The Flaming Sword in Serbia and ElsewhereStobart, M. A. (Mabel Annie)
History
The Flaming Sword in Serbia and Elsewhere
Stobart, M. A. (Mabel Annie)
World War, 1914-1918 -- Hospitals; World War, 1914-1918 -- Personal narratives
As the train was starting, the postman, with letters to be posted in
the train, came leisurely along the line; when he saw that the train
was moving, he gave a spurt, and dropped half the letters on the
ground. He took no notice, but ran on and posted the others. We picked
up those he had dropped, and ran after him and gave them to him. He
could, with an effort, have put them in the box, but he calmly said,
"Sutra" (to-morrow). I wasn't sure whether I envied him his philosophy;
I hadn't time to think it out; I wanted to call on the man and woman
who had given us lunch on our first visit. They were leaving Ovcharska
and going to Chachak, and I wished to make sure of the legacy of their
rooms in case of emergency weather in the winter; also I wanted to buy
from them a sheep. I accomplished both missions, the latter at the
cost of seventeen dinars. A dinar equals about sevenpence. Our sheep,
therefore, cost us nine shillings and tenpence. It was destined for
supper, and our timber friend said it must be roasted whole, according
to custom. He made all the arrangements, and sent us word in the
evening that we must come and watch it roasting. A fire had been
lighted, in a shed, near our friend's house, as rain was still falling
in torrents. The sheep was threaded on a stick, one end of the stick
was made stationary, and the other end was held by a man, who turned it
round and round, over the red ashes of the fire. It only took two hours
to cook. When ready it was carried on the stick by two men, and a third
held over it a big umbrella, to keep off the rain. We thus walked in
procession to our own tents, where our cook--helped, I expect, by one
of our friendly carriers--jointed and carved the poor animal. I can't
say I enjoyed the feast: without the usual sceneries to disguise the
horrors, it was too realistic.
Everything, however, was interesting and picturesque. It was difficult
to imagine where the patients would come from; we seemed to be entirely
surrounded by roadless mountains. But through the forests of beech,
maple, and Turkey oak, narrow paths wound along, and up and down,
the steep mountain sides, and the peasants brought their sick in
wheelbarrows, or on stretchers made of branches, or along the main
road, in ox-wagons.
The first patient was a boy who was terribly burnt, and already in
a serious condition; he would certainly have died but for the help
received.
The whole valley and hillsides were the property of the monks, and they
asked us if we should like them to bless our dispensary work with an
opening ceremony of prayer? We, of course, agreed gratefully.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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