THE QUALITY Of MERCY.

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 4, Issue 47, 18 June 1915, Page 5

THE QUALITY Of MERCY.

If anything could console one for tho youth and bravery and the best that cruel waste of war, for the using up of youth and bravery and tho best that manhood has to give, it would be that it brings into high relief the sacrifice, the kindness, even the gentleness of men. "Nowhere," wrote an officer tho other day, "can exceed the though tfulness and kindness of the surgeons; busy and overworked as they are, they still dash in for a moment to see if you are ail right, give you a coat, a blanket, throw more wood on the fire, help you with a pillow or.a cigarette. Such attention and kindness you never expected from any but a woman. There is something in that picture—is there not?— which touches a chord in all of us, to remind us how in some great stress or crisis of most lives there is a moment when we have turned to lean on the doctor as one who holds the threads of fate in his hands. Seldom indeed in vain. There is a second picture one might add to the foregoing. It is the impression which another observer received of the French doctors with their wounded:—"lt is generally 'Eh bien, mes enfants, comment cela yaP and they are as tender as can be with them, considering the huge numbers they have to deal with in a like this." One might add impression to impression, out the composite picture would always be the same—that of the competent, skilful, overworked surgeon or doctor, who often enough has left comfort and affluence behind him in his practice at home in order that he may do the best woik that is in him for his fellow-countrymen at the hour they need it most.