GOING TO DINNER IN A HOSPITAL STRETCHER.

Thames Star, Volume VIII, Issue 2860, 15 April 1878, Page 3

GOING TO DINNER IN A HOSPITAL STRETCHER.

An incident recently occurred atAlderisliot which shows the urgent necessity there is for increasing the number of stretchers and sick bearers in the army. The officers of a certain distinguished regiment were to entertain a large party of guests at dinner. The day had beeii wet, and the ground was in consequence deep in mud. Just before mess the sky cleared, and a small group of officers assembled outside the mess-house door to enjoy for a few moments the fine evening They observed approaching them a hospital stretcher, carried by four stalwart privates of the Ist Bat. Grenadier Guards. One of the group of officers; thinking that possibly these men, being strangers to Aldershot, might be making a mistake as to locality, shouted out, " You are wrong, my men. This is the mess-house of the —- Regiment, not the hospital." The bearers of the stretcher stolidly continued their advance, and, to the great surprise ,of the group, the occupant of the stretcher turned out to be not an invalid, as they supposed, but a certain distinguished field officer of the Guards, who was expected as a guest. The gentleman, who is well known to be most particular as to his personal appearance, 'fearing to soil his varnished boots, and not caring to take a cab for so short a distance, had improvished this new method of being conveyed oat to'dinner on a muddy day, without expense either to his boots or pockdti.—Vanity Fair. ""•: