DOCTORS AND NURSES

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2508, 8 July 1915, Page 3

DOCTORS AND NURSES

THEIR WORK AT THE FRONT. In .the vivid pictures ho has given of the workshops of destruction at "the front, Harold Begbie . speaks of the military hospitals as ; being definitely workshops of destruction, for they are places where, the ■ bodies of men are re-paired-in order that they may go back as sharply as. possible to tho lighting lino. ■ But. the feelings of humanity aro too much for the lull rigour of-,mili-tary necessities, arid 'the broken* bodies of men arepatehed up with a certain tenderness and with an-absoluto ■ enthusiasm for succoss on the; part of tho re r pairers whether they are ever likely or r.oc to" fight again. Thus it fortunes that a military hospital is a kind and restful: place breathing no atmosphere of; war,' gentle 'with the presenco of women, and bright, hopeful, stimulating with all the .'admirable delight of the. doctors in the work of their science.' 1 Writing of the work of a very eminent .. surgeon ,in a military hospital established lin France. by the. British, the author. saysfi-Vlf./jrou would feel proud of .your country, listen-to a man like .this, who has looked destruction in the lace, who has given himself body and soul to the work of the military! hospitals—forsaking in-England a practice probably unique ill' tho-world, and a' home in which he finds a supreme happiness—listen to'him while he talks of our wounded', men, and watch his eyes' as -he' describes i their: superb courage. It is because of that,superb courage; that unbreakable fortitude, of our simple. British soldier .that ho cannot keep' away from the. trenches. To be there with his : wonderful hands, with his unerring brain; with all / the strength of his wholesome body, and all the devotion of his human soul has now become the brittth - of, life to him I ' Speaking of the British soldier and his cheerful patience under pain; he: says: 'There is nobody like hirii ; nobody in the world 1' \ with- an emphasis that rings with spiritual enthusiasm."

The fact that the great surgeons of civil life: have .come ,to the aid of the R.A.M.C., whose surgeons naturally cannot have: anything like' the experi-. enca •of .their' civil brethren, is a sign that however' long the; war may last, and hoM'evor terrible may'be its. devastation. wounded soldiers will at least find themselves succoured by. the merciful hands of the; highest .science;' : To tho hospital nurses, Mr. Begbie ■pay's-ai fine tribute, r Their devotion to Tommy. Atkins.is typical of their whole spirit. ■-■;■.AVhile.-they.admire, him'.enorBjwnsly.'k their : attitude ,is , mainly one that. is. indulgent arid maternal. That .is to: say,, these bright arid clever creatures regard Tommy, Atkins as a child, a marvellously .brave, admirable,' ana heroic'.'child, but still a child. He must be an exceedingly green recruit who dares to tell .one.: of. .these nurses an exaggerated' story of the trenches, however. ■" -

:-• But the nnrse knows the really superb' side-. of --the soldier better perhaps than anyone else , connected with the Army!- 'These nurses look on dreadful i things, ' and remain at: their postsgentle, ..tender, and benignant. .'.They:, endure tremendous strains. They- are not only, brave and obedient; they aro cheerful and contented. . They, are— soldiers 1 ..'■■'•■'■'■ i "You can have no idea," . Mr. Begbie writes, "until you seo it for yourself, how the presence -.of., these• bright-, facijd women makes a beauty' of tho hospital ward, and quite transfigures all its inexpressible'horrors. "The little- lamp lighted by Floj-ence Nightingale -is now . being: carried 'by. thousands of brave, delicate" hands into the darkuess/'of suffering and death. Tho soul of womanhood- moves'' like a caressing breatlv- through the '- pest-; liouso of man's brutality. One goes into', a military "hospital prepared to be horrified, shocked;, and dreadfully .shaken. - but one comes out. feeling that the end of our blundering- is at hand, and'that .the spirit of woman is destined' to close one era of man's history, with 'the hea'iiiiK hand-of restoration, aiid to open, another';; with ',the hand which science;; has -blest and love has saucti--fiedl 1 ::;;': ; . 0 ,- "How the heart of the wounded man yearns and cries out for the touch of a woman's hand.' ' And what a heaven may be made of hell by a little mothering."- . . , .. ; ; ;\: