IN A RUSSIAN HOSPITAL.

Horowhenua Chronicle, 19 February 1915, Page 4

IN A RUSSIAN HOSPITAL.

(Ny rxittuiviijj UJUJ-LJON.) UitODNO. ine iiospital waa normally a ixmeoruiiaxi, mere were six beus on tlie stage ana sixty-lour upon tlie noor oi Uxe •auaitoiiuui. ±iie latinos' cioaitr-ooiii naa become an operating theatre; and two outer rooms vvit.li beds in tiiem were set asiae lor grave cases, tnat meoL mignt cue in a tltjoono privacy, iu uie sinaiier ot tnese, Due man ol whom jl naa t>een told lay aione. "ine banoages worried him," explained tne jrousn cuieotor oi tne hospital; "Dut wiuiout tnem lie was so terliuie to see tnat we put mm by iuuiseir i advise you not to go in; you won t be aole to lorget it." Uut it seemed to me tnat a non-coai-uataut mignt easily spare Iniusoli tJO 11111011 and what one man oould suitor another might endure to 100K upon. Hie danger ot tins war is not that jfrussia may win and rernaie tne world in u<>r own grisly image; tnat one does not conceive oi as a danger; but tnat too many oi us may come through it .11 ignorance and security lor tne world .o oe remade at all. a loiiowed uho uirector to tne wmte-enamelied door vvnion lie neid open to let me pass inine IXK/iii was wmte-walied and iuii oi ooiouness winter iignt, wiiite owl ciotnes on tlie two beds, wiiite blinds i/O tne windows; but tne man who sat on one oi tne beds, witii nis hand .die in xus lap, wore a robe ox dark brown, loose and wuck nice a monies; iie was tne one dark object in tiie bieak ucwpita. puiior oi tne place. Jle was taeing towards tlie window, but at tuo sound oi the opening door he turn hi ulis nead slowly to iront us, with something in tne motion that suggested lie was listening intently, as blind, man will. And at once one saw his laco. Xhe director was right; i have noi been abie to iorget it; it lives with me. .tie was solid man oi middle .height, witm that alignt stoop oi the great stiouiders, tnat attitude of lab or 10 is power, which come oi iarm work. The neavy gown emphasised his thick-buiit sturdinese; tiie empty hands were huge and rougii. From tne leet to the'heck ne was commonplace, a type oi millions; but tne iace—there wasn't a lace, rrom brow to cnin it wiu> obliterated; tueie were no eyes, no nose, no lips; tne bare teetli giiuned in a bone-white band across the ridged and cicatrised nesh ilo ill which the countenance 'iad ietiii blotted out. "He can speak a little still," the director murmured to me; "but, oi ccurse ,tne absence ot lips " i think he was going on to tell me aoout labial sounds, alter the man ler ot doctors, but at that moment the man on tne bed spoke, and he broke oiT. The director bent his head solicitously to hear and understand. One s aghast and anguished nerves waited to near him interpret words that should correspond to the man and his tregedy, something dire and simple as death, tne autnentlc utterance of the soul ecmiined in that body. He nodded cheeriully and answered in .Russian, patting tiie ibig brown shoulder. "He wants some cigarettes, ' ne explained to me. A bursting shell had done it during tlie long and stubborn lighting in the woods around Augustowo, whein the Germans who had been driven back irom tiio Ntemen were nnally broken up and defeated. His battalion was advancing to the attack at the time, uodglng forward among trees which the shells decapitated. I have seen those cropped forests myseli; and he lay where he fell, while the others pressed forward and left him. He of course, 7!as not told the story; it is probable that his recollection of most of it is no more than a memory of darkness an 1 bewikWing'-pain; but at any rate he realised, when he had lain for some time, that he wajs alone in those woods, Slind and far from help. Perhaps • e cried out and waited between his cries for an answer; none came, and at last— after how long?—he rose to his feet and walked, groping in iiis darkness ariiong the trees, carrying the disaster ot his face through the solitude in search of comrades. For all support ,he had the dour animal strength of the Russian moujik, the instinct to live and the pressure of his piteous need. Nothing guided him; his outstretched hands propped off the tree-trunks; the rain of those days and nights beat upon him unceasingly. And two days later, troops camped in a clearing, beheld him lurching down upon them out of the forest—a figure of delirium, a thing to put out of its pain.

And after all that he is going to r<v Cbver; he will live.