World War, 1914-1918 -- Atrocities; World War, 1914-1918 -- Hospitals; World War, 1914-1918 -- Personal narratives
The extraordinarily varied types of persons at work under one roof in
a democracy of service presents just the aspect of our community which
is most representative. Millionaires and an impersonator, Harvard,
Dartmouth, Tech, Columbia, Fordham, Michigan, Princeton, Cornell and
Yale men, ranchers, lawyers, and newspaper men--all are hard at work
on terms of exact equality. A colored man came in one day. He said he
wanted to help with the wounded. He was tried out, and proved himself
one of the best helpers in the organization. He received the same
treatment as all other helpers, eating with them, liked by them. Some
weeks later, one of our wealthy "high-life" young Americans volunteered
his services. After the first meal he came wrathfully to the surgeon.
"I've had to eat at the same table with a negro. That must be changed.
What will you do about it?"
"Do about it," answered the surgeon. "You will do one of two things--go
and apologize to a better man than you are, or walk out of this
hospital."
Recently this black helper came to the director in distress of mind.
"Have to leave you," he said. He held out a letter from the motor car
firm, near Paris, where he he had worked before the war. It was a
request for him to return at once. If he did not obey now in this time
of need, it meant there would never be any position for him after the
war as long as he lived.
A day or two later he came again.
"My old woman and I have been talking it over," he said, "and I just
can't leave this work for the wounded. We'll get along some way."
A little more time passed, and then, one day, he stepped up to the
director and said:
"I want you to meet my boss."
The superintendent of the motor car factory had come. He said to the
director:
"I have received the most touching letter from this darkey, saying he
couldn't come back to us because he must help here. Now I want to tell
you that his position is open to him any time that he wants it, during
the war, or after it."
Visitors, after walking through the wards, smelling no odors, hearing
no groans, seeing the faces of the men smiling back at them, are
constantly saying to the director:
"Ah, I see you have no really serious cases here."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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