"The conditions of Serbian hospitals under the Austrians rendered
provisioning one of the most difficult tasks. At the withdrawal of the
Serbian Army only the barest necessaries were left behind, and the
Austrians gave hardly anything beyond bread, and at times a little meat.
The typhus patients were thus dependent almost entirely on the aliments
which the Scottish Mission could furnish out of their own means. It was
edifying to see how they solved the problem. Every day, their Chief, Dr.
Inglis, and Mrs. Haverfield at the head, the nurses off duty, with empty
sacks and baskets slung over their shoulders, tramped for miles to the
villages around Krushevatz, and after several hours' march through the
narrow, muddy paths, returned loaded with cabbages, potatoes, or other
vegetables in baskets and sacks, their pockets filled with eggs and
apples. Instead of fatigue, joy and satisfaction were evident in their
faces, because they were able to do something for their Serbian
brothers. I am ever in admiration of these rare women, and never can I
forget their watchword: 'Not one of our patients is to be without at
least one egg a day, however far we may have to tramp for it.' Such
labour, such love towards an almost totally strange nation, is something
more than mere humanity; it is the summit of understanding, and the
application of real and solid Christian teaching.
"Dr. Inglis cured not only the physical but the moral ills of her
wounded patients. Every word she spoke was about the return of our army,
and she assured us of final victory. She did not speak thus merely to
soothe, for one felt the fire of her indignation against the oppressor,
and her love for us and her confidence that our just cause would
triumph. I could mention a host of great and small facts in connection
with her, enough to fill a book; but, in one word, every move, every
thought of the late Dr. Inglis and the members of her Mission breathed
affection towards the Serbian soldier and the Serbian nation. The
Serbian soldier himself is the best witness to this. One has only to
inquire about the Scottish Women's Mission in order to get a short and
eloquent comment, which resumes all, and expresses astonishment that he
should be asked: 'Of course I know of our sisters from Scotland.' ...
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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