My Diary in Serbia: April 1, 1915-Nov. 1, 1915Stanley, Monica M.
History
My Diary in Serbia: April 1, 1915-Nov. 1, 1915
Stanley, Monica M.
World War, 1914-1918 -- Hospitals; World War, 1914-1918 -- Personal narratives
I went into Kragujevatz this morning to do some shopping; met Miss
Vera Holmes. We bought a hat for one of the sisters going to a
dispensary. You never saw such things; the hats are just like those at
the sales in London for which we give 6-1/2_d._ I went for a walk with
Dr. Coxon, and as we were passing a vineyard such a nice woman called
us in and gave us grapes and flowers. It is wonderful the richness of
the soil, for when we arrived here in April there was very little on
the land, and it all seems to spring up at once. We are getting short
of provisions here; we managed to get some Serbian bacon, but when you
want anything of this kind you find there is a long line of people
outside the shop waiting for it to open, and my commissionaire goes in
at the back door and buys it all up; it seems too bad. Tea is 15_s._
per lb.; bread, 8-1/2_d._ per loaf; sugar, 1_s._ 6_d._; butter, 7_s._
Thursday, _September 9, 1915._
I went to see a camp of Serbian soldiers; they had many large guns and
carts full of shells which they showed us. Sixteen shells in each
cart; they were 15 cc. They also had boxes full of rings of gun
cotton, with powder in the centre; these they put on the top part of
the shell before firing it off. There are about 200 bullocks and carts
at this camp. The hood part of the ox-cart is used as a shelter for
two soldiers to sleep under, and very comfortable it looks, and they
only have a very few tents to pitch and quite small ones, low to the
ground; one cannot stand up in them. Six men sleep in one tent. We
went to see the air-craft guns and were shown how they were worked; it
was most interesting. We then went on to where the Serbs were
practising firing the shells. They have high stone walls which they
use as a target, and there are two or three trenches near the walls.
We saw lots of bursted shells. In the afternoon we went for another
walk and saw the women making wine out of plums. They pack large
barrels full of plums, then fill them up with water and put some sugar
in; these are left for a month or longer; then the liquor is drawn off
and bottled. I wish the plums had been washed! We met some women
knitting some elaborate coloured stockings; the colour is worked in
after the stockings are knitted. Some of the walnuts here are almost
as large as a hen's egg.
Saturday, _September 11, 1915._
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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