My War Experiences in Two ContinentsMacnaughtan, S. (Sarah)
History
My War Experiences in Two Continents
Macnaughtan, S. (Sarah)
World War, 1914-1918 -- Hospitals, charities, etc.; World War, 1914-1918 -- Personal narratives, English
I want to tell Tabby how immensely pleased everyone is with her
slippers. The men who have stood long in the trenches are in agonies of
frost-bite and rheumatism, and now that I can give them these slippers
when they arrive at the station, they are able to take off their wet
boots caked with mud.
If J. would send me another little packet of groceries I should love it.
Just what can come by post. That Benger's Food of hers nearly saved my
life when I was ill at Dunkirk. What I should like better than anything
is a few good magazines and books. I get _Punch_ and the _Spectator_,
but I want the _English Review_ and the _National_, and perhaps a
_Hibbert_. I enclose ten shillings for these. What is being read?
Stephen Coleridge seems to have brought out an interesting collection,
but I can't remember its name. I wonder if any notice will be taken of
"They who Question." The reviews speak well of the Canadian book.
Love to you all, and tell Alan how much I think of him. Bless you, my
dears. Write often.
Yours as ever,
SARAH.
* * * * *
_1 March._--Woe betide the person who owns anything out here: he is
instantly deprived of it. "Pinching" is proverbial, and people have
taken to carrying as many of their possessions as possible on their
person, with the result that they are the strangest shapes and sizes.
Still, one hopes the goods are valuable until one discovers that they
generally consist of the following items: a watch that doesn't go, a
fountain-pen that is never filled, an electric torch that won't light, a
much-used hanky, an empty iodine bottle, and a scarf.
_5 March._--I went as usual to-day to the muddy station and distributed
soup, which I no longer make now that the station has become
militarised. My hours are from 12 noon to 5 o'clock. This includes the
men's dinner-hour and the washing of the kitchen. They eat and smoke
when I am there, and loll on the little bench. They are Belgians and I
am English, and one is always being warned that the English can't be too
careful! We are entertaining 40,000 Belgians in England, but it must be
done "carefully."
[Page Heading: THIEVING AND GIVING]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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