GETTING THE NEWS

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 3125, 2 July 1917, Page 6

GETTING THE NEWS

,-. ' A•■ HOSPITAL SCENE. } ? ;,;.; < ■ - 1 (By "A Corporal," in the "Daily Kail.") -('".' 'After breakfast the walking cases go ' down to tho .hospital gate to wait for the newspaper ""boy. There is always a ''■ : ; crowd—a, crowd of men broken, in the war; passive out eager partners in tho V. Great Push -which is being carried on by ; -their'"pals." :; It is wrong to say that'wounded soldiers -wish to forget the war. Sea this 'crowd; see the cot cases away there in the wards eagerly-waiting for the latest ■ '•news.' Listen* to the- conversation 'of these Blues and Greys by'the gate. It Vis a soul-stirring- array of crutches and sticks and bandages, and empty sleeves vand trousers, a parade to twist one's •Jieart-strings; but mostly the men are as (merry as lads fresh out of school. 1 For |tho newspapers' are coming. ' < : \';.Hore they are.' The boy with' the ibundle is very soon sold out. The men call ihini, "Sonny" and pat his head, and off jne goes with a well-filled pocket and an experience which I hope he will describe ■t6 children of a generation yet unborn. ; "We've fixed.'em," a Cockney Tommy says, smiling. ■ As ho reads, he rests on lis crutches against the wall, "Wo got 'em on the run." . "Yes, an' you'll be on the run, my lad, fif you come down ia yer slipper again,' •observes an B.A.M.C. sergeant. "Put. (yer boot on, I told ya. Ye ma'll be IWarain' me if ya. catch. cold.'C, t But there is a kindly twinkle in tho ,>isorgeant'B eye, and he walks over to tho /i.wounded boy and inquires, "'Ow now?" /.■'•-'Tine," the lad replies. "We got 'em ;')WI. right." .•- "I mean yer foot." '■ . "Oh, all right. . . '. 'Ere, read this. . ■{, . . 'Aig ain't 'alf giving 'em sonie- - .thing." .•. Close by a lad of about nineteen is .! booking for his brother through a. read- - jlhg-glnss, which he holds against a group hphotograph of-fighting men in an illusi I'trated daily. '"Tain't Joe," ho says dolefully.

:■■'"■ "Slrare?" a chum puts in cheerily. '?"Ave a good look. P'raps 'e ain't 'ad ■■■.«, shave ; or somethin'," I Another close. scrutiny. A shake of - ! -'*tlia lead. '- \ "Think I'll stop looking," lie mutters. ""■'■ "Don't do no 'ami to look," says the ; 'chum. :"Wants a stronger glass, p'raps. , (Ain't all gone west wot's missin' mind." The men hop, hobble, and walk away, jreading the war stories as they go. The -names of the places btb grimly familiar. ; •■' U'he fellows smilg. . "That's where I got my' packet," says >k broken giiint of a man. His foot is miss- ." 'jing. , ; "Aye," a north-country Tommy reJjmarks, "thero were ono.-or two packets landed out round"about that plaace." ( He'hobbles forward with his stick and iftis newspaper,' and his memories. "Aye, there wero.and all. Some good "" pads;' too." j Tho straggling, slow-inoving. procession winds its ways to the wards, where Ihe "/•men in tho beds are waiting. -"Wot's tho news?" a dozen voices call.

"Frit/, is flopped," a. becrutched sol- ' i<licr cries. 'They're dosing the Kaiser '•■with Number Nines and he's'arskin' for /peace. . .'. 'Ere y're, Tom," handing a foaper to a boy sitting in a'wheeled chair. .- : f!Uark yer map/' , Tho'boy wheels his" chair to a ward ''table and" lays ont tho newspaper and a map/ For a little while ho quietly studies the operations. ' Theu he marks lis map and looks up smiling. "A.bit nearer Berlin, boys, he says. And while the nurse dresses the place "where they took off his shattered leg, the map is shown proudly rouud the word.