that another big battle was pending. Several
+batteries went up through our woods, each gun-carriage almost up to its
+axles in mud, dragged by eight strong horses. They were followed by a
+regiment of Cossacks, looking very fierce in their great black fur
+head-dresses, huge sheep-skin coats, and long spears. There was one
+small Cossack boy who was riding out with his father to the front and
+who could not have been more than eleven or twelve years old. There are
+quite a number of young boys at the front who make themselves very
+useful in taking messages, carrying ammunition, and so on. We had one
+little boy of thirteen in the hospital at Warsaw, who was badly wounded
+while carrying a message to the colonel, and he was afterwards awarded
+the St. George's Cross.
+
+There were enormous numbers of other troops too: Siberians, Tartars,
+Asiatic Russians from Turkestan, Caucasians in their beautiful
+black-and-silver uniforms, Little Russians from the south, and great
+fair-haired giants from the north.
+
+The little Catholic Church in the village was full to overflowing at the
+early Mass that Sunday morning with men in full marching kit on their
+way out to the trenches. A very large number of them made their
+Confession and received the Blessed Sacrament before starting out, and
+for many, many of these it was their Viaticum, for the great battle
+began that afternoon, and few of the gallant fellows we saw going up to
+the trenches that morning ever returned again.
+
+That afternoon the Prince had business at the Staff Headquarters out
+beyond Lowice, and I went out there in the automobile with him and
+Monsieur Goochkoff. We went through Lowice on the way there. The little
+town had been severely bombarded (it was taken two or three days later
+by the Germans), and we met many of the peasants hurrying away from it
+carrying their possessions with them. You may know the peasants of
+Lowice anywhere by their distinctive dress, which is the most
+brilliantly coloured peasant dress imaginable. The women wear gorgeous
+petticoats of orange, red and blue, or green in vertical stripes and a
+cape of the same material over their shoulders, a bright-coloured shawl,
+generally orange, on their heads, and brilliant bootlaces--magenta is
+the colour most affected. The men, too, wear trousers of the same kind
+of vertical stripes, generally of orange and black. These splashes of
+bright colour are delicious in this sad, grey country.
+
+The General of the Staff was quartered at Radzivilow Castle, and I
+explored the place while the Prince and Monsieur Goochkoff did their
+business. The old, dark hall, with armour hanging on the walls and
+worm-eaten furniture covered with priceless tapestry, would have made a
+splendid picture. A huge log fire burning on the open hearth lighted up
+the dark faces of the two Turkestan soldiers who were standing on guard
+at the door. In one corner a young lieutenant was taking interminable
+messages from the field telephone, and under the window another
+Turkestan soldier stood sharpening his dagger. The Prince asked him
+what he was doing, and his dark face lighted up. "Every night at eight,"
+he said, still sharpening busily, "I go out and kill some Germans." The
+men of this Turkestan regiment are said to be extraordinarily brave men.
+They do not care at all about a rifle, but prefer to be at closer
+quarters with the enemy with their two-edged dagger, and the Germans
+like them as little as they like our own Gurkhas and Sikhs.
+
+The next day the wounded began to arrive in Skiernevice, and in two
+days' time the temporary hospital was full.
+
+The Tsar had a private theatre at Skiernevice with a little separate
+station of its own about 200 yards farther down the line than the
+ordinary station, and in many ways this made quite a suitable hospital
+except for the want of a proper water-supply.
+
+The next thing we heard was that the Russian General had decided to fall
+back once more, and we must be prepared to move at any moment.
+
+All that day we heard violent cannonading going on and all the next
+night, though the hospital was already full, the little country carts
+came in one after another filled with wounded. They were to only stay
+one night, as in the morning ambulance trains were coming to take them
+all away, and we had orders to follow as soon as the last patient had
+gone. Another operating- and dressing-room was quickly improvised, but
+even with the two going hard all night it was difficult to keep pace
+with the number brought in.
+
+The scenery had never been taken down after the last dramatic
+performance played in the theatre, and wounded men lay everywhere
+between the wings and drop scenes. The auditorium was packed so closely
+that you could hardly get between the men without treading on some one's
+hands and feet as they lay on the floor. The light had given out--in the
+two dressing-rooms there were oil-lamps, but in the rest of the place we
+had to make do with candle-ends stuck into bottles. The foyer had been
+made into a splendid kitchen, where hot tea and boiling soup could be
+got all night through. This department was worked by the local Red
+Cross Society, and was a great credit to them.
+
+About eight o'clock in the morning the first ambulance train came in,
+and was quickly filled with patients. We heard that the Germans were now
+very near, and hoped we should manage to get away all the wounded before
+they arrived.
+
+The second train came up about eleven, and by that time a fierce rifle
+encounter was going on. From the hospital window we could see the
+Russian troops firing from the trenches near the railway. Soon there was
+a violent explosion that shook the place; this was the Russians blowing
+up the railway bridge on the western side of the station.
+
+The second train went off, and there were very few patients left now,
+though some were still being brought in at intervals by the Red Cross
+carts. Our automobiles had started off to Warsaw with some wounded
+officers, but the rest of the column had orders to go to Zyradow by the
+last train to leave Skiernevice.
+
+The sanitars now began to pack up the hospital; we did not mean to leave
+anything behind for the enemy if we could help it. The few bedsteads
+were taken to pieces and tied up, the stretchers put together and the
+blankets tied up in bundles. When the last ambulance train came up about
+2 P. M. the patients were first put in, and then every portable
+object that could be removed was packed into the train too. At the last
+moment, when the train was just about to start, one of the sanitars ran
+back and triumphantly brought out a pile of dirty soup plates to add to
+the collection. Nothing was left in the hospital but two dead men we had
+not time to bury.
+
+The wounded were all going to Warsaw and the other Russian Sisters went
+on in the train with them. But our destination was Zyradow, only the
+next station but one down the line.
+
+When we arrived at Zyradow about three o'clock we were looking forward
+to a bath and tea and bed, as we had been up all night and were very
+tired; but the train most unkindly dropped us about a quarter of a mile
+from the station, and we had to get out all our equipment and heavy
+cases of dressings, and put them at the side of the line, while Julian,
+the Prince's soldier servant, went off to try and find a man and a cart
+for the things. There was a steady downpour of rain, and we were soaked
+by the time he came back saying that there was nothing to be had at all.
+The station was all in crumbling ruins, so we could not leave the things
+there, and our precious dressings were beginning to get wet. Finally we
+got permission to put them in a closed cinema theatre near the station,
+but it was dark by that time, and we were wet and cold and began once
+more to centre our thoughts on baths and tea. We were a small
+party--only six of us--Princess, we two Sisters, Colonel S., a Russian
+dresser, and Julian. We caught a local Red Crosser. "Where is the
+hotel?" "There is no hotel here." "Where can we lodge for to-night?" "I
+don't know where you could lodge." "Where is the Red Cross Bureau?"
+asked Princess, in desperation. "About a quarter of an hour's walk. I
+will show you the way."
+
+We got to the Red Cross Bureau to find that Monsieur Goochkoff had not
+yet arrived, though he was expected, and they could offer no solution of
+our difficulties, except to advise us to go to the Factory Hospital and
+see if they could make any arrangement for us. The Matron there was
+_very_ kind, and telephoned to every one she could think of, and finally
+got a message that we were expected, and were to sleep at the Reserve.
+So we trudged once more through the mud and rain. The "Reserve" was two
+small, empty rooms, where thirty Sisters were going to pass the night.
+They had no beds, and not even straw, but were just going to lie on the
+floor in their clothes. There was obviously no room for six more of us,
+and finally we went back once more to the Red Cross Bureau. Princess
+seized an empty room, and announced that we were going to sleep in it.
+We were told we couldn't, as it had been reserved for somebody else; but
+we didn't care, and got some patients' stretchers from the depot and lay
+down on them in our wet clothes just as we were. In the middle of the
+night the "somebody" for whom the room had been kept arrived, strode
+into the room, and turned up the electric light. The others were really
+asleep, and I pretended to be. He had a good look at us, and then strode
+out again grunting. We woke up every five minutes, it was so dreadfully
+cold, and though we were so tired, I was not sorry when it was time to
+get up.
+
+We had breakfast at a dirty little restaurant in the town, and then got
+a message from the Red Cross that there would be nothing for us to do
+that day, but that we were probably going to be sent to Radzowill the
+following morning. So we decided to go off to the Factory Hospital and
+see if we could persuade the Matron to let us have a bath there.
+
+Zyradow is one very large cotton and woollen factory, employing about
+5000 hands. In Russia it is the good law that for every hundred workmen
+employed there shall be one hospital bed provided. In the small
+factories a few beds in the local hospital are generally subsidized, in
+larger ones they usually find it more convenient to have their own. So
+here there was a very nice little hospital with fifty beds, which had
+been stretched now to hold twice as many more, as a great many wounded
+had to be sent in here. The Matron is a Pole of Scottish extraction, and
+spoke fluent but quite foreign English with a strong Scotch accent.
+There are a good many Scotch families here, who came over and settled in
+Poland about a hundred years ago, and who are all engaged in different
+departments in the factory. She was kindness itself, and gave us tea
+first and then prepared a hot bath for us all in turn. We got rid of
+most of our tormentors and were at peace once more.
+
+As we left the hospital we met three footsore soldiers whose boots were
+absolutely worn right through. They were coming up to the hospital to
+see if the Matron had any dead men's boots that would fit them. It
+sounded rather gruesome--but she told us that that was quite a common
+errand. The Russian military boots are excellent, but, of course, all
+boots wear out very quickly under such trying circumstances of roads and
+weather. They are top boots, strong and waterproof, and very often made
+by the men themselves. The uniform, too, is very practical and so strong
+that the men have told me that carpets are made from the material. The
+colour is browner than our own khaki--and quite different both from the
+German, which is much greyer, and the Austrian, which is almost blue. I
+heard in Belgium that at the beginning of the war German soldiers were
+constantly mistaken for our men.
+
+
+
+
+X
+
+BY THE TRENCHES AT RADZIVILOW
+
+
+The next morning we went up to Radzivilow. It is the next station to
+Skiernevice, and there was very heavy fighting going on there when we
+went up. We were told we were going up on an armoured train, which
+sounded very thrilling, but when we got to the station we only found a
+quite ordinary carriage put on to the engine to take us up. The Russian
+battery was at that time at the south of the railway line, the German
+battery on the north of it--and we were in the centre of the sandwich.
+At Zyradow these cannon sounded distant, but as we neared Radzivilow the
+guns were crashing away as they did at Lodz, and we prepared for a hot
+time. The station had been entirely wrecked and was simply in ruins, but
+the station-master's house near by was still intact, and we had orders
+to rig up a temporary dressing-station there.
+
+Before we had time to unpack our dressings, a messenger arrived to tell
+us that the Germans had succeeded in enfilading a Russian trench close
+by, and that they were bringing fifty very badly wounded men to us
+almost at once. We had just time to start the sterilizer when the little
+carts began to arrive with some terribly wounded men. The machine guns
+had simply swept the trench from end to end. The worst of it was that
+some lived for hours when death would have been a more merciful release.
+Thank God we had plenty of morphia with us and could thus ease their
+terrible sufferings. One man had practically his whole face blown off,
+another had all his clothes and the flesh of his back all torn away.
+Another poor old fellow was brought in with nine wounds in the abdomen.
+He looked quite a patriarch with a long flowing beard--quite the oldest
+man I have seen in the Russian army. Poor Ivan, he had only just been
+called up to the front and this was his first battle. He was beautifully
+dressed, and so clean; his wife had prepared everything for him with
+such loving care, a warm knitted vest, and a white linen shirt most
+beautifully embroidered with scarlet in a intricate key-pattern. Ivan
+was almost more unhappy at his wife's beautiful work having to be cut
+than at his own terrible wounds. He was quite conscious and not in much
+pain, and did so long to live even a week or two longer, so that he
+might see his wife once again. But it was not to be, and he died early
+the next morning--one of the dearest old men one could ever meet, and so
+pathetically grateful for the very little we could do for him.
+
+The shells were crashing over our heads and bursting everywhere, but we
+were too busy to heed them, as more and more men were brought to the
+dressing-station. It was an awful problem what to do with them: the
+house was small and we were using the two biggest rooms downstairs as
+operating- and dressing-rooms. Straw was procured and laid on the floors
+of all the little rooms upstairs, and after each man's wounds were
+dressed he was carried with difficulty up the narrow winding staircase
+and laid on the floor.
+
+The day wore on and as it got dark we began to do the work under great
+difficulties, for there were no shutters or blinds to the upstairs
+windows, and we dared not have any light--even a candle--there, as it
+would have brought down the German fire on us at once. So those poor men
+had to lie up there in the pitch dark, and one of us went round from
+time to time with a little electric torch. Downstairs we managed to
+darken the windows, but the dressings and operations had all to be done
+by candle-light.
+
+The Germans were constantly sending up rockets of blue fire which
+illuminated the whole place, and we were afraid every moment they would
+find us out. Some of the shells had set houses near by on fire too, and
+the sky was lighted up with a dull red glow. The carts bringing the men
+showed no lights, and they were lifted out in the dark when they arrived
+and laid in rows in the lobby till we had time to see to them. By nine
+o'clock that evening we had more than 300 men, and were thankful to see
+an ambulance train coming up the line to take them away. The sanitars
+had a difficult job getting these poor men downstairs and carrying them
+to the train, which was quite dark too. But the men were thankful
+themselves to get away, I think--it was nerve-racking work for them,
+lying wounded in that little house with the shells bursting continually
+over it.
+
+All night long the men were being brought in from the trenches. About
+four in the morning there was a little lull and some one made tea. I
+wonder what people in England would have thought if they had seen us at
+that meal. We had it in the stuffy dressing-room where we had been
+working without a stop for sixteen hours with tightly closed windows,
+and every smell that can be imagined pervading it, the floor covered
+with mud, blood and debris of dressings wherever there were not
+stretchers on which were men who had just been operated on. The meal of
+milkless tea, black bread, and cheese, was spread on a sterilized towel
+on the operating-table, illuminated by two candles stuck in bottles.
+Princess sat in the only chair, and the rest of us eased our weary feet
+by sitting on the edge of the dressing-boxes. Two dead soldiers lay at
+our feet--it was not safe just at that moment to take them out and bury
+them. People would probably ask how we _could_ eat under those
+conditions. I don't know how we could either, but we _did_ and were
+thankful for it--for immediately after another rush began.
+
+At eleven o'clock in the morning another ambulance train arrived and was
+quickly filled. By that time we had had more than 750 patients through
+our hands, and they were still being brought in large numbers. The
+fighting must have been terrific, for the men were absolutely worn out
+when they arrived, and fell asleep at once from exhaustion, in spite of
+their wounds. Some of them must have been a long time in the trenches,
+for many were in a terribly verminous condition. On one poor boy with a
+smashed leg the insects could have only been counted by the million.
+About ten minutes after his dressing was done, his white bandage was
+quite grey with the army of invaders that had collected on it from his
+other garments.
+
+Early that afternoon we got a message that another Column was coming to
+relieve us, and that we were to return to Zyradow for a rest. We were
+very sorry to leave our little dressing-station, but rejoiced to hear
+that we were to go up again in two days' time to relieve this second
+Column, and that we were to work alternately with them, forty-eight
+hours on, and then forty-eight hours off duty.
+
+We had left Zyradow rather quiet, but when we came back we found the
+cannon going hard, both from the Radzivilow and the Goosof direction. It
+would have taken much more than cannon to keep _us_ awake, however, and
+we lay down most gratefully on our stretchers in the empty room at the
+Red Cross Bureau and slept. A forty-eight hours' spell is rather long
+for the staff, though probably there would have been great difficulty in
+changing the Columns more often.
+
+I woke up in the evening to hear the church bells ringing, and
+remembered that it was Christmas Eve and that they were ringing for the
+Midnight Mass, so I got up quickly. The large church was packed with
+people, every one of the little side chapels was full and people were
+even sitting on the altar steps. There must have been three or four
+thousand people there, most of them of course the people of the place,
+but also soldiers, Red Cross workers and many refugees mostly from
+Lowice. Poor people, it was a sad Christmas for them--having lost so
+much already and not knowing from day to day if they would lose all, as
+at that time it was a question whether or not the Russian authorities
+would decide for strategic reasons to fall back once more.
+
+And then twelve o'clock struck and the Mass began.
+
+Soon a young priest got up into the pulpit and gave them a little
+sermon. It was in Polish, but though I could not understand the words, I
+could tell from the people's faces what it was about. When he spoke of
+the horrors of war, the losses and the deaths and the suffering that had
+come to so many of them, one woman put her apron to her face and sobbed
+aloud in the tense silence. And in a moment the whole congregation began
+sobbing and moaning and swaying themselves to and fro. The young priest
+stopped and left them alone a moment or two, and then began to speak in
+a low persuasive voice. I do not know what he said, but he gradually
+soothed them and made them happy. And then the organ began pealing out
+triumphantly, and while the guns crashed and thundered outside, the
+choir within sang of peace and goodwill to all men.
+
+Christmas Day was a very mournful one for us, as we heard of the loss of
+our new and best automobile, which had just been given as a present to
+the Column. One of the boys was taking it to Warsaw from Skiernevice
+with some wounded officers, and it had broken down just outside the
+village. The mud was awful, and with the very greatest difficulty they
+managed to get it towed as far as Rawa, but had to finally abandon it to
+the Germans, though fortunately they got off safely themselves. It was a
+great blow to the Column, as it was impossible to replace it, these big
+ambulance cars costing something like 8000 roubles.
+
+So our Christmas dinner eaten at our usual dirty little restaurant could
+not be called a success.
+
+Food was very scarce at that time in Zyradow; there was hardly any meat
+or sugar, and no milk or eggs or white bread. One of us had brought a
+cake for Christmas from Warsaw weeks before, and it was partaken of on
+this melancholy occasion without enthusiasm. Even the punch made out of
+a teaspoonful of brandy from the bottom of Princess's flask mixed with
+about a pint of water and two lumps of sugar failed to move us to any
+hilarity. Our menu did not vary in any particular from that usually
+provided at the restaurant, though we did feel we might have had a clean
+cloth for once.
+
+MENU
+
+CHRISTMAS 1914
+
+Gravy Soup.
+
+Roast Horse. Boiled Potatoes.
+
+Currant Cake.
+
+Tea. Punch.
+
+We were very glad to go up to Radzivilow once more. Our former
+dressing-station had been abandoned as too dangerous for staff and
+patients, and the dressing- and operating-room was now in a train about
+five versts down the line from Radzivilow station. Our train was a
+permanency on the line, and we lived and worked in it, while twice a day
+an ambulance train came up, our wounded were transferred to it and taken
+away, and we filled up once more. We found things fairly quiet this
+time when we went up. The Germans had been making some very fierce
+attacks, trying to cross the river Rawka, and therefore their losses
+must have been very heavy, but the Russians were merely holding their
+ground, and so there were comparatively few wounded on our side. This
+time we were able to divide up into shifts for the work--a luxury we
+were very seldom able to indulge in.
+
+We had previously made great friends with a Siberian captain, and we
+found to our delight that he was living in a little hut close to our
+train. He asked me one day if I would like to go up to the positions
+with him and take some Christmas presents round to the men. Of course I
+was more than delighted, and as he was going up that night and I was not
+on duty, the general very kindly gave permission for me to go up too. In
+the end Colonel S. and one of the Russian Sisters accompanied us as
+well. The captain got a rough cart and horse to take us part of the way,
+and he and another man rode on horseback beside us. We started off about
+ten o'clock, a very bright moonlight night--so bright that we had to
+take off our brassards and anything that could have shown up white
+against the dark background of the woods. We drove as far as the
+pine-woods in which the Russian positions were, and left the cart and
+horses in charge of a Cossack while we were away. The general had
+intended that we should see the reserve trenches, but we had seen plenty
+of them before, and our captain meant that we should see all the fun
+that was going, so he took us right up to the front positions. We went
+through the wood silently in single file, taking care that if possible
+not even a twig should crackle under our feet, till we came to the very
+front trenches at the edge of the wood. We crouched down and watched for
+some time. Everything was brilliantly illuminated by the moonlight, and
+we had to be very careful not to show ourselves. A very fierce German
+attack was going on, and the bullets were pattering like hail on the
+trees all round us. We could see nothing for some time but the smoke of
+the rifles.
+
+The Germans were only about a hundred yards away from us at this time,
+and we could see the river Rawka glittering below in the moonlight. What
+an absurd little river to have so much fighting about. That night it
+looked as if we could easily wade across it. The captain made a sign,
+and we crept with him along the edge of the wood, till we got to a
+Siberian officer's dug-out. At first we could not see anything, then we
+saw a hole between two bushes, and after slithering backwards down the
+hole, we got into a sort of cave that had been roofed in with poles and
+branches, and was absolutely invisible a few steps away. It was
+fearfully hot and frowzy--a little stove in the corner threw out a great
+heat, and the men all began to smoke, which made it worse.
+
+We stayed a while talking, and then crawled along to visit one of the
+men's dug-outs, a German bullet just missing us as we passed, and
+burying itself in a tree. There were six men already in the dug-out, so
+we did not attempt to get in, but gave them tobacco and matches, for
+which they were very grateful. These men had an "ikon" or sacred picture
+hanging up inside their cave; the Russian soldiers on active service
+carry a regimental ikon, and many carry them in their pockets too. One
+man had his life saved by his ikon. He showed it to us; the bullet had
+gone just between the Mother and the Child, and was embedded in the
+wood.
+
+It was all intensely interesting, and we left the positions with great
+reluctance, to return through the moonlit pine-woods till we reached our
+cart. We had indeed made a night of it, for it was five o'clock in the
+morning when we got back to the train once more, and both the doctor and
+I were on duty again at eight. But it was well worth losing a night's
+sleep to go up to the positions during a violent German attack. I wonder
+what the general would have said if he had known!
+
+We finished our forty-eight hours' duty and returned once more to
+Zyradow. I was always loth to leave Radzivilow. The work there was
+splendid, and there more than anywhere else I have been to one feels the
+war as a High Adventure.
+
+War would be the most glorious game in the world if it were not for the
+killing and wounding. In it one tastes the joy of comradeship to the
+full, the taking and giving, and helping and being helped in a way that
+would be impossible to conceive in the ordinary world. At Radzivilow,
+too, one could see the poetry of war, the zest of the frosty mornings,
+and the delight of the camp-fire at night, the warm, clean smell of the
+horses tethered everywhere, the keen hunger, the rough food sweetened by
+the sauce of danger, the riding out in high hope in the morning; even
+the returning wounded in the evening did not seem altogether such a bad
+thing out there. One has to die some time, and the Russian peasants
+esteem it a high honour to die for their "little Mother" as they call
+their country. The vision of the High Adventure is not often vouchsafed
+to one, but it is a good thing to have had it--it carries one through
+many a night at the shambles. Radzivilow is the only place it came to
+me. In Belgium one's heart was wrung by the poignancy of it all, its
+littleness and defencelessness; in Lodz one could see nothing for the
+squalor and "frightfulness"; in other places the ruined villages, the
+flight of the dazed, terrified peasants show one of the darkest sides of
+war.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+It was New Year's Eve when we returned to Zyradow, and found ourselves
+billeted in a new house where there was not only a bed each, but a
+bathroom and a bath. Imagine what that meant to people who had not
+undressed at night for more than three weeks.
+
+Midnight struck as we were having supper, and we drank the health of the
+New Year in many glasses of tea. What would the lifted veil of time
+disclose in this momentous year just opening for us?
+
+It did not begin particularly auspiciously for me, for within the first
+few days of it I got a wound in the leg from a bit of shrapnel, was
+nearly killed by a bomb from a German Taube, and caught a very bad chill
+and had to go to bed with pleurisy--all of which happenings gave me
+leisure to write this little account of my adventures.
+
+The bomb from the Taube was certainly the nearest escape I am ever
+likely to have in this world. I was walking over a piece of open ground,
+saw nothing, heard nothing, was dreaming in fact, when suddenly I heard
+a whirring overhead, and just above me was a German aeroplane. Before I
+had time to think, down came a bomb with a fearful explosion. I could
+not see anything for a minute, and then the smoke cleared away, and I
+was standing at the edge of a large hole. The bomb had fallen into a bed
+of soft mud, and exploded upwards. Some soldiers who were not very far
+off rushed to see if I were killed, and were very surprised to find that
+I was practically unhurt. A bomb thrown that same afternoon that
+exploded on the pavement killed and wounded nine people.
+
+The wound was from a stray bit of shrapnel and was only a trifle,
+fortunately, and soon healed. The pleurisy was a longer job and
+compelled me to go to bed for a fortnight. I was very miserable at being
+the only idle person I knew, till it occurred to me to spend my time in
+writing this little book, and a subsequent short holiday in Petrograd
+enabled me to finish it.
+
+My enforced holiday is over now and I am on my way back to my beloved
+column once more--to the life on the open road--with its joys and
+sorrows, its comradeship, its pain and its inexplicable happiness--back
+once more to exchange the pen for the more ready weapon of the forceps.
+
+And so I will leave this brief account of what I have seen in this great
+war. I know better than anyone can tell me what an imperfect sketch it
+is, but the history of the war will have to be studied from a great many
+different angles before a picture of it will be able to be presented in
+its true perspective, and it may be that this particular angle will be
+of some little interest to those who are interested in Red Cross work in
+different countries. Those who are workers themselves will forgive the
+roughness of the sketch, which was written during my illness in snatches
+and at odd times, on all sorts of stray pieces of paper and far from any
+books of reference; they will perhaps forget the imperfections in
+remembering that it has been written close to the turmoil of the
+battlefield, to the continual music of the cannon and the steady tramp
+of feet marching past my window.
+
+
+
+
+Index
+
+Aeroplanes, Taube, 145, 176
+  throwing down proclamations, 53
+
+_Affiches_, of the Burgomaster of Antwerp, 53
+  of the Burgomaster of Brussels, 10, 11, 181, 182
+  forbidding a menacing look, etc., 32
+  German, proclaiming victories, 30, 67
+  German, of Von der Golst, 67, 68
+  instructions to citizens, 67
+
+American Consul, help from, 66, 77
+
+Antwerp, the forts of, 73
+  the heavy guns, 73
+  news of the downfall of, 96
+
+Austrian prisoners, 148
+
+Automobiles of the Flying Column, 146, 169
+
+
+Belgian Red Cross Society, 5, 12
+
+Bishop, sad fate of the, 103
+
+Boden, a night at, 103, 104
+
+Brassard, the Red Cross, 61
+
+Brussels, fortifications of, 9
+  German patients in fire-station hospital at, 20
+  hospitals in, 13
+  occupied by the Germans, 14
+  the start to, 6, 7
+
+Burgomaster of Antwerp, 53
+  of Brussels, 10, 11, 54, 74
+  of Charleroi, 20
+
+
+Camp, a German, 61, 62
+
+Cannon, distinction between French and German, 40
+
+Cholera, rumours of, 97
+
+Charleroi, burning of, 20, 22, 32
+  and Charleville, 36
+  terrorization of peasants in, 33
+
+Christmas Eve in Zyradow, 167
+  fare, 170
+
+Cologne, arrival at, 85-87
+
+Copenhagen, arrival at, 92
+
+
+Danish-German soldiers as guards, 81
+
+Danish welcome, a, 92
+
+Death of a Breton soldier, 44
+  of a certain French count, 48, 49
+
+Difference in French and German equipment, 47
+
+
+Echevins of Brussels, 74
+
+Empress Marie Federovna, interview with, 111
+
+Equipment of French and German soldiers, 47
+
+Expulsion of nurses and doctors from Brussels, 80
+
+
+Firing at the Red Cross, 35
+
+Fire-station hospital, 13, 19, 20
+
+_Flandres Liberale_, 71
+
+Flying Column, 125, 126
+
+Fortress of St. Peter and St. Paul, 107
+
+French convent, a, 60
+  prisoners as patients, 28, 29
+
+
+German officers' behaviour at Herbesthal, 83
+  patients at fire-station, 20
+  patients at M----, 41
+  preparations for war, 33
+  surgeon at M----, 31
+
+Grand Duchess Cyril's Hospital in Warsaw, 144
+
+
+Hamburg, 88, 89
+
+Hansen, Dr. Norman, 95
+
+Harsh treatment of wounded, 42
+
+Haparanda, 104
+
+Herbesthal, search at, 83
+
+Holland, rumoured war with, 31
+
+"Hoosh," 85
+
+Hotel Cosmopolite, Copenhagen, 92
+
+Hotel d'Europe, Warsaw, 124
+
+Hotel at Lodz, 140
+
+
+Ikons, 115, 173
+
+Improvised hospital from theatre, 152
+
+Infiladed trench, a, 162
+
+Insects, 139
+
+Inscription over gateway in Charleroi, 30
+
+Interview with Dowager Empress of Russia, 111
+
+
+St. John Ambulance Society, 5, 97
+
+Jumet, the burning of, 21
+
+
+Karungi, 104
+
+Kiel Canal, 90
+
+
+Liege, 65, 83
+
+Lodz, 131
+  hospital at, 132-38
+  shelling of, 132, 135
+
+London, first week of the war, 2
+
+Louvain, destruction of, 81
+  refugees from, 11
+
+Lowice, 150
+
+Luggage problem, the, 126
+
+
+Malines, 60, 63, 81
+
+M---- Red Cross Hospital, 23
+  Committee, 28
+  dinner-time, 27
+  a night on duty, 23-24
+  the cure of, 44
+
+Max, Monsieur, 10, 11, 55, 74
+
+Maubeuge taken, 41
+
+Muenster, breakfast at, 88
+
+
+Neutrality of Belgium, 82
+  of Denmark, 100
+
+Newspaper boy caught by Germans, 71, 72
+
+Night in the trenches, a, 171-74
+
+Nurses in Brussels, 8, 19, 66
+
+
+Operation, a severe, 25, 26
+
+Ostend in August, 7
+
+
+Patients sent off to Germany, 41, 46
+
+Petrograd, 107, 108
+
+Pigeons, loss of, 55
+
+Poem to British surgeons and nurses, 95
+
+Poland, distress in, 97
+
+Prisoners, Austrian, 148
+  French, 28
+  German, 148
+
+Proclamation of Burgomaster of Brussels, 10, 11
+  forbidding "a menacing look," 32
+  German announcing victories, 30, 67
+  of Von der Golst, 67, 68
+
+
+Queen of Holland, 31
+
+
+Radzivilow, 161
+  Castle, 151
+
+Raphael, St., 104
+
+Rawka, the river, 172
+
+Refugees from Termonde and Louvain, 11
+  in Poland, 142
+
+Registration of trained nurses, 4
+
+Red Cross flag in Brussels, 55
+  hospital in Warsaw, 113-21
+  workers in Belgium, 23, 28, 46
+
+Russian factory laws, 158
+
+Russian Red Cross, Committee, 108
+  permission to serve, 97
+
+Russian roads, 146
+
+Russian sisterhoods, 109
+
+Russian soldiers, 123
+  their relationship with their officers, 123
+
+
+Scarcity of supplies, 24, 37, 169
+
+Searched by German sentries, 62
+
+Siberian ponies, 128
+
+Skiernevice, 146
+
+Skirmish between Belgian and German outposts, 59
+
+Spies, 148
+
+Stamps, issue of Belgian, 74
+
+State registration of nurses, 4
+
+St. Raphael, 104, 106
+
+Stockholm, 102
+
+
+Taube aeroplane, 147, 176
+
+Termonde, refugees from, 11
+
+Theatre at Skiernevice, 152
+
+_Times_, the price of, 70
+
+Tirlemont, 57, 82
+
+Torchlight tattoo, 1
+
+Turco soldiers, 29
+
+Turkestan soldiers, 151, 152
+
+
+Untrained nurses, the danger, 5, 120
+
+
+Vendrup, 91
+
+Voluntary Aid Detachments, 5
+
+
+Waelheim, forts of, 73
+
+Water-supply difficulties, 39
+
+Warsaw, the city of, 121
+  the Red Cross Hospital, 113-20
+
+Wavre St. Catherine, forts of, 73
+
+Wounded French prisoners sent to Germany, 46
+  German soldiers at M----, 41
+
+Zeppelins, 81
+
+Zouave patients, 45
+
+Zyradow Hospital, 158
+
+
+_Printed by_ BALLANTYNE, HANSON & CO. LTD.
+_At the Ballantyne Press_
+LONDON AND EDINBURGH
+
+
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+Transcriber's note: Spelling and punctuation have been normalized.
+
+
+
+***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FIELD HOSPITAL AND FLYING COLUMN***
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