World War, 1914-1918 -- Hospitals, charities, etc.; World War, 1914-1918 -- Medical care
It was awfully good of Miss W---- to send the money to me, it is so
much needed here. I expect to get off Monday or Tuesday of next week.
September 19, 1915.
My orders came to-day, and I leave on Tuesday for Paris and on Friday
for Dunkirk. I am up to my eyes in work, for there is so much to be done
before leaving and new people to break in. Three military nurses arrived
yesterday, but it is rather difficult to manage for they know nothing at
all about taking care of sick people. They have all been at the front,
and wounded too badly to return and sent into an auxiliary service. One
is a priest, one a hair dresser and the third a horse dealer; however,
they are nice men and are willing to learn, which is a great thing in
their favor.
If they are able to raise any money for me I will see that it is wisely
spent. There is great need everywhere, and I am proud of the people of
St. John, they have done so much.
There is a poor woman who lives in a little village near here. She had
two sons--one has been killed in the war, the other a helpless cripple
for eighteen years and is not able to move out of his chair. He makes
baskets sometimes, but now there is no one to buy the baskets. The
mother goes out by the day but can earn so little. I gave him five
francs, one of the De Monts dressing gowns and some warm underclothes.
He was so grateful, poor boy, and says he will not feel the cold now.
His mother is away nearly all day and he sits by the window all alone
and depends upon the neighbours coming in to help him from time to time;
he is always cheerful and never complains.
The W----s have such a hard time--they get so little of their income
since the war began. It has gradually gone down from $3,000.00 per year
to $500.00; four of them to live on that amount. So many people are in
just the same condition, there is no end to the misery.
I do not know whether it is the French or the English army we are to
follow at my new post.
PARIS September 23, 1915.
I am off to-morrow at 7.30 a.m., to Boulogne, then Calais and reach
Dunkirk at 9.30 p.m.
I have had two very strenuous days and will be glad to rest in the train
to-morrow. It took such a time to get my papers in order. The
thermometer for the last two days has been about 100.
MOBILE NO. 1, France, 1915.
I am really not in France but Belgium. I cannot tell you just where, but
it is within ten miles of the firing line, and not far from the place
where so many of our boys from home have been sent. I thought when I
came here that it would be entirely English, as the lady who gave the
hospital is an American married to an Englishman. The English are not
far away but they are taken to their own hospitals.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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