Another detail undertaken by the "B.L.R.C.O." was that of the entertainment of the wives and mothers of the Interned sent out from England by the "C.P. of W.C." on fortnightly visits. This took the form of luncheons, dinners, and teas, as these visitors passed to and from the camps. They also provided meals at Berne to all prisoners of war en route to Switzerland from Germany, or to England on repatriation. The Consular Groups forming part of the Organization did similar work, and, as a rule, met the expenditure from their own resources. In January, 1918, on the appointment of a Commissioner by the "B.R.C.S.," London, to supervise and co-ordinate Red Cross work in Switzerland, the "B.L.R.C.O." transferred to that gentleman the special branch of their work affecting interned prisoners, and all expenses in that connection were thenceforth met by the "B.R.C.S.," London. The average monthly expenditure thus incurred amounted to frs. 22,000, the chief items of which were: frs. 6,300 for medical comforts, frs. 10,000 for technical training, and the balance for miscellanea. I have at the opening of this chapter referred to the labours of the Swiss Red Cross and other Swiss Societies, _vis-à-vis_ of French civilians and other victims of the war. Little appears to be known in England of the extent and importance of the work of these Societies. Perhaps I can best give an idea of its scope and character by recounting some of my personal experiences. On one occasion, at Zürich, I met a train conveying French "grands blessés" released from Germany. It was composed of third-class carriages converted for Red Cross purposes into a hospital train, and was staffed by military doctors, nurses, and orderlies, of Swiss nationality, assisted by ladies from the French Embassy at Berne. These Swiss Red Cross trains cannot be compared with the luxurious conveyances maintained by us in France. At the same time, they were thoroughly practical, and appeared to meet all the requirements of the sick. The men no doubt must have regarded them as "trains de luxe," after their experience of railway travel in Germany. What a picture these wounded presented! In one carriage there were twenty-seven men with only three legs between them, but they were cheery, full of joy at their escape from captivity, and very disinclined to speak of their past experiences. These they evidently sought to forget. One man, whom I questioned as to some detail of German camp life, replied that, on crossing the frontier, he had turned over the page of his prison life, and all memory of the past had left him—the present was good enough, and was all he cared to think about. Altogether they were quite irrepressible, and the conclusion I came to was, that the average French soldier has to be very ill—even unto death—before his spirits succumb to his physical condition. He has fortunately the faculty of imparting his cheeriness and philosophy to those around, so that a visit under what might have