CHRISTMAS AT THE HOSPITAL

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 77, 26 December 1918, Page 6

CHRISTMAS AT THE HOSPITAL

Christmas was really Christmas hardly less in the General Hospital than in (lie most favoured homes in Wellington. However cruelly the powers of disease and suffering had fought against it, the Christmas spirit was still the conqueror, and presided for the whole of one bright, happy day over nurses and patients alike. There were flowers in every ward, the brightest that our summer could yield, the fairest that a Southern December could afford; and in every part the sufferers and those whose kind hands tended them greeted the Old Father with a brave and hopeful smile. Though Christinas conies to young and old alike, it is peculiarly the property of children, and it was in the children's wards that tho festive sprite found i(s fullest expression. Standing high above all the flowers, with their white, pink, red, and blue, was the most gorgeous of all Christmas trees, laden in every branch with tho most desirable of toys. It was the real fir of the Old World festival, and to the initiated juvenile mind must have conveyed all the picturesque associations that too often elude the adult brain—visions of ice and snow, the glowing Yuletide log, and a well-wrtipj>ed Fattier Christinas 'with his tireless reindeer. Perhaps at Christmas time the fairy pictures, traced upon tho wall seem more alive than usual to the tiny children in the wards; but, however it may be, the light iu tlie little faces to be seen in the cots yesterday appeared to be reflected from something more sweet and more ethereal than the visions that bless the average adult mind in such'-a season; and'the little' Apices, with their "Hullo, Nurse!" had more of the sleighbell ring in them than graces the average adult tone at any feast of Noel. - The grown-ups spent their Christmas pleasantly, and marked the ocension with the traditional Christinas dinner, llieir wards were tastefully decorated, and must have looked bright and cheerful to the visitors who came and went continually during four hours of the day. There was one thing about the celebrations this year that it would be wrong to overlook; and that is the devotion ot the nurses to old ideals, deipite the weariness that came of their struggle with the recent epidemic, Jlany of the staff were still suffering from the strain of the campaign, and would doubtless have profited much from a little rest and relaxation, but they nobly sacrificed themselves for the happiness of others, and gave to the preparations for the Christmas, season their most enthusiastic efforts.

VICTORIA MILITAET HOSPITAL. Thirty patients of the' Victoria, Military Hospital sat down to Christmas dinner yesterday, Vlien the Hon. C. M. Luke, M.L.C., attended and addressed a few remarks to the men. In wishing them the compliments ot the season Air. Luke referred to the part they had played in the war, and to the greatness »'f the victory which the Allies had won. Christmas dinner was served in one ward only where ali patients were gathered. The ward was tastefn ly dceorated with flowers, evergreens, and pot A number of the patients were permitted to go to their homes for Christmas dinner; hence the 6inall attendance. Throughout the day a large number of visitors was received at the hospital.