MUNRO'S FLYING

nd over the wounded to the proper department, and I am waiting to see if I can get on anywhere.

on the Villiers yesterday, and heard that she is leaving on Tuesday. But they say that the British Minister dare not leave or the

to Ostend to-morrow, so once more we fly like dust befo

people it is transcendent, in others it is only a sort of stupidity. If proper precautions were take

ps, but I believe they have done excellent work. It is a queer side of war to see young, pretty English girls in khaki and thick boots, coming in from the trenches, where they ha

and I gladly did so: he sent home a lady whos

ROAD TO

rk. The road was filled with flying inhabitants, and down at the dock wounded and well struggled to get on to the steamer. People were begging us for a seat in our ambulance, and well-dressed women were setting out to walk twenty miles to Dunki

ian, plucky and efficient; Miss Chisholm, a blue-eyed Scottish girl, with a thick coat strapped around her waist and a haversack slung from her shoulder; a tall American, whose name I do not

been shut up for the winter. The owner of an hotel there opened up some rooms for us and got us some ham

tters posted, and tramped about there for a long time. War is such a disorganizer. Nothing starts. No one is able to move because of wounded arms and legs; it seems to make the world help

AT THE

ut we went and got one of our ambulances, and a young doctor with his fiancée went off with her. There was a lot of argument about where the woman lived, until

it. An Englishman hit it, and down it came like a shot bird, so that was the end of a brave man, whoever he was, and it was a long drop, too, through the still autum

"Lady Dorothy, can you get us tyres for the ambulances? Where is the petrol?" "Do you know if the General will let us through?" "Have you been able to get us any stores?" "Ought we to have 'laissez-passer's' or not?" She goes to all the heads of departments, is the only good speaker of French, and has the only

Antwerp and their "unprecedented reception" at Deal. Everyone appears to have been in

the Kaiser's head, miss"; to which I replied, "Well, you had better turn round and go the other way." Some people like this "English" spirit. I find the conceit of it most trying. Belgium is in the hands of the enemy, and we flee before him singing our own praise

ITUDE TOW

ut here again. They had been for eighteen hours under heavy shell fire without so much as a rifle to protect them, and with the immediate chance of a burning building falling about them. The nurses sat in the cellars tend

us, and the worst of it was they made elaborate excuses for leaving. Even our sergeant, who helped during the night, took a comrade off in the morning and disappeared. Both were w

m were left. I am always slow at beginning to eat, and I had a large wing of chicken still on my plate. I offered this to an office

ing speeches at Hyde Park Corner. Everything had been thought out by them. People talk of the difficulty they must have had in preparing concrete floors for their guns. Not a bit of it. There were innocent dwelling-houses, built long ago, with floors in just the right position and of just the right

that drives farthest and goes surest win. If every siege is decided by the German 16-inch howitzers, then let us put up brick and mortar or steel against them, but not men. The day for the bleeding human body seems to be

OF LIFE O

en were begging us to go up to the hospital to fetch their purses from under their pillows! At present women are only repairers, darning socks, cleaning, washing up after men, bringing up reinforcements in the

sire to extend the area he occupies and young men in their

on, as there has been fighting near us again. One hears the boom of guns a long way off, and al

nd made a small congregation. In the afternoon one or two people came to tea in my bedroom as we

was one mass of bullet-holes. I have seen waggons at Paardeberg, but I never saw anything so knocked about as that grey motor-bus. The engines and sides were shattered and the chauffeur, of course, had been killed. We went on by motor to the "C

eet it not as fatalists do or those who believe they can earn eternal glory with a sacrifice, but lightly and with a song. An English gir

t is not in me. The noisy meals, the heavy bowls of soup, the piles of labelled dinner-napkins, give me an unexpected

s wife here a couple of days ago: i

ite that the breaking waves make on the sand. This small empty seaside place, with its row of bathing-machines drawn up on the beach, has a look about it as of a theatre seen by daylight. All the seats are empty and th

stend from the sea. The news that reaches us is meagre, but I

TO F

egun to come in, but the infernal sound of the guns was quite close to us, and gave one the sensation of a blow on the ear. Night was falling as we came back to Dunkirk to sleep (for no beds were ready at Furnes), and we

ay I see tired dusty men, very hungry looking and unshaved, slogging along, silent and tired, and ready to lie down whenever chanc

ed must be coming in, and we left Dunkirk early and came here. As I packed my things and rolled my rugs at 5

rled up on some luggage, and were told to hang on by something. The roads were empty and level, the little seats of the car were merely a

g jerked, and we were told that all last night the fighting had gone on and the wounded had been coming in. There ar

rceps?" "Where are we to dine?" "Where are t

ybody ten times over to do the same thi

HTING A

er be so simple and so dramatic as his own description. He and Mr. Bartlett, Mr. Gleeson and Dr. Munro, with young Mr. Brockville, the War Minister's son, went to the town, which was being heavily shelled.

lar and found some living men, got the stretchers, loaded the cars and bade them drive on. In the darkness, and with the deafening noises, no one heard his orders aright, the two mot

t that. They went back to hell for him, and the other two waited in the ro

erhead and flying limbs and unspeakable sights." All these men went back. All of them behaved quietly and like gentlemen, but one man asked a friend of his over and over again if he was a Belgian refugee, and another said that a town steep

cigarettes and talking about repairs and gears and a box of bandages. The mornings always start happily enough. The guns are nearer to-day or more distant,

e been out all night begin to come in

yard to the overcrowded ward, and lay them on the floor if there are no beds, but lay them down and go for others. Take the worst to the theatre: get the shattered l

NDED

d him with porridge and milk out of a little bowl, and when he had finished half of it he said, "I won't have any more. I am afraid there will be none for the others."

ul child, and there is no hope for him; shot through the abdomen; he

write messages. Their pain is too awful even for

en till one goes to bed it is difficult to be just what one ought to be, the tragedy of it is too pitiful. There is a boy with his eyes shot out, and there is a row of men all with head wounds from the cruel shrapnel overhead. Blood-stained mattresses and pillows are carried out i

nd to each wounded man, and we were glad of her visit, if for no other reason than that some sort of cleaning and tidying was done in her honour. To-night Mr.

ese men are not wound

he sight of wounds and suffering. They are bright and witty about amputations

ss Macnaught

r Munro's

s, Be

Oct

ar Pe

AGEDY

begin to tell you all that is happening, and it is really beyond what one is able to describe. The tragedy of pain is the thing that is most evident, and there is the roar and the

gs falling about them and took out all they could. Except where the fire is hottest one women goes with each car. So far I have been doing ward work, but one of the doctors is taking me on an ambulance this afternoon. M

had miraculous escapes after being hit. Things happen too quickly to know how to describe them. To-day when I went

urgeons are working in shifts and can't get the work done. We are losing, alas! so many patients. Nothing can be done for them, and I always feel so glad when they are gone. I don't think anyone can realise what it is to be just behind the line of battle, and I fear there would not be m

he is sent to Calais. We have to keep emptying the wards for other patients to come in,

ns, so we shall always know when they ar

r l

cnaug

ok beautiful, like eagles wheeling in their flight. It is all far too lovely

tal was evacuated suddenly owing to the nearness of the Germans

legs smashed. I was taking one old woman to the civil hospital and I had to pass eighteen dead men; they were laid

E OF THE F

e days when the sky takes up nearly all the picture and the world looks small. The mud was deep on the road, and a

ls bursting and leaving little clouds of black or white in the sky. We signalled to a gun not to fire down the road in much the same way as a bobby signals to a han

and men lying on it in the chilly weather. Here and there through some little window one sees surgeons in their white coats dressing wounds. Half the world seems to be wounded and inef

d being marched in, proudly holding his head up. Lots of the men figh

army, and was behind a gun-carriage when it was fired upon and started. Reading clung on behind with both his legs broken, and h

ERI

ionality, and the town seemed large and well lighted. It was crowded with people to see all our ambulances arrive. We went to a café, where there

p. It was delightful. Each of us had a snowy white bed with white curtains in a long corridor, and the

empty as all the patients had been evacuated, and there was nothing to do till fresh ones should come in. Three shells came over to-day and lan

NK

e because the Hermes had been torpedoed and they had gone to her assistance. No doubt the torpedo was intended for the

a at the Consulate one afternoon, and was rather glad to get away from t

urchill, at a meeting held at the Chapeau Rouge Hotel. Rather too many valuable men in one room, I thought-especially with

at with a Coldstream man who was there. He told me he was carried to a barn after being shot in the leg and the bone sha

driven in so far by the shot I couldn't find it

s-shed. They get nothing to eat, and the atmosphere is so bad that their wounds can't be dressed. They are all patient, as usual, only the groans are heartbreaking sometimes. We are arra

sufferings of the wounded Miss Macnaughtan alludes to any hardships endured by Briti

t was heavy with wounded, and shells were dropping very near. She-the most courageous woman that ever lived-was quite unnerved at last. The glass of the car she was d

in such-and-such a farmhouse, and he ha

s in front of her, and he disappeared altogether. The dark mass she had seen in the road was a huge hole made by a shell! After steering into dead horses and going over awful roads Mrs. Knocker ca

ll sides and just a hell of suffering. One man yelled to me to-night to kill him. I wish I might have done so. The tragedy of war presses with a fearful weight after being in a hospita

EU

gone. The trees round about are burnt up and shot away. In the roadway are great holes which shells have made. The very cobbles of the street are scattered by them. Not a window remains in the place; all are shattered and many hang from their frames. The fronts of the houses have fallen out, and one sees glimpses of wretched domestic life:

some cheap ornaments stand intact on a mantelpiece. From another a little ginger-coloured cat strolls out unconcernedly! The bedsteads hang

't succeed. This afternoon I made up my mind to return to our villa and write my diary. The day was lovely, and I meant to enjoy a rest and a scribble, but so strong was the horrid influence of the place that I couldn't settle to anything. I can't describe it, but it seemed to

pretty little house, with three beds in it, and we are eighteen people, so most of us sleep on the floor. It wouldn't be a bad little place (except for the drains) if only there wasn't thi

ere is a tap in the bath-room and one basin at which everyone tries to wash and shave at the same time. We get our meals at a butcher's shop, where there is a large room which we more than fill. The lights of the

it is generally quite 10 o'clock before all the brown-hooded ambulances with their red crosses have moved out of the yard. We do not as a rule meet again till dinner-time, and even

hell, which however did not hit him. Yesterday Mr. Secher was shot in the

ing coffee at our picnic lunches, was put up against a tree and shot at daybreak. Someo

ATIC I

hrough the room. A French officer had discharged his pistol by mistake, and he lay on the floor in his scarlet trews. The scene was really the Adelphi, and as the man had only slightly hurt himself one was able to appreciate the scenic ef

rned lamps and gloom, was one I shall not forget. The railway-lines on each side of the covered platform were spread with straw, and on this wounded men, bedded down like c

h; then rows of men of every colour and blood; Zouaves, with their picturesque dress all grimed and colourless; Turcos, French, and Belgians. Nearly all had their heads and hands bound up in filthy dre

lémentine

ove

rest C

it? I know you are the person for it,

places, such as dressing-stations and railway-stations, nothing is provide

d left there. They may, and often do, have to wait for hours till a train loads up and starts. Even those who are brought to the Field Hospital have to turn out long before they can walk or sit, and they are carried to the local station and put into covered horse-boxes on straw, and have to wait till the train loads up and starts. You see everything has to be done with a view

OF THE

Mr. Burbidge has, or can obtain, old horse-vans which can be fitted up as travelling-kitchens. He is doing one now for Millicent, Duchess of Sutherland; it is to cost ￡15, which I call very cheap. I wish you could see it, for I know you could improve upon it. It is fitted, I understand, with a copper for boiling soup, and a chimney. There is also a plac

through and get the vans off. The Invicta, from the Admiral

TRAVELLIN

or identification. I thought we might begin with three, and get them sent out at once, and go on as they are required. I must have a capable person and a helper i

tin cups hung round, with one oil-lamp to keep the jug hot. The w

ed tape!... No permission need be given for the work of these kitch

think of things that no one else thinks of. I can get voluntary workers, but meat and vegetables are dreadfully dear, so I shan't be able to spend a gr

, all suffering. Sometimes there are fifteen hundred in one day. Last night seven hundred lay on straw in a huge railway-shed,

n a town that has been thoroughly shelled? At Furnes we have a good many shells dropping in, but no real bombardment yet. After Antwerp I don't seem to care about these visitors. We were under fire there for eighteen hours, and it was a bit of a str

in Job, when Wisdom speaks and says: "De

age of it all appalled one.

ou are the person I want.... If anything should prevent your helping

lov

cnaug

usage; also, to take them to their destination th

little trollies would be for railway-station work. As we go o

ll

t looks. Suddenly we saw people beginning to fly! Soldiers, old men, children in their Sunday clothes, all running to cover. I asked what was up, and heard that a Taube was at that mo

ors were looking after everyone. The bomb by good luck had fallen in a little garden, an

K AT RAIL

s thigh. He had not been touched for eight days. Another man had a great hole right through his arm and shoulder. The dressing was rough and ready. The surgeons clapped a great wad of lint into the hole and we bound it up. There is

in bed till lunch time. Lady Bagot and I go to t

sterday, telling me that Alan is wounded and in hos

for the road, as spies are being shot almost at sight now. By good chance I got a motor-car which brough

F THE BRI

of the war has got right into him, and he has seen things which few boys of eighteen can have witnessed. Eight days in the trenches at Ypres under heavy fire day and night is a pretty severe test, and Alan has behaved splendidly. He told me the most awful tales of what he had seen, but I believe it did him good to

themselves on an arm for an instant, and th

ich he went was not quite finished, and he had to get out into the open and race across to where the unfinished trench began again. Poor child, running for his life! He was badly hit in the groin, but managed just to tumble into the next bit of the trench, w

d, "but the fire was awful." His regiment had, it seems, gone round another way. "I got thirty of t

ualties grows longer, and

singularly uncomfortable, as no one ever answered my bell, etc.; but I had a bed, which is always such a comfort, and the room was heated, so I got my things dry. Very

ean and well fed. It was quite different from Furnes, to which I returned on Wednesday. Most of us sleep on mattresses on the floor at Furnes, but even these were all occupie

Clémenti

des Ar

ker

ember,

st Cl

for to go to Boulogne to see my nephew, who is badly wounded. I can't explain the presen

verturn going round corners when hitched on behind ambulances. Some wealthy people are giving a regular motor kitchen to run about to various "dressin

IN THE S

he room (so near the station) may be commandeered. A van would make me quite independent, but I must feel my way. The situation

everyone knows, has waited for a permit for a week at Boulogne, and has now gone home. When all the useful women have been ex

Cross Society. I have set my heart on station soup-kitchens because I see the men put into horse-boxes on straw straight off the field, and ther

yours g

ll

eak of for ￡300. Everyone has given so much to the war I don't feel sure