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oiOLOGY
LIBRARY

This Book is supplied by MESSRS. SMITH,
ELDER & Co. to Booksellers on terms which will
not admit of their allowing a discount from the
advertised price.

A NURSE'S LIFE IN WAR
AND PEACE

A NURSE'S LIFE IN
WAR AND PEACE

E. C. LAURENCE, R.R.C.

AUTHOR OF "MODERN NURSING IN HOSIITAC. AND HOI.IB

WITH A PREFACE BY

SIR FREDERICK TREVES, BART.

G.C.V.O., C.B., LL.D.

LONDON

SMITH, ELDER £5* CO., 15 WATERLOO PLACE
1912

art

Printed by BALLANTYNE, HANSON «5r* Co.
At the Ballantyne Press, Edinburgh

PREFACE

THE charm of these letters, it will at once be found,
depends upon their simplicity, their artlessness, their
obvious candour. They present a plain, untinted
account of a nurse's career, of the difficulties' she has
to face, and the problems she has to solve. Those
who wish to know something of a nurse's life and
times will find in this writing a convincing narrative,
unemotional and matter-of-fact.

This is no small merit, since the record of nursing
/experiences is apt to be blurred by exaggeration or
made nauseous by sickly romance. There is pathos
enough in the sick-room and in the presence of death,
but those who come in touch with it would do better
to hush the knowledge in their hearts, rather than
to proclaim it on the house-tops. Apart from this,
the world must be a little weary of the astute sick
child who lisps melodrama into the ear of the " kind
nurse," as well as of the bizarre aphorisms of the dying
tramp.

The faults of management and lapses of discipline
which crop up incidentally in the story are now
matters of the past, and are no longer to be found
in either the " Children's Hospital " or the " General."

The novice who is entering the profession of Nurs-
ing will find in these letters a sensible and exact view
of the prospect that lies before her. She may further
glean some insight as to the qualifications of the good

vi PREFACE

nurse. These qualifications are to be expressed
neither by certificates nor by badges, neither by
starched uniforms nor by examination results. They
are happily beyond the mechanical gauge of any
examiner, and above the platitudes of the official
testimonial.

Of the perfect nurse it may be said that " her
price is far above rubies," and that her place is high
in the company of admirable women. She is versed
in the elaborate ritual of her art, she has tact and
sound judgment, she can give strength to the weak
and confidence to the faint at heart, she has that
rarest sight which can see the world through the
patient's eyes, and she is possessed of those exquisite,
intangible, most human sympathies which, in the
fullest degree, belong alone to her sex.

FREDERICK TREVES.
December 1911.

CONTENTS
i

PAGE

At School — Determined to be a Nurse — Royal Red Cross instituted

— Preliminary Training I

Visit to Tenerife— A Storm in the Bay— The Beauties of the Island 3

III

Up the Cafiadas— Voyage Home on a Cargo-boat — Call at Madeira 8

First Experiences in a Hospital — The Food — Some Medical Cases

—My First " Special' Case 14

Moved to a Surgical Ward — In Quarantine — A Poisoned Hand

—"Kathleen" „ ' . t « « ":..- . . . . 19

In the Out-Patient Department — Food improved, and Heavy Work
reduced — Act as Night Sister for two nights — Am offered a
post as Staff Nurse— My first Certificate 25

VII

To South Africa for a year — Voyage out on the Scot — T'y train

from Cape Town to Kimlxjrley 31

VIII
Life on the Diamond Fields— I meet Mr. Cecil Rhodes— The

Kimberley Exhibition 37

A Visit to Cape Town — Up Table Mountain — Return to Kimberley 42

ivii,

viii CONTENTS

PAGE

On Circuit in Cape Colony— A Visit to Natal — The Doctor's Fee 48

East London and Port Elizabeth— Down a Diamond Mine

(Kimberley) — Return to England ; .... 54

XII

Accepted for training at a General Hospital — I begin in a Medical

Ward — A sudden death 60

XIII

On the Surgical side — A heavy "Take-in "week — Lectures on

Physiology . .66

XIV

My first Typhoid Case — Diphtheria Tracheotomies — The Rescue

of the Cat— On Night Duty 71

XV
Christmas in Hospital — The Dispensing Examination — Acting

Assistant Matron — Three Weeks on Duty in an Infirmary . 77

XVI

First Sister in the Front Surgery — A Bad Accident — A Dog with a

Broken Leg 83

XVII

Temporary Ward Sister — Appointed Night Sister — Interesting
Work — Join the Royal National Pension Fund for Nurses — I
spend Christmas warded as a Patient ..... 89

XVIII

Chloroform for a Cat — I Volunteer for Plague Duty (refused) —
Appointed Ward Sister — A Fire Alarm — A Holiday in Switzer-
land— A Bomb in Paris 95

XIX

I go to Egypt — Nursing at Sea in rough weather — At Helouan —

Ride out to the Pyramids — The Kasr-el-Aini . . . .102

Up the Nile by Tourist Steamer — At Luxor — " Hare and Hounds"

on Donkeys 109

CONTENTS ix

XXI

PAGE

War in the. Soudan — Night and Day Nursing 115

XXII

Sent up to Assouan — Down the Nile on a Post Boat — A Saunter

Home across the Continent 120

XXIII

Back to my old Hospital — In a Ward for Women and Children

— Christmas in a Men's Accident Ward . . . .126

XXIV
Scarlet Fever— At Marlborough House with R.N.P.F. Nurses . 132

XXV

The Boer War — A Lucky Meeting at the War Office — Joined the
Army Nursing Service Reserve — Choosing fittings, &c., for
a Hospital of 100 beds . 137

XXVI

Voyage out on the Tantallon Castle — Some Military Hospitals near

Cape Town — We land in Natal . . . . . .143

XXVII

Inoculated against Typhoid — We begin to build our Hospital —
Increased from 100 to 200 beds — Unpacking — A Hospital
Ship at Durban 149

XXVIII

Our Food Supplies — Washing Arrangements — Snakes and other

Creatures — A Railway Accident — Our First Patients . .156

XXIX

The Princess Christian Hospital Train brings us some Bad Cases
— Men from Elandslaagte — Some Officer Patients — The Bishop
of Pretoria 162

XXX

Dengue Fever amongst the Staff — First Death amongst the Officer
Patients — Mafeking relieved — Our Hospital officially "Opened "
— Colonel Gal way — The Trappist Monastery . . . .169

x CONTENTS

xxxi

PAGE

A Spion Kop hero — Orderlies knocking up with Enteric — Worsted
work, &c., to amuse the Convalescents — Death of an Orderly
from Enteric — Poem by Officer Patients 175

XXXII

Some distinguished Visitors — We become a Military Hospital — New
Orderlies arrive — " Imperial Bearer Company " men — Our
Major 183

XXXIII

Changes on our Staff — The Arrival of Sick Convoys — Our Servants

— The Hospital Commission — The Difficulties of Transport . 189

XXXIV

I visit the Battle-fields — At Colenso — Ladysmith — Up Spion Kop

— Tin Town Hospital — On a Red Cross Ambulance . .196

XXXV

The Tugela Falls— Pieter's Hill— Hart's Hill— Chieveley— Mooi

River — Maritzburg — Back at Pinetcwn 203

XXXVI

Prisoners from Pretoria — Our Gardens — We start Poultry Keeping 209

XXXVII

The Natal Volunteers return home — "John" — Flying Ants and

other Plagues 215

XXXVIII

The Buckjumper — The Excellence of the Boer Ponies— The Home

for Lost Dogs ! 221

XXXIX

Sudden Orders for Home — Voyage with Lord Roberts on the

Canada — Call at Cape Town — A Funeral at Sea . . . 228

Lord and Lady Roberts visit the Hospital — Christmas at Sea —
We anchor off Cowes — Lord Roberts visits Queen Victoria at
Osborne — Sixteen days' leave — Rejoin the Canada to return
to the Cape . . 235

CONTENTS xi

XLI

PAGE

The Death of Queen Victoria— Lodgers at Wynberg— The Plague

at Cape Town — Up the Coast with Boer Prisoners . . . 242

XLII

Up Country — Under Canvas — The Sisters' Horses . . . 249

XLIII

Our Tent Flooded — A Cow shares my Tent — Night Duty in the

Rainy Season — Afternoon Duty 256

XLIV

In Charge of Medical Tents — A Present from the Queen — Within
Sound of the Guns — "Kit Inspection" — The Horrors of
Transport in the Ambulance Waggons . . , . . 263

XLV
A Sudden Collapse — The Winter Begins — Tired ofjhe War . . 270

XLVI

Night Duty again — A Sick Convoy arrives in the Night — A bad

Pneumonia Case — Nearly Frozen 277

XLVII

Mentioned in Despatches — 111 with Dysentery — A Night at Pinetown

— With my Brother to Uitenhage 283

XLVIII

At Port Elizabeth — Down the Coast to Mossel Bay — We drive, via
George, to Oudtshoorn — Martial Law — Under escort to Prince
Albert Road — By Train to Kimberley . » , . . 290

XLIX

Tales of the Siege — " Long Cecil " — Refugee Camps — A Picnic

under Arms . . . ..- 298

By Train to Cape Town — Night Sister on a Troopship — Some

Sad Cases — Home Once More 30

A NURSE'S LIFE IN WAR
AND PEACE

THE SCHOOL, LINCOLN,
1888.

THIS is my usual day for writing letters, and I have
nothing but the usual things to write to you about.
Each day we get up at the same time, do the same
sort of lessons (not very difficult), eat the same sort
of food (not very interesting), and go for the same
dull walks, with an occasional game of tennis on a
badly-kept lawn ; but I have been thinking, and
the long and short of it is, that I am going to persuade
my people to let me leave school.

I think you know that some years ago I determined
that I would be a nurse. To be exact, it was in 1883
that Queen Victoria instituted the Royal Red Cross,
and in the same year I was grieving over the fact that
none of the professions in which my brothers were
distinguishing themselves would be open to me, as I
was " only a girl " ; so I at once decided that I would
try to win the Royal Red Cross.

Well, I am not thinking so much about the decora-
tion now, as wars seem to be few and far between ;
but still I think the nursing profession is the only
one I am a bit fitted for, and lately I have been read-
ing everything I can get hold of on the subject.

2 A NtJRSE'S\Ll:KE: W WAR AND PEACE

Yqu'.see-;;I'*api;iit)t a, bit -clever, and I am no good
at music of languages- ;•' eo'.L Could never teach. And,
on account of having been so delicate when I was
small, I am behind most girls of my age in many
subjects ; but in the two terms that I have been
here I have won two prizes, and I think I can work
up any subject that I want to as well as most people
can.

I know I am not old enough to begin nursing yet, but
when I am, it may be necessary to pay for my first
year's training, so I very much want them to save
the money they are now paying for my education to
pay for that, as it seems to me that I am being stuffed
with many subjects that, after I leave school, I shall
have no further use for.

I have not yet quite decided which hospital I shall
go to. It is clear that if I want to join the Army
Nursing Service, I must go in for three years' training
in a good-sized General Hospital first ; but the best of
these hospitals won't accept candidates till they are
twenty-three, and that seems such a very long way
off. So perhaps I may take a preliminary year in a
Children's Hospital, or some other special hospital
first, but I am not old enough even for that yet ; and
as I think F. is going out to the Canary Islands for
the spring, I think it is very likely I may go with him,
as you know I love travelling.

I like this place very well, and I have many friends
here ; but one thing is quite definite, and that is
that I mean to be a nurse, and with that in view I
think I might be employing my time more profitably
than I am doing here.

PORT OROTAVA, TENERIFE,
April 1889.

HERE we are, in comfortable quarters and in glorious
sunshine, the grand old Peak of Tenerife (with its cap
of snow) looking down upon us.

I wish you could be transplanted to this warmth
and brightness ; but you would not have enjoyed our
experiences on the way here.

You know how cold it was when we left London on
the Ruapehu ; and all down the Channel it was very
cold, but fine and calm. We called at Plymouth (such
a pretty harbour) ; then, after we left there, our
troubles began. The next day there was a heavy
swell, and very few people appeared on deck. Our
stewardess, they said, had " happened of an accident,"
but we were well waited upon by a nice little steward.
M. was bad, and stayed in her berth ; but with the
steward's assistance I struggled up on the upper
deck, and I would not have missed it for anything.
Towards evening it was really blowing hard, and the
waves were grand. We took such plunges down into
the trough, and then the great ship trembled, and
seemed to pull herself together to rise on the crest
of the next wave and then take another plunge.

The men were on the trot all day, making every-
thing fast. It was Sunday, but there v/as no service
— the crew all too hard at work, and the passengers
chiefly in their berths. Towards evening I was

4 A NURSE'S LIFE IN WAR AND PEACE

wondering how I should " make " my cabin, when
the purser came along and asked if he might help me
down below, as the wind was still rising, and he had
been appointed " runner-in " by the captain, who
said we had all better be down below.

That night and the next day were really very bad
indeed. We were battened down, and the dead-lights
were screwed on about 4.30 P.M., and the electric
light supply did not come on till after six ; so for
that time we were in darkness, and some of the pas-
sengers were really very much frightened.

Tons of water poured on the main deck and down
the companion-ways, and men were bailing it out
near our cabins all night long. I kept feeling in the
dark to see if there was water in our cabin, as it rushed
past the door with a great " swish " ; but the step
was high, and it did not come over.

There was no sleep for any one that night ; it was all
we could do to keep from being pitched out of our berths.

The men were very funny as they bailed the water
out and mopped up. " Reminds one of washing-day
in our backyard — pity my old woman ain't here,"
" Sometimes we see a ship, sometimes we ship a sea "•
and heaps more to the same effect. Our steward said
he had never had to bail out so much water before,
and he had been six years on the ship. One of the
sails was carried away ; and when we got to Santa
Cruz the engineers discovered that part of the rudder
had gone.

Two cooks and one of the sailors were knocked
down and injured, but I think not very badly. Two
of the boats were washed out of the davits, and one
of the heavy deck-seats (next to the one on which
I had spent the afternoon) was smashed to bits.

A STORM IN THE BAY 5

Sleep was quite impossible, as it was most difficult
to keep in one's berth, and every now and then there
was a great crash as things were broken in the saloons
and "galleys. We are still bruised and stiff from the
knocking about.

I have always wanted to see a storm at sea ; but I
am now quite satisfied, and I shall never want to see
another. It is most unpleasant to be battened down,
and the engines sound to be so fearfully on the strain
and tremble that you feel you must listen for the next
beat of the screw, knowing that if the engines should
fail your chance of weathering the storm would be a
very small one indeed.

After that the weather improved, and also became
warmer, and the passengers one by one came crawling
up on deck ; but most of them looked as though they
had been through a long illness, and could talk about
nothing but their alarm in the storm ; and the captain
owned he had had a very anxious time.

We landed at Santa Cruz early one afternoon — a
very unsavoury town, with dirty beggars exhibiting
various loathsome diseases and following you about.

After a little delay we secured a carriage and three
horses to drive across the island to Orotava, twenty-
six miles distant — a pretty, winding road, cool up in
the hills, but becoming hot as we descended to Puerto
Orotava. The hotel was full, but we secured rooms
in a dependence ; and when we had rested and changed,
we found a carros ready to take us across to dinner.
A carros is a kind of sledge on broad runners drawn
by two oxen. They are much used in the town, as
the roads are paved with little cobbles, which would
pull the wheels about a great deal.

This is a nice hotel, cool and airy, and the garden

6 A NURSE'S LIFE IN WAR AND PEACE

is lovely — such quantities of roses, bougainvillias, and
bright trees of hibiscus. There is a good billiard-
room we can use, and it is open all down one side
(only matting blinds). That shows how dry the
climate is, as the table is perfectly " true."

The waiters are Spaniards, who know a little English
and like to use it. " This is jarm, very goot," &c.
We go about with our little red book of phrases, and
sometimes get what we want, but more often fail to
make ourselves understood. The natives are most
interesting, the children such pretty little things with
very bright eyes. Up in the hills they still consider
it is winter, and the men go about with blankets tied
round their necks ; and when they squat down on
the ground, the blanket flows out and makes a little
tent round them. Down here it is really hot, and
the small children wear nothing but a little chemise.
The women are pretty, and they wear brilliant-coloured
handkerchiefs tied over their heads.

We are close to the sea, and it is such a gorgeous
blue ; I have never seen anything like it before. I
suppose it is very deep round here, and the Peak
rises 12,000 feet, straight from the sea.

There is no English church yet, but the chaplain
holds services in a large room fitted up as a church.
Every one rides when he goes anywhere here, even
when going to church ; so during service there is a
large company of ponies and donkeys outside, with
the attendant men and boys (all in white suits, with
bright-coloured sashes), and now and again the donkeys
lift up their voices.

I have found a good chestnut pony (" Leana ") that
goes well. They are sure-footed little beasts here ;
and it is necessary for them to be so, as there is only

THE BEAUTIES OF THE ISLAND 7

one " made " road, and for the rest we scramble up
mountain paths. But when we get on the road they
simply scamper along.

M. has not done much riding ; and sometimes, when
we are scrambling up a steep place, I look back, and
find her holding on for dear life with a most resigned
expression on her face. But I think she is enjoying
it all immensely.

We walked up to the Botanical Gardens the other
day, and they are perfectly beautiful — arum lilies and
many of our choicest greenhouse flowers growing like
weeds, and the ferns here are so beautiful too. Up
in the kloofs (here called barrancos) we find maiden-
hair growing wild, and in such enormous fronds. I
measured one, and it was two feet high. At the
gardens a very handsome young gardener — a Spaniard
—gave us huge bunches of roses to bring away. All
the natives we come across are so polite and friendly
(every man you pass raises his hat), we wish we could
talk Spanish to them ; but so far, if we can ask for
what we want, it is quite as much as we can manage.
The better-class people often speak French, and I get
horribly mixed. The other night a solemn senor asked
me if I spoke French, and I said, " Un tres mui poco " !

The word they seem to use the most is manana
(to-morrow) ; as our nice waiter explained when a
gentleman said, " Antonio, the coffee is cold," " Ah,
it shall be hot to-morrow. With the English it is
always now, to-day ; with us it is manana"

We hear that Laguna is the fashionable resort as
soon as it becomes too hot down here, but that Icod
is the fruit-growing village of the island ; so we think
of driving over and spending a night there.

Ill

SS. " FEZ," ENGLISH CHANNEL,
June 1889.

SINCE my last letter we seem to have been chiefly
engaged in wrestling with steamship companies in the
vain endeavour to persuade them to remove us from
the island. F.'s leave was up early in June, and as
we had return tickets by one line, we wrote to them
in good time to secure berths. At first they made us
various promises ; but soon we learnt the truth—
namely, that all their boats were full in every berth
long before they came near the island.

Then we began to tackle other lines ; but, you see,
nearly all the boats come from New Zealand or the
Cape, and this is the favourite time for going home ;
also there is the attraction of the Paris Exhibition.
So I cannot tell you on how many ships we have
applied for berths, and always in the end received the
news, " Every berth full."

Personally I did not mind, as I enjoyed every day
on the island ; but it was awkward for some things,
and eventually we had to decide to sail on board a
small cargo steamer that calls at Orotava instead of
at Santa Cruz, and carries a few passengers home at
a leisurely speed. But before I tell you of the voyage,
I must tell you a little about our last few days on
the island.

One day we drove over to Icod, a pretty little village

UP THE CANADAS 9

about two hours' drive from Orotava. Much coffee
is grown at Icod, and also plenty of fruit — oranges,
lemons, figs, &c. We rode from there to Gerachico
(a pretty ride along the shore), where a whole village
was engulfed when the Peak last erupted ; but it is
now again built over, and we could not see much of
interest remaining.

Senora Carolina reigns at the small Icod hotel, and
made us very comfortable. But neither she, nor any
one we met in the place, spoke any English ; so it
was good practice for us, and our Spanish came off
better than I thought it would.

We decided not to climb the Peak, as you cannot
do it from Orotava without spending a night some-
where up the mountain ; but one day M. and I
joined a party for a day on the Canadas — the range
from which the Peak rises. We mounted our ponies
at 7 A.M. in brilliant sunshine, and at different points
picked up our friends, till we were a party of ten, with
a crowd of attendant boys to carry our lunch, &c.
The first part of the ride was easy and pleasant ;
then, as we got higher, it became more of a scramble
over loose stones, that any English pony would have
said were only fit for a goat to be asked to walk over.
Just as the path was becoming really steep we left
the sunshine, and found ourselves in a thick bank of
clouds, cold and damp, and had to go very cautiously,
in single file. The chattering pony-boys were very
silent (their spirits are easily damped), and said it
was " mucha /no." Soon we emerged above the
clouds into a scorching sun, and, finding a piece of
fairly level ground, some of us took a little canter to
try to get warm ; but we came to a sandy place, and
there Leana took it into her head to lie down and

io A NURSE'S LIFE IN WAR AND PEACE

roll. I saw what she was up to, and managed to roll
out of her way ; so my saddle was more damaged than
I was. But as my clothes were very wet with the
mist, the sand adhered !

We had a pleasant lunch, at a height of 8000 feet,
while the ponies were off-saddled and fed ; and some
of us thought we should like to camp for the night
and climb the Peak in the morning. But when we had
finished lunch we had only two ham-sandwiches left
between us, so concluded we had better return before
night.

The view was lovely, looking over the banks of snowy-
white clouds to the very blue sea, with the other
islands in the distance, and behind us the grand old
Peak.

The ride down (a different way) was rather perilous,
the ponies jumping from rock to rock in a perfectly
marvellous way, often just on the side of a precipice.
But it was too much for some of our party, and they
insisted upon walking down ; and this rather delayed
us, as they could not go nearly so fast, nor were they
so sure-footed as the ponies.

We got in at 8 P.M., very tired and very sunburnt,
but having enjoyed the day immensely ; and our
ponies were quite fresh, and wanted to gallop all the
way directly they got on the road.

I don't think I have told you about the tree-frogs ;
they make such a noise after sundown you might
think there were thousands of ducks quacking. A
gentleman wanted to take some back to England with
him ; so one day we caught half-a-dozen for him,
and they all escaped in our rooms ! Such a hunt for
them ! And I could not finish telling you about
Orotava without one word about theyfcas. They are

VOYAGE HOME ON A CARGO BOAT n

really a great trial, and seem to abound everywhere,
especially in the carriages.

After various false alarms our little steamer, the
Fez (560 tons), arrived, and began to take in a cargo
of pumice-stone. The solemn old oxen brought the
carros for our baggage, and our many friends escorted
us down to the jetty, where most of the Spanish
population seemed to be collected to see us off.

It is always a difficult landing at Orotava, and the
small ship's-boat gave us a good tossing before we
were hauled up the gangway. It was rather horrid
before we got away, and I was the only lady who
was not sea-sick before the anchor was up !

Such a change from the Ruapehu ! Just one very
small saloon, and our cabins very tiny ; no upper
deck, and very little room on the main deck ; of course,
no doctor on board, and no stewardess. But it was
only for a short time, we thought, and we were deter-
mined to make the best of things, and soon found
there were compensations — namely, a charming cap-
tain, nice crew, and most attentive stewards. And
very soon my small deck-chair was established on
the bridge, and I learnt more about navigation than
I should have learnt in years on a liner. There were
twelve of us passengers (all people we knew), and
twenty-tw7o officers and crew ; also a big dog, and a
sheep who occasionally strolled into our cabins, until
nearly the end of the voyage, when the meat hung
up in the stern (there was no refrigerator on board)
had run low, and then one day I saw a sheep's skin
being washed over the side ! There were also many
noisy cocks and hens, and a few ducks ; and, last
but not least, swarms of rats ! I had some sugar-cane
in my cabin, and the rats rather fancied it ; and

12 A NURSE'S LIFE IN WAR AND PEACE

when I threw things at them to make them go away,
they would sit on the cabin doorstep to wash their
faces and lick their lips !

We had lovely weather as far as Madeira. When
we got there we found it was a public holiday, and
we should have to stay three days, as there were
300 pipes of wine to be got on board, and the natives
would not work on the holiday. This gave us a good
opportunity to see the island, and it was very enjoy-
able. It is far more green than Tenerife, but I should
say the climate, though very mild, is not nearly so
dry.

The captain arranged a very nice trip for us to a
part of the island that is not often visited by people
who call only at Funchal.

We had to get up in the middle of the night, and go
on board a small launch (that takes the mails round
the island) at 2.30 A.M. It was beautiful moonlight,
and Funchal looked very pretty as we steamed away
round the great Loo Rock. We reached Caliette at
5 A.M., and had to whistle for some time before the
people woke up and brought a small boat out for us.

They made us some coffee, and we had breakfast,
and then got into hammocks slung on long poles ;
and two men carried us up and up the hills till we came
to a weird tunnel, which we went through by the
light of pine-torches, and emerged in the most grand
scenery — rugged hills and beautiful waterfalls, such
very vivid greenery everywhere. And amongst all
the semi-tropical vegetation we came upon one bed
of English forget-me-nots that was most refreshing.

We lunched and rested for some time by a beautiful
waterfall, called, I think, " Rabacal " ; and then
going down it was very hot, and, in spite of the steep-

CALL AT MADEIRA 13

ness of the paths, some of us slept in the hammocks
as we jogged along. The men carried us about twenty-
five miles in the course of the day, and did not seem
at all tired. But there was a little competition to
carry me, as I was the lightest of the party ! We
got back to Funchal about 9 P.M., and were quite
ready for bed.

Owing to this delay at Madeira (on account of the
general holiday) the voyage is taking much longer
than usual, and by the time we get in — or hope to
get in — we shall be fourteen days out from Orotava,
instead of the five days we took from London to
Santa Cruz. In consequence of this the provisions
are running rather low, and a few things have quite
run out ; but I have enjoyed the voyage immensely.

Before I return home, I hope to visit two or three
Children's Hospitals in London, to be interviewed by
the matrons, so as to settle where I will go to begin
training. I am not old enough for admission to a
General Hospital yet.

CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL, LONDON,
June 1891.

I THOUGHT 1 would wait till I had been here three
months before writing to tell you of my raw pro-
bationer days. At first it was all so very new to me
that it seemed very, very hard ; and I really think
that, if it had not been for the fact that one of my
brothers had bet me that I should give it up in a
fortnight, I should have done so in the first week.
But I rarely bet, and when I do, I like to win ! And
having had to wait so many years before I could
persuade a matron that I was old enough and strong
enough, I really could not lightly give it up.

By the end of my month on trial I began to feel
my way, and was quite certain that I wished to stay
on if they would keep me ; and though they were
not enthusiastic in telling me my services were in-
valuable, their only cause of complaint appeared to
be that I was slow. So they were graciously pleased
to accept my fifty-two guineas (in instalments), and
for that sum to allow me the privilege of working
hard and fast for an average of eleven hours a day
(paying for my own laundry, and buying my own
uniform) for the period of one year.

I don't think I was slow in attending to the children ;
but at first a very large part of one's time is taken
up with cleaning and housemaiding — sweeping, dust-

IRISH EXPERIENCES IN A HOSPITAL 15

ing, scrubbing, polishing the brass taps and bed-
knobs, and washing the children's pinafores and
bibs, &c.

When I began, I hardly knew the difference between
a broom and a scrubbing-brush. I knew nothing of
the labour-saving properties of soda and Hudson's
soap, and I don't think I had ever dusted a room ;
so I did not know how fond the dust was of collecting
on the top of screens and pictures and window-ledges,
and it took me time to discover these things.

At home our breakfast-hour had always been 9 A.M.,
and, except for a day's hunting, there were very few
things that excited my interest before that hour ; so
I expected to find it difficult to have had my breakfast
and to be ready to go on duty at 7 A.M. But in look-
ing back upon my first week in hospital, the thing
that impressed itself upon me more than the trouble
of early rising was the fact that during that first
month I was always hungry ! I have got over the
difficulty now, as a weekly parcel of " tuck " arrives
from home ; and when this comes to an end, I buy
some potted-meat or (if funds are low) some plain
chocolate to carry on till the next parcel arrives.
Nearly all the nurses either have food sent, or else
buy a good deal. Of course I did not know this
would be necessary, and had not got money at first.
And there are a few nurses who cannot afford to buy,
but of course we share with them.

Dinner is at 6 P.M., and that is the best meal of the
day, as the Matron sometimes comes to it ; so the
meat is generally well cooked. It is always a scramble
to get lunch some time between ten and twelve, and
it is not interesting — just chunks of cold meat, and
(every other day) bread-and-treacle. Our butter is

16 A NURSE'S LIFE IN WAR AND PEACE

issued to us twice a week — J Ib. in a little tin mug —
and we have to carry this mug about, for meals in the
dining-hall and in the ward kitchen, for as long as
it lasts. But if you don't keep a sharp eye on your
mug, it often becomes empty in the first day or two,
and you stand a good chance of having to eat dry
bread for the days before the new butter is put out.
I very much dislike coffee ; but there is nothing else
provided for breakfast but coffee and a loaf of stale
bread, and our own butter (if we have any left), so
we don't seem to start the day very well. For the rest,
we make tea twice a day in the ward kitchens, and can
use the ward bread. If funds are high and the lunch
bad, we sometimes indulge in rashers of bacon ;
sometimes on Sunday we have a sausage or two ; but
it is more usual to fill in the cracks with tea and cake.

Up to now I have been working in a medical ward
of twenty-one cots. The sister has charge of a surgical
ward as well, and I think she prefers the surgical work ;
so we don't see very much of her, except when the
physicians go round, or when we have very bad cases
in. I like her very well, but she is rather stiff ; and
most of the information I am picking up is from the
staff nurse and from the house physician, who is most
kind in explaining the reasons for the various symp-
toms we notice in the cases, and what results he hopes
for in the treatment he prescribes.

We had a very sad case in the other day. A work-
ing man brought in a little chap of two, called Stanley,
very ill with pneumonia and rickets. He said his
wife was in another hospital (for an operation), and
he had to go to work and leave all his children in
charge of the eldest, a boy of ten ; and his wife had
been so very ill he had had to go to see her in the

SOME MEDICAL CASES 17

evenings, and so had not noticed how ill Stanley
was. At first he kept holding out his arms to me, and
calling in such a piteous little voice, " Lady, lady " ;
but he soon got quite contented, only every day
weaker and weaker. His quiet, patient father came
every evening and sat by him, and his mother was
to come to see him as soon as ever she was well enough ;
but the poor woman was too late, and when early one
morning she arrived in a cab with a nurse from the
hospital, he had just been carried down to the mortu-
ary, and we could only take her to see him lying there,
looking very sweet, with some white lilies in his hand.

Then we have dear Philip in. He is tubercular, and
such a pretty boy ; but I think he is too good to live.
I am afraid his mother drinks, and he has a rough
time of it at home ; but his father is a very nice man.
Here we all spoil him, as he is really very ill, but is
always so patient and bright. He has a mop of
brown curls and the smile of an angel. He is one of
the few children of the slums who always insists upon
kneeling up to say his prayers ; and though some-
times he has so little breath to spare that I have to
say the words for him, he just kneels there and smiles
when I get hold of the words he wants to help him out.

As a contrast, another of my patients was Samuel
Abraham, the very ugliest little scrap of skin and
bones you ever saw. When he came in he was seven
months old, and weighed only eight pounds. He was
in for six weeks, and absolutely refused to put on a
single ounce. Then every one got tired of Samuel,
and as I had not had a turn at feeding him, he was
handed over to me ; and, more by good luck than
by good management, he began to improve, and at
the end of my first week he had put on six ounces,

i8 A NURSE'S LIFE IN WAR AND PEACE

and since then he has steadily gained in weight, and
begins to look more like a baby than a monkey. He
went home the other day, and I wonder much whether
his poor mother will be able to rear him, as I am sure
he will miss the hourly attention he has had here.
We should have kept him longer ; but we had three
cases of scarlet fever, and they had to be sent to the
Fever Hospital, and all the children who could be
moved had to go home, and the ward will be sulphured.
But I am writing this letter as I sit in the bare ward
beside one poor little boy called Jackie, who is so
desperately ill with meningitis that they don't like
to move him. It is a curious case. Jackie belongs
to well-to-do people, and his illness was caused by a
fall out of a mail-cart. His head is so retracted that
it really nearly touches his buttocks, and he lies in
a stiff backward bow. He is quite unconscious, and
I have to feed him with a nasal tube ; his temperature
goes up to 104 and 105.

At first I was rather nervous at being " special "
with him, as I have been here only three months, and
I have never seen a case like this before ; and the
sister may not come in to see me, as she has to go
into the surgical ward, and we may still be infectious.
But of course I can ask her advice about anything,
and the house physician comes in twice a day, and
is most kind. He assures me no one could possibly
do more for Jackie than I am doing. I think he will
be moved to a small ward to-morrow (if he lives so
long), and then I expect I shall have to disinfect, and
very likely go to a surgical ward.

CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL, LONDON,

November 1891.

I KNOW it is a long time since my last letter to you,
but really the days are so full of work there seems
to be no peace for letters ; and at night one is so
weary that, after a wrestle to obtain a bath, one
feels fit for nothing but bed. And when I get to bed
I feel obliged to take my anatomy and physiology
books and do a little study, as the residents are very
good about giving us lectures, and I should hate not
to do decently in the exams.

I think when I last wrote we had just closed the
medical ward (whose Sister had had the honour of be-
ginning my hospital education), and after a few hours
off duty I was sent up to a surgical ward on the top
floor, next door to the theatre.

I went up rather in fear and trembling, as it was
noted for being the hardest ward in the hospital — as
the nurses were responsible for the theatre as well —
and I didn't see how I could squeeze more work into
the days than I had been doing on the medical side.
But I received a nice welcome from the sister, and
soon found that she was one of the best. She didn't
wait for us to do things wrong, and then scold us ;
but she took pains to show us the best way to do
them, and then woe betide those who didn't do their
best!

I shall always remember my second morning up

20 A NURSE'S LIFE IN WAR AND PEACE

there, when she said, " Nurse, your bathroom looks
very smart and nice." It was the first time a Sister
had given me a word of praise, and from that day
I didn't mind how hard I worked to please her. There
was a different atmosphere about that ward, and I
soon felt better in it. The children, too, were a more
cheery set. Some of them were very ill ; but we did
not get the poor little " wasting " babies, and it was
very seldom we had a child who minded a noise, so
that the boys (at certain hours of the day) could be
allowed to sing all the popular songs of the day ; and
they were a very merry crew. Many people think
it must be very depressing to see so many sick chil-
dren ; but, as a matter of fact, the children have
very little pain — or, at any rate, only for a very short
time — and many of them are enjoying a better time
than they have had in their lives before. They are
kept clean and warm, and have plenty of good food
and plenty of toys to play with, and people who under-
stand them when they have a pain, even when they
can't explain where it is.

There have been many changes since I came here.
Several nurses who came after I did have already
left, and one has gone away ill. I had been in the
surgical ward only a fortnight when I was unlucky
enough to pick up influenza, and was sent to bed, with
another nurse, in a small quarantine-room up above
the measles ward. They were rather suspicious as to
whether we had scarlet fever, as there was still some
in the hospital ; so no one was supposed to visit us
except the home sister. Her visits were few and far
between. Poor thing, she was stout, and the stairs
were many ! We both felt pretty bad with high
temperatures, and should have come off badly for

IN QUARANTINE 21

attention if it had not been for the " measles nurse,"
who had only two convalescent children, and she
used to break the rules and come up to look after us.
One day she had run up with an offering of buttered
toast, when we heard a door open downstairs, and
felt that the Matron was coming. Nurse vanished
into our little kitchen-pantry ; but there was no
escape from that without passing our wide-open door,
and, besides, the Matron was sure to call upon the
measles ward on her way downstairs. The buttered
toast was stowed away under the bed-clothes, and
we were trying to be calm and answer Matron's en-
quiries as to our health, when we heard a rattling of
the hand-lift on which our food was sent up from
the kitchen, and we realised that nurse had deter-
mined to crawl into that, and so descend to her post
of duty. With much alarm we heard the lift go down,
and trembled lest the unaccustomed weight should
cause it to go down with a run. Matron must have
thought us very distrait ; but we pleaded severe
headaches — a plea that was true enough — and she
soon went away, " hoping we should shortly be fit
for duty again." We were very thankful when nurse
appeared to report her safety, with nothing worse
than a crushed cap and a crumpled apron, which had
been severely commented upon by the Matron.

They were short of nurses, so as soon as I could get
about I went on duty again, and had a nice welcome
back to my ward. But it happened to be very heavy
just then with several small babies, and two of them
had hare-lips that had been operated upon, and it
was most important that they should not be allowed
to cry at all. So one evening I was sitting in the
ward cleaning some instruments that had been used

22 A NURSE'S LIFE IN WAR AND PEACE

in the theatre for a nasty case of mastoid abscess,
and one of these babies began to whimper. I jumped
up to subdue it, and in doing so I had the bad luck
to prick my thumb. The baby soon settled down
again, and then Sister came in and cleaned and dressed
my thumb ; but in a few days I was in for a badly
poisoned hand, and it had to be opened in several
places by the house surgeon. He wanted me to be
off duty, and out-of-doors as much as possible ; so
Sister arranged to give me some extra off-duty time,
and was awfully kind in doing part of my work for
me. But when she told Matron about it, Matron
said, " Nurse has been off duty over a week with
influenza. If she has to go off again, she had better
go home and stop there, as she is not strong enough
for the work." But Sister didn't want me to go, and
fortunately the ward was getting lighter, and I could
keep the babies quiet even with my arm in a sling ;
so I did what I could, and was sent into the kitchen
when the visiting surgeon went round, lest he should
order me away. The house surgeon was furious with
the Matron about it, but he looked after me well,
and though my arm was very painful for a fortnight,
and allowed me very little sleep, it soon improved.
But my thumb is still stiff and unbendable, and the
house surgeon is afraid it will always be so, as he
had to cut into it so deeply.

I must tell you about a quaint child we had in
about that time. She was a little Irish girl railed
Kathleen, with a mop of red hair and a pretty little
face, but with very crossed eyes. Kathleen was five
years old, but had never walked, as her legs were badly
deformed ; but she got about at a great pace on the
floor in a style of her own invention. You never

" KATHLEEN " 23

quite knew where you were with Kathleen. She had
a very sharp temper ; but she was devoted to Sister,
and was obedient to me. But any directions given
to her as to her behaviour by other nurses were re-
ceived with scorn and entirely ignored; and if Sister
and I happened to be off duty together, on our return
we generally had to remonstrate with the child for
some piece of naughtiness, and then she would soon
be sobbing and penitent.

One day I was off in the afternoon, and when tea-
time came Kathleen was missing. They searched
everywhere for her ; and Matron, who happened to
pass, joined in the search. Eventually she was found
shut up in the Sisters' dining hall, very much engaged
with the food-cupboard. The butter had all gone, so
had most of the sugar, some of the biscuits, and, when
discovered, she was just drinking up the vinegar with
relish. Matron remarked, " A good toffee mixture ! "
And then she spent half-an-hour trying to make the
child say she was sorry, but without success ; so she
smacked her, and sent her to bed ! On my return, of
course, I had an account of Kathleen's misdoings, and
thought it better to take no notice of her. All the
evening as I did my work the little white-faced thing
sat up in her cot watching me go up and down the
ward, with her poor crooked eyes quite dry ; but
when the children were all settled for the night and
the lights turned down, I went to her, and she flung
her arms round my neck and sobbed out, " I am sorry,
and I won't do it never no more. But I wasn't sorry
to that woman, and I don't care if she does smack
me ; but I shall tell my mother when I go home."
Then I lifted her out of her cot to warm her toes by
the fire, and after a long talk I extracted a promise

24 A NURSE'S LIFE IN WAR AND PEACE

that she would tell Matron she was sorry next day ;
and in a very few minutes she was fast asleep.

I expect that I shall be moved from this ward very
soon, and I shall be very sorry. The work is hard
and fast, but Sister works as hard as we do ; so we are
very happy together, and I feel I am getting on.

I have got used to the theatre work too, and (after
much labour) have learnt the names of all the instru-
ments in common use, so that I can hand them as
they are asked for ; and sometimes I am trusted to
put out what I think will be required for an operation,
and when Sister looks them over she doesn't often
find anything missing.

CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL, LONDON,
March 1892.

SOON after I last wrote I was sent down to the Out-
Patients' Department — quite a different kind of work,
and I shouldn't like it for long, but it was interesting
for a time.

The numbers vary a great deal. From fifty to a
hundred children may be brought up in one day, and
many of them require small dressings to be attended
to. Then, on two afternoons in the week, the sur-
geons do small operations ; and sometimes there are
half-a-dozen children all recovering from anaesthetics
at the same time, and all requiring to be carefully
watched.

There is a dear old Sister in charge, and one after-
noon a week we go out together to visit any special
hip cases that are being treated in their own homes,
after having been in-patients here. Such slums we
sometimes have to go to ; and yet it is wonderful
how nicely the poor mothers keep these children
when they are just shown the right way. We have
one jolly little chap, who has been for two months in
an extension apparatus rigged up on a big perambu-
lator, with the weight hanging over the handle. He
has improved so much that they will soon wheel him
up in his bed-carriage, and I think the doctor will
then sign his release from the extension.

Some of the nurses had rather a joke the other day —

26 A NURSE'S LIFE IN WAR AND PEACE

a joke which had good results for the rest of us. There
is a confectioner's shop near here which we largely
patronise, and these girls who were on night duty
were hungry as usual, and they went into this shop
for tea and scones before going to bed. While they
were there, our secretary superintendent came in ;
and afterwards Mrs. - - (who is quite a friend of
ours) told the nurses that, seeing them there, he asked
her whether many nurses were customers of hers ;
and she, pretending not to know him, said, " Oh yes,
sir; but we gets more nurses from the Children's
Hospital than from any of the other hospitals round
here. You see, they feeds them that badly there ! "
I believe he went straight back to the hospital and
made inquiries about our food, for not many days
after we had bacon for breakfast ; and now there is
always something besides the bread put on the table,
and we find it a vast improvement.
^Another thing has happened which has helped us
considerably. A new nurse has joined, who is a cousin
of the senior surgeon. She is an awfully nice girl,
but does not look very strong, and after a week or
two she retired to bed with a strained back (not very
bad). Then her cousin visited her, and then he
visited the committee ; and it seems they had no
idea we had to carry all the big lotion bottles up from
the dispensary, and the heavy blocks of ice from the
basement, and that we had to drag down the great
bags of soiled linen to the basement and then along
a lengthy passage — no joke on the doctor's day, when
all the twenty cots have clean sheets and counter-
panes, &c. So now the porters do these things for us,
and we mournfully regret that we were not clever
enough to arrange for one of our number to strain her

IN THE OUT-PATIENT DEPARTMENT 27

back at the beginning of our training, instead of
nearly at the end ; but without a senior surgeon for
a cousin it might not have paid ! Nurse is nearly
well again now, and she has asked me to spend part
of my next free Sunday with her at the house of this
same senior surgeon. I shall be horribly shy, but I
can't well refuse.

My brother H. has come to live in town now, and it
is very nice for me. He is reading for an exam.,
and has rooms in Barnard's Inn — such a funny old
rookery near Holborn, and not far from here. He
stands me a good dinner about once a week, when
I am off in the evening ; and in return I darn his
socks for him, try to take him to church on Sundays,
and report his doings in my letters home, so that he
need only send them occasional post-cards !

While I was in the Out-Patient Department I was
supposed to have my Sundays free, unless an " extra "
was especially wanted anywhere ; and one Saturday
evening I was preparing to go away for the night,
when a message came that the night sister was not
well, and Matron (who was going away till Monday)
wished me to go on duty for her for the two nights.
That was about 6 P.M. ; so I went to lie down for a
bit, and at 10 P.M. the home sister gave me the report
and the hospital keys, and I took charge, feeling rather
important, but also rather a fraud, as several of the
charge nurses then on night duty had been here for
many years, and knew far more than I did. How-
ever, we got on very well together, and I rather en-
joyed running round to the different wards, and
helping with the bad cases.

There was one especially sad case — a girl of ten who
had been frightened by rats when left locked up in

28 A NURSE'S LIFE IN WAR AND PEACE

a house. She had chorea so badly that we had to let
her sleep on a mattress on the floor, and it was most
difficult to keep any clothes on her, or to feed her.
Poor child, her temperature gradually rose till it
reached 107.8 before she died, a few days later. The
doctors said it was the worst case they had ever seen,
and I hope I may never see another case die of chorea.

On the Monday morning I went to bed at 5 A.M.,
and had to be on duty in the Out-Patient Department
at 8 A.M. We had a heavy day ; and when we finished
at 5.30 P.M., you can imagine my disgust at receiving
a message from Matron that I was to relieve the
nurse who was in quarantine with a whooping-cough
case, from 6 to 10 P.M. I was very glad the child
whooped fairly often, as otherwise I should probably
have gone to sleep.

The next morning I did over-sleep, and was ten
minutes late for breakfast, thereby incurring a lecture
from the Matron ; but I could not refrain from re-
marking to her that I had had only two hours' sleep
since Sunday (until that night), and she said, "What
do you mean, Nurse ? " And then it came out that
when she sent me to quarantine she had quite forgotten
that I had been on night-duty for those two nights, but
I had to relieve in quarantine again that night in
spite of it. Of course none of us ever mind doing
extra duty when it is necessary, but there were plenty
of others who might have done it, and got their full
amount of off-duty time as well.

Since then I have been working in several different
wards, and there are so many new nurses who have
come since I did, that I am generally first probationer
now, and it is far more interesting, and when the staff
nurse is off duty, I take her place.

OFFERED A POST 29

Matron has been quite civil to me lately, so I suppose
my reports have been all right, as I believe she disliked
me very much at first, and did not take much trouble
not to show it.

Just now I am again in the Out-Patient Department,
as Sister has been called home on account of illness,
and I am working it with another probationer, and
with no sister. The other probationer is two weeks
senior to me, but she has not been down in the out-
patients before, so we are not quite clear which of us
is in command ; at present I make her take the lead
on medical days, and I do on the surgical days, as I am
more used to the surgeons and their ways ; and we get
along very well.

I shall very soon have finished my year here, and
have been very much exercised over the question of
what I had better do next.

One of the sisters that I have liked here has been
appointed Matron of a small Children's Hospital, and
she has offered me a post as Staff Nurse. This was
very kind of her ; but, on the whole, I think I would
rather get my adult training before I do anything
else, as I am afraid it would be rather hard to begin
at the beginning again, if I went on to being a staff
nurse with children.

The Matron advises me to take a good long rest
before beginning in an adult hospital, as I have got
very thin and run down of late, and I am still a year
too young to be received at the best hospitals ; so it
is just possible I may accept an invitation from my
eldest brother to go out to him for a year in South
Africa.

In the meantime, I am gathering all information
about the London hospitals, and am to visit two or

30 A NURSE'S LIFE IN WAR AND PEACE

three of them for interviews with the Matrons before
I leave here.

I have passed my exams, all right, so my first certi-
ficate is fairly safe. For many reasons I shall be very
sorry to leave here, but oh ! I am so tired, and to
think of being able to stay in bed till I feel I want to
get up, is a joy indeed.

VII

KlMBERLEY, SOUTH AFRICA,

July 1892.

WHEN I last wrote to you I was still a humble pro.,
often a weary, hungry, and foot-sore pro., but withal
a happy one, and I hope one day to be a pro. again —
but for the present, times have changed.

I have come out to stay with my brother, who is
the Judge-President here. He has lived here for the
last eleven or twelve years, but this year there is a
great Exhibition in Kimberley, so he has taken a
larger house for the time being, and will be able to
entertain a few friends who will be coming up for the
Exhibition.

I left Southampton in June, on the R.M.S. Scot,
and had a very pleasant voyage out in good weather.
I suppose people are always especially kind to a " lone
lady " on board ship ; at any rate, I had a very good
time.

There were not many passengers on board, only
forty-two gentlemen in the first class, and seventeen
ladies, so I had a nice big cabin to myself.

The Scot is the only twin-screw steamer on that
line, and it was lucky she had a twin screw, as, when
I woke up the first morning out from Southampton,
there was a strange silence on board, and when I got
on deck I found there had been an explosion in the
engine-room, and the top of the high-pressure valve
was blown off ; there was some talk of having to signal

32 A NURSE'S LIFE IN WAR AND PEACE

for a steamer to tow us into Brest, but after awhile,
the engineers concluded they could patch up matters,
and we could proceed with one screw working ; this
reduced our speed, but I did not mind that at all.

The Bay behaved very nicely, and I did not miss
a meal in the saloon all the way out. We had a few
hours ashore at Madeira while they were coaling and
overhauling the damaged machinery, and the flowers
and fruit were beautiful as ever ; the men and boys
swarmed round the steamer in little boats, and would
dive into the sea for silver coins thrown overboard :
one or two of them could dive down under our ship and
come up on the other side.

The next day we passed the Canary Islands, and
had a good view of my old friend, the Peak of
Tenerife.

We had the usual board- ship entertainments ; two
dances (the stewards make a very good band), several
concerts, an amusing " Trial by Jury " of one of the
passengers, sports for the passengers and for the crew,
plenty of cricket and other games. This is the pro-
gramme for one day from my diary : —

Seven A.M. : Salt tub. 7.30 : On deck, tramp and
talk, and then read. 8.30 : Breakfast ; excitement
over the sweepstakes on the ship's run, &c. ; read,
prepare programmes for the concert at night, hunt
up people to sing, &c. ; watch a whale and flying-fish.
12.30 : Fire and boat drill by the crew, i P.M. :
lunch, sleep. 3 : play cricket. 4 : tea, choir prac-
tice, tramp and talk. 6.30 : dinner. 8.30 : concert,
tramp and talk and watch the phosphorescence, and
look for the Southern Cross till n P.M. ; then bed,
and as sound a sleep as though I had done a day's
work. A sea-voyage, with pleasant people on board,

VOYAGE TO SOUTH AFRICA 33

and not too rough a sea, is the most restful way of
taking a holiday I can imagine.

It was very damp and hot crossing the Line, and the
cabins became so stuffy that sleep at night was some-
what difficult ; but one could make up for that by
sleeping a few hours in the day when up on deck.

All too soon we anchored in Table Bay, under the
shelter of Table Mountain. Many people are dis-
appointed in their first view of Table Mountain, but
it has a grandeur all its own, and it grows upon you.

My brother was unable to meet me as he had in-
tended, but a friend of his came on board — a gentle-
mon who was down in Cape Town for the session of
Parliament — and I found it was arranged for me to
spend a day or two with him and his family at Sea
Point, a suburb of Cape Town, before continuing my
journey " up country."

Having come nearly 7000 miles alone, it did not
seem to make a great deal of odds having to do another
700 miles alone ; but I was glad of a few days' rest,
with pleasant people.

I had made so many friends on board the ship that
it was quite sad to say good-bye to them all ; and
I had more than one kind invitation to stay with
people in different parts of South Africa.

The day after we landed, I was taken to hear a
debate in the House of Parliament on the Deceased
Wife's Sister's Bill. The people I was staying with
went on to a reception at Government House, and
wanted to take me with them ; but I begged off, not
having unpacked suitable garments.

It is very pretty all round Cape Town, and I hope
to see more of it before I return home.

Then, one evening at 9 P.M., I was seen off from

34 A NURSE'S LIFE IN WAR AND PEACE

Cape Town Station, and was once more a traveller
on my own account, but not under such comfortable
conditions as on board ship. I learnt that the dining
and sleeping cars were attached to the trains only on
one night of the week (the night the mail-boats come
in), so I went in an ordinary first-class carriage, the
ticket costing me more than £8, and found the seats were
covered with horse-hair, and by no means comfortable
for a night journey. Above the seat there is a shelf
which lets down at night, so that four people can
secure lying-down room in each carriage.

I soon learnt, also, that in this upside-down country,
in spite of the fact that it was the month of July, it
was also the middle of winter, and as we got up to
higher altitudes it became intensely cold. I had the
carriage to myself at first, and, having piled on all
the clothes I had with me, I was trying to sleep, when,
about 2 A.M., two old Dutch ladies were put in with
me, and for the rest of the night they chattered, and
ate cheese and apples and onions, so that sleep was
impossible until they left the train at Matjesfontein.

I am told the scenery we passed through that night
is very grand. I hope some time to see it under more
favourable conditions.

Cold and hungry, about 7 A.M., we stopped for break-
fast at Matjesfontein. I took my sponge-bag and
towel, thinking I should find a waiting-room ; but
all I found was a tap on the platform, where we took
our turn at a splash in icy-cold water, and then went
on to a tin shanty, where breakfast was served —
kippers, good bread, indifferent butter, and moderate
tea.

There did not seem to be any hurry ; but when we
had all finished, and the engine had had a drink, and

FROM CAPE TOWN TO KIMBERLEY 35

the engine-driver had lit his pipe, we started off again.
And all that day we strolled across the Karroo, stop-
ping (apparently) just when the driver felt inclined,
and, when there was a hill, going so slowly one felt
tempted to jump off and take a little exercise by
running alongside.

It was very grey and brown, this wonderful Karroo
country, with occasional kopjes (hills with great
boulders of stones up the sides), and now and then a
river or a stream, and always by any water a green line
of the mimosa trees covered with their yellow flower.

As the sun grew stronger I began to forget the dis-
comforts of the night, and some pleasant Dutch
people came on board and told me many interesting
things about the country we were passing through.
Then I was introduced to my first swarm of locusts ;
a weird sight it was, too. They were pointed out to
me first when they were some miles ahead of us, and
looked like a small black cloud ; then, as they came
near, the sky seemed to become black with them,
and we had to shut all the windows or the carriage
would soon have been full of them. They tell me
sometimes the young ones settle on the lines in such
masses, and the lines become so slippery, the trains
can't get on, and the men have to turn out and shovel
them off. Fancy a Great Northern express being
held up by a swarm of locusts !

For most of the way the old waggon-road ran
alongside the railway, and was marked out by the
skeletons of horses and oxen, or the sadder sight of a
mound of stones with a little wooden cross, where
some poor fellow had " fallen by the way."

We stopped at Victoria West for dinner ; and as
there was another train (from up country) in the

36 A NURSE'S LIFE IN WAR AND PEACE

station, we were halted well out on the veldt, and I
had to stumble along to the station, and then, across
what seemed in the darkness to be a rickyard, to the
tin shanty where dinner was served. I was the only
lady there ; but I had only had a snack lunch on
board the train, and we were more than an hour later
than we had expected to dine, so I was too hungry
to mind much, and had a very good dinner. There
is only a single line for all this long track, so the
delays to allow trains to pass at the stations are
numerous, and it is well never to travel without a
supply of chocolate, as the meals are very movable
feasts.

I managed to sleep through that night, as it was
not so cold, and I had the carriage to myself. Early
the next morning we steamed into Kimberley, and
mv brother met me at the station.

VIII

KlMBERLEY, SOUTH AFRICA,

December 1892.

Two things are prominent in my mind to-day : the
first is that the thermometer is at 104° in the shade,
and the mosquitoes are perfectly vicious ; and the
second is that the Kimberley Exhibition, with its
round of gaieties, is actually closed. But before I
tell you about this Exhibition, I must try to go back
and give you a few " first impressions " of the Diamond
Fields.

As you come into Kimberley by train, you first
pass the Kaffir Location ; and, instead of the pictur-
esque dwellings that one sees in pictures, you see an
exceedingly untidy collection of huts built of all sorts
of odds and ends — bits of galvanized iron, old paraffin
tins, &c. Then come small tin shanties inhabited by
the " poor whites " ; and so the houses improve, as
one nears the centre of the town.

We drove down from the station in a Cape cart,
which takes the place of a fly here. It is a comfort-
able kind of dog-cart with two wheels, drawn by a
pair of horses ; it has a movable hood, and the four
passengers all sit facing the horse's tail. The most
comfortable seats are at the back, and part of the driver's
seat lifts up on a hinge while you get to the back
seat.

I found my brother had taken a house and bought
all the furniture in it, so there was not much difficulty

38 A NURSE'S LIFE IN WAR AND PEACE

about settling in, except hanging our own pictures
and buying a little more linen, plate, &c.

It was a nice brick-walled bungalow, with the usual
galvanized-iron roof, and a shady balcony (called here
a stoep) all the way round the house, so that one
could generally find a fairly cool place to sit.

He had also secured a very good white woman as
cook, and a dusky Zulu called George, who waited at
table, and generally fagged for the cook. George
looked about fifteen, so I treated him as I would a
boy of eleven or twelve, and he was soon my most
devoted slave. But one day I asked him how old
he was, and he said, " I was thirty-four last census,
missus." But I shall continue to treat him in the
same way, as it seems to answer well ; and, after all,
I think these blacks will always be rather like children,
however old they are. I find he has a wife at a kraal,
up country, and he is now saving up to buy some
cows wherewith to secure another wife. I understand
the present value of " a nice Kaffir girl " is seven cows !

There is a large compound at the back of the house ;
and thrown in with the house we found two dogs, a
dignified cat, and some fowls and turkeys.

At first I thought the Kimberley people were rather
uninteresting, and felt inclined to agree with the
barber who, when he was giving me a most refreshing
and much-needed shampoo after the dusty journey
up, said, "You will think the ladies here funny, miss,
for they absolutely never talk about anything but
their dresses"; but, poor things, there was very
little else to talk about.

Every one was kind in coming to call, and I soon
found some very nice people amongst them. Sunday
is the great day for all the gentlemen to call ; and

LIFE ON THE DIAMOND FIELDS 39

sometimes we had eight or nine men dropping in on
Sunday afternoon, and generally one or two came in
to supper after church.

There is a splendid library nearly opposite the
club (which is also a fine building), and I very much
appreciate the cool reading-room, with all the English
papers and magazines, only about a month old.

We play a good deal of tennis on gravel courts.
There are two days in the week when ladies can play
at the club, and some people who have private courts
have regular " days," so that I generally play three
or four afternoons a week. Just lately I have had
some good riding, as a young lady I know has gone
down to the Cape, and has left a nice and young
horse behind. Her mother offered to lend it to me
one day, and I had a glorious gallop over the veldt
with their groom ; and then a kind note came, saying
that " I was doing them a great favour by exercising
the horse, as it was too fresh for the younger girls."
I am glad to be able to do a favour so easily, and we
make up very pleasant little riding parties.

I think the thing one misses most in Kimberley is
water. If you ride or drive, you may find some out
at the waterworks or (a variable amount) in the river
out at Alexanderfontein, but the water you can find
within walking distance might be measured in buckets-
ful ; and the men are fond of talking of the " early
days," when it was cheaper to have a bath in soda-
water than in plain water, and of a notice that was
said to have been put up in a hotel, " Please do not
use soap, as the water is required for tea."

In the season, with careful watering, one can grow
a good many flowers. Roses do especially well, and
some people who are diligent with the watering-pot

40 A NURSE'S LIFE IN WAR AND PEACE

cultivate a small piece of grass ; but a few days'
neglect, or a few hours' visitation from a flight of
locusts, and your treasured piece of grass is as though
a prairie fire had been over it.

Of course there was much excitement up here about
the opening of the Exhibition. The Governor and
family came up from Cape Town for the ceremony,
and stayed nearly a fortnight in Mr. C.'s house — which
he gave up to them — and there was much entertaining.

We had the Colonial Secretary and his wife staying
with us, and also a daughter of the Governor of

Bechuanaland. As Mr. was the Minister in

attendance on the Governor, he had to bring his
secretary with him, and the police superintendent
posted a mounted orderly at our gate to take his
messages about ; so we felt quite important.

Many interesting people from all over South Africa
came up for the Exhibition, and I am afraid I shan't
be able to remember all those to whom I have been
introduced.

Mr. Cecil Rhodes was here for a few days, and we
went to supper with him one Sunday evening. He is
generally supposed to dislike ladies ; but if that is
true, he does not show it. There were not many
there, and I sat next to him at supper. I believe it
was a very good supper ; but the conversation was
so interesting (all about South Africa and South
Africans) I couldn't attend to it, and I went home
hungry, and had to have a private snack before I
went to bed.

The morning after the Governor arrived we received
an invitation to dine at Government House that
evening ; and it was rather awkward, as we had a
dinner party here. But P. and Mr. - - went off to

THE KIMBERLEY EXHIBITION 41

call and explain matters, and we were excused. They
gave two huge garden parties, which we attended, and
I enjoyed them very much — both the Governor and
lady so very pleasant and friendly. Another day
they were the guests of De Beers, and we also were
invited ; so we saw all the process of diamond-mining
under very comfortable circumstances : the blue
stone as it was brought up from the mines in little
trucks and laid out in the sun (surrounded by barbed-
wire fences) to pulverize, then collected and crushed
and washed ; and then we went into the sorting-shed,
and were given trowels to sort with, and I found four
nice diamonds in ten minutes, and should like to have
kept them ! then to the packing-room, and saw such
diamonds, bags and bags of them. Afterwards we
drove out to Kenilworth, the model village, all planned
by Mr. Cecil Rhodes for the De Beers' men. Such
nice little houses, with water laid on, and every con-
venience ; a good garden to each house ; a school
and a club-house ; a recreation ground ; and then
miles of fruit-trees — grapes, peaches, apricots, £c. —
that Mr. Rhodes has planted and has had carefully
irrigated. One could hardly believe it was so near
to Kimberley, and Kimberley dust.

Every day at the Exhibition there was a good band
playing, and every evening some fireworks and other
entertainments. Cricket matches — played on a pitch
of cocoanut matting — tennis tournaments, &c., were
the order of the day ; so that now, when the Governor
and other visitors have returned to the Cape, and the
Exhibition is closed, you can understand that Kim-
berley seems a little flat, and I am much looking
forward to a run down to the Cape next month by
way of a change.

KENILWORTH, NR. CAPE TOWN,
January 1893.

HERE we are, amidst lovely greenery and flowers,
with the turtle-doves cooing in the garden, and with
the very blue sea on one side and grand old Table
Mountain towering above us on the other.

Kimberley was really a very warm place before we
left it. We had had several bad dust-storms, when
you shut up all the doors and windows, and still the
dust comes through, and settles in inches on the
furniture, and everything you touch or taste is dusty.

One of the worst dust-storms, and the hottest of
days, was Christmas Day. We had invited a few
lonely men to dinner ; and when I came in to dress,
George met me at the door, and said, " Missus, kitchen
window all gone ; dinner no good." And when I
went to investigate, I found poor Stanley nearly
weeping, as the window had been blown completely
in, frame and all, on to the table at which she was
preparing our dinner ; and the dignified cat was
licking up the custard on the floor !

Fortunately the turkey was saved, and, with the
help of a few extra tins, we scraped together a fairly
good dinner. I don't know what would become of
the people in Kimberley if they were afraid to eat
tinned foods.

Besides the dust (and my old enemies, the mos-
quitoes), the flies were very horrible. They settle

4-!

A VISIT TO CAPE TOWN 43

everywhere, and it is necessary to keep everything
very well covered up. You have to shoo them off
the sugar before you help yourself ; and if you venture
to put some honey or jam on your bread, it is ten to
one there is at least one fly on it before it reaches
your mouth !

Well, we left Kimberley still gasping for rain, and
the train strolled down to the Cape in two days and
one night.

The scenery we passed through on the second day
was very fine indeed, all through the Hex River Pass.
I saw a good many baboons. One little chap scuttled
away, and then sat down and threw stones at us.
A most quaint little beast he looked, in a fury of a
temper.

Mr. met us at the station, and they have such

a delightful house and garden. You have no idea
what a rest it is to see plenty of greenery again, after
all the sun and glare of Kimberley.

All the people about here seem to be so very pleasant
and friendly, I am enjoying myself immensely.

We went to dinner one night at Government House.
I was shy at the prospect of going, but it was really

very jolly. I went in to dinner with Captain of

H.M.S. (now at Simonstown), and he was very

entertaining. The men were all in naval, military,
or court dress, and they looked so nice.

Another day Mrs. gave a picnic at Constantia,

the Government wine farm, and the Governor and
party joined us there.

It was a very pretty place, and after tea we went
for a scramble up a ravine to pick blackberries. Part
of the way up I was trying to disentangle Lady — - —
from a bramble, when the Governor turned round

44 A NURSE'S LIFE IN WAR AND PEACE

and called to her, " Hurry up, my dear, hurry up ! "
and she replied, " But, H. dear, I'm caught by my
hair." So he had to return to assist ; and then coming
down he twice fell down, and each time pretended he
had sat down only to admire the view !

On Sunday we went over to Simonstown to call on
the Admiral's wife. There were two captains of men-
of-war calling, and some other officers, and they
invited us to visit them on their ships ; but P. could
not spare a day. I was rather disappointed.

Mr. Cecil Rhodes was away, but we walked over to
see his place, Groot Schuur. It is a very lovely and
peaceful spot, just at the foot of Table Mountain, and
with lovely views in all directions. The hydrangeas
that he is so fond of are quite a sight ; they grow up
the sides of a hollow glen in the grounds, and the mass
of different shades is very beautiful.

Another day we went to lunch with the Chief Justice
at Wynberg. Such a lovely place he has, with many
beautiful trees in the grounds. Amongst others they
have a good many of the silver trees \vhich grow up
Table Mountain, and, I believe, nowhere else in the
world.

In the afternoon Lady drove us to a huge

garden party at Newlands (Government House). I
heard that 1600 invitations had been sent out, and
I should think most of them had been accepted. But
there was still plenty of room, and the grounds are
beautiful ; and there was a good band playing. One
of Khama's sons was there, but I did not meet him.

My brother was anxious to have a little sea-bathing,
so we stayed for a few days at a >small place called
Muizenberg, on the shore of False Bay. I have never
bathed in such deliciously warm water before. I

UP TABLE MOUNTAIN 45

believe there are some sharks around Table Bay, but
False Bay is considered quite safe ; so many Cape
Town people go out there to bathe, and some of them
have bungalows near the sea.

I was very keen to climb Table Mountain, so I left
P. for one night at Muizenberg, and went to spend
the night again at Kenilworth, with some friends who
were making up a " mountain party."

We were up early, and left in Cape carts — a party
of eight — at 5 A.M., and drove round to Hout's Bay
Neck. Most unfortunately it was a cloudy morning,
and the mountain is said to be dangerous in a fog ;
but we kept hoping it would clear, and we began the
climb at 6.45 A.M.

It was fairly steep, but never really a difficult climb.
When we got to the ranger's cottage, we found he
had just killed a horrid cobra snake that measured
5 feet 6 inches long. He did not hold out any hope
of the weather clearing ; but as we had gone so far,
we thought we might as well go on. So we clambered
to the top, where we arrived at n A.M., and were
greatly disappointed not to get any view. The only
compensations were the flowers we found, which were
simply lovely — huge white heather, and many-coloured
everlastings, and many flowers which I had never seen
before.

Coming down in the afternoon, it was blowing and
cold, and at one place we missed the path, and for
about a mile had to force our way through some thick
and very wet undergrowth, and then it began to
rain. So we were rather a draggled-looking party
when we reached the carts, and the drive home in
our wet garments was not exactly comfortable.

This may not sound as though we had a very

46 A NURSE'S LIFE IN WAR AND PEACE

enjoyable expedition, and yet I really did enjoy the
day very much. The people were all so jolly, and
made fun of all the discomforts.

Major - — , the Governor's secretary, was one of
the party, and he had provided himself with pins,
needles, bandages, sticking plaster, and all sorts of
other things, most of which came in useful in the
course of the day. I heard afterwards that he told
the Governor that he had never done such a hard
day's work before, as we made him walk for eleven
and a half hours, and only let him sit down for half
an hour !

The time has gone so quickly downvhere, as there
has been so much going on, and every one has been
so kind. We have had about twice as many invita-
tions as we could accept.

Now we are packing up to return to Kimberley,
and as they have had some good rains up there, I
hope we shall find it a little cooled down. If only
we could take some of this lovely greenery with us !
You have no idea how grateful you ought to be in
England that you can always find a green field if you
go to look for it, instead of perpetual greyness and
brownness and glare.

Soon after we get back P. will have to start off on
circuit in the colony, and I am hoping to go part of
the way with him, and then to start off on an expedi-
tion to visit some friends up country in Natal ; they
are fifty miles from a railway. I am looking forward
to this tremendously. And then soon after it will be
time for me to make tracks for home, as I have now
nearly reached the venerable age of twenty-three, and
am therefore eligible for beginning my training in an
adult hospital. And though this sort of life is very

RETURN TO KIMBERLEY 47

jolly for a time, I should not like it for always ; it is
not so satisfying as useful work.

I am quite sad at saying good-bye to all my friends.
I believe one makes real friends more easily out here
than one does in England. It must be something in
the air.

GREYTOWN, NATAL,
April 1893.

AFTER my last letter to you we journeyed back, over
the seven hundred odd miles to Kimberley, and found
life up there a little flat after the gay time we had
been having at the Cape ; but I had some good tennis
and riding, and then we had to prepare for the circuit.

At each place that the judge visits he has to do a
little entertaining, so he has to take a cook and a
butler with him ; and as some of the places where
courts are held are quite villages, he has to take a
certain amount of groceries along too — and, of course,
wine.

The Government provide a saloon carriage with a
small kitchen on board, so that is used as the judge's
headquarters when near the railway lines ; but many
of the places visited entail long drives in Cape carts.

The first place we went to was Colesberg, and we
arrived there at 6 A.M. We were quite a large party
with the barristers, the clerk and registrar, the inter-
preter, and the servants.

We were met by the magistrate and the sheriff,
with a smart escort of Cape Mounted Police, and a
party of convicts to take the baggage up.

We found a nice little house ready for us, the owner
having turned out to make room ; and, after a wash
and breakfast, the men all went off to the court, and
I stayed to unpack and get things straight.

ON CIRCUIT IN CAPE COLONY 49

There were three coloured girls left to do the house-
work, &c. None of them could speak English, and
they had several babies scattered about. I knew we
had to give a dinner party before we left, and felt
rather hopeless about how it \vould go with the material
to hand. However, everything went off very well in
the end. Lots of people called on me, and I had some
good tennis at the club, and also some nice rides on
a horse that was lent to me, the first one I have tried
since I came to this country that had a good mouth ;
most of them are ruined with the bits they use.

The surrounding country was rather pretty, and
good for corn and cattle.

We stayed four days at Colesberg, and then moved
on to Craddock, ten hours on the railway. There was
a lot of court \vork there, and it had to be fitted into
five days ; so the men were in court nearly all the
time — one night up to n P.M. — and I found it a little
slow. But I had some nice drives, one day going out
to see some curious sulphur baths, and another day
to a farm about eight miles off, where every imagin-
able kind of fruit seemed to grow\

After this we parted company, my brother going
on to Middleburg, and I for another run of ten hours
in the train to Port Elizabeth, where I joined the
Drummond Castle for Durban.

Various people seemed to have asked the captain
to take care of me, so I sat next to him at table, and
he was most kind. When he found that I meant to
put up at a hotel in Durban, he told me that he wouldn't
let me do that, as he had lots of friends there, and I
should have a much better time if I went to stay
with them.

We got to East London next day. The sea was

50 A NURSE'S LIFE IN WAR AND PEACE

rather rough, and there was a lot of cargo to get on
board, so we were there some time ; but I didn't go
ashore. When we had again got under way, the
captain came up to me and said, " I have wired to
some people in Durban to ask them to meet you
when we get there." Was it not kind of him ?

When we reached Durban I waited till the captain
was ready to go ashore ; and then we got into a kind
of huge clothes-basket, and were swung over the side
and into the tender, as these big steamers can't get
into the harbour. And when we had come alongside
the wharf, we found two ladies waiting for us, with
a sweet pair of cream-coloured ponies.

They assured me it was quite all right, and that
they really had lots of room, and the captain was to
come up to lunch. So off we drove to such a nice house
up on the Berea, with a lovely view right over the
harbour.

They were very pleasant Scotch people, and they
were so kind to me, driving me about to see the town, &c.

I stayed the night with them, and all the next day,
as there was no train till 6 P.M. ; and then they saw me
off, and made me promise to visit them on my way back.

I got to Pietermaritzburg at 10.30 P.M. (I believe it
is very fine scenery on the way up, but it was too dark
to see it), and stayed a night at a hotel, where I found
that my kind Durban friends had wired to the pro-
prietress to look after me ; so everything was very
comfortable.

I was up early the next morning to have a look round
Maritzburg, and made friends with the driver of the
post-cart, who promised me the box-seat. " John "
was quite a character, and he entertained me well for
all the forty-five miles we drove that day.

A VISIT TO NATAL 51

We got away at 10.30 A.M. with six tough little
horses and the funniest old Noah's Ark of a coach
you ever saw. The road was very rough, and there
were very steep bits down to rivers (or " spruits,"
as they are called here), and then a hard pull up the
other side. We changed horses several times, and
some of the teams were very raw and wild ; and the
leaders were sometimes inclined to turn round and
come to see how the shaft-horses were getting on.
So John had to use his huge whip at times, and I had
to cling on, and I got so bumped about that I was
stiff for days afterwards.

John had many interesting stories to tell, having
been a despatch-rider for us in the Zulu War.

My friends met me a mile or two outside Greytown
with a mule-cart, in which we drove up to their farm
— such a delightful old house. It really belongs to
Mrs. - -'s father, but he is in England now, where
they have some children at school ; so they have come
up from their smaller house in Greytown to take care
of the farm.

I have been here a fortnight now, and have enjoyed
every minute of it. For one thing, the climate is
delightful. It is pretty hot, but not the damp heat
you find near the coast, nor the dusty heat of Kim-
berley. So I am feeling very fit, and the people are
so nice I should like to stay for months. It is a very
free-and-easy life, and we are waited upon by a man
in a shirt and an apron of cats' tails !

It is very pretty country, and I am having delightful
rides on a good horse. One day we rode out to see
some people who live fifteen miles away from here,
and they insisted upon our staying the night. Of
course they don't get many visitors out there. The

52 A NURSE'S LIFE IN WAR AND PEACE

next morning we rode on to a place where we got a
splendid view over what they call the Thorne country,
right into Zululand. We could see the Mooi River
valley, and they pointed out to me where the " de-
fence of Rorke's Drift " saved Natal.

I had never been inside a Kaffir hut, so we went one
day to explore ; and I was taken to call upon " Six-
pence," a Zulu who works here. We had to crawl
into the wattle and straw hut on our hands and knees,
and at first I could not see anything and could hardly
breathe, as the only escape for the smoke from their
fire is through the doorway ; but we squatted down
on the floor — which looked clean and polished with
much sitting upon — and soon I made out Mrs. Six-
pence (Sixpence can only afford one wife), with a
blanket draped around her, and four children. The
baby was absolutely naked, and the other children
were chiefly clad in beads. And then there was Six-
pence's mother, a poor old thing who is over a hundred,
and can remember Chaka, the great Zulu chief.

I have collected many curios while staying here,
and the other day I was given the skin of a huge
python 1 8 feet long, which had been shot near to the
house not long before. I can't bear snakes and
creeping beasts, and there are a great many of them
up here. There is more grass than there is in Cape
Colony, and so better cover for the beasts. The other
day, when I was out riding, my horse gave a great
jump aside, and after I had remonstrated with him
I looked back, and saw a horrid snake sitting up and
hissing at us ; so I had to explain to my gee how
sorry I was that I had spoken !

The doctor with whom I am staying has to take very
long journeys on horseback to see his patients. He

THE DOCTOR'S FEE 53

seems very popular, and often has to go to Kaffir
kraals a long way off, though many of the natives
still stick to their faith in the witch-doctors and their
weird remedies. Very often they have no money, so
he is paid in kind ; and sometimes he returns from
a visit to a chief with one or two cows, which he has
to drive home before him.

Several people have asked me to stay with them ;
and if I was not in such a hurry to get back to work,
I am sure I could put in several months up here with
much enjoyment, the Natal people are quite delightful,
and so hospitable. But John has promised me the
box-seat on his Noah's ark again on Tuesday, and I
must once more make tracks for Kimberley.

KlMBERLEY, SOUTH AFRICA,

June 1893.

I MANAGED my journey back from Natal very com-
fortably, and made several new friends on the way.

The drive on the post-cart from Greytown to Maritz-
burg was somewhat perilous, as there had been a great
deal of horse-sickness about, so that good horses were
scarce ; and several of our teams were very raw, and
there was much bucking and kicking before each
start ; and several times the harness broke down,
and John had to descend to make repairs. I am sure
the passengers in the body of the ark were terrified
lest the horses should take it into their heads to start
off while the reins were entrusted to me ; and though
I am pretty good at managing a horse, I should be
shy of trying to drive six of these bucking creatures.
However, we got safely down to Maritzburg in the
course of the day, and again I had to spend a night
there, taking the train the next morning for Durban.

The railway between these two towns is a wonderful
piece of engineering work, crawling up one side of a
mountain and scuttling down the other; very fine
scenery, with sub-tropical vegetation, all the way
down.

My good Durban friends again met me, and were
most kind, putting me up for the night, and then
seeing me off on the Courland Castle, rather a tub of
a coasting vessel, that gave us such a pitching about

EAST LONDON AND PORT ELIZABETH 55

that even I succumbed and was sea-sick. This greatly
annoyed me, as I had come all the way out to the
Cape without a qualm !

I had meant to do a jaunt up from East London
to visit some people at Grahamstown and at King
William's Town, but I was so happy at Greytown
that I stayed on longer than I intended, and had to
give up the other visits.

We anchored off East London for some hours, and
the captain took me ashore to lunch with some friends
of his ; and they took us for a nice drive round the
town and out to a place called Cambridge, where we
picked oranges and lots of flowers. The scenery at
the mouth of the Buffalo River is very pretty.

Then we went on to Port Elizabeth, and the captain
again took me out to lunch ; and we had a pleasant
day exploring the town with some of his friends, and
in the evening they saw me off by train for Kimberley.
The train was rather full, but I was so tired that I
slept all night, and woke up only just in time to
get some breakfast at Craddock. I am getting quite
experienced in making good use of the twenty minutes
they allow you to get meals at these wayside stopping-
places.

All that day we were strolling along in the train —
dinner at De Aar Junction in the evening — and at
4 A.M. the next morning I reached Kimberley. No
one to meet me, and no cabs ; so I left my baggage
with a porter, and walked down to our house. Peter,
the cat, was holding an "at home " in the garden,
and Carlo, the retriever, was on the stoep to welcome
me, and assisted me to find the key under the door-
mat ; and I was glad to find my bed ready to tumble
into, after a much-needed wash.

56 A NURSE'S LIFE IN WAR AND PEACE

It is winter here now, and the people seem rather
more energetic than usual. I have been to two dances
since I got back, and there are some dinner parties in
prospect.

The other day I went down a diamond mine — a
thing visitors don't often do, though, of course, a good
many see all the workings above ground. I had to
dress up in a canvas overall suit and sou'wester, and
then, in a very rough cage, we were lowered to the
i8oo-feet level. I hear they will soon be working
at 2000 feet below the surface, but 1800 feet is the
depth they are working just now.

It was all very interesting — swarms of natives (with
very little on !), and the fussy little trucks rushing
about with their loads of the blue-stone, in which the
diamonds are found — but I was rather glad to get
back to the daylight again.

Then on Sunday afternoon I was invited to go and
see a war-dance by the Zulus in the mine compound.
It was really very fine. Only one tribe is allowed to
dance at a time, or there would soon be fighting ; and
the men of the other tribes kept away at the far end
of the compound, and would not look on. There were
about forty Zulus dancing. They were dressed in
little aprons of cats' tails and a few beads, and wore
feathers on their heads, and were waving skin shields
and knobkerries (sticks with weighted knobs). They
all stood in a row, and stamped, and clapped, and
danced, and sang in very good time ; and then single
ones stalked out in front of the others, and, throwing
themselves into extraordinary attitudes, with much
stuttering and stammering, they recounted the great
deeds they had done in war, and the others all chimed
in with great " Hoos " and " Hoofs " of approval,

DOWN A DIAMOND MINE 57

stamping on the ground like angry bulls. Some of
these men fought against us in the Zulu War. After
the dance was over, one very fine fellow was intro-
duced to us as the man who had carried a lot of
Englishmen out of the mine when it was on fire a year
or two ago.

I think it is a wonderful system by which all these
tribes — that have hated each other for generations —
can be made to live together in one compound, working
side by side, and earning very good wages. They
have separate huts and messes, but they buy at the
same store, and share the same chapel, hospital, and
swimming-bath.

There are about 2000 men in the compound, and
they all seemed very happy. No beer or spirits are
allowed. Any man who likes can learn to read and
write while he is in the compound ; and many of them
were sitting round the fires, where they were boiling
their mealy meal, reading to their mates.

We went into the hospital, which was very clean
and trim. Natives in white suits, acting as atten-
dants, showed us with pride their neatly-kept charts.
There were one or two minor accidents in, and some
bad cases of pneumonia, but they all appeared well
cared for and comfortable.

The lady who lent me her horse has now returned
to Kimberley, so I have not had so much riding lately ;
but the other night we had a glorious scamper out to
Alexanderfontein by moonlight. About ten of us
went, and we had supper out there. W7e had rather
a mixed lot of horses and saddlery, and on the way
back first one saddle came to grief, and then another.
I distributed my gear by degrees — a girth to a gentle-
man who was riding with only one girth and it gave

58 A NURSE'S LIFE IN WAR AND PEACE

way, and I had two ; a stirrup to a lady who dropped
hers, and came off in consequence ; and one of my
reins to another lady, whose horse was too excited by
the crowd of us, and required to be led. The others
chaffed me, and begged for the bridle, and then for
the saddle !

Now I am busy packing up for home, and trying to
arrange things for my brother, who, when I go, intends
to move into a smaller house just opposite to the
club. There is also a good deal of tennis on just now,
and between whiles I am struggling to pay my fare-
well calls. I was rather surprised to find there were
about forty people I ought to call on ; and as Kim-
berley does not wake up from its siesta until 4 P.M.,
and it is dark by 6 P.M. now, it is difficult to get through
things, and George will have to take some P.P.C. cards
round for me.

R.M.S. " SCOT," BAY OF BISCAY,
July 1893.

I am sorry I neglected to post this yarn from Kim-
berley ; but I believe I will still post it when I land,
as I may not see you yet awhile, and it will bring the
history of my travels up to date.

I was more sorry to leave Kimberley than I expected
to be ; but I suppose one can't live in a place for a
year without making some friends whom you are
sorry to leave.

I journeyed down to the Cape all alone ; but some
Cape Town friends came to see me off, and it was
quite home-like to be on the Scot once more.

The chief officer invited me to sit at his table, and
we have had a delightful voyage, good weather, and
pleasant people.

RETURN TO ENGLAND 59

We had a few hours ashore at Madeira, and I think
the flowers seem more beautiful every time I go there.
Some day I should like to stay some weeks in the
island.

We were all shocked to hear of the wreck of the
Victoria off Tripoli, and the loss of 420 lives ; it does
seem terrible.

We find that, if all goes well, we should land on the
day of the wedding of the Duke of York and Princess
May.

The Bay of Biscay is behaving like a lamb. This is
the fourth time I have been through it, and only once
has it kicked up its heels and been really disagreeable.

I am going to spend a few days in town before I go
home, so as to be interviewed by two or three matrons
of the big hospitals. I think I know which hospital
I would like best to get into, but whether I can per-
suade that particular matron that she really will have
a vacancy in the autumn (I must spend a little time
at home first), and that I really am the most suitable
candidate for that particular vacancy, remains to be
proved.

I am rather thin in consequence of the heat, but I
am as brown as a berry ; so I am sure they ought to
think I look tough enough for the work.

XII

GENERAL HOSPITAL, LONDON,
May 1894.

IT is a long time since I last wrote to you, but there
has not been much of interest to write about.

I tried very hard to get into some London hospital
last autumn, but could not find a vacancy in any
really good one, so I made up my mind it was better
to wait for a vacancy here — where I had always wanted
to train — than to slip in anywhere, where I did not know
that the training was good. So I have just stayed at
home, and in the summer played tennis and cricket,
and learnt to make butter and jam, &c., and in the
winter had a little hunting (on rather a stupid horse
that was always doing something foolish, and one
day distinguished himself by lying down at the meet !),
and helped to teach in the night-school, where big
lads and men, who had been cutting turnips for the
sheep all day, came in the evenings to learn arith-
metic, geography, &c., with much perseverance.

I went to help at the N. General Hospital for a
month in the autumn, as they had a lot of nurses ill.
It was rather funny, as I was sent to a men's ward
(35 beds) as staff nurse ; and of course I had had
to do only with children before, so I had to pretend
to know rather more than I did.

I had been there only a few days when the Sister of
my ward went off duty with influenza, and there did

not seem to be any one to come in her place ; so we

ACCEPTED FOR TRAINING 61

had to muddle along without a Sister. But every-
thing went on all right, and the patients did well.

The Matron asked me to stay on permanently ; but
I thought a London certificate would be more valu-
able afterwards, so I only stayed until their sick
nurses were able to return to duty.

I rather enjoyed my time there. The rough cleaning
work that \ve had had to do at the Children's Hospital
was all done by ward-maids, so we were able to give
all our attention to the actual nursing ; also our food
was better, and more plentiful. But in spite of these
things, there seemed to be a great deal of grumbling
amongst the nurses. I was not accustomed to this,
and I was not there long enough to learn whether
they really had any good cause for their complaints.

The work was certainly hard, but that was partly
because so many sisters and nurses were off duty ill ;
and when the doctors found that I was doing the
Sister's work as well as my own, they were most con-
siderate in trying to save me trouble.

I had been promised a vacancy here " in the summer "
as an ordinary probationer for three years' training.
Then, one day early in February, I had a wire from
the Matron asking me whether I would like to enter
as a lady pupil " if my fees were arranged for," and
if so, I was to go up to see her the next day. I could
not understand a bit what it meant, but thought I
had better investigate. So up I trotted to town, and
the Matron explained to me that they have a system
here of working in two ranks, officers and privates.
The officers are the sisters, and they are recruited
from the lady pupils ; the privates are the proba-
tioners, who might rise to be staff nurses, but beyond
that there is no promotion from the ranks. Therefore,

62 A NURSE'S LIFE IN WAR AND PEACE

if I entered as a probationer, as I had arranged, I
could never rise to be a sister.

Then she told me that it was probable there would
be two or three vacancies for sisters in about a year,
and a lady who was interested in the hospital had
offered to pay the fees for some lady pupil, who would
otherwise have entered as a probationer, so that she
might have the advantage of the chance of promo-
tion ; and the Matron had decided to give me the
offer, partly on account of my having had previous
training. Of course there is no promise of promo-
tion, as that must depend on one's work ; but there
is the chance of it. Did you ever hear of such good
luck?

Of course I was only too glad to accept, and they
wanted me at once ; so I had to get my kit ready in
a hurry, and began work here in February.

This is a huge place, quite a little town in itself,
and I am very happy here.

I think I have been lucky in being first sent to a
men's medical ward of forty beds. The Sister is a
first-rate nurse and a splendid manager. She works
hard herself, and expects every one else to do the
same ; so the ward always looks trim, and the patients
are very comfortable.

My short experience at N. has been very useful to
me, and I don't feel so much at sea in doing things for
the men.

I find that, as lady pupil, I am really acting as
" sister's assistant." I go round with Sister with the
doctors, and if she is engaged with one doctor and
another one comes, I have to escort him round ; and
it is necessary for me to know all about the cases,
so as to be able to report about them. Another of

IN A MEDICAL WARD 63

my duties is to give all the medicines, and that for
forty medical cases takes up a good deal of time. I
also have charge of four beds, and do everything for
the patients in them.

There are two staff nurses and two probationers
(also two ward-maids), and I fill in my spare time
with helping them in bed-making, carrying round
meals, &c. ; but I don't seem to be expected to do
any of the cleaning work, and if I am busy helping
Sister, the routine work goes on just the same without
my assistance. I am not quite sure that it is a good
arrangement, as one of the staff nurses in this ward
has been here for years and years, and the other one
for over three years, so of course they know more
about the cases than I do ; and I should think a brand
new lady pupil, who had had no training before, might
find it rather difficult. But I must say the staffs
have been very nice to me. I didn't mean to let it
be known that I " had been out before," but it leaked
out.

There are about twenty of us lady pupils, and we
live in the Matron's house. We have all our meals
in the large nurses' dining-hall — but at a separate
table — except supper, which we have in the sisters'
dining-hall. The food is ever so much better than
it was at the Children's Hospital. Some of the nurses
grumble at it ; but I think wherever people feed in
a crowd there are always some who grumble. At any
rate, it is not necessary to buy food here.

At first I had rather uninteresting cases in my beds,
but now Sister is giving me some good ones. I have
one jolly fat baby of two and a half with tonsilitis,
who was sent to us from a women's ward, because
they were not sure that he was not going in for diph-

64 A NURSE'S LIFE IN WAR AND PEACE

theria, and they had other children in the ward. I
had to do a good deal of treatment for him at first,
and he hated it ; but now he has forgiven me, and we
are excellent friends, and all the men are doing their
best to spoil him.

Then I have a poor man with Blight's disease, who
is very ill. He is a curious-looking object, as he is
quite bald, and he likes to wear a red knitted cap in
bed. He is often delirious now in the evenings, and
then he uses very bad language. When Sister is out
in the evening, I have to read prayers in the ward.
At first I was very shy of reading before all these
men, especially when some of them are of quite a
superior class ; and when I was in the middle of
prayers the other evening, my bald-headed man
chimed in with a lot of bad language. It was really
very trying, and I knew if either of the nurses went
to remonstrate with him, he would only continue in
a louder voice ; so I had to shorten the prayers some-
what. If he continues like this, I am afraid he will
have to go to the strong-room ; but up there they
have only male attendants, and we are rather loth
to send him off, as he is really very ill, and needs a
lot of nursing.

A sad thing happened the other day. We had an
old man in very ill with angina pectoris ; he had
great difficulty in breathing, and could not lie down
at all. I was always trying to prop him up and make
him comfortable. He got very little rest, but he was
always so good and grateful. He was not one of my
own cases ; but he was on several medicines (to be
given as required), so I had to go to him very often
for one thing and another. One day I was going
round giving the two o'clock medicines, and when I

A SUDDEN DEATH 65

got to his bed, he was lying back on his pillows ap-
parently asleep. It was so unusual for him to look
at all comfortable, I thought I would certainly not
disturb him for his medicine. Sister was talking to
a doctor a few yards away, and I was just going to
point out to her that the old man was resting, when
something made me turn back and look at him more
closely, and I found he was quite dead. Poor old
fellow, he was indeed " resting." I just pulled a screen
round him, and then called Sister and the house sur-
geon ; but he was quite gone, and even the man in
the next bed had not noticed any change.

XIII

GENERAL HOSPITAL, LONDON,
August 1894.

WITH much sorrow I left my nice and interesting
men's medical ward, and found myself landed in a
smaller surgical and accident ward for women and
children. There could hardly have been a greater
contrast. There everything was done with order and
method, and well done ; here every one seems to rush
about in a breathless way, and the ward never looks
tidy, and I am quite sure that the bustle that goes
on is bad for the serious cases.

I am responsible for eight cases instead of four,
and at first I thought I should never get them all
washed in time in the morning ; but now I find so
many of them can do a good deal more for themselves
than the medical cases could ; also the medicines in
a surgical ward are nothing to those in a medical ;
so I get through all right, and keep up to time.

Three surgeons have beds in the ward, and that
makes the work a little difficult, as sometimes they
all arrive at the same time, and sometimes they all
want to operate at the same time. This is most
awkward, as we have not got fittings for them all,
and have to run backwards and forwards for things.
They seem to me a most amiable set of surgeons ;
I know the surgeons at our Children's Hospital would
not have put up with being kept waiting as these
men do ; but I do hate not having everything they

ON THE SURGICAL SIDE 67

want ready before they ask for it. However, I am
beginning to feel my way, and I think I shall soon
be able to get different sets of things ready to use
in these emergencies.

It took me some time to find out why the ward
was always in a state of chaos, and it is only because
you are so far away that I can safely tell you the
reason. I believe it is simply and solely because the
Sister, though a fairly good nurse, is really no good
as a Sister. I am sorry to say it, as she has been very
nice to me, and the poor thing tries her best. She
runs about, and does many things that the junior
probationers ought to do, but she has no idea of
looking after the nurses ; and as the staff nurse is
rather a shirker, and is very fond of chattering to the
dressers, the probationers who are keen to work are
rather overworked, and those who are not keen don't
work. Also, if there is a rush of work, Sister rather
loses her head, and runs about in an aimless sort of
way ; and in the theatre, if anything goes wrong, and
they want things in a hurry, she always seems to hand
the wrong thing.

I find it a bit difficult, as the doctors get in the way
of turning to me if they want things quickly. As
soon as I found out what was wrong with the ward,
and that Sister was quite nice and " meant well," but
just had not got it in her to be a good manager, I
made up my mind that the ward should be a smart
ward, in spite of obstacles, and really it is improving
by degrees.

I have been having a good deal of correspondence
lately about a small boy who, Sister said, would have
to go to the workhouse when he leaves here, and I
thought he was a suitable case for Dr. Barnardo's

68 A NURSE'S LIFE IN WAR AND PEACE

Homes; so she said I could try if I could get him
in there, and I have just succeeded in doing so.

His mother died when he was born, and his father
appears to be a thoroughly bad lot, generally in
prison. This boy had lived with his old grandmother
and run wild ; a pretty little chap, but quite a heathen,
and fond of using bad language in the most innocent
way. He came in here for a small operation, and
while he has been here his grandmother died very
suddenly. The people at Dr. Barnardo's Homes have
been very good about it, made all inquiries for them-
selves, and got the father's consent. Now they have
agreed to take him as soon as he is well. He is a
plucky little chap, and I suppose they will probably
ship him over to Canada one day, and that will give
him a better start in life than he might get from a
workhouse.

I think we get very good times off duty here — one
hour off one day, and three hours off the next ; and the
sisters and lady pupils have a Saturday to Monday
once a month — that means from 4 P.M. on Saturday
to 10 A.M. on Monday.

When I was moved to this ward, I just missed my
Saturday to Monday ; so, to make up for it, they gave
me " extra leave " last week from Saturday afternoon
to Monday night, and it just happened to be May week
at Cambridge, so I went down and had such a jolly
time. B. seems to be very happy at Clare, and to
have very nice friends there. My sister was up for
all the week, and having a first-rate time, going to all
the dances, &c. It was my first visit to Cambridge,
and there was so much to see. It ought to be easy to
work when you are in such beautiful surroundings.

On the way back the engine of my train broke down,

A HEAVY 'TAKE-IN" WEEK 69

and I did not get in till n P.M., and I had to go and
confess the next morning in the office that I was late ;
but it was the first time I had been late since I came,
so I was forgiven.

We had rather an exciting " take-in " week a fort-
night or so ago : first of all a poor, tiny baby with a
very badly-cut throat (done by its mother, who had
afterwards proceeded to cut her own throat, and
killed herself). They did tracheotomy for the baby,
but it lived only a few hours. Then came a poor
little girl of eight, very badly burnt. She had had
to get up to light the fire while her mother lay in bed
(from her looks, I should think the mother had been
drinking), and the child managed to set herself on
fire. I think she will pull round, but it will be a long
time before she will be able to walk again. She does
not have much pain now, and I think she is quite
enjoying herself here. The next case was another
cut throat — a poor, feeble-looking woman, whose
husband had first cut her throat and then his own.
He is in the male accident ward, and not very much
damaged ; she is a good deal damaged, but I think
they will both recover.

I had arranged to go to the Academy with L., as
it was my free afternoon ; but this poor woman came
in soon after dinner, and I knew she would have to
go up to the theatre, so I wired to L. that I could not
meet her. And it was just as well I did, as three
more accidents came in that afternoon, and one of
these too had to go to the theatre (a compound frac-
ture of the tibia and fibula) ; so we had a rushing
time.

Yesterday was theatre day for our ward ; and as
Sister had had to retire to bed with a sick-headache,

70 A NURSE'S LIFE IN WAR AND PEACE

I had the honour of taking our cases up to the theatre.
I was rather nervous, as it was the first time I had
been up alone for our senior surgeon, and he had one
bad case — an excision of knee. But the other three
cases were not very bad ones, and we got along all
right.

For the last three months we have been having a
very interesting course of lectures on physiology, and
the girl who shares my room and I spend all our spare
minutes in reading up the subject. She is clever,
but has not read much physiology before, so I have
been able to help her a bit ; and I should not be
surprised if she does better in the exam, than I do.
We are both of us looked upon as quite juniors amongst
the lady pupils ; but I don't fancy the seniors are
taking much trouble, beyond just writing out their
notes of the lectures, so I hope we shall do pretty
decently. It is not easy to get much time to read
when you have a heavy ward to wrestle with ; but
I am sure it helps you in exams, if you can manage
to read rather more than you are absolutely obliged
to about what the lecturer is trying to stuff into you
in a condensed form.

I have been here six months now, and may get sent
off for my holiday any day ; but there has been some
delay on account of Sister not being very well. She
does not seem to want me to leave, as I shall probably
not get sent back to this ward afterwards ; but it
has been very hot of late, and I shall be glad of a rest.

XIV

GENERAL HOSPITAL, LONDON,
December 1894.

AFTER my last letter to you I was bundled off for
my holiday. I was glad enough to get it, but I missed
the last two physiology lectures. This was rather a
bore, as the exam, was the day after I got back ; so
I had no chance of borrowing any one's notes of those
lectures, as I was supposed to do. However, I came
out third, and my stable companion was first amongst
the lady pupils — not so bad for two juniors ; and
we heard that four or five of the seniors had a little
interview with the Matron in her office, and were
advised to work rather harder before the next exam.

Now we are having lectures on dispensing, and they
are the most interesting lectures I have struck yet.
We go down to the dispensary, and the head-dispenser
makes us mess about, and make up prescriptions, and
make pills, powders, &c. We fire off questions at each
other at odd moments, when we meet — and also in
bed at night — as to the various doses of different
drugs, and what they are prescribed for, and the
antidotes for different poisons, &c.

I was sent to a very nice women's medical ward on
my return from my holiday, and had some interesting
work there. The Sister was very nice to me (she has
been here for years, and many of the lady pupils don't
like her, but she is a first-rate nurse), and she gave

me very good cases. One of my first cases was a

72 A NURSE'S LIFE IN WAR AND PEACE

little girl of ten with typhoid fever. She was very
ill for some weeks, and then such a poor little wasted
skeleton of a child ! It was very nice feeding her up,
when once it was safe to do so ; and her great big
eyes used to follow me about the ward, wondering
what the next feed was going to be.

Sister said that I could hardly have had a more
instructive case, as she had nearly all the bad symp-
toms a typhoid case can have, including a good deal
of hsemorrhage.

I was horribly proud one day when the senior
physician was going round and lecturing to the students
and speaking to them of the necessity for good nursing
in typhoid ; and he made Sister show them the child's
poor, bony little back and legs, with not a red mark
on them ; and he told them it had taken all her
strength to battle with the fever, and if she had also
had a bed-sore to sap her strength away, she could
never have pulled through.

We had two diphtheria tracheotomies while I was
in that ward; and though they were not my cases
(as they both had special nurses), I was present at
the operations, and I learnt a good deal about their
treatment, as Sister used to let me relieve their nurses
for meals, &c. And she taught me to change and
clean their tubes, and so on ; so that when I was put
on as a special later on, I was not so much afraid of
accidents as I should otherwise have been.

It must have been a very bad form of diphtheria,
as one of the specials became infected, and had to go
away to the Fever Hospital ; and then Sister took
it, but she was not very ill with it, and she was nursed
in her own room. It has made them talk about the
necessity for some isolation ward to put these cases in.

THE RESCUE OF THE CAT 73

Of course they are only taken in here if they are too ill
for it to be safe to send them on to the Fever Hospitals.

We had a busy time when Sister was ill, but the
staff nurse was very good and to be depended upon,
and things went on all right.

I must tell you of a little joke we had one night in
the Matron's house, where all the lady pupils live.
Late one evening in September, when we were all
undressed, one of them came to my room and said
there was a wretched cat on some leads outside the
bathroom window, and it was making such a row, as
it could not escape. We went to inspect, and agreed
that a rescue was necessary. By this time most of the
lady pupils had assembled, and we fetched a ladder
from the boxroom. It was too short ; but we tied
bath towels to it, and lowered it through the window
to the leads. Then the stupid cat would not come up,
and only cried the more ; so I was shoved through
the window in my dressing-gown, and they held on
to me until I got my feet on the ladder, and could
climb down to the cat. Just then Matron's door
opened, and they all slipped away to their rooms.
I heard something about " too much noise " and
" lights out," and then she came into the bathroom
and shut down the window. It was lucky the ladder
was too short, or she must have seen it. It was pretty
dark, and I was sitting down consoling the cat and
waiting till the coast was clear, when I heard a
smothered laugh, and then for the first time I remem-
bered the gardens at the back, that belonged to some
of our visiting doctors. I had looked at their houses
and seen all the blinds down, and I had never thought
they might be sitting under the trees at that time
of night. After that, I very carefully kept my face

74 A NURSE'S LIFE IN WAR AND PEACE

to the wall ; and soon the window was cautiously
opened, and with some difficulty the cat and I were
hauled in, and very quietly we pulled up the ladder.
Then I told them I was certain we had been watched,
and we located the garden from which the laugh had
come ; and next morning, sure enough, there were
two basket-chairs under the trees, so we knew which
doctor it was. But he never gave us away, and I don't
know to this day whether he recognised me ; but I often
fancied there was a twinkle in his eye when we met.

Then the question arose what to do with the cat,
as it appeared to be hungry, and not inclined to be
quiet ; so eventually the most innocent-looking lady
pupil was deputed to go to the home sister, and tell her
she had caught this strange cat in the bathroom, and, as
it seemed starving, might she go down and feed it, and
then turn it out ? The home sister was fond of cats,
and her sympathies were aroused ; so she assisted in
providing it with supper and seeing it off the premises.

In November I was sent on night duty. The lady
pupils are not obliged to do night duty, as they are
only here for one year ; but Matron was short of
senior probationers, and asked me if I would like it,
and I thought I would. Part of the time I have been
an " extra," just helping wherever they were busy,
and helping in the theatre for any night operations.
Then I was put on as " special " with a tracheotomy
(diphtheria) in a men's medical ward — such a nice boy,
called Albert, aged eight. And, when he was getting
better, another little chap of three came in, so despe-
rately bad that they had to do tracheotomy in the
receiving room ; and then he was brought over and
put in a cot by my boy's bed, and I looked after them
both. Poor Albert was rather jealous at first, and

ON NIGHT DUTY 75

whenever I was attending to the small boy he began
to " wheeze " too, thinking I should rush to his rescue ;
but he soon found that that did not pay.

After these boys had both recovered, I disinfected,
and had a night off to air myself ; and then Matron
let me do the staff nurse's nights off — very interesting,
but rather anxious, work.

You go to a ward which perhaps you have never
been inside before, and you don't know where anything
is kept. There are from twenty to forty patients ;
if the latter, there is a probationer to help you. Most
of them are sleeping quietly ; the few who are awake
are probably wrondering what sort of a rise they can
take out of the strange nurse.

Some of the sisters are very good about giving one
a full written report ; but other sisters are rather
casual, telling you much of what you may or may
not do for number eight or number eleven, but seem-
ing impatient if you try to jot down notes.

The first night off I took was in a men's surgical
ward, where there was a nice lad of eighteen who had
had his leg amputated that day (for a tubercular knee) .
He was so good and patient, but of course he needed
a good deal of attention, and I wished I could stay
with him all the time ; but there was an old man at
the other end of the ward rather delirious, and he
would insist upon saying his prayers with a loud
voice, and confessing his sins to me, calling me " Maria,
dear." I was thankful when the house surgeon came
round and ordered him a sleeping-draught ; but it
took me quite half an hour to persuade him to drink
it, and then it was a long time before it had any effect.

In another ward the sister told me that the patients
needed nothing to be done for them until I gave them

76 A NURSE'S LIFE IN WAR AND PEACE

their breakfast in the morning, but " would I take
great care of her Persian and Manx cats, and not let
them escape from the ward ? "

It was also airing night, so I had plenty to do airing
sheets, &c., and putting on clean sheets in the morning ;
but it was not exciting.

To-night I am staff nurse in the men's accident ward ;
but there is a bright little pro. on as well, and she
seems to be accustomed to do most of the work. We
have had one case in — a van-boy with slight concus-
sion of the brain ; but I have got him washed, and
he is now asleep with an ice-bag on his head. There
are several bad cases in the ward, but they all seem
inclined to sleep ; so I am actually sitting down to
finish up this scribble to you.

I like night duty ; you seem to have more time to
fad over the patients who are really bad, and to do
little things for their comfort ; and the convalescent
ones generally sleep and don't worry you ; but it is
hard work sometimes, especially between 5 and 8 A.M.,
when every one wakes up, and every one wants some-
thing, and there are all the breakfasts to give round,
and all the beds to make, and the temperatures to
take, and the fomentations to change, and a hundred
different things all needing to be done at once ; and
you rush around and expect every minute the day
nurses will come in and say " What a muddle the ward
is in ! " and sometimes, when you are beautifully
forward with your work and think Sister will be pleased,
a house surgeon runs up in his pyjamas and dressing-
gown to say he is sending in a bad case, and then you
have to give all your attention to that case, and can't
do the final clearing up for which you thought there
would be heaps of time !

GENERAL HOSPITAL, LONDON,
June 1895.

MANY and various are the jobs I have done since my
last letter, and now I must tell you that I am a full-
blown Sister or, as they say here, I have got " my
blue " ; but I had better begin where I left off.

I was then bustling about on night duty, and I
spent a very happy Christmas like that. Of course,
we should all like to be at home for Christmas, but in
hospital so much is done to make it bright and cheery
for the patients, and so many of them have so little
brightness in their lives, that it is nice to see how
thoroughly they enjoy it.

They all have really nice presents ; there is any
amount of good food provided ; plenty of entertain-
ments (music, Christmas trees, &c.) ; and the men are
allowed to smoke in the wards.

The doctors and students are really splendid in the
way they work at decorating the wards, &c., and
carrying the patients who are well enough about to
other wards for entertainments.

The children of the slums around here will do any-
thing to get into the hospital for Christmas, and the
front surgery is full of little imps who have all got a
" very bad pain ! "

In January I had to retire to bed for a few days
with a high temperature and a touch of influenza, and
while I was in bed the day came for the dispensing

78 A NURSE'S LIFE IN WAR AND PEACE

exam., so I begged to be allowed to go, and vowed I
was quite recovered, and they let me attend.

I made up my prescriptions (a bottle of medicine
and some powders), and then I got under way with
the paper, and thought it was rather a nice one, but
before I reached the end my head began to swim, and
I felt convinced I had mixed everything up and given
all the wrong doses, and I thought what an ass I had
been to try it, and I was certain I should come out at
the bottom of the list !

One of my friends escorted me back to bed and took
my temperature, and when she found it was 103 she
went off and told the Matron ; so next morning the
doctor appeared, and I was kept in bed for a whole
week, and then sent away for a few days' change, but
before I went away Matron came to tell me that I
was first in the dispensing exam., with 114 marks out
of a possible 125. If I had any more exams, to go
in for, I think I ought to arrange to have a little
influenza beforehand, as it seems to stimulate my
brain ; but, thank goodness, that is my last.

You know I have always vowed that nothing would
induce me to be a matron ? Well, I have been rather
near it ; I have been acting as assistant matron for
some time. First of all, the assistant matron was ill,
and went away for a bit, and I did her work ; then,
when she came back, Matron v/ent away for a fort-
night, and I stayed on in the office helping the assistant.

It was rather interesting learning the ins and outs
of the " Administrative Department," but I am still
convinced that it is no catch to be a matron.

Sisters come to complain of a nurse, and you have
to send for that nurse and scold her for her reported
misdeeds, when, perhaps, all the time you have rather

ACTING ASSISTANT MATRON 79

a feeling that Sister has been unreasonable in what
she has expected of the girl.

Then nurses have a way of sometimes getting ill,
and it always seems to be the nurse whose place it
is most difficult to fill ; then Matron goes out for the
afternoon, saying to the assistant, " There are three
extra nurses, and I have sent them to Wards A., B.,
and C., where they are busy, so no one is likely to ask
you for another extra," and as soon as she has gone a
house surgeon runs in to say he has sent in a very
bad diphtheria case to Ward D. for immediate trache-
otomy, and can I send specials over at once ? I look
on the list to see who the three extras are, and find
not one of them is suitable to take on the case — one
is going for her holiday in a few days and the other
two are quite juniors — so I rack my brain to think
which of the ward nurses is most suitable, and fix
upon Pro. i in Ward A., as she has nursed one or two
tracheotomies ; so I have to interview Sister A., and
she is most reluctant to give up her Pro. i, and is
quite certain Matron wrould not have taken her away,
but I have to be firm and try to console her by sending
her the best extra in place of Pro. i (thereby incur-
ring black looks from Sister B., who is quite sure her
ward is far heavier than Sister A.'s !) ; some one
ought to be sent to bed to be ready to act as night
special, but I conclude that can wait till Matron
returns, as she may have some nurse she has promised
to put on as special. That is the sort of work the
assistant matron has to do — a good deal of fagging
about and acting as a sort of buffer between the
sisters and the Matron, much writing of letters and
other work in the office, and a good deal of carving
at meal times — one Sunday I carved roast beef for

8o A NURSE'S LIFE IN WAR AND PEACE

seventy nurses, some of them day nurses and some of
them night.

I had just come to the end of my time in the office
(I was still a lady pupil then), when an appeal came to
the Matron to lend two staff nurses to one of the large
London Infirmaries, where they had a great many
nurses ill.

I volunteered to go (as I thought it would be a
new experience), and then another lady pupil also
volunteered.

It was a pouring wet evening in March when we
set off in a hansom cab, the other lady pupils rather
jeering at us, and saying that when they went to the
workhouse they should do the thing correctly in an
aged four-wheeler !

We had no idea where the Infirmary was, but trusted
to the cabby, and after a long drive he turned into a
stone-paved yard and drew up at a heavily-barred
door ; it looked more like a prison than an infirmary,
but I got out in the rain to explore, and after a little
while I managed to explain to the old man in charge
that I did not wish to apply for admission to the
Casual Ward, but to find the Infirmary. He told me
that was more than a mile farther on ; so the weary
horse plodded on once more, and eventually brought
us to an imposing building, where, in three weeks of
hard work, we learnt many things.

They were very busy and very short-handed. I
was sent to a women's medical ward of thirty-two
beds, but the place was so full that I had thirty-six
patients, the extra ones sleeping on mattresses on the
floor. For the first week, whenever a patient came in,
I had to consider which of those in beds was the most
capable of turning out and descending to the floor, to

IN AN INFIRMARY 81

make room for the new-comer, but after that things
quieted down, and before I left the patients were
reduced to the correct number.

There was a sister in charge of my ward and of
another one just opposite of the same size. For a few
days I worked with the staff nurse, and then she had
to leave, and I was left to do the work of the ward
with the help of a probationer, who came in for an
hour and a half every morning, and who relieved me
when I went off duty every other day ; and on the
alternate days, when the staff nurse from the opposite
ward was off duty, I had to patrol her ward at intervals,
and give the probationer any help she needed.

At first I was appalled at the small number of the
nursing staff for so many beds, but I soon found that
everything was done in a way very different from our
hospital methods, and that if we worked hard and
fast it was possible to do all that was really necessary
for the patients, but quite impossible to do the little
faddy things that make so much difference to their
comfort.

For one thing, the convalescent patients were ex-
pected to do a great deal of the routine ward work,
and, as a rule, the convalescents stayed in much longer
than they do in a hospital, so they were more fit to
assist, but this hardly applied to my short time in
the Infirmary, owing to the great pressure on the
beds ; also I found that there were only about six
or eight out of the thirty-six patients really acutely ill,
so I was able to give most of my attention to them —
three of them were absolutely helpless, and needed
much care and nursing.

The rest of them were chiefly old ladies who were
just not strong enough for the workhouse life, and so

82 A NURSE'S LIFE IN WAR AND PEACE

were drafted into the Infirmary ; most of them were
able to get out of bed and potter about the ward.
This they loved to do with very scanty clothing on —
rather to my horror — and I found that when a doctor
was sighted on his way to the ward it was best to clap
my hands vigorously, when all the old dames scuttled
into bed like so many rabbits into their holes.

Poor old things, several of them had evidently seen
better days, and there were many sad stories to be
listened to, and they did so much appreciate the little
I could do for their comfort.

It was very hard work, as one always seemed to be
working against time, but I quite enjoyed my three
weeks in the Infirmary. Matron had not told us we
were to be paid for this work, so when we each received
£6. 6s. for the three weeks, we felt very rich !

We were quite glad to return to our good old hospital,
and since then I have been doing Sister's holiday work,
and now I have just been appointed Sister in the front
surgery (where all the new cases and accidents come
in) ; it is utterly different from being in the wards,
but I think I shall find it interesting — at any rate for
a time. I shall wait to tell you about it until I have
been here a little longer, and have taken my bearings
more correctly.

XVI

GENERAL HOSPITAL, LONDON,
January 1896.

I THINK I shall be rather glad when I get a ward of
my own and settle down ; but every one seems to
think I am lucky in getting such varied experience,
so I suppose I ought to be grateful, and it is not yet
two years since I first entered here.

I spent six months as Sister in the front surgery,
and it was very interesting.

There had never been a sister in charge there before,
but just one old staff nurse, who had let the dressers
do just what they liked, and there was a lot of waste
and much disorder.

Matron gave me a very good probationer, and she
was just as keen on getting the place nice and trim as
I was. It took us a week or two to get all the drawers
&c., scrubbed out and tidy, and a good many more
weeks before we got all the splints sorted and padded.

The Medical Superintendent was pleased, because I
managed to reduce the cost of dressings every week
from £10 to £7 before I had been there a month, and
it was still further reduced after a few more weeks.

Of course it is difficult for young dressers (who
come on for only three months at a time) to under-
stand how much difference a little extravagance in
each dressing makes in the weekly bills ; and they
can't be expected to know the relative value of differ-
ent kinds of wool, &c., unless it is pointed out to them,

84 A NURSE'S LIFE IN WAR AND PEACE

but as a rule, when they do understand, they are quite
willing to use the cheaper dressings (for cases where
they do just as well) provided that we keep a supply
ready to their hands.

I often wonder whether, when people go round a
hospital and see the rows of white beds and clean
patients, and everything neat and tidy, they think
the patients arrive here looking like that. Very
often in the wards, when the porters have carried up
an accident case on the stretcher, I have hardly
known how to get the man's dirty clothes off, and it
takes time before you can get them reasonably clean ;
but in the wards you always receive a note or a message
by the porter from the house surgeon, with a rough
diagnosis of what the case is, so that you know which
limb to be especially careful in moving. But it is
different when you receive a patient in the front
surgery ; the policemen tramp in and deposit the
stretcher on the floor, and there is much mopping of
their foreheads before they tell you roughly what
they know of the accident, and then you have to pro-
ceed to find out for yourself what is the extent of the
injury, and often the patient is quite unconscious, so he
cannot help you at all.

I think at first I had a dim notion that every case
that was carried in on a stretcher was sure to be ad-
mitted to the wards, but one soon learns that a good
many of these cases are more frightened than hurt,
and after a little rest and a thorough overhaul by the
house surgeon they are able to go home again ; on
the other hand, every now and then a man who has
had a very serious accident will manage to walk
up to the hospital, and he may even sit down amongst
the other waiting patients and quietly wait his turn to

FIRST SISTER 85

be seen, unless you happen to be on the look-out, and
note that he is looking ill, and get him on to a couch
for immediate attention.

There is generally plenty doing in the front surgery,
and whenever any of the men have nothing better to
do they stroll in to see what is going on, so one hears
all the gossip of the place ; very quaint, too, are the
tales the patients tell of their symptoms. I am not
good at remembering these things, but there was one
old lady who said the doctor told her that she had
" the brownkitis, and that all her tubs (tubes) were
full up."

Sometimes we had exciting times. I remember
one morning when I came on duty the night nurse
reported that a bad case of compound fracture of
the jaw and other injuries had come in, and been taken
straight up to the theatre, and that the house surgeon
and all the available dressers were busy with it then.
She had no sooner gone away than in tramped four
big policemen with a stretcher, which they deposited
on the floor ; on uncovering the patient I found a
poor man on whose head several heavy planks had
fallen. Part of the scalp was torn up, and it was
bleeding profusely. I sent my probationer flying to
the theatre to ask for some one to come to help, and
then I made one policeman put pressure with his
finger on an artery on one side of the head and another
policeman on the other, while I collected some dress-
ings, forceps, &c. Much to my astonishment, first
one policeman fainted and subsided on the floor, and
then the other one did the same (the other two had
gone outside) ; then the probationer returned to say
the man in the theatre was bad, and they could not
spare any one, but some one would come as soon as

86 A NURSE'S LIFE IN WAR AND PEACE

possible. Just then the police inspector walked in,
and his look of astonishment at his two prostrate
men was very fine, but he called the other two men
to move them, and then he gave me the help I needed,
while the probationer and I did what we could to stop
the haemorrhage ; it was pretty well subdued by the
time the house surgeon got down, but he saw at
once it was a bad case, and took the man straight up
to the theatre. As soon as he had gone we dosed the
two policemen with Mist. Ammonia, but it was a little
while before they were fit to return to duty, and then
we were just thinking we would begin our much de-
layed morning's work when, strangely enough, two
men were carried in dead, the two stretchers arriving
within a few minutes of each other ; one was a suicide
from the Thames, and the dressers tried artificial
respiration for some time, but the poor chap was
quite dead ; the other was- a poor old gentleman
who had apparently died of heart failure when hurry-
ing to catch a train.

We saw a great many infectious diseases in the front
surgery, and had to keep them in an isolation room
till the fever ambulance came to fetch them. I re-
member one day when we had samples of nearly all
the infectious fevers to despatch — first came a case
of smallpox, then one of scarlet fever, then one of
diphtheria, and there were also cases of measles and
chickenpox, but these had to be sent back to their
homes. There was quite an outbreak of smallpox
just then (I think we had twenty cases in the front
surgery in one week), so everybody in the hospital
who had not been recently vaccinated had to be done,
and we were all very sorry for ourselves for a time.

Another little episode in the front surgery was when

A DOG WITH A BROKEN LEG 87

a baby took us all by surprise by being born there !
We should have sent it on to the Infirmary, but the
mother was rather bad, so we had to take them in.

One Sunday evening I was in chapel when I heard
some one come to the door, and then the porter came
to fetch me, and at the door I found one of the dressers
who told me there was a bad compound fracture in
the surgery, and the house surgeon would be glad if
I would come, as he wanted to give an anaesthetic.
When I got there I found a crowd of men all standing
round a poor little dog with a badly crushed leg !
so we got some suitable splints, and they gave it an
anaesthetic and put up the fracture ; then they sent
word to the male accident ward to get a fracture bed
ready for a patient, and the porters were secured to
carry it along on a big stretcher. It was in the hos-
pital for some weeks, and got quite well again.

Just before Christmas the Matron was obliged to
go home for a time, so once more I was asked to go
on duty as assistant matron. Christmas is always
a busy time all over the hospital, and in the office
(with the Matron away) we had more than enough to
do — so many presents to receive and acknowledge
and distribute, and many visitors to show round, &c.
Then, after Christmas, a good many nurses got ill
(some with influenza), and every one seemed to be
wanting special nurses at the same time, and all were
quite hurt that I could not make new nurses to order.

So I was not sorry when the sister of the nicest
ward in the hospital told me that she had been ap-
pointed Matron of another hospital (she had been
here for years), and as she knew nothing of office work
she wanted to ask Matron if she would have her in
the office for a few weeks' experience. I thought it

88 A NURSE'S LIFE IN WAR AND PEACE

would mean that I should go back to the front surgery,
and I was quite pleased, but instead of that, Matron
wrote to ask me to take over that sister's ward for a
couple of months, as she had not got a suitable sister
ready to take it permanently (it is always given to
one of the seniors here) ; so I was still more pleased,
especially when I found that the pay was at the rate
of £10 a year more than for the other wards.

This is an awfully nice ward of thirty-two beds, in
two divisions — one for men, and one for women and
children. It is chiefly for medical cases, but there
is a small theatre attached, and a good many ab-
dominal operations are done ; there is also a private
ward, to which the surgeons can send any operation
cases that need especial attention ; and they have
special nurses.

In the wards I have a good staff, as it is always
considered the most acute ward in the hospital, and
I can generally get an extra nurse if I want, so I
don't do much actual nursing myself, but there seem
to be doctors constantly going round whom I have
to attend, and somehow I always seem to be busy.

The longer I am in hospital the more I see how much
harder it is to be responsible for other people's work
than just for your own, and I can quite understand
why so many of the staff nurses much prefer to do all
the best part of the nursing themselves than to teach
the probationers and let them do it ; but it is a wrong
principle, as the probationers must be taught, and we
must learn to trust others (even when we know we could
do things quicker and better ourselves), and to increase
the trust just in proportion as we find them worthy
of it ; that is where the art of the teacher comes in !

XVII

GENERAL HOSPITAL, LONDON,

December 1896.

I THINK I last wrote when I had just taken charge
of C. Ward for two months.

I had a most interesting time there, and was quite
sorry to give it up, but it was hard work. Unlike the
other wards, that " take in " new cases for a week
and then have a rest, C. is always "taking in," as the
men in charge see every new case that comes up to
the hospital (except accidents), and they, can take
them in if they like, as long as there are any beds
empty in the ward ; and if they don't think it is a
particularly interesting case, it is passed on to the
house surgeons or house physicians for the other
wards ; but, of course, they try their best to get all
the most interesting cases for themselves ; conse-
quently the sister is never free to go out with any
confidence that no new cases can be landed in while she
is away ; and when you do go out you generally find
on your return that something has happened that
makes you wish you had never gone !

Still I learnt a great deal in my time in that ward,
and I enjoyed it. The physicians' talks with the
students over these " selected cases " were most in-
structive.

Soon after I took charge we had a run of trache-
otomies ; the first was a dear, fat baby of thirteen
months, but it had diphtheria very badly, and was not

90 A NURSE'S LIFE IN WAR AND PEACE

a hopeful case from the first ; not many hours after
it was operated upon another came in — a sweet little
boy of three called " Alex." He was much relieved
by the operation, and got on so well ; but the poor
baby ran a temperature of 106° all through the second
day, and died late that evening with a temperature
of 108°, in spite of all we could do for it. I believe we
were much more cut up about losing it than the
mother was ; she did not seem to mind a bit, and
apparently had made all her plans for the funeral
beforehand — and it was such a pretty baby too !

The special nurses I had for these tracheotomies
had never nursed one before, so you can imagine I
could not leave them alone much, and was thankful I
had had a good many to nurse when I was a lady pupil.

We had one very curious case. A young man was
brought in unconscious one afternoon about 2 P.M. ;
a little after five he got worse, and his respiration
suddenly stopped, the pulse went on steadily, so they
did artificial respiration; this went on till 9.30 P.M.,
and then they decided to trephine, thinking it must
be a cerebral tumour pressing on the brain ; of course
no anaesthetic was necessary, as the poor man showed
no sign of life except that the pulse was beating ;
they could not find any tumour, so he was put back
to bed, and the men went on doing artificial respira-
tion all through the night in turns, until the pulse
suddenly stopped at 9.15 A.M., sixteen hours after
the respiration had ceased — a very strange case.

We often had rushing days, when it seemed impossible
to make time for meals, and scarcely time to breathe. I
remember one day especially, when we took in seven
new cases, two of them, curiously enough, men from
quite different districts, who had both taken oxalic

APPOINTED NIGHT SISTER 91

acid with a view to suicide ; one was an old man who
was very bad for a day or two, and then seemed to
be getting better, but died suddenly one night from
heart failure ; and the other was a poor young fellow
of thirty, who had been waiter in one shop for eight
years, and was then turned off by a new manager
and replaced by a German lad. He had a wretched
wife who drank, and she took away his clothes and
then disappeared ; so we had to rig him up in a suit
when he went off ; one of the other patients gave me
five shillings for him, and he asked me to keep it till
he had been before the magistrates, as he thought he
would be sent to prison, but he came back after his
appearance in the police courts to tell me he had
been let off with a caution, and he thought his old
master would take him back ; such a nice, quiet-
mannered man, and most anxious to do anything to
help the nurses in their work, or to wait on the other
patients, and they all liked him.

The same day one of the house surgeons was admitted
with a badly poisoned arm, and a friend of one of the
students with typhoid fever ; he had it very badly
and caused us much anxiety, but pulled through all
right in the end.

After this spell in C. Ward I expected to return to
my front surgery, but instead I was offered in March
(and gladly accepted) the post of Night Sister, and that
is what I have been doing ever since, except for an
interval for my summer holiday, and also for a few
weeks when I took charge of a large male medical
ward while the sister had her holiday.

Being Night Sister here means plenty of running about,
and plenty of responsibility, but it also means better
pay than Ward Sister, so that suited me all right.

92 A NURSE'S LIFE IN WAR AND PEACE

They are talking of having two night sisters soon
— one medical and one surgical — and there would be
plenty of work for two, as we have a good deal of
theatre work in the night, and sometimes I cannot
help being worried when I am kept long in the theatre
with urgent cases, and I know there are bad cases
over in the medical buildings (sometimes with only
rather junior nurses in charge of them), and I can't
get round to visit them.

I have charge of about six hundred beds, and they
are divided into twenty-one wards (of course nurses
in each ward and two nurses in the large wards) ; I
have to go all round three times every night, and run
in much oftener to see any bad cases, and the nurses
send for me in any difficulty ; there is a slate in my
office for messages, and when I return after my rounds I
often find two or three messages, " Please come at
once to P." ; " Please come to N. — urgent," and so
on, and I have to fly to whichever I think is likely to
be the most urgent.

The morning round always takes the longest, as
all the patients are then awake, and I have to say
good morning to them all, and remember to ask
after their particular aches and pains, and it is not
very easy to remember what is the matter with them
all, though I know very well all the details about
those who are very ill and have much done for them
in the night.

There is one place I don't enjoy visiting, and that
is the strong room at the top of the surgical buildings.
Lately we seem to have had so many men who go off
their heads (generally from drink), and if they are
left in the wards they disturb the other patients so
much that it is better for them to be moved, and then

ROYAL NATIONAL PENSION FUND 93

they have male attendants up there ; but these male
attendants are not members of our regular staff (I
wish they were), and I never feel that I quite know
their capabilities, or how much I can trust them, and
more than once I have found them asleep ; so I have
to go up very often when any patient is bad there.

I remember one night we had a very lively time of
rushing about. We began with a man who had cut
his throat— not very bad, but he had to go up to the
theatre ; then a lady who had taken three ounces
of laudanum, and the doctors had to keep her walk-
ing up and down the corridor, with a weary porter
on each side of her, for six hours before they thought
it safe to let her turn into a bed ; then I was called to
a poor man in Ward P., who got worse, and died rather
suddenly — a phthisis case ; next a tracheotomy came
in, and had to be done at once, and while we were
all busy with it a baby was born in Ward D. ; but
the day sister had to be called to attend to that, as I
was mixed up with the diphtheria case, and could not
go near a confinement ; then a fractured femur came
in, and next an acute pneumonia — rather delirious.
In the intervals of receiving these new cases and sort-
ing them to the different wards we had to brew strong
coffee and administer it to the lady who had taken
poison, and provide refreshments for the porters who
were minding her. In the early morning she was
allowed to go to bed and to sleep ; she recovered very
soon, and I don't think she will do it again !

I joined the Royal National Pension Fund for Nurses
a few months ago ; it seems to be a good thing, and
if I can only keep up the premiums I shall have the
noble pension of about £20 or so when I am fifty ; it
will keep me in extras when I retire to the workhouse,

94 A NURSE'S LIFE IN WAR AND PEACE

as I am certain no one can go on nursing for a great
many years at the pace we have to go in hospital.

Just now I am having a rest (and another sister
is rushing about on night duty), as I have been warded
for the past fortnight, and in a few days I hope to go
home for a change.

I had a cold for many weeks, and did not pay much
attention to it, as I thought it was only because I
was about all night and did not get enough sunshine
to help me to throw it off ; but then I got very bad
headaches, so I had to see a doctor, and he passed
me on to our nose specialist, who has been most
awfully kind, coming down every day, and sometimes
twice a day, to see me. It was not really a cold, but
some disease in the antrum, and he has done two
small operations for me, and it has been horridly pain-
ful, but now it is getting well rapidly, and every one
has been most awfully good to me, and I am beginning
to feel less of a limp rag than I have done for some
time past.

It was funny spending Christmas as a patient
instead of running about looking after the patients ;
but it was nearly my first day up, so I was glad enough
to be lazy, and I have had many visitors, so it has not
been dull at all.

XVIII

GENERAL HOSPITAL, LONDON,
September 1897.

JUST now I am feeling so sorrowful at the prospect
of leaving this hospital (my home for the last three
and a half years) that I hardly know how to give my
attention to telling you how the last few months
have been spent.

No, I have not been turned out, and they have given
me a first-class certificate, and are good enough to say
that they are very sorry I am going, and perhaps they
will have me back again some day !

I think I was warded when I wrote to you last, and
after that they sent me home for a little rest. When-
ever I go home some one in the village gets ill, or some
child gets scalded, or some accident happens ; they
seem to think it is necessary to keep my hand in ;
but during that visit home my only patient was poor
Jessie, the family cat ! It was Sunday evening, and
we were all sitting in the dining-room just after prayers,
when poor Jessie hobbled in, really screaming with
pain. One leg had evidently been caught in a trap,
and there was a bad compound fracture which she could
not bear me to handle, so I said we must either have
some chloroform or the poor dear must be shot. The
nearest doctor (and chloroform) wasj three miles away,
but C. volunteered to fetch some, and went off on his
bicycle, while I prepared some splints and strapping,
&c., and poor Jessie used bad language under the table.

96 A NURSE'S LIFE IN WAR AND PEACE

I have sometimes had to hold an obstreperous
child while it has been given chloroform, but that is
nothing to holding a cat ! However, at last we got
her under, and then put the fracture in good position
and stitched up the wound, securing the leg very
firmly on splints ; this operation was watched with
much interest by all the family and most of the ser-
vants ; at first the cat would not come to, but we
put her in a hamper with plenty of fresh air, and when
she did come to, the language she used was " some-
thing awful," but she soon settled down and made a
good recovery. My people were very anxious for me
to say I could not go back to the hospital at the end
of my fortnight's sick leave as the cat was still in
splints, but I had to leave her to my assistant.

Then I returned to duty as Night Sister again, and
everything went on much as usual — generally rather
more work than I could do well, and sometimes rushing
nights of accidents and emergencies, when it seemed
almost impossible to fit in all that had to be done.

It seems that every year more operations are
done ; the cases are sent out more quickly, and so
make room for more acute cases, and so the work
grows, but the number of nurses does not grow in the
same proportion.

In February there was an urgent call for nurses to
volunteer for plague duty in India, so I sent in my
name — thought it would be a useful experience — and
I wasted much time hanging about the India Office
for interviews, &c., but eventually they were unkind
enough to say I was not strong enough, and refused
to send me. Who would look very strong after acting
for a year as single-handed Night Sister for a hospital
of six hundred beds ?

A FIRE ALARM 97

Then the authorities made a change, and they de-
cided to increase the night staff by the addition of
eight more nurses and one more sister. I was only
on for a short time after this came into force, just to
set things going, and then I was appointed day sister
of M. Ward, the women's surgical ward, where I had
worked as a lady pupil, and knew and liked the
surgeons so much.

Since I was lady pupil there, and before I was ap-
pointed Sister of the ward, they had had several changes
of sisters, and no one who had been there long enough
to take much interest in it ; so there was room for im-
provement, and the surgeons have been so awfully kind
to me that I have had a very nice time.

In that ward my bedroom opened out of my sitting-
room (attached to my ward), and we had one very
exciting night there.

Since the night staff were increased the nurses
have had one meal during the night down in the
dining-hall, and there are some probationers who
relieve our staff nurses while they go down to this
meal. I was fast asleep one night when a probationer
rushed into my room, " Oh, Sister, come quick, it's
all blazing ! " I seized my dressing-gown, and was
in the ward in a few seconds thinking that she had set
the place on fire with the airing sheets (of course my
proper nurse was down at her meal) ; but it was a
house just across a narrow road that was indeed all
blazing, and my ward was brilliantly lit up by the
flames, and the poor patients were all awake, and some
of them quite terrified.

I turned on all the lights, so that they should not
see the glare, and then we did our best to reassure
them that there was no danger. Two poor women

98 A NURSE'S LIFE IN WAR AND PEACE

with fractured femurs and their legs slung up to
Hodgin splints had already hopped out of their beds,
and were literally tied by the leg, and they were all
begging for their clothes ; so I let two convalescents
go to the clothes cupboard and put round the clothes
to each bed, or dressing-gowns for the helpless ones,
while we got our fire-hose out in case of need ; but the
firemen very soon got the fire under.

Two of our students, who lived in the house which
was on fire, had to jump for their lives, and lost all
their belongings, and one of them broke his leg.

It was really a bit alarming, as the ward got so
hot and smoky, but the patients soon settled down
again, and after we had readjusted splints, &c., no
one was any the worse.

I had to take my month's holiday in June this year,
rather earlier than I like (as it always seems more
difficult to work when you come back to face all the
hot weather), but we can't all have our holidays in
the best months.

A young brother and a sister and I agreed to spend
a fortnight about our old haunts in Switzerland, and
we had such a jolly time together.

Of course we went first to Paris, and were fascinated
with the shops, but tore ourselves away from them
to visit the venerable Notre Dame, and then to spend
a little time in the Louvre, but it was only time enough
just to make us determined to stay longer in Paris
on our way back. In the afternoon we took one of
the boats up the Seine, and afterwards went for a
walk in the Bois de Boulogne — a delightful breathing-
place for the Parisiennes — good roads, lovely trees,
and greenery, and yet quite near to all the bustle of
the town.

A HOLIDAY IN SWITZERLAND 99

The next day we had a hot and dusty journey on
to Geneva, rather afflicted by the presence of some
old ladies who wished to keep all the windows shut-
it is strange how these petty discomforts fix them-
selves in one's mind !

At Geneva we had vast, big rooms just looking over
the lake, in the Hotel des Bergues, and we took a
Sabbath-day's rest there, finding a nice service in the
English church, and for the rest of the day wander-
ing about near the lake and up the river.

The next day we felt more energetic, and B. went
off for a trip round the lake by steamer, while we
went up Saleve by steam and electric tram, a lazy
way of proceeding, but it was rather an exciting
journey crawling up the face of the mountain, and then
such a view from the top ; mountains, mountains
everywhere, and grand old Mont Blanc poking his
head over the top, and down below the lake so still
and blue, with green trees down to its edge, and then
the trees growing darker as they grow higher up,
until they stop and the snow-line begins.

The next day we moved on to Chamonix ; the train
went only as far as Cluses, and from there we had a
drive of twenty-five miles by diligence.

It was a delightful drive on a bright, sunny day;
at every turn we seemed to get fresh views of Mont
Blanc, and each view seemed more beautiful than the
last.

We walked a good part of the way while the horses
climbed the hills, and we found many varieties of wild
flowers and plenty of wild strawberries.

Chamonix is a charming place, but one wanted
more time just to loaf about and enjoy the views.
The Mer de Glace is, perhaps, the most noted glacier

ioo A NURSE'S LIFE IN WAR AND PEACE

in Switzerland ; it is within easy distance of Cha-
monix (about two hours' walk), and it is a wonderful
sight, but somehow I can't describe it, it is all too solemn
and grand. I always feel the truth of what the
Psalmist says about the men that go down to the sea
in ships : " These men see the works of the Lord and
His wonders in the deep," and I think the same applies
to those who climb into the heights of the mountains,
but I suppose he had not had that opportunity !

We left Chamonix with regret, and walked from there
over the Col de Balme to Martigny ; I think it was
about twenty miles, but you can walk twice as far in
Switzerland as you can in England without being tired,
the air is so clear and bracing. It was a lovely tramp,
beautiful flowers and ferns, and rushing streams and
waterfalls ; the last part of the way was trying, as it
was very steep going down into Martigny, and the path
was paved with little cobbles, so that we arrived
rather footsore.

From there we trained to Glion, a very favourite
place with us, just perched above Chillon, with lovely
views of Lake Leman, of Chillon Castle, and the fine
old Dent de Midi at the end of the lake, and it is
within easy walking distance of Montreux. There are
many nice walks and climbs about Glion, and the
flowers — gentians, narcissi, &c. — were perfectly lovely.

Then we had to turn homewards, and found that
we could spare only one night again in Paris (we had
meant to stay longer) : still it gave us a little more
time to examine the treasures of the Louvre.

We had a small excitement in the afternoon. We
had been walking through the flower market when a
shower of rain came on. We sheltered under one of
the stalls, and while we were there we heard what

A BOMB IN' PARIS 101

we thought was a sharp clap bf 'thunder, '"but 'it proved
to be a bomb exploding in the Place de la Concorde,
but no one was seriously hurt.

When we got back to London it was very busy with
preparations for the Queen's Diamond Jubilee, which
was duly celebrated with much rejoicing all over the
country before I returned to work in town.

Now, I had better explain why I am leaving here.
I have promised to go as nurse to one of the hotels
up the Nile (either to Luxor or Assouan, where they
always have a doctor and one nurse through the
winter season), with a patient who has spent the last
eight winters in Egypt. He is now very ill, and still
he wants to go, as he can live so much more comfort-
ably in that climate. His mother can't go with him
at present, and they can't bear to let him go alone,
so I have promised to go to see him through the voyage
(we are going by long sea) and to be at hand in case
he should get worse before his mother can join him.

You know I love travelling, so in a way I am glad,
but I don't think I am fitted for private nursing,
and I am a bit nervous, and also it will be anxious
work if my patient gets worse out there, but somehow
I could not refuse. It is just horrid saying good-bye
to every one and everything here.

I will write again soon from the sunny south.

XiX

HELOUAN, EGYPT,
November 1897.

HERE we are in lovely sunshine (the thermometer at
80° in the shade), just on the edge of the desert, and
quite contented to rest a while (after a very anxious
voyage) before we move on up the Nile.

We sailed from London on October ist, and had a
smooth trip down the Channel, but I soon found my
patient was much more of an invalid than I had ex-
pected, and was afraid he would get cold before we
got into a warmer climate.

The first Sunday out we ran into a dense fog off
Cape Finisterre, and our morning service was some-
what disturbed by the constant hooting of the foghorn ;
some of the passengers jumped up from their knees
at each hoot, and the captain cut the service rather
short and went up on the bridge. In a couple of hours
we emerged into lovely sunshine, which soon dried
the wet decks and awnings, but the next day, as we
were putting on full steam to get into Gibraltar
before sunset, we again ran into a thick bank of fog,
and eventually had to change our course and put out
to sea until the morning, as they are not allowed to
run through the Straits after sunset.

The next morning I was up on deck before five,
just as we were running into Gibraltar, and to watch
the sun rise from behind the great rock was a most
impressive sight.

NURSING AT SEA 103

We had a pleasant trip down the Mediterranean
until we entered the Gulf of Lyons, and then the wind
got up, and there was a nasty cross sea which made
most of us feel squeamish and not sorry when we
anchored at Marseilles early one morning ; but there
we had to tranship to a smaller steamer, and it was
raining and cold, and when we got on board the
Clyde we found they were still coaling, and that the
lighter with all our baggage on board was not likely
to come for some time, so we could not establish
ourselves in our cabins. As there seemed no com-
fortable place on the boat, we concluded the best thing
to do was to take a cab and drive up to a hotel to get
warm. Then I went out to buy fresh cream and grapes,
and to find out exactly at what time it \vas necessary
to be on board.

I shall never forget the storm of that night after
we left Marseilles. I tried to make some hot arrow-
root ; with much patience I managed it over a spirit
lamp, which I wedged into my washing basin with
supports ; of course the tin of milk could not be trusted
to sit on the top of the lamp, so I had to hold it there,
and it was not an easy matter as I was flung from side
to side in my cabin ; then I found that a linseed
poultice was indicated, so I again retired to my cabin
and wrestled with the spirit lamp, and thought how-
little one appreciates the conveniences of a modern
hospital until one has to do without them.

After that the groans and fearsome noises from
other cabins around us were very bad, and I, who have
always prided myself on being a good sailor, actually
succumbed for an hour or two ; but I dragged myself
up again in the early hours of the morning to make
another poultice, and by breakfast-time the sea

104 A NURSE'S LIFE IN WAR AND PEACE

began to go down, and the sun came out, but it was
several days before some of the passengers crawled
up on deck, looking like limp rags, and the tables
in the saloon were very empty until just before we
reached Alexandria.

We stayed some hours at Malta, and I had an in-
teresting drive round the place.

From Alexandria we had meant to go straight on
to Cairo, but eventually agreed it was best to stay a
night at a hotel in Alexandria to rest before the
dusty train journey.

We had a wretched night, and, not knowing how to
find a good doctor if I needed one, I felt very lonely
in a vast hotel where no one seemed to speak English.

The next day we managed to journey on to Cairo
in the morning, and rested at Shepherd's Hotel until
the evening, and then moved on to this place— about
half an hour by rail from Cairo, and actually on the
borders of the desert.

We have many friends in Cairo, and there is a good
train service, so they often come out to spend the
day with us, or for the afternoon, and then sometimes
I go into Cairo to do necessary shopping or to pay
some visits. Cairo is a very gay place, and the people
very pleasant and friendly.

One day I went to lunch with some friends, and
they drove me to see the Citadel (driving all through
the native quarter of the town), and then we had
tea with the sisters at the Military Hospital — a ram-
bling big place, designed for a palace and not for a
hospital — and they seemed very full up with enteric
patients.

Then we went to see the Mosque, and were seized
by the feet by several Arabs, who tied on sandals for

A RIDE TO THE PYRAMIDS 105

us before we went inside, and in these we were allowed
to flop about. The Mosque is a vast dome, nearly all
marble and alabaster, with a lovely alabaster fountain,
where the people wash their feet before going in to pray.

We walked all round the fortifications, and had a
splendid view of Cairo, and then drove back to town
just in time to see the Khedive arrive from Alex-
andria ; a stout, sad-looking young man, his native
escort very smart, and riding such beautiful little
horses.

Another day I was invited to bicycle out from Cairo
to Mena House ; so I went into Cairo by the early
morning train, and mounted a hired bicycle for the
nine-mile ride to Mena House Hotel. The first two
miles seemed very perilous, as our route lay all through
the town, and many water-carts made the roads very
slippery, and electric trams and steam trams rushed
about in a most confusing way, and natives in swarms
(many of them blind) seemed to take a pleasure in
strolling in our track, and stupid donkeys and sad-
eyed camels with unwieldy -loads kept turning about
in unexpected directions, and looking at us in a re-
proachful way, as much as to say they thought
bicycles quite out of place in their country.

The naiTow bridges over the Nile were thick with
traffic, and I was quite glad when we got out to the
open country and on to a good road with trees all
along.

We left our bicycles at the hotel, and walked out
to the great Ghizeh Pyramids, really a most mar-
vellous sight.

The big Pyramid covers as much ground as Lincoln's
Inn Fields ; enormous blocks of stone, apparently
just tumbled one on the top of the other, and yet the

io6 A NURSE'S LIFE IN WAR AND PEACE

whole worked into such perfect shape. To think of
how they can have brought these vast blocks of stone
down, without mechanical help, from Upper Egypt
(for there was no such stone to be found near there)
is indeed wonderful.

The Temple, also, is a thing to marvel at, great
blocks of granite and alabaster cut and fitted to-
gether so perfectly, the doorway as straight as possible,
and to think that all this work was done from 3000 to
5000 years ago and is still as sound as ever.

We had not time to climb the Pyramid, but of course
we paid our respects to the Sphinx, and wished we
could stay to see her by moonlight, when she is said
to be even more impressive than in the daylight.

They gave us a very good lunch on the balcony of
the hotel, which is said to be the best managed in
Egypt ; and I should think it would be a very plea-
sant place to stay at, nice airy rooms and a lovely
marble swimming-bath at the back.

As we rode back there was a good deal of wind
against us, and I was out of practice and rather tired,
so I found the crowded streets of Cairp alarming, and
was much relieved to give up my bicycle without
having run over any one or damaged the machine.

I think there was more of a crowd than usual, as
the Khedive had driven to the station to meet the
King of Siam, and we saw the whole procession pass
on their way back to the palace.

The King of Siam was very gorgeous in a white uni-
form with much gold lace, and his two sons were a
somewhat curious contrast to the natives around,
in their Eton suits and top-hats ; they are going up
the Nile on a private boat.

Helouan is beginning to fill up for the season (we

THE KASR-EL-AINI 107

were about the first arrivals), and we have many
visitors. We are in comfortable lodgings, quite on
the outskirts of the village ; the servant who chiefly
waits upon us is a fine Arab with a black moustache,
who stalks about in a white night-gown down to his
heels, tied round with a red sash ; he wears a red
fez cap with a blue tassel, and red sandals on his feet ;
he does most of the housework, for which purpose
he puts a housemaid's apron with a bib over his night-
gown ! His name is " Abdul " (the " slave of God ") ;
and there is a small Arab boy called " Ishmael," who
runs messages, and is most interested in our doings.

The mosquitoes are pretty bad at night here, and
we have to sleep in nets. Last week we had two days
with a south wind blowing, and then the beasts — creep-
ing, crawling, and flying — were a trial ; there were
great wasps (quite three times as large as English
ones), and horrid little beasts that look like bugs
(only they fly and don't bite) settling on our dinner-
table ; — I am sure the south wind must have been
blowing in the time of the plagues of Egypt !

I am busy collecting things that we want to take up
the Nile for our house, as we shall then be 450 miles
from the nearest shop, and it is rather difficult, as I
don't know at all what the house is like.

There are so many things that I should like to do
and see in Cairo, but I have not time, as we are leaving
by the first tourist steamer that goes up the Nile, and
I don't like to be out for any length of time, but I
did manage a visit to the great native hospital, the
Kasr-el-Aini, where I know several of the sisters.

It is a very fine place with a very up-to-date theatre ;
the nurses are all natives (men for the male patients),
but they all work under the English sisters.

io8 A NURSE'S LIFE IN WAR AND PEACE

The sisters have a most delightful Home, their
dining and drawing rooms are very spacious apart-
ments, and they each have a very large room, which
most of them screen off into bed and sitting rooms.

There is a special fund which provides a carriage
and pair for their use, and they have a very good
tennis court in their garden, in which they are " At
Home " one day each week, and the Cairo people go
to tea with them and to play tennis.

I have not told you a word about the native bazaars
and all the quaint sights of the Cairo streets, but every
one writes about them, and I find them too dazzling
to describe. I could sit for hours on the balcony at
Shepherd's Hotel just doing nothing but watch the
people. Take my advice, and come to see Cairo some
day, for it is a most fascinating place, and I am quite
loth to leave it.

LUXOR, UPPER EGYPT,
December 1897.

ONCE more we have moved our camp, and though we
managed the move with very little exertion for my
patient, and are now settled in very comfortable
quarters here, and he is pleased to be amongst old
friends and in his old haunts, and the climate is per-
fectly beautiful, still it is sad to see that he is going
downhill ; so it has been arranged for his mother and
younger brother to join us here, and we are counting
the days till they arrive.

We came up the Nile on Rameses III., the newest
of Cook's tourist steamers, a very comfortable boat
with nice airy cabins. I took all our baggage on board
in Cairo, but we had agreed it was better to avoid
the noise and bustle of embarking in Cairo, and that
we should join the boat when she anchored a few
miles away from Helouan, at a place called Badrachin.

Two of our doctor friends had meant to come to
see us safely on board, but at the last moment they
were both prevented, so we started off in an arabeyeh,
escorted by a policeman mounted on a donkey, who
had been sent to give us any help he could.

Much to my anxiety, before we had gone far, the
sun had disappeared, and a sand-storm had got up,
and by the time we had reached the Nile it was quite
cold, and the water was very rough with white waves
showing.

109

no A NURSE'S LIFE IN WAR AND PEACE

Rameses HI. was anchored at Sakkarah on the other
side of the river, but our policeman rode on and sig-
nalled to them, and as soon as they saw us they sent
off a boat to take us across ; it was rather a perilous
trip as the boat was a light one, and we shipped a
good deal of water. I was thankful when we got
safely on board, and found a good doctor and other
friends to help us.

The tourists — of whom there were not many, as this
was the first trip of the season — were all away sight-
seeing at the Sakkarah Pyramids.

Strolling up the river on these steamers is a very
pleasant way of travelling. Though the banks of the
Nile are flat and there is a certain sameness about them,
the lights are so wonderful that they never look the
same. I used to think that the only thing that it
was really worth while having to get up early for was
a day's hunting, but now I must add the sight of the
sunrise on the Nile, and as for the sunsets they are
simply gorgeous, the intense red, gold, and orange
as the sun sinks with the delicate blue above ; and then
you turn your back on the sun and face the rich indigo
blue of the afterglow, and then in a few minutes it
is all dark (no twilight here), and there is a solemn
hush over everything.

The steamers don't travel at night, and they stop
at various points where there are interesting things
to be seen, and then all the tourists troop off and mount
the excellent donkeys, who seem to think nothing of
the heaviest weights, but canter off to the Tombs or
the Temples as though they quite enjoyed it.

I had a very good ride on a big donkey called
Mahomet to the Tombs of Beni Hassan, and another
day I went ashore and had a good look round Assiout.

AT LUXOR in

On the morning of November 23 I had a long ride
out to see the Temple of Binder ah (a very beautiful
temple), and then the same evening we reached Luxor
just at sunset, and walked up an avenue of palm-
trees to the hotel, which just at this season is very
empty, so we have large rooms on the ground floor,
and there is a delightful garden, where at present we
spend most of the day, We have a little house just
across the road facing the hotel, and I am very busy
getting it ready. As I am the only nurse here, if any
visitors should come up ill, I should have to look after
them ; but so far people are behaving nicely.

We have secured two good Arab boys as servants —
Hassan and Girgus. Hassan can speak a little English,
but Girgus cannot, and it takes a long time to get
much work out of people when you can't talk to them !
You would be amused to see me wrestling with Arab
carpenters, \vho seem quite incapable of putting any-
thing up straight, and with Arab painters, who never
get the same colour for two days together.

The chaplain's wife, who came up the river with us,
has gone on to Assouan for a few days, and as she has
left me her donkey to use, I get a little exercise every
afternoon.

The other day I had rather an amusing time. I
had ridden out to Karnak with Miss L. to see the
temple : it was very dusty, and we were very hot ;
and when we got into the shade of the temple we
saw a party of people having tea, with two men in very
gorgeous uniforms waiting upon them and a dignified
dragoman standing by. I recognised the dragoman
as one of Cook's men who had helped us in Cairo,
and he gave me a sweeping bow as we passed. I
said to Miss L. as we moved away, " I am sure that

ii2 A NURSE'S LIFE IN WAR AND PEACE

nice dragoman would like to offer us some tea, and
I do want some very badly," and we had not gone
very far when the dragoman came after us with a
visiting card and " Sir G. N.'s compliments, and would
the ladies accept a cup of tea ? " so we joined the party
and had a most pleasant tea, the dragoman having
evidently explained who we were.

They had come up on a dahabeah, and were staying
only for one night now, but may return later on.
They told us they thought they must ride camels in
Egypt, so at Keneh they all started off on camels, each
with a boy attendant on a donkey, but all except one
of the party returned on the donkeys, with the boys
on the camels !

The Karnak Temple is very beautiful ; I have
been to see it several times now, and find something
new to gaze at every time I go ; once I visited it by
moonlight, and then it was most solemn.

There is a very nice little hospital for natives in
Luxor, where they do a good many eye and other
operations. The native doctor in charge has been
most kind in lending me his horse, a perfect little
Arab that goes like the wind, and I have had some
delightful gallops on the desert.

All the houses in Luxor are built of mud, or mud
bricks, the bigger ones being colour-washed over,
but often you see a little bit of straw sticking through
the colour-wash just to remind you that it is "a
house of straw."

We are building a little summer-house out at Kar-
nak, and sometimes drive out there with our lunch
and spend the day — the air is fresher away from the
village and the cultivated land ; and one of the en-
gineers who is building the railway from Cairo to

"HARE AND HOUNDS" 113

Assouan sometimes lends us his trolley on the line,
and a couple of Arabs shove us (with Hassan in at-
tendance) several miles out into the desert. We also
do some sailing on the Nile when there is any wind.

Rameses III. stayed here a few days on her way
down the river, and most of the passengers came to
look us up. One evening they had a fancy dress ball
on board. I went down for a little while, and it was
such a pretty sight ; the boat was moored close in,
so that they could dance on deck and then stroll in
the hotel grounds, and it was all lit up with Japanese
lanterns, and looked so pretty with the palms waving
above.

There was a gymkhana one day, and it was very
good fun ; camel races and buffalo races and all
varieties of donkey races ; one very amusing race
was for gentlemen riding one donkey and driving
another with long reins in front of him. The leaders
would seldom go straight, and they got hopelessly
mixed up in the reins, and had to be disentangled
several times.

A favourite amusement here is to play hare and
hounds on donkeys. They have quite a big meet of
hounds near the hotel, and the hares (three of them)
have a long start to give them time to ride out to
Karnak, and then they have to try to ride back to
the racecourse without being caught.

The hounds are divided into three packs — the fast,
the medium, and the slow ; the master has to be a
man of tact : he sends off with the fast pack the keen
young tourists, many of them Americans, the men
riding in their shirt sleeves, and they gallop out to
the boundary to drive the hares in ; then the medium
pack trot out in a business-like way, ladies and gentle-

ii4 A NURSE'S LIFE IN WAR AND PEACE

men, who are probably very correct in their costume
for riding in the Row, and who would not think of
riding at home without a top-hat ; and, lastly, the
slow pack, consisting of people who (in some cases)
hardly know a horse from a donkey, and who solemnly
jog down to the racecourse and then loiter about to
see the fun when the hares come in.

The natives take a great interest in this sport, and
call it "hunting the Mahdi," but their sympathies
seem to be entirely with the hares, and they give
them every assistance by scouting about for the hounds,
and secreting the hares and their donkeys in their
mud houses when there is danger about.

Dr. R. and I were the hares one day, and we had a
most exciting ride, but were caught at last just as we
reached the racecourse. At one point I was hustled
into a native house (just mud walls with no proper
roof), and found a buffalo being milked in one corner
and a baby lying on the ground in another, and from
there I watched half-a-dozen hounds gallop past,
thinking they wrere close on my heels, and when they
got out of sight I doubled off in another direction.

The donkeys seem quite to enter into the fun of
the thing, and do their best, but sometimes they get
excited and bray— inexcusable behaviour, which is
most disconcerting when you are trying to hide in a
patch of sugar-cane !

XXI

LUXOR, UPPER EGYPT,
January 1898.

IT was difficult for us to realise the snow and cold
that you had for Christmas, while we were enjoying
perpetual sunshine here.

My patient is now established in his little mud house,
just across the road from this hotel. I am thank-
ful to say his mother and brother have arrived, so
we share the nursing between us.

It has been downhill work lately, and now he seldom
leaves his bedroom, a large " upper chamber " with
a nice view over the palm-trees to the Nile.

The nurse from Assouan has come down to be with
him at night, as I have been annexed by a poor lady
in the hotel who is desperately ill ; she came up
from Cairo with a very bad throat, and now that is
better, but she is still very ill, and it is not quite clear
whether it is typhoid fever or general pyaemia, but I
am afraid, whatever it is, her strength cannot hold
out much longer.

I am with her for all the nights and part of the days,
and go backwards and forwards to the house, and get
some sleep in just when I can.

There has been much excitement here about the
rumour of war in the Soudan, and now it is more than
rumour, and the troops are being pushed up country
as fast as they can.

Cook's people are in great trouble, as all their

u6 A NURSE'S LIFE IN WAR AND PEACE

tourists going down to Cairo have had to be turned
off the boats at Naghamadi (the present railroad head),
and they have to go the rest of the way down by train,
while the boats turn back to take the troops up to
Assouan. Some regiments are being sent all the way
by rail, in spite of the line not being yet finished.

The engineers are working day and night. I met
one of them just now, who said he was up to his eyes
in work, and that he had twenty telegrams in his
pocket, all different orders, and each contradicting
the one before ; so I said I supposed he did what he
thought was right and hoped for the best !

They have been busy here with an old tub of a
steamer that has been used for years as a landing
stage ; with much tinkering at last they got the engines
to work, and now she has gone wobbling down the
Nile to bring up stores. It was exciting when they
first lit up the fires, as I hear she ran away and knocked
pieces out of the road on the front.

The Oxfordshire and Lincolnshire Regiments have
gone past, the men packed like sardines in the boats.

I badly want to go up with them, but at present
they don't seem to be sending any sisters, and my
work is cut out for me here just at present.

All the steamers that come up, besides being heavily
loaded, are towing large barges with either men or
stores in them, so there is a good deal of delay about
our mails, &c.

I expect you hear more of what is going on at the
front than we do, as all the wires are blocked with
service messages, and we hear only rumours ; to-day
we hear our troops have had a bad smash up near
Berber, and that they have lost a gunboat, but whether
there is any truth in it or not is very doubtful.

WAR IN THE SOUDAN 117

To-day the Camerons are passing through here,
and the natives are much excited at the kilts. I
think they rather imagine that England has run out
of men and has begun to send the women !

Somehow life seems very strange here just now ;
for one thing, there is the rustle and bustle of war in
the air, then, at the same time, in this little place we
are already having a stern fight against the enemy of
disease, and all the time there are tourists filling up
the hotel and making merry, and you hear them talk of
the Luxor Meet of the Sporting Club, and which donkey
they will secure as their mount, as though it was the
most important thing in the world.

Until last week I still went for a ride now and
then by way of refreshment. There is a doctor here
who rides an enormous white Syrian horse, and he
was most kind in bringing me a beautiful little Arab,
and taking me out for a gallop when I could get away ;
the Arab was too quick for the Syrian, and often,
having let it go, I had to wait for him afterwards.
One day we were coming in from the desert and passed
our chaplain, who afterwards amused my friends by
telling them that I had passed him at such a pace on
the Arab that the wind I made nearly blew him off
his donkey, and then about a mile behind something
thundered past that at first he thought was a white
elephant but afterwards concluded it was a watering-
pot of a new fashion, as it left such a track of damp
on the sand !

One day the German Consul took me to see his col-
lection of curios (I believe he does a good deal of trading
in them) : he has got a splendid collection. I had to
drink native coffee — which I can't abide — but before
I left he gave me a beautiful little " antique," a little

u8 A NURSE'S LIFE IN WAR AND PEACE

blue image that was found in a tomb near here, and
probably dates from about 3000 B.C., so I forgave him
the coffee !

The other day Miss C., the housekeeper at the hotel,
knocked up with dysentery, and was very seedy for
a few days. Before she got well again there was
an urgent call for more steamers for troops ; so the
steamer Rameses the Great, thai happened to be moored
here (meaning to stay four days while the passengers
explored the place), suddenly had to turn all her pas-
sengers and their baggage off into the hotels and leave
them there, while she did a trip up to Assouan and
back. The hotel was simply packed for five days,
and the noise was very bad for our sick ones ; poor
Miss C. was frantic at not being able to get about
and see about rooms, &c., for all these people, so I
had to do what I could to help her, but I was fright-
fully busy with so many ill.

The Nile is getting very low and " smelly," and we
hear that they have several cases of dysentery at
Assouan, and there is a poor lady somewhere up the
river on a dahabeah very ill with it, and there is no
nurse within reach free to go to her.

With all this urgent traffic on the river it is difficult
to get things up from Cairo (even urgent "medical
comforts "), and you cannot imagine how many things
one finds lacking for the sick ones from day to day,
when you are 450 miles from the nearest chemist's
shop, with uncertain communication by post or
telegraph.

I am always making raids on the little hospital,
and the doctor there is most kind in helping us, but
he is short of some things that he needs himself and
cannot get — for one thing, the supply of chloroform

NIGHT AND DAY NURSING 119

is very nearly exhausted. We sent an urgent message
(telegraph not available) by the last boat going up
to Assouan, and we hope the doctor there may be
able to lend us some for the present.

It seems weeks since I have had a night in bed ; my
poor lady is so ill that I can hardly leave her, and I
just sleep in an arm-chair in her room when her husband
sits by her for a time.

The Arab servants, especially Hassan and Girgus,
are wonderfully attentive and good — in fact, all help
us as much as they possibly can ; but with people so
desperately ill one does long for London, and the best
physicians, and the best nurses to help one. It is
not possible to do all one would wish for several patients
at once both night and day ; and having had so little
sleep of late I am afraid of forgetting things, and I
have to write all the orders down and tick them off
as I carry them out.

This letter has been written in scraps, and I am

finishing it as I sit by poor Mrs. ; I must keep

awake somehow till her husband wakes, then he will
watch while I have a nap. I fear it is quite hopeless,
and she has been unconscious for some hours now, so
I cannot leave the poor man alone with her.

XXII

PARIS,
March 1898.

You would gather from my last letter that we were
having a sad and trying time at Luxor, and after I
posted to you we had so much more of sadness and
sorrow that it seems like a bad dream, and I can't
write much about it.

The poor lady died of pyaemia, and a few days later
my patient was laid to rest in the little cemetery out
in the desert that he loved so well.

All the winter the tourists had been so fit and well
up the Nile (fortunately for me), but in January every
one seemed to get ill, and they had quite an outbreak
of dysentery. It began up at Assouan, but two poor
young ladies (travelling with a young brother) be-
came very ill between Assouan and Luxor, and were
carried ashore and brought to the hotel. Our night
nurse went off to nurse them, and as soon as I was free
I had to go straight on to help her, as they were both
desperately ill.

It was my first experience of tropical dysentery,
and in some ways it seemed almost more like cholera
• — nothing seemed to check it. A very good physician
came up from Cairo, and stayed some days trying
everything to save them, and nurse and I were working
night and day, but it was no use, and they both died
within twenty-four hours of each other.

Then others got bad, and we had to go from room

SENT UP TO ASSOUAN 121

to room doing what we could for them, and wishing
we either had half-a-dozen nurses, or else had all our
patients in one hospital ward. Gradually the others
all began to improve, and we were beginning to think
of going home, when I was telegraphed for to go up

to Assouan to nurse the Bishop of , who was

very ill ; the nurse who was stationed up there also
being laid up with dysentery.

I was not pleased at having to go, as we were just
packing up to travel home, clearing up the house, &c.,
and I was feeling very done up, but I could not well
refuse, as there was no other nurse within reach ;
so I went off by the post boat, and spent most of the
two days on board in sleeping, as I did not know
how much work might be waiting for me, and I had a
good deal to make up in the way of sleep. I find from
my diary that between the i6th of January and the
3rd of February I had never had a complete night in
bed, and sometimes even the odd hours of sleep were
very few and far between.

But when I got to Assouan I found that every one
was on the mend, and they hardly needed a nurse, so
I stayed only a few days to help (and managed to
explore Philse one afternoon), and then I left again
by post boat for Cairo, the doctor putting a lady, who
had been very ill with dysentery, under my care,
and giving me a little stock of medicines to use at
my discretion, as the post boats — unlike the tourist
boats — carry no doctor.

We stayed an hour or two at Luxor, so that I man-
aged to collect my baggage and said many good-byes.
All the inhabitants — including the servant boys and
the donkey boys — seemed to be there to see us off,
and they had all been so very kind to me through a

122 A NURSE'S LIFE IN WAR AND PEACE

very trying winter that I felt as though I had known
them for years.

There were pleasant people on board the boat, and
the gentleman sitting next to me at table knew Kim-
berley well, and knew my brother out there, so we had
much talk about South Africa.

The boat was simply packed ; and, as it was getting
very hot, every one wanted to rush down the river at
the same time. There were supposed to be thirty-
two first-class berths, and the manager told me that
there were fifty-five passengers on board — men sleep-
ing in all the bathrooms, and the saloon full at night.

I had a sort of little dog-kennel to myself in the
second-class — not a bad little hole when I got there,
but to get to it each time I had to cross the lower
deck, where all the native passengers live and sleep.

My sick lady improved as we got down the river,
and it was very lucky she did, as before we reached
Cairo I became seedy with dysentery myself, and
had to consume some of the drugs the Assouan doctor
had given me in case of need.

The last day on board was exciting, as the Nile was
so low we kept banging on to sandbanks, and all the
glasses were broken ; and as many of the passengers
had only just allowed time to catch their ship at
Alexandria, there was much anxiety lest we should
stick fast.

I saw my lady patient safely into good hands at
Mena House, and then just caught my friends in Cairo
(they had gone down from Luxor when I went up to
Assouan), and after getting some advice from one of
our good medical friends there, we went straight on
to join our ship at Alexandria.

When I got on board I felt so absolutely done up,

DOWN THE NILE 123

I had to turn straight into my berth, and the ship's
doctor took me in charge. I believe he rather thought
I was in for typhoid, and wanted us to go on to Venice
with them, so that he could look after me for a bit
longer (as they stay some days at Venice), but three
days' rest at sea and some medicines pulled me to-
gether a bit, and I did not want to upset plans.

We landed at Brindisi, and spent an uncomfortable
night in a hotel, because we found the sheets were very
wet, and felt obliged to sleep in blankets, a thing I
never enjoy.

From there we had a train journey of eleven hours
to Naples, and we did an idiotic thing, for which we
have not forgiven ourselves yet : we got up at 4.30 A.M.,
thinking our train started at 6 A.M., and when we got
to the station found that our tickets were made out
to travel by another route, and the train did not leave
till 9.30 A.M. !

Naples was perfectly beautiful ; from our windows
such a glorious view of the bay and of Vesuvius in the
distance. We could not go up Vesuvius as he was rather
" active " just then, and some people who went up the
day we arrived nearly got burnt with some hot lava.

We went one day by steamer to Sorrento (a place
I should like to stay at some day), and then over to
Capri, and we explored the wonderful Blue Grotto
there. Capri is a sweet place, with such lovely flowers
and ferns.

Another day we spent at Pompeii, and wished we
could spare more time for exploring the Museum in
Naples, where most of the best things from Pompeii
are now shown ; and then a drive we took along the
bay to Posilipo is one of the most beautiful drives
I have ever enjoyed.

124 A NURSE'S LIFE IN WAR AND PEACE

From Naples we moved on to Rome. It is quite
hopeless to try to " see " Rome in anything under
a month at least, so we did not try. The place seemed
to be full of our Egyptian friends, and we met them
at every turn, so we had a very pleasant time there,
and of course we did see some of the sights.

We spent some time at St. Peter's and several
more of the wonderful churches, and we explored the
Colosseum, and the Forum, and the Thermae Caracalla,
and we went down some Catacombs (and were very
glad to get safely up again !) ; in fact, we saw just
enough to make us wish to return some day with time
(and money) to enjoy it all more fully.

We then moved on to Florence and had a few most
enjoyable days there ; the picture galleries were most
fascinating — so many pictures that one has known
and loved all one's life (from photographs), and will
now love all the more for having seen the originals.
The town is very interesting, and the surrounding
country is lovely.

Our last day in Florence was wet. This was dis-
appointing, but as it was the first rain I had seen
since last September I could hardly complain.

We spent a night in the train, and then stayed a
few hours in Milan, just to see the very beautiful
cathedral, and then got on board a corridor train to
cross the St. Gothard. Near Milan the fields were
thick with primroses and anemones, and it was quite
hot, but we soon got up amongst the snow, and then
the scenery was simply grand.

We stayed a few days with some Swiss friends in
Zurich. They have a delightful house looking over
the lake, and the snow mountains in the distance are
such a restful sight.

A SAUNTER HOME 125

One day we went out by train, and then did a little
climbing, and got up amongst the snow : it was so
funny after all the scorching we have had just lately.

From there we travelled by night on to Paris ; and
now we have come to the end of our " saunter "
across the Continent, and I am sure it has done us all
good, and has been most refreshing.

I have just been out to get my hair shampooed,
and I think I have now got rid of the last remains
of Egyptian dust. To-morrow we make tracks for
England, and then I don't quite know what is to be
my next move, but more work, I hope, of some kind
or another.

XXIII

GENERAL HOSPITAL, LONDON,
January 1899.

I DON'T think I have written to you since I slipped
back into my work here.

We got back from Egypt in April, and I spent a
little time at home and paid a few visits, and then the
Matron asked me if I would return to take charge of
one of the women's surgical wards for four months
while the sister was away on sick leave ; so back I
came at the beginning of July, and it seems as though
I am likely to remain. I had such a nice welcome back
from every one (from the surgeons down to the porters),
that I soon felt quite at home again.

At first it was rather strange, as they have changed
the " off duty " times, and all the nurses get more time
off, so that means you have more nurses, and when
they were all on together it seemed such a crowd to
me : in that ward for twenty-two beds and four cots
I had a staff nurse, a senior probationer, and three
other probationers, and two lady pupils, seven besides
myself on day duty and a staff nurse and a probationer
on night duty ; but it is seldom they are all on at
the same time, and I have to run around and see that
those who are on attend to the work of those who
are off, and that things are not neglected because " it
is not my work " !

It is nice for the nurses not to be so rushed as we

used to be, but I am not quite sure that it is such

126

BACK TO MY OLD HOSPITAL 127

good training ; I don't think they feel quite so
personally responsible for their patients' welfare as
they did when there was no one equally responsible
with them ; it is rather difficult to explain exactly
what I mean — for one thing, the staff nurses now have
two days off together each month, so we have a senior
probationer who takes over their work for those two
days, and I find they get much more out of touch
with what has been ordered for the patients than
they did when they were away only for one day ; but
I am getting used to it now.

The ward I had when I first came back was rather
dingy, and I regretted all the nice flower-pots and vases
I had left behind in the ward I had when I was last
here, to say nothing of my nice stock of children's
clothes (I had heaps of white sailor blouse tops for the
small boys, and muslin pinafores for the little girls,
with pale blue frocks to wear under the pinafores on
high days and holidays) ; but I did not spend much
on vanities in that ward, as it was not worth while
for a short time, and the more fancy things you have
the more it costs you in washing, as the hospital won't
pay for vanities, though it does make a difference
to the look of your ward when visitors go round, and
the mothers just love to see their poor little kiddies
dressed up " like a real little lady " instead of in
flannelette !

I liked both the night and the day staff nurse in
that ward, and they were very nice to me (sometimes
staff nurses are not nice to a sister doing temporary
work, as they often think they might have been allowed
to do the sister's work themselves).

The ward had been noted for never being without
squalling babies, and I was rather amused to hear

128 A NURSE'S LIFE IN WAR AND PEACE

from another old nurse of mine that these staff nurses
had learnt that I was very particular about tidiness,
and very anxious that the babies should have no
reasonable excuse for squalling ; so they were de-
termined to try to please me in those respects. One
day I came down from the theatre (after being up for
several operations) just at tea-time, and I thought
the ward looked rather untidy, but I wanted my tea
so badly and the ward-maid had it all ready for me,
so, after taking a look at the operation cases, I—
rather unwisely — concluded I would drink it before
going round to tidy up, and, of course, before I had
finished tea the Matron came in, and I had to escort
her round, inwardly fuming at some crumbs by a
child's cot, and some of the trays brought down from
the theatre and not put tidily away ; but Matron
was very amiable, and when we got to the door she
said, " Sister, I never remember seeing the ward so
trim and neat after a theatre afternoon, and not a
single baby squalling ! " — so of course I told the staff
nurse, and she was mightily pleased.

We had had a curious case in the theatre that
afternoon — a poor little scrap of a baby, one day old,
born with an imperforate anus ; as soon as they began
to give it an anaesthetic it stopped breathing, and
after trying to revive it for some time the surgeon put
on his coat and went away, but we continued doing
artificial respiration, and eventually the child came
round ; so another surgeon (who was still in the hos-
pital) came in, and he advised the house surgeon to
do colotomy, which he did very rapidly, and the poor
little mite was relieved, but it only lived a day.

We had a first-rate house surgeon on just then,
and he looked after his dressers well. You have no

IN A WARD FOR WOMEN 129

idea how slack and lazy the dressers sometimes get
if the house surgeon is not keen, and it makes a vast
difference to the patients' comfort.

It happened to be our " take in " week when Bank
Holiday came, and we had a very lively week. Al-
together we took in sixteen cases, but a few of them
were injuries to arms or fingers, so they were able to
go out again after a night or two, thus leaving beds
free for others.

On Bank Holiday itself things were pretty quiet
until the evening, and then we had four accidents
in two hours — an old lady of seventy-nine with a
fractured femur, a baby with a scalp wound (fell from
its chair on to the fender), a little child badly scalded,
and a very big and fat woman with a fractured tibia
and fibula, who, I was horrified to find, was expecting
a baby to arrive very shortly, and as none of my nurses
had had any experience of such things, nor had the
present night sister, I felt obliged to keep within hail
both night and day ; but one Sunday I thought it
seemed safe to go out to church, and another sister
promised to attend if required, and sure enough she
was required, but all went well, and the mother made
a good recovery, and I think was rather pleased to
go out with a fine healthy baby, having been saved
all the expense of her confinement.

When the sister of that ward returned, there was
a small men's accident ward vacant, so I was offered
that until a larger ward should be free.

I was sorry to leave the children, but the new ward
was under the surgeons for whom I had worked before
I went to Egypt, and I was glad to be on for them
again.

It was November when I moved my camp, and I

130 A NURSE'S LIFE IN WAR AND PEACE

seemed to have hardly had time to turn round before
Christmas was upon us, and a very bright and cheery
Christmas we had, in spite of the fact that we were
" taking in," and the cases simply streamed in. Al-
together we admitted twenty-one cases during the
week for our twenty beds. Of course some kept
going out, but we had to send our most movable
patients to sleep in other wards, so as to keep a bed
always ready for the next accident.

Amongst the cases we had two poor fellows who
had cut their throats ; one a lad of twenty-one who
had had influenza, and the other a man of thirty-two
who had been jilted by a girl. They both had trache-
otomy done, and both did pretty well at first, but I
don't think the younger man wanted to get better,
and eventually he got pneumonia and died. The
other man got all right again. All through Christ-
mas week they both had policemen sitting by them
in case they should attempt suicide again, and these
policemen were most useful in helping with the de-
corations.

At the same time we had a big drayman in, who
had fallen off his dray and got slight concussion of
the brain. He did not get quite sensible for some
time (though he was never very ill), and he was always
trying to get out of bed, and whenever any one got up
on the ladders to do a little decorating there would
be a call that " No. 10 was getting out," and we all
had to run to put him back and tuck him up again.

These various interruptions made our decorations
a very slow process, but eventually the ward looked
very nice, and I think the patients had a very happy
Christmas ; even the two poor cut-throat men seemed
quite pleased and interested in their presents, though

CHRISTMAS IN A MEN'S WARD 131

they were neither of them able to enjoy the privilege
of a smoke, which all the other men (including the
policemen) so much enjoyed on Christmas Day.

One man who came in with a damaged knee told
me that he was a rival " strong man " to Sandow ;
and, as he was verging on delirium tremens for some
days, we felt a little anxious until he calmed down ;
but he proved to be quite a nice patient.

XXIV

GENERAL HOSPITAL, LONDON,
December 1899.

I SEEM to have been wasting a lot of time this year
in being seedy in one way or another, so I don't think
that I have much of interest to write to you about,
and now that the war in South Africa is making us
all excited (as every one feels as if he ought to lend a
hand), it is difficult to think of the trifles that have
been filling up our lives for the last few months.

After I wrote to you last, we had in yet another cut-
throat who proved to be a lunatic, and he gave us a
very lively time before we got him well enough to
despatch to an asylum. One day he jumped out of
bed in a great hurry (as he was very fond of doing if
the policeman in charge took his eye off him for a
minute), so the man in the next bed called out " Halloa,
mate, where are you off to ? " to which he replied,
" I've got a second-class pass for heaven, so I'm off,"
and it took some persuasion before he would believe
that the train for that destination was not due yet.
Another night he proposed to the night nurse, as he
thought they might get on well in " the fried fish
line " together ! It is strange how nervous men are
with any one a little bit " off " : even some of these
big policemen always call out for us to come if a man
gets restless. I am not a bit afraid of them, and can
generally get them to do what I want with a little

chaff ; but I am heartily tired of having cut- throats

132

SCARLET FEVER 133

in the ward : I seem to have had so many of them at
one time or another, and they are a great anxiety.

We had so many accidents in from the railway
station near by last winter that the Superintendent
very kindly told me (as one of the accident sisters)
I might have a free pass any week-end that I liked
to apply for it to any station on their line ; so I had
a very good time going to visit friends and relations
at the seaside when I was able to get away from
Saturday to Monday ; and they were first-class passes
too, so that one could go by the fastest trains.

One evening in May I found that a lad, who had
been brought in with a broken leg, was peeling nicely
all over, and we extracted a history that might have
meant a slight attack of scarlet fever, but it was so
indefinite that the house surgeon did not believe it,
and did not have him moved at once ; and two days
later another small boy developed scarlet fever, and
then one of the nurses, and they began to talk about
closing the ward; then one day I had a raging headache,
but did not think anything of it, but when I went to
bed (much to my disgust) I found I had a brilliant
rash ; and the next day the doctor came along and
agreed in my diagnosis of scarlet fever, and offered
to isolate me there or send me to the London Fever
Hospital (paying), but I thought I would just as soon
sample an ordinary M. A. B. Hospital, so I took my
departure in state in the fever ambulance, with a
crowd of friends to see me off — from a safe distance —
at the door.

They made me very comfortable at the Fever Hos-
pital, but I felt rather a fraud, as I had the fever so
very mildly that I was never ill at all : no sore throat
and no temperature after the first two days — in fact

134 A NURSE'S LIFE IN WAR AND PEACE

I think they doubted whether I had ever had it at
all, and it was very slow work waiting to peel. Having
at last accomplished this process, I went back to the
Hospital to clear up my rooms, as a larger ward was
going to be vacant soon, and Matron wanted me to
have it after I had taken a holiday.

So I had a good time at home in the best of the
summer weather, and paid a few visits, going down
to the Isle of Wight and having some splendid bathing
and boating there ; but it is strange how it takes it
out of one having scarlet fever, even when you have
it as ridiculously mildly as I did, and I had a good
deal of trouble with swollen feet and other forms of
feebleness.

In July I attended a very pleasant function at
Marlborough House, when the Princess of Wales
presented me with my certificate of membership of
the Royal National Pension Fund for Nurses, and I
met many old friends amongst the one thousand odd
nurses who were there.

It was a scorching hot day, and there were some
active non-commissioned officers of the Scots Guards
who had their work cut out in marshalling the crowd
of nurses for their march past ; and we found it warm
work standing in the sun, as we were wearing indoor
uniform, and our caps were not much protection ;
but as soon as that was over we found plenty of shade
under the beautiful trees, and were provided with ices
and delicious plates of fruit and other refreshments.

I knew a member of the household, and she very
kindly took me round some of the royal apartments,
and it was interesting to peep into the cool dining-
room, with the lunch ready laid for the royalties to
partake of as soon as they had dismissed us, but they

AT MARLBOROUGH HOUSE 135

stayed chatting with some of the nurses for some time,
and altogether we spent a very pleasant time there.

As I was travelling home afterwards in an express
train we were suddenly pulled up with a tremendous
jerk that threw us and our baggage about the carriage,
and when we had picked ourselves up and could look
out of the window, we discovered that our carriage
was on fire. Fortunately a signalman had noticed
it, and telegraphed to the next signal-box to stop the
train ; we all had to bundle out at a country siding,
and the carriage was taken ,off to be attended to by
the men there, while we and our baggage were packed
into the rest of the train — which already seemed
quite full — and then we hurried on again ; but if
the signalman had not noticed it, it might have been
very unpleasant for us.

I went back to work early in August, and when I
got to the Hospital the doctor who generally looks
after me was away. It never struck me that I needed
to see a doctor, and the Matron did not think to
suggest it, so I took over my new ward and began to
get things into shape and to my liking. It seemed
to me that it was very hard work, but I just put it
down to the fact that the weather was very hot, and
that I had been slacking for so long ; and I thought
I must pull myself together ; but in about a fortnight
the doctor returned, and next day he came to see me
and said I was not fit for work yet ; so, much to my
disgust, I was bundled off for more rest.

Towards the end of September I again got into
harness, worked for about a fortnight, and then knocked
up with acute neuritis in my head, with herpes, &c. I
was cross, but the pain in my head was too bad for me
to worry about anything else. I was warded in a

136 A NURSE'S LIFE IN WAR AND PEACE

medical ward, given big doses of morphia at pretty
frequent intervals, and generally fussed over, as I
had the honour of being a " very interesting and un-
usual case." When my head got better the pain
started down my legs — sciatica — so they kept me in
bed for some time, and when I got up I was rather a
wreck, and they said I must go south ; so once more
I went off to stay with some relations near South-
ampton, and it was the middle of November before I
eventually got back to work. Just fancy having to
take from May to November to get over scarlet fever
and its effects, especially when the fever lasted only
about a couple of days. Of course every one who came
to see me after I got back, wanted to know how long
I had been at work, as they supposed I should be sent
off duty for something else before I had worked a
fortnight !

While I was down near Southampton, I went once
or twice to the docks to see the first troops going off
to South Africa. The men looked very fit and trim
in their new khaki suits, but they were very tight
packed on the troopships and liners. One day I saw
the Kildonan Castle off with 2400 men on board ;
crowds of people to see them off, and such cheering
and singing of " Auld Lang Syne" and "God Save
the Queen." Some of them looked such boys to go
out and rough it at the front, and it is sad to think
that they can't all come back — one wonders how many ?

I wish I could go too. Opinions seem divided as
to whether the war will soon be over or not.

XXV

R.M.S. " TANTALLON CASTLE,"
March 1900.

I COULDN'T stand it any longer ; all my friends were
going off to the front ; and, though many people said
the war would be over before they landed, we kept
hearing accounts of how bad the enteric was, and that
the nurses were being overworked, so I felt I must
at least offer to lend a hand.

I was afraid if I sent in my papers in the ordinary
way I might get sent to a home station to free some
Army Sister to go out, and that would not have suited
me at all, so I thought I would go down to the War
Office, and see for myself if I could get sent to the
front.

About the middle of January I boldly went down
and asked to see the Secretary of the Army Medical
Department. I quite expected to be told I could
not do so without an appointment, but I think the
orderly must have thought I had an appointment, for
he showed me into a waiting-room, and there a strange
thing happened : there were several people waiting,
and amongst them a gentleman whose face I thought
I knew, but I could not remember where I had met
him before. After a few minutes he came up to me
and said, " I think you are Miss L. ? " and I said I
had been trying to think whether we had met before,
and where ? and then he reminded me of how we had

travelled down the Nile on the same post boat in 1898,

137

138 A NURSE'S LIFE IN WAR AND PEACE

and had talked of South Africa then, as he knew of
my brother out there. Then he said, " But what do
you want here ? " and I replied, " Like every one else,
I want to get sent out to the Cape." After he had
meditated for a few minutes he said, " Well, I'm
offering to give them a field hospital of one hundred
beds, and to run it for three months at the Cape. If
they accept it, will you go with it ? " Of course I said
I would like a shot ; and then he was sent for to see
the Secretary, and I waited and waited, and thought
he must have forgotten all about me ; but at last an
orderly came to say, " The Secretary wished to see

Miss ," and the people who had been waiting

longer than I had glared at me, as I was escorted to
the Secretary's room.

There I found my friend of the Nile still talking to
the Secretary, and the Secretary turned to me with a
frown, and asked me what I meant by coming down
to the War Office without an appointment, instead of
sending for the application forms in the usual way ?
So I told him I did not intend to apply in the usual
way, and risk being sent to some home station. I had
too good a berth in England to give it up for that,
but that if I found they would give me a chance of
service at the front I would be glad to go and do what
I could ; that I knew South Africa, and knew what
to expect in the way of climate, and knew how to
manage the native servants, and so on.

Then he melted a little, and said, " Well, this gentle-
man has been most liberal in offering us a complete
hospital, which we are going to accept, and he has
asked for you to go with it, so if you will send in your
papers and testimonials in the usual way you will
stand a very good chance of success." Did you ever

THE NURSING SERVICE RESERVE 139

hear of such a piece of good luck ? If I had not gone
down personally to the War Office, I should never
have met my friend of the Nile, and if I had even
gone five minutes later I should never have met him ;
and afterwards, if I had seen in the papers about
his giving a hospital, I should never have thought of
applying to go with it, as, when we met on the Nile, I
barely knew his name, and should never have connected
him with the hospital.

I asked him the other day what made him give me
this chance on the spur of the moment, and he told
me that he did not wish to leave the appointment of
the staff entirely to the Government, and he did not
personally know any fully-trained nurse whom he could
ask, and he thought if I had a quarter of the brains
he knew my eldest brother to possess I should be a
good help to him.

I have had heaps of congratulations, as every one
says that, though many sisters and nurses have gone
from our hospital, this is the best appointment of
any that has come our way.

I sat up most of that night filling up papers re-
quired by the War Office, and copying out testimonials
to send in with them ; also writing home, as I had
not even told them I was applying to go.

For the next day or two my ward was very heavy
with bad cases, and took up most of my time and
thoughts ; but on the third day I was sent for, and
told I was not only accepted but had been appointed
Lady Superintendent, and was to select five sisters
to go with me, and send their names in for approval.
They hoped we should sail in about three weeks.

Then followed a very busy time ; the authorities
of my hospital were most kind in being willing to let

140 A NURSE'S LIFE IN WAR AND PEACE

me go, but the fact that so many sisters and nurses
were leaving for the front was causing a great scarcity
of seniors, so I felt obliged to stay as long as I possibly
could, only going home for a long week-end to say
good-bye.

There were shoals of letters (sent for me to deal
with) of nurses and others wishing to go with us.
Some of them were amusing : one was from a
viscountess, another from a member of a theatrical
troupe ; a large proportion of the applicants had
had no training, but were " willing to learn " ; some
offered to pay their own expenses if I would only act
as their chaperon— they seemed to think we were
going out for a picnic.

However, there were plenty of applications from
well and fully-trained nurses, and the chief difficulty
was to know which to leave out.

I had to attend at the War Office for an interview
with the Selection Committee. Princess Christian
was one serving on this committee, and she came and
shook hands with me and was most kind.

All the sisters whose names I had sent in were
duly appointed to the Army Nursing Service Reserve ;
and then, having settled the staff, I had to help in
choosing the fittings and stores for the hospital, as
they wished to take out everything so as to be quite
independent when we landed wherever we might be
sent.

Lengthy lists had to be made out of bowls and
porringers, thermometers, splints, crutches, charts
and chart-cases, syringes, bedding and linen, shirts,
suits for convalescents, scrubbing and other brushes,
tanks for disinfecting linen, &c.

There are so many things that seem to come by

CHOOSING FITTINGS 141

nature in England which it would be most trying to
find oneself without on the other side.

And then there were the food supplies to be ordered :
flour, sugar, all groceries, invalid foods, &c. — in fact
everything, and enough of everything, to last for at
least three months.

Having chosen all the fittings we could possibly
think of, we found great difficulty in getting room on
board ship to despatch our cargo, as men were being
so urgently called for, and the ships were going out
packed with regiments and their baggage.

In the intervals of running a heavy surgical ward,
selecting sisters, and choosing stores, I had to get my
uniform made and buy a suitable kit for a hot climate ;
I also bought a second-hand saddle (which I knew
would be useful wherever we were stationed), and had
it packed in a tin-lined case, which took a good many
other things inside the saddle, and I thought if we were
living in tents the case would be useful to save some
of my goods from the white ants.

The hours I could give to sleep were few in those
weeks, but I shall make up arrears on board ship.

We had various false alarms as to the date of sailing,
all of which I had to communicate to the sisters and
then contradict !

I left the hospital on February 22nd with many
regrets, after six years' work, having been a Sister,
or a Night Sister, or an Assistant Matron there for the
last five years.

We thought we were going to sail at once, but in the
end it was decided that the medical officers and the
orderlies would have to leave a few days before the
sisters. I was sorry for this, as I had hoped to get
to know them a little on board ship.

142 A NURSE'S LIFE IN WAR AND PEACE

Before they sailed, Mr. X., who was providing the
hospital, gave a dinner party to all the staff, and we
had a most pleasant evening. After the dinner there
was a large reception, and I was introduced to many
people whose names are well known both in South
Africa and in England.

The doctors sailed on February 28th, and on March
ist I was at the Army and Navy Stores doing a little
final shopping when the news came that Ladysmith
was relieved ; the excitement was intense ; such
cheering and waving of flags, and they set all the
musical boxes, &c., to play " Rule Britannia " !

Mr. X. had decided to go out with us to see the
hospital erected, and on March 3rd we sailed from
Southampton on the R.M.S. Tantallon Castle.

We have troops on board, and I shall never forget
the cheering the people at Southampton gave us as
we got away.

The first-class is full up with officers and some
" gentlemen troopers " of the Yeomanry.

We are now ploughing down the Channel with the
sea so calm few people can even think of being
sea-sick, so I thought I would send you a yarn up-
to-date, and then you would understand that it has
been impossible for me to come to say good-bye.

Until we reach Cape Town, we don't know what
our destination will be ; in the meantime I am having
a good rest, and shall be quite fit for any amount of
work by the time we land.

I hope to post this at Madeira.

XXVI

DURBAN, NATAL,
April i, 1900.

THAT was a strange voyage out on the Tantallon
Castle. For one thing, instead of the usual mixed
lot of passengers, the boat was nearly full of soldiers ;
there were very few ladies on board besides one Army
Superintendent Sister with a batch of sisters and my
little party of six, also a few wives of the senior officers ;
there wrere practically no old people or children on
board.

As one would expect, with so many young men on
board (many of them mere boys), there was a great
deal of fun and joking, and yet beneath it all there
was an under- current of solemnity.

I think we all felt that it was not possible that we
should all return (before we left we heard how many
were dying of enteric and dysentery), and we hoped,
if we were to be left behind, we should have a chance
of doing a bit before we got knocked over. Very
few of the officers had ever been under fire, and they
felt it was going to be a very new experience, and some
of them talked of it with awe. I don't mean that
they were the least bit " funky," but they wondered
whether they would be certain to remember how to
manage their men and lead them on as steadily as if
they were on parade ; some of them thought they
would be sure to duck their heads when the bullets
were flying, and it would " look so jolly bad."

143

144 A NURSE'S LIFE IN WAR AND PEACE

We played the usual games on board, but in the
morning the upper decks were given up to the men,
who drilled and did physical exercises to keep them
fit. At the request of Colonel H., we sisters held some
classes on " first aid." About thirty officers put down
their names as wishing to learn, and attended for half
an hour every morning, and we taught them simple
bandaging, how to stop haemorrhage, and how to
apply improvised splints, &c.

At Madeira we could not get much in the way of
news from the front, so we supposed that nothing very
exciting had happened yet ; we had a few hours ashore
to stretch our legs, and paid a visit to the fruit market.

There was an American man-of-war anchored close
to us, and when we left she manned her yards, and
the men cheered tremendously, and her band played
" Rule Britannia."

There were three deaths on board during the voyage,
all reservists, and all from pneumonia ; it seemed so
awfully sad that they should have given up their
homes and everything to come out, and then have
got knocked over before they had even seen the
enemy or fired a shot. I heard that these men were
ill before they came on board, but would not report
themselves in case they should be left behind, and they
came on board straight from their beds in bitter cold.

I have never been to sea in such a crowded ship
before ; there were four in my cabin, and in a week
or two at sea you get to know the good and bad points
of your cabin mate's character better than in several
months ashore.

At our table there was a Captain - - in charge of
a company of " Gentlemen Yeomanry," who were
going out, paying all their own expenses : it was

ON THE "TANTALLON CASTLE" 145

rather strange for him having his troopers travelling
in the first saloon. He had been in the army, but had
given it up because he could not get five months free
for hunting, besides some shooting and fishing !

There was another captain also at our table who
had been A.D.C. to General Kitchener in the Soudan
campaign, and was going out to join him again ; he
had seen a lot of service, and was very interesting.

Amongst the soldiers in the third-class there are
two District Messenger boys going out as trumpeters
for the Cape Mounted Rifles.

Most of the officers and some of the soldiers were
inoculated against typhoid during the voyage. But
for a scarcity of lymph we also should have been
inoculated, to avoid waste of time after our landing,
but we gave it up, as it was more important for the
men who would probably be sent straight up country.

Sunday on board was kept very quietly ; it was
good to see a large attendance at the Holy Communion
service in the early morning, and the parade service
was a very hearty one ; we had the well-known hymns,
"Lead, Kindly Light," and "Onward, Christian
Soldiers," and then one that I did not know so well,
beginning " O Lord, be with us when we sail," and
containing the two following verses, which seemed
especially appropriate :

" If duty calls from threaten'd strife

To guard our native shore,
And shot and shell are answering fast
The booming cannon's roar,

Be Thou the main-guard of our host,

Till war and danger cease ;
Defend the right, put up the sword,

And through the world make peace."

146 A NURSE'S LIFE IN WAR AND PEACE

The last night on board we had a farewell dinner-
party, not sitting at our usual places, but making
little parties of our friends. Whenever I go for
a voyage, I think there is something a little sad
when it comes to an end, and we all part and go
our different ways, but there was something especi-
ally sad in saying good-bye to all these bright
young fellows, who had to go off to " face the shot
and shell."

We landed at Cape Town on 20th March, and found
that the troopship, with our medical officers on board,
had arrived only that morning, though they sailed
some days before we did ; they had had a good deal
of illness on board, and had to send nearly fifty men
into hospital at Cape Town, and they had had two
deaths during the voyage.

Soon after we got into dock I received orders to take
our sisters and their baggage up to a boarding-house
in Roeland Street. This we accomplished with the
help of the agents, who rejoice in the name of Divine,
Gates & Co. ; but we had not been established there
very long when I received further orders that we
should rejoin our ship in a day or two, as our beds
were more urgently required round in Natal than in
Cape Colony.

Cape Town was in a great state of excitement ;
martial law was in force, and armed patrols were
riding about, and there were constant rumours that
the Boers were close to the Cape.

The docks were crowded with men, horses, and
stores, all being disembarked, and sent up country
as rapidly as possible.

I found my brother, who had been on circuit when
the war began, and could not get back to his home at

SOME MILITARY HOSPITALS 147

Kimberley. He had been for some time at the Cape,
and was shortly going to England.

I met a good many friends in Cape Town ; some
from Kimberley who had come down to recruit after
the siege. All the civilians whom I met from there
were loud in their appreciation of Mr. Cecil Rhodes
and the way he had worked for them and cheered
them through the siege — his especial thought fulness
for the women and children.

I took the sisters to see his beautiful house, Groot
Schuur, and to tea with some old friends of mine at
Kenilworth.

I was anxious to see all I could of the military hos-
pitals and how they were managed, as I had had no
experience of work for the army ; but my first visit
to a large Military General Hospital was not encourag-
ing, as I thought the wards looked dirty and untidy
to a degree ; the men had portions of food left on
their lockers from previous meals, and this food was
covered with flies. Knowing how much enteric there
was in the camp, this, I thought, a great source of
danger. The men were cheery, as usual, but com-
plained that sleep was difficult to obtain owing to the
live-stock in the beds ; in some of the wards the legs
of the beds were placed in condensed milk tins (con-
taining some disinfectant), but even this was not
always successful.

Another day I visited the Portland Hospital, and
found everything very trim and the men very com-
fortable ; the sisters had very nice quarters ; they
seemed rather horrified to hear that we had not brought
any English maids with us, as they said they could
never get on without theirs in this savage land (four
miles from Cape Town !) ; but I have had to do with

148 A NURSE'S LIFE IN WAR AND PEACE

servants out here before, and prefer to manage with
natives.

I subsequently visited another large general hos-
pital, and found it much better kept than the first
one, and the patients more comfortable ; so I con-
clude it depends on the head a good deal, and not so
much on the system.

A party of wounded men came in while I was there,
most of them convalescents, but a few looked rather
bad, and it seemed to be a very long time before they
were put to bed.

I also visited the Red Cross Depot, and saw a good
many ladies at work packing bags for the ambulance
trains — a suit of pyjamas, a sponge, a handkerchief,
a little writing-paper and a pencil, &c., in each bag,
which must be a most welcome present for a soldier
straight from the veldt.

We re-embarked on the same ship on 24th March,
and had a very rough trip up the coast, calling at
Port Elizabeth and East London. At the latter
place the weather was very hot with a cloudy sky,
and all the officers were in their white suits, when we
were suddenly struck by a tremendous rain-storm with
thunder and lightning,|and the wind howling in the
rigging ; they had no time to change out of their
white clothes, and in a few minutes looked like drowned
rats.

The steam was up and everything made fast in case
we should have to put out to sea, but the storm soon
passed over.

We reached Durban on 3ist March, and now there
is much speculation as to where we are to pitch our
camp.

XXVII

PINETOWN, NATAL,
April 1900.

WHEN we arrived at Durban the town was very
full, and the sisters had to stay on board until rooms
could be found for them in a boarding-house. Late
in the afternoon a tug came out with a message that
we were to disembark and go to a house called " Sea
Breeze " in Smith Street. It was rather rough at
the anchorage, and we had to get into a basket and
were slung over the ship's side into the tug, then the
tug had to go round and pick up a lot of lighters that
had been supplying other ships with coal, &c., and
by the time we got into harbour it was getting
dusk, and the Customs House, supposing that all the
passengers had landed earlier, was closed.

I had meant to leave our heavy baggage in the
Customs House till we knew where we were going ;
but it was impossible to leave it loose on the jetty,
and there were no cabs or trolleys about, but a^mob
of riksha boys, dressed up in feathers and horns and
beads (and very little else), who were all clamouring
to be allowed to transport us up town. Eventually
we piled our baggage on these rikshas, and, distri-
buting the sisters amongst it, we gave the boys the
address, and, with much shouting, our cavalcade
started off at a trot ; we soon reached Smith Street,
but then our troubles began, no one knowing Sea
Breeze ; we searched up and down the street, and one

149

150 A NURSE'S LIFE IN WAR AND PEACE

old gentleman told me he had lived all his life in Smith
Street, but had never seen a Sea Breeze there !

I tried all the places where I thought our officers
might be — the R.A.M.C. Depot, hotels, &c. — but could
not find them, the sisters all very tired and hungry,
and some of them rather nervous ; then, by good
luck, we met our Major, who had come out to see if
we were comfortable in our quarters, and discovered
that we had been given the name of the wrong street !

About 9 P.M. we found the house ; but the land-
lady had given us up, and, thinking we should not
land till the morning, had gone out ; but some other
lodgers (refugees from Johannesburg) raided the larder
for our benefit, and we thoroughly enjoyed our
supper.

The next day we found the idea had been to send
us up to Mooi River, but it was thought that, with the
winter coming on, that would be a cold place for sick
troops, so we had better be nearer the coast ; and then
a Durban gentleman came forward, and most kindly
offered the use of his estate of 150 acres at Pinetown ;
it is only about seventeen miles from Durban, but
much higher up and more healthy ; so the offer was
gratefully accepted, and the building was at once
begun.

Then followed a time when we all had to forget
that we had come out to " nurse the sick and wounded,"
and turn to work at other jobs.

Before they were ready for us to go up to Pinetown
we were all inoculated against typhoid. It was not
a pleasant experience : my temperature went up to
102°, and I had intense abdominal pain and headache ;
it seemed like a very concentrated touch of typhoid,
but it kept us in bed only two or three days, and the

WE BEGIN TO BUILD OUR HOSPITAL 151

following five or six days we felt as weak as though
we had been ill for a month.

As soon as possible I went up to see where our
hospital was to be built, and found them busy levelling
the ground for the tin pavilions.

There were three permanent buildings already up
on the land ; one, we thought, would make a good
ward for officers (eight beds) ; another had a large
room we thought would do for our staff mess-room,
and some small rooms suitable for medical officers'
bedrooms ; and the third was a row of rooms that
was apportioned for sisters' rooms, and various offices,
stores, &c.

The orderlies were established in tents a little way
off ; they were all St. John's Ambulance men, and
camping out was a new experience for them, so of
course they did not know how to make themselves
as comfortable as regular soldiers would have done
in a new camp. They had joined expecting to have
the excitement of stretcher work at the front, and
when they were told off to level the ground for the
buildings, or to carry up the planks and the heavy
boxes from the railway trucks, and to help the
builders put up the pavilions, there was a good deal
of grumbling.

At first the Major in command would not hear of
our going up to stay until they had got some more of
the stores up — beds, sheets, &c. ; but when he found
how slowly they got on, and how discontented the
men were at having to rough it, he gave leave for me
to go up with one other sister, as we thought we might
help a bit, and, at any rate, could show the men we
were willing to take our share.

The hospital we had brought out was for one hun-

152 A NURSE'S LIFE IN WAR AND PEACE

dred beds, but there was urgent need for more beds,
so the P.M.O. had given orders that more huts were
to be sent to us, and that we were to open as a two
hundred bed hospital.

The railway was so hard worked that we had the
greatest difficulty to get trucks to bring the building
materials up from Durban, and the docks at Durban
were so crowded with stores that it was most difficult
to get the things through.

Some of our medical officers worked nobly at
the docks, getting the things packed on to trucks,
while the others superintended the unloading at Pine-
town.

Every engine seemed to be needed for taking men,
horses, stores, water, &c., up to the front, and the only
wonder was that so few accidents occurred on the much
over-worked single line of rails.

We had landed on the last day of March, and on

the evening of I2th April Sister and I went up to

Pinetown by rail, taking all the sisters' heavy baggage ;
and the other sisters went to give some temporary
help on one of the hospital ships at Durban, until we
could fix up some rooms for them. Some of the officers
met us at the station, and a fatigue party had brought
a truck for our baggage. A tramp of about ten
minutes through thick sand brought us to our new
abode.

Our first meal, a kind of supper, was somewhat
quaint ; a bare deal table in a room dimly lighted by
two candles stuck into bottles ; plates, knives, and
forks had to be used with great economy, as there
were not enough to go round ; some good salt beef
and biscuits and some fruit — and we were waited
upon by an orderly in his shirt sleeves, who was an

UNPACKING 153

engine-driver when at home in England, and knew
more about greasing engines than about cleaning
the grease off plates !

The weather was very hot, and the officers all looked
dead tired, so we soon decided to turn in, and were
escorted to our room (in the other building) by the
light of a guttering candle, as there were said to be
many snakes about.

They had found us two beds, and actually some
sheets, but absolutely nothing else in our room. How-
ever, I hunted up the cook, and he lent me a bucket
with some water in, so that we might start fair with
a wash in the morning.

The next morning we were up before six, and
started work in earnest, unpacking cases, sorting stores,
and putting them away in different store-rooms, and
trying to find the things we were most in need of for
household use.

Some of the hospital fittings had been put ashore
at Cape Town and not yet sent on, and more of the
necessaries were still down at Durban, so that it was
very difficult to push on the building work ; and all
the time we knew the Field Hospitals were crowded
up, and needing to send men down to us to give them
a chance of recovery ; and we heard that the generals
said they could not fight any more till they could
clear the Field Hospitals.

All the cases of stores were numbered, so that "when
we wanted any particular thing, we had to look up in
the list the number of its case, and then hunt about
till we found that number ; all day long it was " Have
you seen 4507 ? " — " No, I want 5470." Sometimes
we found a lot of jugs, and then could not find the
basins ; sometimes a lot of saucers, and no cups ; and

154 A NURSE'S LIFE IN WAR AND PEACE

it seemed as though we never should get order out
of the chaos.

At first we had no house-boys, and the orderlies
were all busy carrying the building materials up, so
Sister and I kept the bedrooms tidy, and the medical
officers (in return) carried the water for the baths !
As soon as I could, I annexed a fine old Kaffir as a
house-boy, and " John " is a great stand-by now.

We tried first of all to fit up rooms with the bare
necessary furniture for the rest of the officers and
sisters, so that they could all come up and help us.

If you saw the jetty at Durban you would wonder
that any stores ever got sent up to their right destina-
tion ; literally hundreds of tons of boxes stacked up
in hopeless confusion. Durban is a bit overdone by
military requirements, and quite run out of some
stores.

On April 3rd we were made very anxious by a strong
rumour that Mafeking had fallen. They say that all
the little children have died there. Yesterday we
heard of the loss of a British convoy and five guns,
and also that the Boers were going into laager again
quite near to where Cronje was taken.

Durban is full of refugees, and of Ladysmith people
recruiting after the siege. I went over one of the
hospital ships, the Lismore Castle, before I came up
here, and it was melancholy to see the skeletons from
Ladysmith ; one quite young fellow told me he had
come here from India, got typhoid soon after the
siege began, then, as soon as he began to convalesce,
the only food they could give him was mealy meal
and a little horse-flesh, so he got dysentery. He is
now mending, but it is slow work with them all.

Before we came, our rooms had been occupied by

A HOSPITAL SHIP AT DURBAN 155

refugees, and fleas abound ; I catch about six ter die
and once in the night. Luckily we are fairly free
from mosquitoes." It is awfully hot, and the medical
officers go about in trousers and vests only : we wish
we could wear as little !

This is a very scrappy letter ; we work from 6 A.M.
to dusk, and then I have been scribbling a little before
turning in, but I am weary to a degree, and must fill
up the gaps in my next.

XXVIII

PINETOWN, NATAL,
April 1900.

You must not expect me to tell you anything about
the progress of the war ; the papers here give us very
little news ; of course we are constantly hearing many
startling rumours, but they are frequently contra-
dicted the next day, and probably you have more
reliable news of the doings of our troops in your papers
at home than we have.

So I will just jot down things about our daily work
here.

We are getting into order by degrees, but .at present
life is rather a struggle against difficulties.

You see we are not quite a Civil Hospital, nor are
we quite a Military Hospital ; for the 100 beds we
brought out we were well equipped, and had many
more comforts than a Military Hospital would have
been provided with, but now we are to have 200 beds,
and our resources are somewhat strained.

I found that the mess waiter was in his shirt sleeves
because the poor man had been nursing a case of
scarlet fever on board ship, and all his kit had to be
burnt, so I fitted him up in some pyjama coats to
wait at table, until I could get time to go in to Durban
and buy him some white drill jackets.

After a few days' work at unpacking, we got quite
civilised in our room fittings, and sent for the other

sisters to come up and help.

156

OUR FOOD SUPPLIES 157

If there had not been such need for hurry in getting
the place ready, it would really have been very amusing;
much of the furniture had been a good deal damaged
on the way, and we all tried our hands at mending—
to see our senior surgeon (who is on the staff of a
large hospital in England) sitting on the ground trying
to fit a leg on to a washstand, or to make a drav/er
run into a chest of drawers, is a fine sight ; I have
taken a few snaps with my kodak of the staff in
unprofessional garb, and doing unprofessional jobs. I
hope they will come out all right, but I don't see much
prospect of having time to develop them.

The theatre is fitted up, but has not been used yet,
and Mr. - is working hard getting the X-Ray
room into order, and his apparatus fixed up.

Our food supplies (always called " skoff " here—
the Kaffirs' name for food) were very erratic at first.
Sometimes no meat would turn up, and then we made
shift with bully-beef, which is really quite good, or
sardines ; sometimes no bread, then we used the
barrel of biscuits that lived in the mess-room — you
have no idea how difficult it is to eat enough of those
biscuits to satisfy you (they are nearly as hard as
dog biscuits !), and in about half-an-hour you feel
starving again ; sometimes there is no butter — then
marmalade. Now things are coming up more regu-
larly, and I hope they will continue to do so, as it is
easy for us to joke about short commons for ourselves,
but it is no joke when you have sick men needing
careful feeding up.

One thing is very nice, and that is that the fruit is
nearly ripe, and we shall soon have plenty of pine-
apples and oranges.

Our cook seems to try to make the best of things ;

158 A NURSE'S LIFE IN WAR AND PEACE

he is only quite a lad, but he is managing to cook
for us all (including the men), with only wood under
a sort of gridiron, in the open air.

There was much joy the other day when we came
across a case of " Mother's Crushed Oats " ! and
nearly all seem to enjoy porridge for breakfast. As
it is still very hot, the food supplies are difficult to
manage, the meat hardly keeping from one meal to
another, even when cooked ; and with very limited
store-rooms I find it very difficult to see that every-
thing is kept covered up and fly-proof.

So far we have had no fresh milk, but now two
cows have arrived, and I am having to watch the
boys milk them, as we pay for the milk by the number
of bottles supplied !

We have just heard that the poor old Mexican has
gone down on her voyage out : no lives lost, but we
fear our letters have gone to the bottom with her.

One thing I am worried about is that a big tank
I had especially asked to have, in which we might
boil all the typhoid linen, has been broken on the
way, and I don't think I shall be able to get another.
We are establishing a place for the washerwomen
behind the hospital, on a slope where their water will
run away from our direction ; I should like to have
had a separate place for the staff's washing, but cannot
manage it, so must be contented with keeping special
women and special tubs, &c., for it.

The men are really working very well now, and it
is hard work they have to do ; they required a good
deal of persuasion to work on Saturday afternoon ;
but we hear the Field Hospitals are crowded up with
2000 sick, on this side alone, so we must push on the
building.

SNAKES AND OTHER CREATURES 159

We are getting everything into order in the big
store-room, so that as soon as any of the big pavilions
are finished we shall have all the fittings quite ready
to issue.

I have been down to see the P.M.O. in Durban.
He seems very nice, and willing to give us all the
help he can ; he seems glad that we are going to have
the extra beds, and promises to send us more doctors,
sisters, and orderlies ; we rather hope that some of
the orderlies will be R.A.M.C. men, and that they will
put a little backbone into our crew, who, I daresay,
will be better when we get into order, but many of
them are now rather inclined to say " We didn't pass
our exams, and come out here, to do navvies' work."

Of course I shall be glad to have the larger place,
as I know it is so badly needed, but the prospect of
seeing 100 sick men properly looked after by these
untrained men was alarming, and now the prospect
of 200 sick men with more (possibly) untrained
orderlies, plus some unknown sisters, is more alarm-
ing still ; but I suppose we shall shake along somehow.

I shall be so glad when the men can get time to
cut the long grass round the camp, as there are a good
many snakes about (two have been killed quite near
my room). We all wear canvas gaiters, as a sort of
protection ; but there are other weird creatures about,
and one night a wire came from the next station to
say that a leopard, or some such creature, had carried
off a Kaffir baby, and we were to look out for the
beast ; so the men were much excited, but they have
not seen anything of him.

Last Sunday was Easter Sunday, and the men had
a much needed day of rest, but the sisters and officers
went on most of the day unpacking and sorting the

i6o A NURSE'S LIFE IN WAR AND PEACE

things most urgently needed. We knocked off in
the evening, and went to service at the Pinetown
church.

The next day (April i6th) we had started work as
usual, when the Sergeant-major's whistle summoned
all hands : a wire had come to say that a troop train
had been thrown off the line about three miles from
here.

The Major went off with the medical officers and
orderlies, with stretchers. I provided them with
brandy, water, a mug, a corkscrew, &c., and then
hunted up some lint and bandages, and a few splints,
and sent them after them.

Two or three orderlies who were sick in camp came
down to see what the alarm meant, and wanted to
go to help, but they did not look fit for a three miles'
run in the burning sun, so I told them to collect all
the natives who were left behind, and we made a
hasty clearance of the building that was to be an
officers' ward (temporarily used as a store-room).
We set several boys to work to scrub the floor and
clean the windows, while the orderlies fitted some
beds together, and the sisters collected the bedding
and made them up, and I got the most necessary
ward fittings out of the store, so that when the
stretcher party arrived we had quite a workable little
surgical ward ready for them.

Two poor fellows had been killed, and fifteen mules
were either dead or had to be shot ; three men of the
Army Service Corps were injured, one with a badly
broken leg, and the others with concussion, &c., and
two black mule-drivers had each a dreadfully smashed
up arm. The Major had a tent pitched for these
natives, not far from the ward. It is a wonder they

OUR FIRST PATIENTS 161

were not killed, as they were in the same truck with
the poor mules.

One sister and some orderlies were told off to look
after these, our first, patients ; and then we returned
to our building occupations.

I did not put a night sister on for these few cases,
but I take a prowl round some time during the night
(the fleas always wake me up at least once, otherwise
I am so tired I don't think I could wake myself), just
to see that the orderlies are awake, and managing all
right, and the medical officers go round the last thing
before turning in, and we are all about by 6 A.M.

One of the injured A.S.C. men had been ill before
he arrived here, and it looks as though he is in for
typhoid.

Last night, after a more than usually scorching day,
we had torrents of rain. The poor orderlies were
washed out of their tents, and all their things were
soaked. They are not used to roughing it, and don't
enjoy it.

It seems ever so long since I came up here, but I
had been here only four days before these cases came
in, and we hope in about another week to be able to
send word that we are ready to receive patients from
the front.

XXIX

PINETOWN, NATAL,
May 1900.

Now we are really at work at last, and though I can't
say everything is working very smoothly, I think the
patients are being well looked after, and I suppose
we must expect to have to worry through difficulties
for some time to come.

On April 26th the Princess Christian Hospital train
brought us fourteen officers and sixteen men, all
stretcher cases, and all very ill.

They had come from Field Hospitals, and if one did
not know how impossible it is to nurse them or even
feed them up there, one would say it was almost
murder to have sent them a journey of many hours
(over 200 miles) in a jolting train.

There were no wounded in this first batch, and I
think only about four or five who were not suffering
from typhoid in one stage or another, from a few
days, up to three weeks or more.

It was day and night work for us for the first two
or three days, as each man seemed to need individual
nursing if he was to have a chance of pulling round ;
the orderlies (though very willing) had everything to
learn of ward duties ; they could not even undress
these men when they had been lifted on to their beds,
much less had they any idea of washing them ; a
delirious man was a new experience to them, and
if he got out of bed and lay on the floor, the

162

MEN FROM ELANDSLAAGTE 163

orderly would go and ask Sister what he had better
do!

The doctors told us that four of these patients could
not live through the first night (several of them had
severe haemorrhage), but they all struggled through
that night, and it was a week later when one poor
fellow of the Royal Artillery slipped through our
fingers from sheer exhaustion, without ever having
become conscious. His mates told us that he had
been in a hospital previously with a sunstroke, and
had been down with typhoid for some time before he
arrived here.

I can't describe the condition of these men; they
have not had their clothes off for weeks, creeping
things are numerous, but we are getting them clean
by degrees. Those who have been ill some time have
sore backs — I can't say " bed-sores," as they have had
no beds.

Many of them have come from Elandslaagte, and I
believe they are very short of both milk and water
up there — none of the latter for washing purposes.

Several of the men had been with us over a week
before they became conscious of their surroundings at
all ; but in the case of those who were conscious, the
comforts of a good bed, and a good wash, brought
tears of gratitude to their eyes. With many of them
it was months since they had slept in a bed : few
have done so since they landed in this country, and
some of them seem such boys to have gone through
so much.

I spent a good deal of my time at first helping the
sister in the officers' ward, getting her patients washed
and made comfortable, and it was most piteous to see
these young fellows — most of them, probably, brought

164 A NURSE'S LIFE IN WAR AND PEACE

up in luxury — so wasted and thin, and so grateful
for the little that we could spare time to do for their
comfort.

Lieutenant had been laid up for two months

with a bullet in the groin, and is now very ill again
with typhoid.

Captain , of the R.A.M.C, had been all through

the siege of Ladysmith, and had typhoid up there ;
now he has liver trouble and looks wretchedly ill ; I
fancy he will have to go home for operation.

Captain , of the Royal Artillery, was the worst

case 'of typhoid amongst the officers, for some time
his temperature persisting in keeping up to 105 and 106,
and he was very delirious ; he was always thinking he
could see parties of Boers, and he told me I was the
worst scout he had ever come across, as I did not see
them. He is doing well now.

Lieutenant , of the Army Service Corps, had

been ill for four weeks with typhoid before he was
landed here (still with a very high temperature). He
told me that no less than five times had he been
moved on a stretcher, from one place to another, as
his regiment shifted about, and he said that the order
to move always seemed to come in the evening, when
his temperature was at its highest, and he was feeling
so bad, that at last he begged them to leave him
behind to die ; they had never been able to give him
suitable food, and often not enough of unsuitable, and
when at last he got to the line he had 280 miles of
jolting over a single-line rail, before he reached us—
such treatment for a case that, at home, we should
be almost afraid to lift from one bed to another ! But
he is really mending now, and I hope we shall soon
be able to send him home to recruit.

SOME OFFICER PATIENTS 165

I have never had to give so much stimulant to any
patients as we have had to give to these men ; all
the first night I was going round giving milk and
brandy, or bovril, to the worst cases, while the night
sister sponged those whose temperatures were the
highest ; several of the men were on ten ounces of
brandy for the first few days. They have been so
overworked, and underfed, for some months past that
they did not seem to have an ounce of strength left
to battle with the fever.

An Army Lady Superintendent is supposed to take
charge of a ward herself — generally the officers' ward ;
but I have not taken a ward yet, as, until we fill up,
there are enough sisters, and it seems more profitable
for me to go round supplying the sisters' needs from
the stores, looking after the cooking, and the house-
boys, and the washerwomen (I fear that my hair
will turn grey in my efforts to keep the typhoid linen
separate), to say nothing of the cows, which are not
a success ; and we have had to resort to frozen milk
from Australia — generally good, but sometimes there
is a difficulty about unfreezing it.

We have no Quartermaster here, and the man in
charge of the stores is quite unused to his job, so I
have to see to a great many things with which an
Army Lady Superintendent has, as a rule, nothing
to do.

I am very much afraid some of our orderlies will be
getting typhoid ; of course they find it difficult to
realise a danger they can't see, and though we all
lecture them about taking precautions, we are so
busy ourselves, that it is difficult to enforce them ;
and just at first there were so many patients quite
unconscious and with severe diarrhoea and haemorrhage,

166 A NURSE'S LIFE IN WAR AND PEACE

so that it meant constant changing of sheets, &c., by
the orderlies.

I think I told you some of the orderlies were ill
when our first patients (from the train accident)
arrived ; it proved to be a form of dengue fever they
had, and now the medical officers also are indulging
in it ; it is rather like influenza — high fever for two
or three days, and then they are very weak and pulled
down for a few more days. I only hope the sisters
will refrain from having it until the orderlies have
had a little more education : at present they are about
as useful as an average ward-maid at home, and the
sisters have to act as sister, staff nurse, and proba-
tioner too ; but I don't want to grumble at them as
they are working well, anxious to learn, and very
patient with the men (some of them half delirious)
who call " Orderly, orderly " all day long.

If they had had a few R.A.M.C. men amongst them,
or even one or two R.A.M.C. ward-masters, it would
have been easier ; as it is, there is not a single man
amongst them who knows anything of the usual routine
in a hospital, though they are well up in " First Aid "
(for which we have no use here).

The buildings are getting on, and we are ready for
more patients as soon as they can get a train to bring
them down. We hear nothing of more medical officers,
sisters, or orderlies as yet.

One of the men said to me that he did not think
any of us could understand what a luxury it was to
have a wash, a comfortable bed, and clean clothes ;
that for months he had been marching and sleeping
(in the open) in one suit of clothes, frequently wet
through, and remaining wet until the sun came out
to dry them ; he said that on the high veldt the nights

THE BISHOP OF PRETORIA 167

were very cold, and they frequently had nothing
but their greatcoats to sleep in ; if they were lucky,
and the baggage waggons had kept up with them,
they would also have a blanket and perhaps a mackin-
tosh sheet ; but that the baggage waggons had a
habit of getting stuck at the last drift, and then they
had only what they carried.

If we had only come out to South Africa to nurse
this one batch of thirty officers and men back to
health, I think it would have been worth while, for
they were just about as bad as they well could be,
and one can't help thinking of the anxiety of their
poor friends at home, who will have seen them re-
ported on the " danger lists " from their Field Hos-
pitals ; and we go plodding on night and day trying
to make them pull round. Only one man has died,
and I think the rest will get on, though some of them
are still pretty bad.

Captain had Cheyne Stokes breathing for two

nights, and made us very anxious, but now he is dis-
tinctly better.

The Bishop of Pretoria came to lunch with us the
other day, and was very nice in visiting the men.

We are expecting more men any day now, and on
the 25th of this month we are to be officially " opened "
(on Princess Christian's birthday, I believe) ; a crowd
of people are expected from Durban and from
Pietermaritzburg.

I could not help thinking the other day, when all
these thirty men were dumped in upon us in a couple
of hours, of the old days in London when we thought
we had had a very heavy day if six or eight patients
were admitted to our ward in a day ; and there we
had everything ready to hand, and several well-drilled

i68 A NURSE'S LIFE IN WAR AND PEACE

nurses to help. Here I can see it will take a little
time before the sisters will realise that it is useless
to try to have things done just the same as we can at
home, and for them to distinguish between the essentials
of good nursing, which we must have, and the super-
fluous finish, which we must do without.

XXX

PINETOWN, NATAL,
June 1900.

WE have had a stiff time of work since I wrote last.
I think I told you that several orderlies were ill, when
our first cases came in, with dengue fever, and soon
the medical officers began knocking up with it — first
one and then another ; next, the sisters took it ; no
one has been very ill, but the fever was high for several
days, and, of course, they were weak and seedy after
it went down ; so we have not had a full staff at work
for some time, and with lots of bad cases in the wards
it has made things very difficult.

Several odd cases have been straying in, and on the
I7th we took in five officers, and then on the igth of
last month we admitted eight officers and thirty men
from Modder Spruit, most of them very ill, and one
poor fellow so bad with haemorrhage (enteric) that he
died the same night.

We had to open a second officers' ward, and the
sister put in charge was very hopeless (at having so
many bad cases, and such inefficient help) ; so I had
to spend a good deal of time helping her look after
the worst cases, and then the next morning after
they arrived I found she had dengue fever and could
not come on duty ; so I had to take charge of her ward
for a few days, and do the best I could in looking

after the patients with the help of the orderlies, amidst

169

170 A NURSE'S LIFE IN WAR AND PEACE

constant interruptions and appeals for help or advice
from different parts of the camp.

With every one so new to the work — the cook quite
unused to military ways or the serving of hospital
diets, the storekeeper hardly knowing where any-
thing is, or whether he ought to issue it when he did
know, ten Kaffir women washing who could not read
the marks on the linen, and so were quite incapable
of returning it to the right place without my assistance,
and, to do the house work, several new Kaffir boys
who really are quite " raw " and want constant look-
ing after (they rejoice in the names of John, Monday,
Charlie, and Cup-of-tea ; they can speak about six
words of English between them, and it is awfully funny
hearing the orderlies trying to make them under-
stand), with much other work needing to be done
in connection with fitting up new wards and preparing
for our opening day ceremony — you can imagine it
was difficult to be tied up in one ward with a lot of
sick officers who required one's best attention, and
more ; but it had to be done, and I had to leave the
rest to do the best they could, only going round to
attend to the most necessary things when I could
spare half-an-hour in the day, and after the night
sister came on at night.

My worst case was poor Captain , of the

Dragoons, who was desperately bad from the day he
came in, and was delirious most of the time ; Lieutenant

, of the same regiment (a friend of his), was very

good in sitting with him for part of the day, and when
he was at his worst one of the other sisters and I took
turns of acting night special (as the night sister could
not possibly stay with him much) ; but he had been
thoroughly worn out with the hardships of the cam-

DEATH AMONGST THE OFFICERS 171

paign before he got the fever, and though he lingered
on so that we kept hoping he would pull through, he
died on the 30th of May — our first death amongst
the officers, and we all felt very sad. It was terrible

for Lieutenant (ill with rheumatism), as he knows

the captain's relations, and has been cabling to them
daily. The funeral was the next day, and the station-
master kindly stopped a goods train here, so that the
few officer patients who were well enough might go
to Pinetown to attend, and all the medical officers
who could leave also went. I was too busy to go,

but I helped Lieutenant to make a cross of white

flowers to put on the coffin.

A thing that always makes me feel creepy when I
am working in the store is the sight, in one corner, of
a little pile of coffins that have been sent up from
Durban ; of course it is really necessary to keep them
ready as, in this climate, the funeral must be the day
following the death, but we have had them covered up
now, as I did not like the men to see them when they
went up to the store for things.

All that last batch of men were frightfully poisoned
with enteric, and nothing seemed to stop it ; six of
them have died, and most of them had symptoms of
blood poisoning too.

I don't think I told you that the two sisters who
went to help on one of the hospital ships till we could
get rooms ready for them, came up at the beginning
of May. They brought a poor account of the nursing
on that particular ship, and said that, when they
went away, there was no fully-trained nurse left on
board ; that a large proportion of the men who had
been ill any length of time, had sore backs (some be-
fore they reached the ship). It seems sad that when

172 A NURSE'S LIFE IN WAR AND PEACE

there are so many fully-trained nurses in England
longing to come out, these poor fellows should not
be getting the best nursing they might have, even
right down at the base.

On the 2ist of May we heard that Maf eking was
really relieved, and on the 25th of May we were officially
" opened." General Wolfe Murray was to have per-
formed the ceremony, but he could not come, as
General Duller had sent for him, so the Bishop of
Natal and Colonel Morris did it between them.

There were special trains from Maritzburg and
Durban ; a good many people to lunch, and such a
crowd in the afternoon — no one seems to know how
many, but I think we gave tea to about five hundred.

Fortunately, Sister was on duty again, so I was

not fixed up in her ward, but she was still needing help
with her bad cases. I made the teabags in the middle
of the night while I took my turn at sitting by poor

Captain , and several people who live near here

were very kind in helping me arrange flowers on the
day, and they cut up cake for me. We had a lot of
coolie waiters up from Durban, and our house-boys
and some whom Mrs. T. (a most kindly neighbour)
sent to help, were washing up all the afternoon.

I can't say I enjoyed the day, as we had several
patients very ill, and two poor fellows died that day,
but we managed to keep their ward (and one of the
officers' wards) closed to visitors, so they were not
disturbed, and everything went smoothly and well.

When the visitors were leaving, I asked the Major
if the orderlies might come and finish up the cakes,
&c., as there was some good tea in the urns still,
and they had all been working very well, so he told
the sergeant-major they might. I was rather amused

OUR HOSPITAL OFFICIALLY " OPENED " 173

at one thing : I took a big tin and gave it to the
sergeant-major, asking him to save a few cakes for the
night orderlies, but he pointed out to me they were
all present ; the news of a tea and some good " skoff "
had brought them all down from their tents, and they
soon made short work of the remains.

I went into Durban one day to do some necessary
shopping, and on the train met Colonel Galway, the
P.M.O., going down to inspect the hospital ships.
He was very nice to me, and told me that if I liked to
engage any more sisters out here I might do so, and
he would take them on ; so I am engaging a lady as
a kind of probationer and housekeeper. Her husband
is at the front, and she wants to help, and I think
she will be able to relieve me a good deal by looking
after the house-boys, putting out linen, &c.

Our sisters are working awfully well, but some of
them don't get on well with the orderlies — a great
mistake : they don't seem able to hide the fact that
they think the orderlies very useless and incapable, and
consequently the orderlies don't do their best in working
with them ; it is a great pity, as the men are quite will-
ing and anxious to learn, and are very patient in having
to do many jobs that must be very trying to them.

At last I have got a nice white woman to look after
the Kaffir washing ladies, and she will do the starch-
ing, &c., for the staff. Two of the Kaffirs were wash-
ing all day with babies tied on their backs — such
jolly fat and shiny little black- a -moors. I gave them
an empty packing-case with some sawdust in it and
a mat, and both the babies and mothers were delighted.

I actually had a ride the other day ; Mrs. D. kindly
lent me a horse, and I rode with the Major over to a
most interesting Trappist monastery. The Trappist

174 A NURSE'S LIFE IN WAR AND PEACE

Fathers cultivate a lot of land, and teach the native
boys various trades. They are going to supply us
with eggs, vegetables, &c., and the Major arranged
with them that they should visit our Roman Catholic
patients, and, if any of them die, they will bury them
in their churchyard.

We shall have to have a horse for funeral purposes,
and we have been offered a rather nice-looking black
animal, so I hope that, to my varied duties, will be
added that of keeping the funeral horse exercised !

I don't care much for walking about here, there is
so much long grass, and you get covered with ticks
(to say nothing of one's natural fear of snakes), so an
occasional hour or two on horseback will be refresh-
ing, though up to now I have hardly left the camp
except to go to church at Pinetown once on Sundays.

I had a letter the other day from the Secretary
of the Durban Ladies' Club to say they had made
us all honorary members — a very kind and friendly
attention on their part. It is a nice club, but whether
we shall ever have time to make use of it remains to
be proved.

There are many strange animals about here : a
huge owl is getting quite tame, and comes to be fed
by the night sister.

The men are trying to shoot a wild cat, but can't
get up near to it. After hearing them talking about it,
I was rather frightened the other night (sleeping with
my door and window open), when something jumped
from the window on to my bed ; I felt it creeping
towards me, and was just going to dive under the
bedclothes when it began to purr, and I found it was
the camp kitten !

XXXI

PINETOWN, NATAL,
June 1900.

IT is rather difficult to know what to write about that
will interest you. There is always plenty of work, but
it is not of an exciting nature — just steady plodding
on, with difficulties always cropping up and having
to be waded through.

If one had time to sit and talk to the patients one
could hear many exciting tales, but most of my time is
spent with those who are too ill for much conversation.
I think I told you of the arrival of the officers and men
from Modder Spruit. Opening the large ward for
these officers caused some difficulty, as it is such a
long way from the kitchen, but we soon got up from
Durban some hot tins, covers, &c., and the feeding
is going better now.

Major had been very ill with ptomaine poison-
ing before he arrived here. He has been a difficult
case to feed in this climate, and has been very slow
in getting up any strength ; but he is well on the
mend now. Then there was a bright-faced boy with
acute rheumatism, who said he had not been in bed
for six months, and it was "just heavenly." Lieutenant

(a bishop's son) is 6 ft. 6 in., and we have to

wrap up his feet on a chair beyond the end of his bed.
He has enteric, but not so very badly ; he called me
to him the other day, and told me that he had had

the most bitter disappointment of his life — the doctor

175

176 A NURSE'S LIFE IN WAR AND PEACE

had ordered him an egg, and he waited patiently till
tea-time, expecting a nice boiled egg, but he never
knew the orderly would bring him a beaten-up egg,
and he had nearly drunk it before he recognised it !

Then there is Second-Lieutenant , who looks

about sixteen, and who only joined his regiment
nine months ago, but he has seen a lot of fighting,
and was at Spion Kop, Pieter's Hill, and other battles.
Some of his men are here, and they think a great
deal of him ; they say at Spion Kop all his seniors
were either killed or wounded, but he led the men on
as calmly and well as possible ; I believe he got a
" mention " for it. His captain wrote to me so nicely
asking after him, and said, "He is a good boy, and
Ai when the bullets are flying." He had been wounded
badly, and now has enteric, but only slightly. The
other officers all call him " the boy." I hope we
shall be able to send him home to his people soon,
as I think he has done his share.

Some of these officers are beginning to get about
now, and they will go to visit the officers in the small
ward and persuade them to give them tea there, and
then return and get their own tea as well. They say
they are " making up for past hardships " ! Amongst
that same batch of men there were two or three rather
smart R.A.M.C. men, and we don't think they are
going to be fit for duty at the front again this cam-
paign : they will be quite contented to stay here, and
work as soon as they are well enough.

We have just got the electric light into working
order ; and, though it is rather erratic, and often goes
out, on the whole it is a great comfort.

There has been a case of bubonic plague in Durban,
but they don't seem to think it is likely to spread.

ORDERLIES KNOCKING UP 177

Twenty more orderlies have arrived, St. John's
Ambulance men, and the buildings were all complete
by the end of May.

I have had a few rides on the funeral horse, and, as
it is very tame in harness, I was astonished to find it
was quite gay and hard to hold ; but we have found
out that it was once a racehorse, and of course it has
never had a side-saddle on before.

Our nice compounder has been awfully ill with
appendicitis and dysentery. We have had to write
each mail to his people, but now I am glad to say
he is doing well. Several of the orderlies are
down with enteric, including our mess-room waiter ;
so " Cup-of-tea " has to wait on our mess of eighteen,
and needs a good deal of looking after.

I expect they will give me another orderly soon,
but so many are ill, and the wards are heavy, and need
a good many men for night duty. Every few nights
the orderlies have to do a spell on night (as well as
their ordinary day) duty, so they are rather inclined
to grumble, and it is difficult for them to keep awake ;
but I don't think any of them do longer hours than I
do, as I prowl about a good deal in the night when the
cases first come down and are bad ; so they don't
grumble too loud.

The sisters seemed to be getting rather fagged out,
so I have begun to give them in turn a monthly day
off, and I look after their wards. I find it is rather
useful, as I get a good opportunity of seeing how
they have managed, and also of learning how much
the orderlies are good for ; it is quite touching how
good they are to me : they want to show me they
can be trusted, and they do everything they possibly
can to save me trouble on these " days off." From

178 A NURSE'S LIFE IN WAR AND PEACE

the sergeant-major downwards they have always
been very nice to me, and I am sure I do very little
for them (except when they are ill and need fussing
over) beyond scolding them for misdeeds for which
the sisters report them.

I wonder whether they guess that, all the time, I
feel that the sisters are expecting too much of them !

I was amused when a new sergeant arrived with
twenty men the other day ; of course, at first they
did not know any of us, and when I met them and said
" Good morning," they simply gaped. The next day
I had a fatigue party sent up to tidy the china and
linen store ; of course our old batch of men saluted
when I went to show them what I wanted done ; and
1 expect the new men received a few words from them
on their slack manners afterwards, for since then
there has been a very stiff draw up and salute whenever
they come for orders or with a message. I hear the
army sisters are not saluted as a rule.

I think I told you how much we suffered from fleas
at first ; now they are quite banished. We have
twenty coolies, and a good orderly in charge of them,
and they do all the sanitary work, and sweep and
scrub and generally keep the place tidy (they also have
to dig the graves), and since we have got rid of all
the packing-cases, and everything is trim and tidy,
the fleas have disappeared.

So far we have had very few wounded in — nearly
all enteric or dysentery, with some cases of camp
fever, rheumatism, &c. ; the medical officers are
disappointed at so little surgical work, but I don't
think I mind, as we can feel we are actually saving
the lives of some of these men by sheer hard nursing,
and that is good enough for me ; sometimes a man

AMUSING THE CONVALESCENTS 179

sees that I am worrying about a patient who does
not seem to be improving, or who is going downhill,
and he will come up and say " Never mind, Sister,
he would have been dead long ago if he had been left
in that Field Hospital any longer ; you have given the
chap a chance." It is grand to see the first batch of
men, who came to us so desperately ill, so haggard,
starved, dirty, and miserable, getting about now in
their blue suits, looking so clean and bright, though
still very thin.

Some of them are beginning to need to be amused,
and the knitting wool and materials for worsted work
that I brought out are coming in very useful ; in
fact, they will soon be finished, but the Durban ladies
have kindly promised to send me more.

Several of the men were making worsted belts in
one ward the other day, and a big Scotchman looked
in and asked them to go for a walk, but they refused,
saying they were busy, and the Scotchman was heard
to mutter " They've all turned blooming milliners ! "

Lieutenant (the giant) is getting on very well,

and he was always saying I must stay and amuse
him, or else give him some toys, so I have started
him with some worsted work, and he is more contented,
and as fussy about my providing him with the right
shades of wool as any old lady. The Lieutenant in
the next bed has learnt to knit, and Major - — , the
ptomaine poisoning case, looks surprised at their
babyishness.

The other day Sister B. was going to have a day
off, and these boys, overhearing her instructions about
themselves, made up some poetry on the subject
(which I enclose), and Sister won't hear the last of it
for some time.

i8o A NURSE'S LIFE IN WAR AND PEACE

We have a service in the wards every other Sunday,
and the hymn-books I brought out are most useful.

June 13. — The last few days have been very busy
and very sad.

On the 7th we had a trainload of patients — two
officers and seventy-three men — several of the men
very bad. I was up most of the first night helping
with the bad cases, but one poor fellow died the next
day (he was never conscious after he got here) ; that
day also, Sister — - knocked up with slight fever, so
I had to take over her ward, and there were several
bad cases in it.

The orderlies are knocking up with enteric — six of
them warded ; and I have hardly liked to leave them
at night, as several of them are inclined to be delirious
and try to get out of bed.

L. was the worst, but he did not seem in any special
danger till last Wednesday : on that day I was Orderly
Sister for the afternoon, and on my first round I
talked to them all, and he seemed much as usual,
but on my second round I found him distinctly
worse, and with a failing pulse. I called his doctor,
and we tried everything possible, but he soon became
unconscious, and died at 7.30 P.M. All the orderlies
are dreadfully cut up ; several of them come from the
same place in Yorks. He was such a fine, strong
young fellow, and it seems only the other day that
he was acting as groom, and put me up on the black
pony, and was so pleased I could manage him. He
was a butcher by trade, rough in his ways, but so
good-natured ; I must write to his poor mother.

He had a military funeral, and we let^every orderly
go who could be spared. The clergyman asked me
if the men would like to have a hymn in church, so

POEM BY OFFICER PATIENTS 181

we sang " Brief life is here our portion." Several
people sent wreaths, and the men are going to make
a wooden cross. This was the first death amongst
our staff. Having so many orderlies ill, and the place
pretty full, we have been very busy, and many of the
men have had to do eighteen-hour shifts every two
or three days : that is to say, their usual twelve-
hour day and half the night. So they are having a
heavy time of it. Enclosure : —

SISTER'S "DAY OFF"

There once was a Sister called Baker,
Of beds she's an excellent maker,

She knows temperatures too,

And between " me and you "
Is of medicines an excellent shaker.

She shows each man's vice — how to treat it,
And warns Sister H. how to meet it :

" No. 2 you can trust

But show T — a crust,
Well, it's a thousand to one he'll eat it."

She dilates on the treatment we need,
All our habits, our drinks, our feed ;

" I repeat, Mr. T—

Doesn't realise all, but
He cannot be trusted for greed."

" Mr. N — , however, is wise,

At the sight of eggs hard boiled he sighs,

D — eschew them I must

And that beautiful crust,
For on me Sister Baker relies."

i8s A NURSE'S LIFE IN WAR AND PEACE

You may ask how we know what was said
The culprit there lying in bed,

Overheard in the dark,

The whispered remark,
And tears of hot anger he shed.

The moral is not far to seek :

A crust perforates you when weak,

While eavesdropping at night

Is really not right
For it's apt to raise anger and pique.

( With apologies to the Authors.}

XXXII

PINETOWN, NATAL,
July 1900.

SINCE my last letter we have had a good many changes
of patients, some being sent back to the front, and
others going home by various hospital ships. It is
so nice to see some who were carried in desperately ill,
able to march down to the train so cheery and bright,
and tremendously grateful.

We sent thirty home by the H.S. Dunera last month,
and were just hoping to have time to breathe, and to
get the sheets and blankets washed, when we had a
wire to tell us to expect seventy-five more ; so wre had
a scramble to get the beds and bedding ready for
them, and they nearly filled us up ; but they were
not quite such a bad lot as our previous batches had
been, and there were a good many wounded by way
of a change.

We were still short-handed, so had to do a good
deal of sorting of patients ; turning some wards into
convalescent wards, that needed only occasional visits
from a sister, and no night orderlies — a sergeant
patient being made responsible for good order in the
ward.

Several of the orderlies are still ill : the mess-room
man has had a relapse, and will not be fit for work for
some time ; the second compounder has also been
very bad with typhoid — delirious for more than a

week — but I think he will do all right now ; it has

183

184 A NURSE'S LIFE IN WAR AND PEACE

been awkward, as the first compounder can only
just crawl about after his spell of illness.

We have had one man awfully bad with double
pneumonia after a stiff turn of typhoid. Then he got
a bad abscess in the jaw, and had to have it operated
on ; for some days his temperature hovered between
105° and 106°, but now he is doing well, and will soon
be sent home.

We have been inspected by Colonel Clery, who,
unfortunately, came on the day on which we had
those seventy-five men in, and before we had got
them all washed or their kit put away ; but he was
very pleasant to me, and said he was pleased with
the wards and the looks of the patients, bedding, &c.

We have also had several other distinguished
visitors — Sir John Furley, Sir William Stokes, and
Major Baptie of the R.A.M.C., who won his V.C. at
Colenso.

We have all been very sorry to hear of the death of
Colonel Forrester, who had been in charge of the
Princess Christian Hospital Train, and had been here
several times bringing us patients.

The four months for which this hospital was given,
equipped, and maintained by private generosity, are
now nearly over, and in a few days we shall have
become a Government Hospital. We shall then re-
ceive our pay and various allowances from the Govern-
ment ; and we are now arranging to separate the mess
of the sisters from that of the medical officers. I
expect it will be difficult to keep our stores separately,
but we shall wish to live more economically than they
do. For the present we have decided to share the
same cook, an Indian who has been acting as our
dhobie for the last few weeks, and who, we hear, is a

WE BECOME A MILITARY HOSPITAL 185

good cook ; his wife will continue to act as our dhobie ;
she is such a pretty little thing, with rings in her nose
and bangles on her ankles and arms.

I quite expected to be superseded by an Army
Sister proper when the hospital was handed over,
but the P.M.O. has asked me to " carry on " (which
does not mean the same in the army as it does in
Cockney land!)

The other day poor Miss H. arrived. She had
started from England as soon as she heard her brother
was ill here, meaning to nurse him, and I think I told
you he died here (our first death amongst the officers).
It was awfully sad for her. I was frightfully busy
the day she came, but felt I must walk over to the
cemetery with her. She is a trained nurse, and we
should have been very glad of her help if she could
only have arrived in time, as her brother was delirious
for so long, and we had to take turns at sitting up
with him for some time ; but everything that could
possibly be done for him was done.

They do seem to muddle things a bit ; in the last
few weeks we have had seven new sisters sent to us ;
we would have given anything for a few of them a
couple of months ago, but now there is much less
fever, and many of the beds are filled with conva-
lescents. We had no rooms for so many sisters, so
had to put up tents for them.

One day we sent off a batch of over fifty men for
home, emptied several wards (putting the remaining
cases into other wards), and had a general clean up ;
the same day we had a wire to tell us to expect seventy-
two men the next evening, so we had a scramble to
get the linen dry and everything ready for them.
They proved to be all convalescents, and they came

186 A NURSE'S LIFE IN WAR AND PEACE

down thinking they were going straight on board
ship for home, and of course were rather disgusted at
being stopped here. The next day, having got them
all settled in, and their kit stowed away, we had
a wire asking us to send sixty men down to Durban
the next morning for home !

So, again, there was a great bustle and inspection,
and the lucky sixty having been selected had to re-
trieve their kit from the store and be fitted up with
comforts for the voyage.

We feel sure that it was all a mistake their coming
here at all, and that they ought to have gone straight
on board ship. Of course it gave us an awful lot of
work, and did not do them any good. We must try
to see the remaining twelve get off with the next
batch.

The other day fifteen new orderlies came, men of
the Imperial Bearer Company (chiefly recruited from
refugees and other Colonials). Some of them are
quite old and bearded, and there was much puffing
over their march up from the station. It is so funny
to have to hurry these venerable gents round the
wards when they look at me solemnly through their
specs, and the Tommies are rather inclined to humbug
them.

Some of our original St. John's men will have to
leave soon, as their time is up, and we are letting all
those go who are not very keen on the work, but,
unfortunately, some of the keen ones want to go too.
I am sorry to lose them, and rather blame the sisters
for it.

The orderlies have been awfully nice to me ; two
of the best have been promoted to be sergeants. One,
who has been chiefly in the officers' ward (he is a rail-

NEW ORDERLIES ARRIVE 187

way guard at home), has been splendidly patient with
them all ; and the other is the man who has been in
charge of the sanitary work and managed the coolies.

I have been having a little riding lately while the
extra sisters have been here, and all the sisters in
turn are having a few days' leave.

One day some people asked us to go for a picnic
(riding), so we collected all the screws we could, and,
making a party of twelve, we rode to a very pretty
waterfall about nine miles from here, and they had
arranged for tea at a quaint old farmhouse near by.

Riding back by moonlight my (funeral) horse was
so keen that I could hardly hold him, so I was riding
ahead with one of the men, when, hearing a shout, we
hurried back and found the senior civil surgeon had
had a tumble. He was not much of a horseman,
and they had put him on the very quietest nag, but
it had stumbled, and he came off.

He managed to ride home at a walk, though he was
unconscious for a few minutes at first. He was a
good deal shaken, and had to keep quiet for some
days.

Another day we went to the Trappist Abbey ; when
we arrived, they kept us waiting some time in a room,
and then a meal suddenly appeared — poached eggs,
delicious brown bread, honey, fruit, tea, and tamarind
wine. We were surprised, as it was early in the after-
noon, but we felt obliged to accept it, and it was all
very good, though I shied at the tamarind wine.
Afterwards they showed us round the place.

It is really wonderful what these Trappists do for
the natives, with their schools, shops for bootmaking,
saddlery, tanning, ironmongery, printing, photography,
&c. ; but whether it does the native any real and

188 A NURSE'S LIFE IN WAR AND PEACE

lasting good to teach him all these things is quite
another matter.

Everything seems to be running more smoothly in
the hospital now, and even if the place were full of
bad cases (as it was at the first), now that the orderlies
are getting to know their duties, we feel that we could
tackle the work without the hopeless sensation of being
unable to do half enough for everybody.

We are very lucky in our Major : he is very keen
to have everything well done, and one can always go
to consult him in any difficulty.

XXXIII

PINETOWN, NATAL,
August 1900.

WE are now a full-blown Military Hospital, instead of
being partly civil and partly military. Everybody
had talked so much about the coming of " red tape "
that I had been a little nervous about the change ;
but, except just in the transition stage, everything
has gone very smoothly, and when everybody gets
used to the military ways I think it will be all right.
Personally, I shall have much less worry and responsi-
bility, for we now have a Lieutenant-Quartermaster
of the R.A.M.C., and I shall not have to try to look
after the linen and other stores. Moreover, a batch
of Indians has arrived and gone into camp, with a
good headman, and they will do all the washing over
which I have had so many struggles with careless
Kaffir women.

I had to attend a big function down in Durban,
when the residents presented the gentleman who gave
this hospital with an illuminated address. There were
many speeches, and much " butter " for all the staff.
I was presented with a large photograph of the
address.

We have had a good many changes in the staff,
and among the civil surgeons who have gone home
is the only one of us who understood the electric light
plant, with which, in consequence, we have had
difficulties. I hope we shall soon find an orderly who

igo A NURSE'S LIFE IN WAR AND PEACE

understands it, as, when the light fails and we have
to grope about with candles, the men cannot read,
and find the long evenings very dull.

I hear many interesting tales when I go about
trying to amuse the men on these occasions ; the
other day I was called to enjoy a joke — some of them
had asked an Irishman whether he knew what
" strategy " meant ? and he said " Yes, it means
like this, sure, when you've fired your last cartridge,
don't let the enemy know, but jest kape on firing
all the same ! " I don't know whether it was original,
but he brought it out as though it was.

I have had a few days of slight fever since I wrote
last, and I took a couple of days off, and spent them
at Umkomaas with some friends, who have a nice
cottage down there. It is the most perfect little
seaside place I have ever struck ; such jolly woods all
round the cottage, with semi-tropical growth, and lots
of monkeys in the trees ; glorious rocks, and such a blue
sea. I had a delightful rest, and came back much
better, but of course found various muddles to face,
and they always make one wish one had never gone !

The worst thing I had to straighten out was a com-
plaint from a medical officer about a sister ; they had
been rubbing each other the wrong way for some time,
and of course I thought if I had not gone away I might
have kept the peace ; however, as the complaint was
a definite one (though in no way serious), and was also
just, I had^ to move her to a less important ward.
This very much hurt her feelings, and I was sorry, as,
though not a good manager, she is very good to the
patients. Now she works for a different doctor, and
there is peace in the camp.

All the civil surgeons and sisters growl at the new

THE ARRIVAL OF SICK CONVOYS 191

military rules and regulations, but I think they are
rather inclined to make mountains out of mole-hills —
they can really get all they want if they set about it
in the proper way, but they don't take the trouble
to find out what is the proper way. Perhaps I have
rather spoilt the sisters by letting them have things
that were urgently ordered from my stores at any
time, but now that the place is not so crowded up
with bad cases they must learn to order in the proper
way and at the proper time.

In one respect I was afraid that our system would
be changed, but the Major has very kindly arranged
it as I wished ; I saw, when at the Cape (and heard
of it in other hospitals), that when a sick convoy
arrived there was much delay before the men were
classified and put to bed — sometimes not until several
hours after their arrival. One cause of the delay was
that each man, if he could crawl, had to go up to the
store to draw his kit and sign for it himself ; the poor
chaps used to look so frightfully ill and tired with this
weary waiting about, before they could get food or a
wash, after (perhaps) some days in a train.

Here we have managed quite differently; as soon
as we received the wire saying that patients were
coming (and the number), we had everything issued
for that number ; the beds were all made up, and before
they arrived I used to go round and see that the
crockery for each man was on his locker, a clean
shirt, towel, soap and flannel, &c., all ready, so that
the men could be carried straight to their beds as soon
as they arrived, and have a good basin of bovril without
any delay ; then those who were well enough to go up
to the store to give in their kit and to receive their
hospital suit did so ; and the orderlies took up the kit

192 A NURSE'S LIFE IN WAR AND PEACE

of those who were too ill (of course they did not want
hospital suits).

Now it is necessary for all, who are able, to sign for
their equipment (sheets, blankets, &c.) ; but the
Major lets us have some beds fully equipped in each
ward before the men arrive, and the orderlies sign for
those fittings until the men arrive, and then they
countersign the book, so that the bad cases can still
be carried straight to their beds.

Our new mess arrangements are working well ;
it is much more comfortable having a cook with a
kitchen separate from that from which all the food for
patients, orderlies, and others is served. We had to
buy a new stove, but as the expense was shared be-
tween the medical officers and sisters, it did not come
to very much. Our Madrassee cook is serving us very
well. I thought it would be difficult to keep our
stores separate, but he seems to manage well and
economically, and he is a good cook and serves the
things up very nicely. We share the expense of his
wages with the doctors, but have separate boys for our
mess waiters and for our rooms.

I have kept John on for the sisters' rooms : he is very
slow, but a good old thing, and very clean. It is the
custom for these boys to go home for a day or two
when their wages are paid, but you always keep some
of what is due to them in hand (or they don't come
back) ; but when the hospital was handed over to
the Government, the boys were all paid up to date,
so of course they all cleared, but John promised to
come back in two days, and I thought he would ;
but it was six days later when I found him slinking
about his work and looking like a big dog that ex-
pected a whipping. I said, " Oh, John, you bad boy,

THE HOSPITAL COMMISSION 193

sisters not have you back any more/' and then he said
his wife was " plenty sick," but I told him I thought
Kaffir beer was plenty good, at which he grinned,
and I had to forgive him !

William, our good scamp of a mess-room boy, never
returned, so I had to go into Durban to the toct (or
tax) master at the police station, who generally looks
after all the natives and gives them their passes, &c.
I chose a boy who was recommended, but he never
turned up, so I was thinking I must go again and
lead one out from Durban with me, when the dearest
little Kaffir turned up, with a note from the toct master,
saying he was a very good boy, and his name was
" Imdenbe, son of Cholem, Chief of Imsugelum,
Umtenta," so I was rather relieved when the boy
said his name was " Dick " !

I thought he was much too small to reach to put
the things on the table, but he is very quick and nimble
and clean, and both the cook and John are very fond
of him ; so we manage all right, and he looks perfectly
sweet in his white suits with red braid — they all wear
things like bathing-dresses, with short sleeves, and
go about barefoot.

The worst of the enteric season seems to be over
now, and we are very slack, and we hear it is the same
at all the hospitals up this side. The days are still
very hot, but the nights are quite cold.

I expect you hear more about this Hospital Com-
mission than we do, but the R.A.M.C. men are very
sick about it, as they have worked so tremendously
hard all through the war.

I think every one agrees that the Tommies have
never been so well looked after in any war before,
but no doubt at the front they have suffered badly,

194 A NURSE'S LIFE IN WAR AND PEACE

more especially at Bloemfontein, where, suddenly, the
army was attacked by a perfect scourge of enteric
(I believe there were about 6000 cases there) ; but
people must remember they were 900 miles from their
base, with only a single line of rail, and for the last
250 miles almost every bridge destroyed, so that all
traffic had to be carried on with the utmost caution
over temporary bridges, only a few trucks crossing
at a time ; also it was an unusually dry season, so
that engines often had to drop their heavy trains,
run on to get water, and then return for them.

The Transvaal could practically supply nothing to
feed the troops, as the Boers had planted no crops.

To get sufficient rations up daily for the men and
horses was just about all the one rail could do, and
when it was necessary to leave the railway line, the
troops often had to wait weeks to scrape together
rations to carry with them.

I believe the R.A.M.C. were well prepared for the
probable number of wounded, but when unexpected
sickness knocked the men over by the thousand, it is
scarcely surprising that it was impossible to get up
tents and all medical necessaries and comforts quickly
enough.

I believe the sick and wounded are quite comfort-
able now in Bloemfontein ; but no doubt there was
suffering there, and the Commission will find out
whether it might have been prevented.

There can have been little excuse for the bad
management that is complained of at the base, and
if that is proved, no doubt some one will get blamed
for it.

I know the single-line railway on this side, that
passes close to us, has been very hard worked night

THE DIFFICULTIES OF TRANSPORT 195

and day ; at one time eight trains went up each day
with water-tanks only, besides almost incessant train-
loads of men, horses, mules, stores, &c. ; the only
wonder is that there have been so few accidents.

All the sisters have now had some leave, and as we
have extra sisters here and very few bad cases, I am
going to take a run up-country with a lady from
here, and hope to tell you about that next time I
write.

XXXIV

PINETOWN, NATAL,
August 1900.

I MUST first of all tell you of my interesting few days
up-country. I left here on the evening of the 2Oth
of last month with Mrs. D. and her baby and a small
Kaffir nursemaid ; she was going to stay with friends
who have a hotel and store at Colenso, and I had en-
gaged a bed at this hotel, and took my saddle with me
hoping to secure a horse there, and be able to explore
the country around.

Two of our medical officers were going for a run
up-country the same day, but as the train ran in two
sections, I only saw them on the platform at Maritzburg
late that evening.

At the same time I saw another officer in khaki
looking at me, and then recognised in him a well-
known London surgeon who is chief of another hos-
pital out here — of course I was more used to seeing
him in frockcoat and top-hat. He had his wife on the
train, and as they also were going to Colenso, I was
very glad to be able to be with them there.

The train rocked about so much (first crawling up
a hill, and then tearing down the other side) that it
was difficult to sleep, but the baby slept like an angel
with the little Kaffir girl, safely deposited on the floor.

At 4.30 the next morning we arrived at Colenso. It
was very cold and very dark, but Mr. Edwards (the hotel
proprietor) met us, and with him we stumbled across

the veldt to his hotel, which is just a one-storey shanty,

196

AT COLENSO 197

as their house had been knocked to pieces by the
Boers. Unfortunately he could not possibly take in
my friends, so they had to stay at the station.

I was very glad to be able to tumble into a clean
bed and have a good sleep, and by breakfast- time I
was quite fresh again.

Then I was annoyed to find that I could not get a
horse, as they were all engaged, and I had hoped to
be able to ride to Ladysmith and to Spion Kop ;
however, I got on all right in the end.

That morning we climbed Hlangwane Hill, and saw
some really wonderful Boer trenches ; you absolutely
can see no sign of them in broad daylight till you nearly
walk into them.

Then we saw the place where Colonel Long lost
his guns (the dead cavalry horses are still lying there) ;
and where poor young Lieutenant Roberts was mor-
tally wounded in trying to save them ; and where
Major Baptie, R.A.M.C., won his V.C.— I think by
carrying Lieutenant Roberts into a donga and stay-
ing with him, and other wounded, all through that
day of heavy firing, trying to keep them comfortable
with some morphia he had with him.

We picked up as many pieces of shells and shrapnel
as we could carry, and walked back along the banks
of the Tugela.

I heard that a luggage train would be passing at
2.30 P.M., so I thought I would go into Ladysmith by
that, and see whether there was any chance of getting
out to Spion Kop from there. There are very few
passenger trains now (except just the mails), so we
are allowed to travel in any train that happens to
stop, but of course they don't undertake to keep to
any particular time.

198 A NURSE'S LIFE IN WAR AND PEACE

Directly after lunch I strolled down to the station-
no station-master or any official there, but I met a
gentleman who told me that he had walked all the
way out from Ladysmith, and was expecting to have
to wait for the mail train to take him back, so he was
very glad when I told him I knew the next goods
train was going to stop there ; he said his wife was
in the waiting-room, so we walked along to find her,

and soon I discovered she was Mrs. , Secretary

of the Women's Patriotic League in Durban, whom
I had not actually met before, but with whom I had
had much pleasant correspondence, as they had been
very kind in helping us. ,

So we trained in to Ladysmith together, and on the
way they pointed out to me the remains of the great
dam which the Boers made to try to flood Ladysmith
out, also the neutral camp of Intombi ; there is no
hospital there now, only the cemetery, sadly full of
graves.

They told me they were staying at the " Royal,"
and that people from there frequently drove out to
Spion Kop ; so I walked up with them and interviewed
the manageress, who told me that a party of ladies
had engaged a waggonette to drive out there next
morning, and she thought I could easily secure a seat.
Eventually I met these ladies, and found they were
Durban people who had been over here to help at a
concert for our men, so they were very kind and said
I had better stay the night (as they had to start early
in the morning) and dine with them.

I went out and wired to Colenso not to expect me
back, bought a few necessaries, and then took a look
round the town.

The hotel I was staying in had had a big shell right

UP SPION KOP 190

through, which had killed a man who was sitting in
the hall, and the Town Hall had had a great piece
knocked off the tower by one of Long Tom's shells.

Then I climbed up to the convent, which was used
at first as officers' quarters, but had been tremendously
knocked about by shells. The kind old sisters were
very busy with workmen, patching up holes in the
walls, &c.

Then I walked out to the cemetery, rather a long
walk, and it was getting dusk, so I could not stay long ;
there were rows and rows of siege graves, and amongst
many interesting names I saw those of the Earl of
Ava and poor George Stevens of the Daily Mail.

It was quite dark when I got back to the hotel,
and I was glad of dinner, and not sorry to go early to
bed. It is eighteen miles out to Spion Kop, and they
won't send a carriage there for less than £5, but for that
sum you have four horses, and six people can go in
the carriage ; I had told the manageress that I would
gladly pay £i for a seat, but in the end I was not
allowed to pay anything, as there were only four
besides myself, and they had already arranged to pay
the £5, and would not let me share.

We started at 6 A.M. with a black driver, and a small
white boy to act as guide. Many of the horses that
went through the siege have not yet recovered ; one
of ours was taken worse on the way, and we had to
wait while the driver crushed up a nut between two
stones and thrust it down the horse's throat, then it
struggled on till we reached the kraal at the foot of
the hill at 9 A.M., and outspanned. On the way we
passed the place where Colonel Dick-Cunyngham was
killed.

We had a bite of lunch, and then started with our

200 A NURSE'S LIFE IN WAR AND PEACE

small guide up the Thaba Inyama, one peak of which
is " Spion Kop."

We had with us a January number of the Natal
Mercury giving a full account of the day, so we were
able to trace the positions, and I had heard the men
talk so much about it I felt I knew my way quite well.

Of course we went up from the Ladysmith side
(where the Boers were), but from the top we could
look over to Potgieter's Drift and Spearman's Camp,
and marvel how our poor chaps ever got up in the
dark, with the Boers in such good cover above them ;
and then to be ordered back must have been frightfully
disappointing.

We saw many English and Boer graves, and I took
a good many photos, including one of the cross on the
spot where General Woodgate fell.

We picked up heaps of cartridges (full and empty
ones), emergency ration tins, soldiers' uniform buttons,
&c. ; it was too hard climbing to burden ourselves
with any shells, but I bought a few from Kaffirs who
had gathered near our carriage. I am collecting a
very varied stock of ammunition, including one soft-
nosed cartridge.

They were burning the grass down all round the
base of the hill, and every now and then a cartridge
went off ; we hoped the fire would not come across
any stray shells while we were there.

We had a splendid view of the Drakensberg Range.
Returning to our carriage we had lunch, with an
admiring crowd of rather naked Kaffirs around (who
seemed much to appreciate our remains), and we
started for the return drive about i P.M. The sick
horse was worse on the way back, and had to have
several doses administered.

TIN TOWN HOSPITAL 201

As we were nearing Ladysmith, I found we were
passing close to Tin Town Hospital ; so, thinking it
was a pity to miss seeing the place, I left the carriage
and walked across a drift on the Klip River.

First I passed some officers on their ponies playing
at " Heads and Posts " ; then I came to the horses'
sick camp, and met a nice old veterinary sergeant
(who, I found, was a Colonial who came from Kimberley,
and of course knew people whom I had met there) ; he
told me he had charge of 400 sick horses, but many
of them were " convalescent," and if he had known I
wanted a horse he would gladly have lent me one ; he
said if I would stay another day or two I could send
down for my saddle and he would lend me a horse
and a mounted orderly so that I could ride to Bulwana,
Waggon Hill, Caesar's Camp, and other places which
I should much have liked to visit, but I could not spare
the time.

Then he took me along to the sisters' huts. I found
the Lady Superintendent was out, but some kindly
Kilburn Sisters gave me some tea and took me round
the hospital ; not many cases in just now, but a few
very bad enterics.

The sisters told me that as the Red Cross Ambulance
(drawn by eight mules) was going into Ladysmith,
I could drive back in it. I was just going to climb
inside when a gentleman in khaki came and asked
me if I would not rather ride on the top with him, so
I gladly climbed up, and found he was a doctor
(one of the big civilian doctors) ; he had heard who I
was, and amused me by saying he wished I had called
at their mess (fancy shy me calling at an unknown
officers' mess!) instead of going to tea with "those
estimable females," as they would have shown me more

202 A NURSE'S LIFE IN WAR AND PEACE

of the place, and they have a good collection of curios
that would have interested me (he was looking at the
things I had picked up). It was a very jolly drive,
and he insisted on driving me right up to my hotel.

I must really tell you about the rest of my travels
in my next letter. I was away only five days, but you
will see that I squeezed a good deal into those days.

XXXV

PINETOWN, NATAL,
September 1900.

I WILL just finish telling you of my travels while they
are fresh in my memory, and then this letter can wait
till there is enough material to fill it up.

I was very sorry to hear from my friend on the
ambulance of the death of Sir William Stokes (phy-
sician) ; he was ill only four days, and it seems only
the other day he came round this hospital and was
so cheery and bright, and I know he was meaning to
say a good deal to the Hospital Commission in favour
of the hospitals out here, and of the work they have
done.

I just had dinner with my friends at the Royal,
and then the 'bus took me to the station with my
heavy bag of shells, &c., in time for the 7.40 P.M.
train back to Colenso. I was awfully tired, but the
mosquitoes were bad, and did not let me have much
sleep.

The next day I was invited to go with a picnic
party to the Tugela Falls. A large ox waggon was
loaded up with children, provisions, &c., and I went
with some more people in an Army Service Corps
Scotch cart, with no springs, drawn by four mules,
who frequently ran away, and who seemed to have a
rooted objection to keeping to the road (or rather
track) ; so the journey was rather perilous and

distinctly painful.

203

204 A NURSE'S LIFE IN WAR AND PEACE

We passed Fort Wylie, and saw where all the fight-
ing took place on Pieter's Hill, and we saw the rough
bridge that the Boers had made over the Tugela by
simply pulling up our rails with the sleepers attached
and throwing them into the river.

We had lunch close by the Falls — even after this
very dry season it is .quite a big fall — and after lunch
we climbed the hills around, including Hart's Hill.
On the top of this hill is a big memorial stone to
Colonel Thackery, several more officers, and sixty-seven
men of the 27th Inniskillings, who fell up there, and
we also saw their grave (fenced in) at the foot of the
hill.

By the time that we got down to the line again it
was blowing a gale, and such dust, so some of us
sheltered in a platelayer's cottage.

He had a fine collection of shells and other relics ;
his cottage had been used by the Boers as a telegraph
station, and we found he had been in the smash-up
of the armoured train, when W'inston Churchill was
taken prisoner.

As Mrs. D. had her baby with her, and it was now
a really bad dust-storm, this man kindly stopped a
goods train with his red flag, and we returned comfort-
ably to Colenso in the guard's van.

I should much like to have had longer stay both at
Colenso and Ladysmith, there was so much of interest
both in the places and in the people one met ; but I
wanted to visit a few places on the way down, so I
left Colenso the next morning at 9.30. My first stop
was at Chieveley, where there had been a big hospital,
but all that remains now is a little closed-in grave-
yard, with nearly two hundred graves ; many died
from wounds, but many more from enteric. They

CHIEVELEY— MOOI RIVER 205

had a clever way of marking the graves, each man's
name, regiment, &c., being written on a slip of paper
and enclosed in a medicine bottle and securely stuck
into the mound.

I saw poor Lieutenant Roberts' grave (it has a
plain stone with an inscription, but I hear a cross is
being sent out) ; they had brought him from Colenso
on the ambulance train the evening of the day he
was wounded. The station-master told me he had
helped to lift him out of the train, and he seemed
sensible and comfortable then, but he died the same
night.

I saw a very fine redoubt at Chieveley made by the
Royal Engineers, but it was never used. I took the
next train on to Mooi River. Before we reached
Frere station we passed the place of the armoured
train disaster, and the graves of the Royal Dublin
Fusiliers who fell there. Wherever you go there seem
to be graves dotted about, most of them enclosed
with barbed wire, and some with a cross set up, or
the man's initials marked out in empty cartridge-
cases.

There is a large hospital at Estcourt, but I had
only time for a hasty lunch at the station there, as I
wanted to have an hour or two at Mooi River, to see
the hospital, where I knew one of the doctors, and
where it seemed probable that we should be sent
when we first arrived ; on the whole, I am glad we
were not stationed there, though they have had more
interesting surgical work than we have.

Unfortunately my friend was away, but the super-
intendent kindly showed me round, and I had tea in
the sisters' mess.

They have 950 beds, nearly all under canvas. It

206 A NURSE'S LIFE IN WAR AND PEACE

was blowing hard, and while I was there it began to
rain, and it was snowing on the Drakensberg, and
very cold, so every one looked rather miserable. It is
a desolate place on the bare veldt.

I left again on a goods train at 4.30, and rattled
down to Maritzburg by 9 P.M., where I meant to stay
the night.

Miss - — kindly met me at the station, and we
drove down to her house in a riksha ; she has been
taking in convalescent nurses, and feeding them and
giving them a rest. She has had much anxiety about
her brothers, one of whom was commandeered and had
to fight for the Boers, together with his son (a boy
of sixteen). They were with Cronje at Paardeberg,
and are now prisoners at St. Helena ; another brother
was fighting for us, and was taken prisoner by the
Boers, but released when we took Pretoria.

Miss — - wanted me to go out to Howick to see
the falls there, and to have a look at the big convales-
cent camp, where they have 1600 beds ; but the train
left half-an-hour earlier than she thought, so I missed
it, and instead she took me to see the Maritzburg
Hospitals, Fort Napier, Grey's Hospital (now civilian
again), and the Garrison Church, the last the most
comfortable looking hospital I have seen further
up-country than this one, but it was a little strange
to see the men in their hospital suits lounging and
smoking on the church steps.

I met a sister whom I had known in London. She
was excited about playing in a cricket match ; and
as she and all the eleven sisters had been given a
week's leave from duty to practise for this cricket
match, they are evidently as slack in the way of work
as we are.

PIETERMARITZBURG 207

I had some nice greetings from some old patients
of ours, now on duty in Maritzburg.

I left there about 6 P.M., had dinner at Inchanga
with a Daily News correspondent, and got back here
about 9.30 P.M. Some orderlies were at the station
and kindly carried up my load of curios, &c.

The two medical officers had got back the night
before, and though they went as far up as Newcastle
they had not seen as much as I had, and regretted
that they had not had my offer of a convalescent horse
at Ladysmith !

I have seen a good many hospitals, and met a good
many sisters, and I have gathered a few hints of little
ways in which we might improve this hospital ; but,
though " I says it as shouldn't," I don't think there
is any hospital up this side where the men are more
comfortable and happy, and I think the sisters here
are better fed and their mess bills are no higher than at
any of the hospitals — indeed, lower than most of them.

I was glad to find that they had had a peaceful
time while I was away, and no difficulties ; and as
there are actually only eighteen men and ten officers in,
we are still very slack ; we expect some more any day
now, but there is very little sickness just at present.

You ask about the men and their letters ; it was
rather difficult when we were so frightfully busy at
first to do all that one would have liked, but we always
try to write for the men who are too ill to write for
themselves, and I always saw that all the men who
wished had writing materials, and they used to help
each other.

They say at some of the base hospitals stray lady
visitors have been such a nuisance in interfering with
the nurses, but I could well and safely have employed

208 A NURSE'S LIFE IN WAR AND PEACE

a few stray ladies in amusing the men, writing their
letters for them, &c. The friends of those officers
who were dangerously ill were all written to by each
mail.

Now that we are slack, of course, I have much more
chance of talking to the men, and they tell me many
tales of the fighting, and of the rough time they have
had at the front ; but you will hear plenty of that
from the men who have gone home.

I am beginning to have many grateful letters from
our patients' friends at home.

There has been some delay about our pay lately,
and some of the sisters who were lodging here had
not received any since they left England, so were
not able to pay their mess bills, and I had to pay
various mess accounts when I got back from my run
up-country, and began to feel rather anxious as to
whether I could go on feeding my large party of sisters ;
but now the pay has turned up, so we have got straight
again ; and the Government give us various allow-
ances— Colonial allowance, and for mess, servants,
fuel, &c., so we are feeling rather well off.

We are much enjoying a big package of papers that
the Red Cross Society now send up to us each week ;
whole weeks of Times, Daily Mail, Daily Graphic,
Daily Telegraph, Standard, Illustrated London News,
Army and Navy, &c. They are the greatest boon to
the whole camp.

The men point out to me the " pretty boys " in
the illustrated papers when they see any pictures of
soldiers, as, by comparison, they all look so thin and
rough out here.

XXXVI

PINETOWN, NATAL,
September 1900.

Now we are really getting busy again. Patients
keep arriving, sometimes small parties, sometimes
large.

Early in September we admitted thirteen men who
had been prisoners in Pretoria for nine months. They
were very weak and run down, and so happy to be
here ; when I took them their first basket of fruit,
they simply wolfed it down, as they had seen no fruit
since they went up-country.

Then we had rather a " difficult " batch of officers
sent down from Mooi River. They have no officers'
wards there, so these men had been quartered in a
hotel more than a mile from the hospital, where each
had his own room and servant, and they seem to have
ordered and done just what they liked.

Up to now we have never had more than three or
four officers well enough to sit up to meals at one time,
as they have always come to us really ill, and as soon
as they were well enough they have either rushed
back to the front or have been sent home on the
hospital ships ; but with these officers from Mooi
River (none of them very ill), I suddenly found that
we had twenty-four sick officers in, and that sixteen
of them were well enough to sit up to meals, and that
it was not suitable for them to eat in the ward where
there were a few men still very ill ; so, eventually,

209

2io A NURSE'S LIFE IN WAR AND PEACE

a large tent had to be rigged up for them, and as it
was a long way from the kitchen there was some
difficulty in getting the food to them hot.

The medical officer was a civilian, and he did not
seem to think he had anything to do with the re-
sponsibility about feeding these hungry convalescent
officers ; in fact, every one seemed rather inclined to
say " It isn't my work " — and our St. John's men
are not like R.A.M.C. men, who may be accustomed
to turning to as mess waiters on occasion ; neither
was the cook quite ready to serve up a dinner of several
courses instead of single " diets " for each patient.

I am afraid I had to worry the poor C.O. ; but I
knew if I did not do so the officers would complain
they could not get anything to eat ; and, after wrestling
through the first night's dinner — (when I found well-
meaning orderlies running down with the fish before
the soup, and some vegetables after the sweets had
been served !) — we laid plans for better management,
and for a day or two the Major went to the kitchen
and saw the food sent down in proper order, and I
received it and saw it served in the tent, and four of
the officers' servants were told off to wait each night,
and the orderlies had only to carry the food down for
them. So now that is running all right, and I only
just have to look in to see they have all they want.

For some time we have been expecting to be in-
spected by the Hospital Commission, but at last we
heard they were not coming here at all, as there had
been " no complaints " about this hospital ; so I
should have been very vexed if our record had been
spoilt at this late stage of the war.

Our next order was to prepare for a train that was
bringing us seven officers and 108 men from Pretoria

PRISONERS FROM PRETORIA 211

(the biggest trainload we have yet received). Having
had sisters here over our correct number for some time,
and very little for them to do, of course as soon as we
got busy we kept having wires to send one sister for
duty on the Hospital Ship Avoca, or two sisters to the
Hospital Ship Dunera, and so on, and none of them
wanted to go, so it was a little difficult to sort them.

In fact, there have been so many orders and counter
orders that I should never be surprised if I had a wire
telling me to go off on a hospital ship, or if we had
orders to pack up the whole hospital and take it up
to Pretoria.

Before Mr. X. left, he let us buy some remaining
groceries at home prices (a great saving for our mess),
and after we found a small storeroom to arrange them
in, I, rather foolishly, let them use the cases for fire-
wood, which has been very scarce here ; so, if we have
to move, all the sisters intend to sling bottles of fruit,
and tins of jam, sardines, &c., round them, as we
really can't leave our stores behind !

I hear that the army sisters on the hospital ships
are rather horrified that I am still left in charge here,
now that it is a Military Hospital, and that there are
plenty of army sisters out in the country ; but the
P.M.O. has been very nice to me, and I am very glad
to " carry on " as long as they want me ; the only
thing is that I should very much have liked to see a
little of the work nearer up to the front, and as it
seems probable that this place will become, later on,
a sort of convalescent home, the work will not be
so interesting.

Yesterday some officers went down to Durban,
and came back much excited by rumours that the
line and the wire had been cut at Standerton, that

212 A NURSE'S LIFE IN WAR AND PEACE

1700 Boer prisoners had been released, that Johannes-
burg was surrounded, and a few more exciting items,
but I dare say they are not true ; I never pretend to
tell you about the war.

By degrees we are getting a few R.A.M.C. orderlies
and non-commissioned officers, and of course they
make the work easier for us ; but we are quite proud
of some of the St. John's men, who are becoming
excellent and most efficient nurses, and they really
knew nothing of nursing six months ago.

I had a great triumph when the big batch of men
(108) arrived, as everything had been issued for them
the day before and signed for by the orderlies, and
half-an-hour after they arrived every man was either
comfortably in bed or had had a preliminary wash
and was ready to sit down to a good meal, and after
that he went up to the store to hand in his kit ; some
of the patients and some of the R.A.M.C. men told
me that in many of the Military Hospitals it would
have taken four or five hours to get so many of them
settled and fed.

There are several very bad cases amongst them,
but also a good many convalescents. We have two
officers desperately ill, one a Major in the R.A.M.C.,
who, I fear, is not likely to get better, though they are
trying everything possible for him, and the other is
a Lieutenant in the Rifle Brigade who has been deliri-
ous for a long time (enteric) and very ill, but I fancy
he will pull round. I have been able to give him
special nurses when necessary. Also we have a bad
case of enteric in the men's ward ; I don't think I
have ever seen a case where there has been so much
haemorrhage, and yet I think he will pull round,
though he is nearly a skeleton, and even I can easily

OUR GARDENS 213

lift him up while his sheet is changed. I have been
much pleased at the really tender way the orderlies
have nursed this boy, as he has needed a great deal
of patience.

We are getting quite keen on our gardens now that
we have a little more time to breathe, but whenever
I plant anything I wonder whether, by any chance,
I shall be here to see it grow up. I now have some
healthy violets and some ivy-leaf geraniums. Some
time ago I had two beautiful Orpington hens and a
cock given to me. They lay splendidly, and the eggs
have been very useful, but they showed no sign of
wishing to sit, so I got a friend to put some of my
eggs under a broody hen, and hope soon to have some
young Orpingtons.

The men have not had time to make me a hen-
house yet, so we have to keep a sharp look-out to
secure the eggs, and our small Dick is very attentive
to them.

I went into Durban the other day to do some shop-
ping for the mess, and saw some friends, and then I
went down to the jetty to see some of our orderlies
and patients (a nice lot of men of the Coldstreams
and other regiments, many of them wounded from
Pretoria), who were going home on the Montrose. I
met a sister whom I knew, and one of our medical
officers was seeing the men on board, and one of the
embarkation people invited us to go out in the tender
to the Montrose at the outer anchorage ; so we had
a nice little sea breeze, and the officers on board gave
us tea, and offered to show us our cabins, so we had a
good chance to stow away for home !

Six of our orderlies were going home on duty, and
they all came to say good-bye, and we had quite a

214 A NURSE'S LIFE IN WAR AND PEACE

*fc send off " from them and the old patients when we
left the ship.

To-day some people have been giving a picnic at a
pretty place called Krantz KlooL They invited all
we could spare to join them, so I let six sisters go,
and four of the medical officers and four convalescent
officers also went off with them in an ox waggon at
8 A.M., and they did not get back till 9 P.M. I have
been busy all day keeping an eye on the place gene-
rally to see that nothing was neglected while so many
were away.

The night sister and night special both went, so
I have now sent them to bed for a few hours, and

1 have been writing beside Lieutenant (of the

Rifle Brigade), but I am sure he is better to-day,
and to-night he is inclined to sleep ; every now and
then I let the orderly sit by him while I take a prowl
round to see the other wards are all right ; now it is

2 A.M., so I shall call the two sisters and turn in, and
I need not hurry up in the morning unless there are
any fresh orders to attend to.

XXXVII

PINETOWN, NATAL,
October 1900.

WE have had a good deal of rain lately and the country
is looking lovely again : you can almost see the things
growing in the garden.

Sometimes it rains for three days without stopping,
and South Africa without the sun always looks very
gloomy, but when the sun conies out again it makes
up for the gloominess.

It has begun to get very hot rather earlier than
usual, and the thermometer showed 94° in the shade
the other day.

Last month we took in fifty more men who had
been prisoners with the Boers ; a good many of them
were gentlemen troopers of the Yeomanry ; they were
sent here via Delagoa Bay ; one of them brought a
parrot, and there were several small birds as well.

Then the other day we took in eighty men from
Charlestown, nearly all convalescents, and such a
mixed lot of regiments — Scotch, Irish, Australians,
New Zealanders, and Tasmanians, and one little
Australian bugler, aged fifteen, whom all the men spoil.

The poor Major of the R.A.M.C., who I told you was
so ill, died in the early part of this month ; it was
very sad, as he knew so well what all the bad symptoms
meant as they appeared.

I think I told you also of Lieutenant , who

was desperately ill for so long. We had a very anxious

215

216 A NURSE'S LIFE IN WAR AND PEACE

time with him, as the delirium went on for so long
that we began to fear it would become permanent,
but at last he pulled round, and has been such a nice
patient. We have very few officers in now.

The Natal Volunteers were expected to return to
Durban on October 2nd (they have been a year at the
front), but the Boers attacked a convoy near Dundee,
and they were all ordered back.

Durban was preparing a great welcome for them,
and the meat for the big lunch that the Mayor was
going to give them was actually cooked ! They got
home about a week later, and we all went down to the
station to see them pass, many of our old patients
amongst them.

I had the bad luck to have a nasty fall out riding
early in the month, and am only beginning to crawl
about again, with a good deal of pain from a damaged
kidney. One of the medical officers was ill, and had
asked me to exercise his pony any time I liked to use
it (he didn't like the Kaffir boy taking it out), so,
when the Major and another man asked me to go with
them to pay a few calls on people who have been very
kind to us here, I thought it would be a good chance
to exercise the pony. From here down to the station
is a good bit of soft sand, and all the ponies were
fresh, so we let them scatter along ; then I saw there
was a train shunting at the level crossing, so I wanted
to pull up before we got mixed up on the line (of course
no gates here), and just then one of the men lost his
hat ; my pony got cross at being checked, and bucked
a bit, and then suddenly swung round and jumped a
fallen tree, and off I went on the wrong side, falling
across a branch of the tree. I can't think why I fell,
except that I was so sure I could not come off, I never

NATAL VOLUNTEERS RETURN HOME 217

thought about sticking on, and was preparing to give
him a licking for being so stupid.

I did not feel much damaged at the time, though I
thought I should have a big bruise just above my
hip, and when they had caught my pony I remounted
and we went on again; luckily most of the people
were out, but at one place I had to get off, and when
it came to remounting I simply could not spring, and
had to condescend to mount from a chair, and when
I got home I felt really bad and had to go to bed.

Fortunately there were plenty of sisters to do the
work, and things went on all right while I was laid up,
and now I can get about enough to do the house-
keeping, and hope soon to get round the wards again,
but they are very quiet at present.

We have rather amusing " tiffs " between the
officers' and sisters' mess ; just now potatoes are
very scarce, as the military people have bought them
all up ; I found the cook was using mine for the
officers, as they had run out, so I told them I had had
to pay 32s. 6d. for a bag, but I should charge them
more by the pound ! they thought I had paid too
much, and asked the C.O., who was going into Durban
to bring them out a bag. When he came back, he
had to confess that he had had to give 355. for a bag,
and it never turned up at the station, and he had no
receipt, and did not know the name of the shop !

We are constantly having to make little exchanges
of food, &c., but it is necessary to keep a very sharp
eye on our supplies.

Our nice little imp, Dick — otherwise Imdenbe, son
of Cholem, Chief of Imsugelum, Umtenta — got home-
sick, and wanted to go home to his mother, so now
we have another boy for the mess-room. I dare say

2i8 A NURSE'S LIFE IN WAR AND PEACE

Dick will come slinking back when he has spent his
money.

John, the big house-boy, is still here, and is an ex-
cellent servant. When we first came, Mr. - - let
him take care of his horse (of course paying him extra),
but then, when other medical officers also got horses,
the Major said that one boy must look after them
all — as there were difficulties about fodder, &c. — but

when Mr. told John, he said, " No, sir, me never

give up Tommy ; Tommy he clean, he fat, he happy,
and John love him ; John cry very much if boss give
Tommy one new boy." But poor John had to give
him up ; and I believe he did cry. In my room I
have the luxury of a big wardrobe with glass doors,
and John takes great pride in this piece of furniture ;
I believe he loves to see himself in the mirror.
One day I found he had turned my dresses out to
dust inside — I expected him to proceed to tidy the
drawers next, but I drew the line there ! He keeps
our rooms beautifully clean, and is absolutely honest.
The other day he knocked at one of the sister's doors
when she was having a bath, and when she told him
he could not come in, he said " It's only me, old John,"
and was quite hurt that she would not unlock the door.

I think I told you about his going home after pay-
day and stopping too long : the same thing happened
again the other day, and when he came slinking round
with his broom and pail again (looking as though he
expected me to hit him), I said, " Oh, John, I just
going to toctmaster for another boy," and he said,
" No, missus, me never leave the sisters, but my wife
very sick, and it rain very much, and — Kaffir beer
very good at my kraal," so I had to forgive him, as
he was honest about it !

FLYING ANTS AND OTHER PLAGUES 219

We have had a good many changes amongst the
sisters lately, but at present they seem a happy lot,
and they work well ; they have been much more con-
tented since they took their few days up-country, as
it has made them realise that in most ways they are
better off here.

As the summer comes on, the creeping and crawling
beasts are getting very objectionable ; amongst others
that come into my room are grasshoppers, locusts,
flying beetles (huge brutes), and mosquitoes. When
they get very numerous, I have to turn my light off
and wait till I hear them all make for the electric
light outside,

There are six cats about the place, and two of them
insist on sleeping in my room (of course my door and
window are always open) ; one always sleeps on my
chest of drawers, and the other on the clothes basket,
so I feel safe that snakes won't come in, as a cat always
lets you know when one is about.

One night the small tabby brought the most ex-
traordinary creature into my room : it was like a
small crab, and it ran round and round in a circle,
and squeaked like one of those clock-work mice.

The other day it began to rain, and then we were
afflicted by a perfect scourge of flying ants, which I
had never seen before in such numbers.

They covered the walls of our rooms, and some of the
sisters could eat no dinner, as they were so thick on
the mess-room table. The men in the wards swept
them up in bucket fuls ; then, in a couple of hours,
they all took themselves off again, without any appa-
rent method in their madness.

We have all sorts of vegetables and flowers coming
on in the garden, the rainy weather suiting them

220 A NURSE'S LIFE IN WAR AND PEACE

well, but the wet days are rather dull for the men,
and there seems to be more sickness starting again
up-country.

I had a letter from J. the other day from Kroon-
stad, saying that he was fit and well, but heartily
sick of trekking about the Free State. Really all
the men seem so tired of the war just now ; it is
all very well to put up with hardships, and short
rations, for a few months, but when it runs on to a
year, every one has had enough.

The other day we had a wire to ask for a doctor to
go to an officer who had been taken ill when on leave
about an hour up the line from here. Dr. - - went
to see him and found him rather bad, so the next day
a stretcher-party went up and brought him here. We
have several rather bad cases in just now, but we
have plenty of people to look after them, and there
is none of the anxiety we had at first, when we were
overwhelmed with enteric cases, and the orderlies
were so helpless.

We hear that Lord Roberts is coming down this
way soon, but there are so many rumours that we
hardly know what to believe.

XXXVIII

PINETOWN, NATAL,
November 1900.

OF course you will have heard that poor Prince
Christian Victor died at Pretoria of enteric. He was
buried in the military cemetery there, and there was
a service in the cathedral ; I heard it was very im-
pressive— about 1000 troops attended.

I should like to have been in Pretoria when the
Proclamation declaring the annexation of the Trans-
vaal was read. I heard it was very fine. Lord
Roberts arrived with a big escort (including some fine
Indians), and massed bands played " God Save the
Queen," and then the Royal Standard was run up,
and then again " God Save the Queen." After that
there were no less than six Victoria Crosses for Lord
Roberts to pin on — he stood on the steps of the old
Dutch church — and then there was a march past of
10,000 troops. I believe the march past took two
hours, though the infantry left the Square at the
" double."

It is very difficult to judge, but many people here
seem to think the war is by no means over yet ; how-
ever, if Lord Roberts does go home, we shall have K. of
K. to finish the business.

The chief thing of interest here early in the month
was some difficulty about the three civil surgeons
who were still here (of those who came out with us).
There has been some muddle since the Government

232 A NURSE'S LIFE IN WAR AND PEACE

took over the hospital, as to whether they were to
have the pay of medical officers engaged at home or
of those engaged out here ; after some correspond-
ence they were dissatisfied with the terms, and thought
they were being hardly treated ; and then a wire
came that they were to prepare to proceed to England,
as their services were no longer required. I expect
they will get the matter settled all right when they
get home.

It was quite a business getting them all packed up
in a hurry, and they had to arrange about selling
their horses, &c.

They gave a farewell dinner-party, which we all
attended.

The Army Medical Department is a bit unsettling ;
of course you have to do exactly what you are told,
and you are told to do things so suddenly : just a
wire comes, and very often next day you move.

Colonel Galway (the P.M.O.) has gone home, and
we miss him very much ; he has been so particularly
nice every time he has been here.

We have had a very quiet time lately. They are
closing some beds up at Maritzburg, and sent us
down a very good wardmaster and fifteen R.A.M.C.
orderlies — some of them men with six or seven years'
service.

At first the sisters could hardly realise that these
men were really good nurses, as they have been so
used to having to do most of the nursing themselves
until they had shown each particular orderly how to
do things ; so they think now that the army sisters,
in time of peace, must have a very easy life !

One night we had some people to dinner, and then
they gave the men such a good concert. Some of the

THE BUCKJUMPER 223

orderlies helped — one of them plays the violin beauti-
fully, and the little Australian boy " bugled."

Another day a clergyman, who has a boys' school
up the line, brought all his boys down to pay us a
visit, and they played a cricket match against the
medical officers and orderlies.

One other form of amusement has been very popular
with the men, though rather an unusual one for hos-
pital patients ; we have a Lieutenant of the R.A.M.C.
on duty here now, and when he went to the remount
depot to secure a horse, he was rather surprised that
a very nice-looking beast was willingly handed over
to him when he said he would like it ; but when they
got it up here it promptly chucked all the stable-
boys in turn, and proved to be a bad Australian
buck jumper !

Then the men, patients and orderlies, wanted to try
their hand with him, and some of the Australian
Bushmen are splendid at sticking on. Now he is
getting quite tame, and only bucks a little when they
first mount. The daily riding of the buckjumper
has amused the whole camp ; and I should simply
have loved to try my hand at sticking on, but my
damaged side won't allow me to ride anything for
some time yet, though I am getting about my work
all right, going slow.

They have had a very " mixed " lot of horses out
here, and many people seem to think the war might
have been over now if they had had a better supply
of horses at first.

The English chargers have worked awfully well,
but the food of the country has not been suitable
for them, and the little Boer ponies are much better
suited for the rough ground and the poor food.

224 A NURSE'S LIFE IN WAR AND PEACE

They are so used to picking their way on the veldt
that they hardly ever put a foot into a hole ; and then
at night they will peck about and nibble odds and ends
at which an English horse turns up his nose.

At first the men did not think the Boer ponies were
big enough to carry the necessary weight, but now
they find they are, and that they wear better, because
they are not always hungry, as seems to be the case
with the unfortunate big horses. Still, the good old
London 'bus horses have done very useful work with
the guns.

They have had many horses from New Zealand,
Australia, and the Argentine — these last often very
bad-tempered beasts.

As the men all seem so well satisfied with these
Boer ponies, it might be a good plan after the war
to start a big Government breeding station out here,
in some bit of healthy grass country. A man told me
they could ship horses to England for about £20 for
the voyage, and that if it was undertaken in a proper
way, it ought not to cost more than about £5 to rear
a horse, or perhaps £7 to put a four-year-old on board
ship, so they could have one of the best landed in
England for under £30, where there is so much trouble
about getting the right kind of horses in sufficient
numbers. They would be suitable for work in almost
any climate, as they have to put up with such rapid
changes of temperature here.

We have lately had a R.A.M.C. Major here, partly
as a patient and partly as a visitor. He was in Lady-
smith through the siege, and had very hard work
(so many doctors ill) ; then he was sent down to a
hospital ship as a patient, and very soon the C.O.
was called away, and he was put in charge while still

EXCELLENCE OF THE BOER PONIES 225

ill. He has been three trips in her, and seems to
have had a lot of work and worry, and now he is
ordered to go up and take charge of a 5oo-bed hospital,
and is not in the least fit for it. They won't spare
any R.A.M.C. men to be invalided home just now,
as they seem to want to weed out all the civil surgeons
first. This man wants the most careful feeding to
get him right ; at first I was always running after
him with egg flips or some little feed, but now he is
beginning to enjoy ordinary food better.

I have heard a good deal about the siege from him :
he tells me it was awful being responsible for sick
men and not being able to get things for them. At
one time he had 400 very sick under his charge, and
all he could get for them was five, or sometimes six,
small tins of condensed milk a day, when they all
needed milk. He says that the men had no time to
convalesce : it was three days up and out of bed,
and then straight to the trenches ; the poor fellows
were so awfully weak that they used to have to send
a mule waggon to cart them down. They put a rifle
in their hands, and carted them back again at night.

For a short time, too, we had another Major for a
" rest and feed up " ; he is an M.P. when he is at
home, but was out here with the Yeomanry. He
is also on the mend now.

I have had the very sweetest puppy given to me
— a little black spaniel. He has been christened
" Bobs," and he follows me about everywhere.

I must tell you a little joke about some officers who
were here. There is a big Convalescent Depot at
Howick, and no one seems to like going there, but at
one time we were so full up with officers (and more
wanting to come), that the Major chose out three or

226 A NURSE'S LIFE IN WAR AND PEACE

four who were practically well, but not quite fit to
rough it at the front yet, and sent them up to Howick.
We gave them some sandwiches and fruit to console
them on the way, and at Maritzburg they bought a
bottle of champagne, and were having a great lunch
in the train. There was one little man in plain clothes
in the carriage besides our party, so they invited him
to lunch, but he refused. \Vhile they were lunching
they were all talking about what a good time they
had had here, and what hard luck it was that the C.O.
had pitched on them to go up to the " Home for Lost
Dogs " (as Howick is called) — every one said it was
a horrid hole, and of course they exaggerated all the
bad things they had heard about it. When they got
to Howick the little man in plain clothes got out, and an
orderly came up and saluted and took his bag, and
he proved to be the Colonel in charge at Howick !

We sent off sixty men on the 2ist, and, a few days
later had seventy men down from Standerton, all
supposed to be convalescents, but two of them have
developed definite enteric, and as they have been at
Standerton for some time ill with something else,
they must have become infected up there. I am afraid
enteric is getting rather bad again farther up, but of
course there always is more at this season, and they
are better prepared to tackle it now.

The big hospital at Estcourt has been moved up to
Pretoria, and I believe the beds at Maritzburg have
been reduced from 1600 to 200 ; and now we hear
that they are having rather a scare lest they should
be short of beds on this side.

The other day a man from the Ordnance Depart-
ment came up to see about putting new sinks in the
theatre and otherwise improving the buildings, so

THE HOME FOR LOST DOGS 227

that does not look as though we were to close just
yet ; but I think if the place is kept going into the
New Year they are bound to send an Army Super-
intendent in my place, as it would be too " irregular "
to leave me here now that there are so many army
sisters about (with some hospitals already closed),
and not by any means all of them acting as super-
intendents.

XXXIX

S.S. " CANADA " between CAPE TOWN and
ST. HELENA, December 1900.

WE have had an exciting time since I last wrote to
you ; I had better begin at the beginning, and tell
you of the upheaval.

At the beginning of the month we heard that the
P.M.O. was hovering near, so we thought he would
come to inspect us, and then we should learn our
fate.

Instead of that, one Sunday our Major had a wire
asking him to go down to see the P.M.O. in Durban
the next morning " on urgent business." Every
one was so excited on Monday they did not know how
to work, and I saw that all the medical officers were
ready to waylay the poor Major as soon as he got
back, so I kept out of the way, thinking he would be
tired, and that we should hear the news after he had
had some tea.

But very soon he came to my room and said, " Well,
Sister, would you like to go to England to-morrow ? "
I only said, " No, sir, not particularly ; I think it
would be rather cold there just now, and I should like
to see the war through," but I thought to myself,
" What has gone wrong that he wants to ship me
off ? " because we had worried through some very thick
times of difficulties together ; but then he explained
to me that he had been chosen to go home in charge

of the sick on the ship on which Lord Roberts was

228

SUDDEN ORDERS FOR HOME 229

to go — the Canada — and he was to choose two sisters
and some good orderlies to take with him ; he thought
the trip would do me good, as I had not been really
well since my accident, and he thought I could cer-
tainly come out again if I wished, but (of course) I
should very likely not get back here as Superintendent.
I did not mind that at all, as for some time I had
been keen on seeing some work farther up-country,
and it seems likely that this place will become more
of a " Rest Camp," and less of an acute hospital as
time goes on.

Anyhow, he seemed to wish me to go with him, so
in ten minutes I had made up my mind to go, and we

had decided to take Sister (one of our original

batch of sisters) with us ; and then there were the
orderlies to choose.

It was 5.30 P.M. on Monday when I got my march-
ing orders, and the Major had to leave the next day
at 12.17, and we to follow him at 3.40 P.M., so you
can imagine we had a rush, and there was little sleep
for us that night.

The R.A.M.C. Lieutenant was put in temporary
charge until the P.M.O. could send a Major down ;
my senior sister took over the Superintendent's duty
for me, and I had to show her all the details about
the mess accounts, stores, linen, washing, &c. ; arrange
to send my dog back to the people who had given
him to me (as I should not have been able to land him
in England) ; send my saddle up to Maritzburg to
be sold, so as to make room in my saddle-box for
packing curios, &c. ; to say nothing of my own pack-
ing up, and heaps of other things to arrange about.

I could not go to see any of the many friends who
had been so kind to us ; but before the ship sailed I was

230 A NURSE'S LIFE IN WAR AND PEACE

able to write fifteen letters of farewell and apologies,
and managed to send them ashore.

There was a good deal to settle about the servants
too : our good Madrassee cook was to leave the next
day, and all the black boys said they " no stay if the
big boss and the little missus go to England " ; but
perhaps they will settle down again.

All the orderlies came crowding down to the station to
see us off, and gave us such cheers ; and John and the
other black boys were all mopping their eyes, Charlie
holding on to my little Bobs, who was whining and
struggling to come with me — but he will go back to
a very good home.

When we got on board at Durban we found the ship
had to go to the outer anchorage. We were dis-
appointed that we could not even go up the town to
say good-byes, and really we might have had another
night ashore, as Lord Roberts never came down till
the next day.

Our good friend, Mr. T., from Pinetown, kindly
came on board to say good-bye, and brought us a
lovely hamper of flowers, some of which we arranged
in Lord Roberts' cabin.

Fifty men were to leave the day after we did, so
they will be very light in the hospital, and the P.M.O.
said he should not send more down till he had settled
the staff.

Lord Roberts came on board with his staff at 6 P.M.
on December 5th, and we sailed at once. Only 400
troops came on board at Durban, but we heard we
should have 1200 after Cape Town.

The Canada is a splendid boat, with the finest
stretch of upper deck that I have seen on any ship.
From Durban to Cape Town the saloon was very

WITH LORD ROBERTS 231

empty ; besides Sister and myself there was only
one lady on board, the wife of a chaplain from
Wynberg — they have been to Ceylon for a trip with
a shipload of Boer prisoners.

Besides Lord Roberts, we have on board General
Ian Hamilton, General Kelly-Kenny, General Marshall,
Lord Stanley, and others.

I was shown a copy of the orders about the Medical
Company to be put on board this ship : it read, " to
include two specially selected sisters " — it sounded
like choosing turkeys for Christmas !

There is a hospital with eighty-four cots on board,
but, as the men were supposed to be chiefly time-
expired men and not sick troops, we did not expect
very much work.

We had fine weather coming round the coast, and
Lord Roberts went ashore to receive addresses both
at East London and at Port Elizabeth ; after Port
Elizabeth there was a very heavy swell till we reached

Cape Town, and poor Sister was so bad we were

quite glad the hospital was still empty.

Before we reached Cape Town Lord Roberts came
up to speak to me, and we had quite a long chat ;
he was very anxious that we should have everything
that we wanted for the hospital.

He told me that Lady Roberts and his two daughters
would join us at Cape Tow7n ; and two sisters who
have been nursing her are coming home with the Miss
Roberts who has been ill.

At Cape Town Lord Roberts had a great reception, of
which I got some good photos. When I could get away
from the ship I went up the town and wired to my
brother in Kimberley, to tell him that I was going home,
but after doing so I thought I might as well inquire

232 A NURSE'S LIFE IN WAR AND PEACE

whether, by any chance, he was^down in Cape Town,
so I went to his club, and was much surprised to find
he was in the town ; so I left a note to arrange to
meet him next day.

i The next day was Sunday, and Sister and I went
to service in the cathedral (which Lord Roberts
attended with his staff), and then my brother met
us, and took us up to an excellent lunch at Mount
Nelson Hotel.

After lunch Sister went off to see some friends

at Wynberg, and my brother and I went to see various
friends in the suburbs, and finished up with supper
with the S.'s at their lovely Kenilworth home. It
was nice meeting so many old friends ; and then I
went back to sleep on board.

The next morning I made a raid on the Red Cross
Society and the " Absent Minded Beggar " people
to beg for games, cards, books, tobacco, &c., for the
men on the way home ; and in a few hours' time
they sent me on a splendid supply. Then it was
" Ladies' Day " at the club, so I found time to run up
to lunch with my brother there, and he had some old
Kimberley friends also lunching with him. After
that the troops were coming on board, so I had to go
back to duty.

I was appointed Lady Superintendent for the voyage,
and two more sisters were sent on to help us — also
three Roman Catholic sisters who had been nursing
in Bloemfontein, had a passage home on the Canada,
and were to be " available for duty " if I wanted them.

The Cape Town people gave Lord Roberts a great
send off on December loth, and H.M.S. Doris escorted
us out to sea.

We have very comfortable cabins, and the Major

A FUNERAL AT SEA 233

(who is P.M.O. on board) invited Sister — - and me
to sit at his table in the saloon with four other officers,
so we are well looked after.

A great many of the men are wounded, some of
them going home for operations. We had twenty sent
straight into the hospital before we sailed, and we
soon began to fill up there and to get busy.

Before we reached St. Helena one poor fellow of
the Yeomanry had died ; he did not seem particularly
bad when he came on board, but he came down to the
hospital saying he felt "a bit queer " ; his tempera-
ture was only 100°, but we admitted him at once,
and he was evidently just beginning a relapse (enteric),
and then he had a dreadful septic abscess and other
complications, so we had to isolate him in a little
cabin, to reach which we had to go past all the stables
— there were several horses on board, including the
charger poor Lieutenant Roberts was riding when

he fell. He was so bad one evening that Sister

volunteered to sit up with him, but when I went to
relieve her at 7 A.M. we could both see that he was
dying, and Sister offered to stay so that I should not
infect myself ; but she looked so done up (she is a
bad sailor) I thought she had had enough, and the
other sisters could quite well manage the hospital,
so I sent her to disinfect, and go to bed.

The poor man died about 10 A.M., and was buried
in the afternoon, Lord Roberts and all his staff at-
tending. I don't think anything is more solemn
than a funeral at sea ; the slow march out to the stern,
and the service read, and then the engines stop, and
there is such a hush when the constant beat of the
screw ceases ; next the little splash as the body,
heavily weighted and sewn up in a blanket, slides

234 A NURSE'S LIFE IN WAR AND PEACE

into the sea, and then the mournful " Last Post "
sounded : once more the engines start, and we all
go back to our posts.

I did not put on a regular night sister except when
there was special need ; but we took it in turns to
be responsible for a night at a time, and the respon-
sible one stayed up till twelve, and then (if all was
quiet) turned in, and was called again at 4 A.M. to take
a look round ; but if she was kept up much, we re-
lieved her from duty for the next morning ; we had
very good orderlies, and we found this plan worked
well.

S.S. " CANADA " (nearing ST. HELENA, on return
voyage to the CAPE), January 1901.

I AM now on my way back to the Cape after sixteen
days' leave in England ; a rushing time, amid snow
and sleet ; but I must first tell you about the voyage
home.

We reached St. Helena on December i6th, and Lord
Roberts and nearly every one went ashore for a few
hours. I did not go off as I was busy in the hospital.
Several men were very ill with enteric, and one with
double pneumonia ; of course it was frightfully stuffy
for them in the hospital, but Lord Roberts had most
kindly said that wre were to use part of the upper
deck (that had been reserved for him and his family),
if it would be any better for the men ; so we rigged
up a screen, and put two or three men, who seemed
most in need of fresh air, up there, and they were so
grateful.

There was always a good supply of ice, and the
sterilised milk was good ; one man (who was very
ill) could not take it, but for him I was able to get
fresh milk, as there were two cows on board. The
" skoff " for the convalescents was excellent, and they
were all delighted with the variety of food supplied
by the company, after the sameness of the army
rations. Both the ship's officers and the stewards
were most kind in every way in helping me to get
what I wanted for the men.

235

236 A NURSE'S LIFE IN WAR AND PEACE

We had a spell of very hot weather between the
1 6th and the 2ist, and on the 20th we had another
sad death, a young St. John's Ambulance man, who
was admitted on the i6th with acute rheumatism
(he had had enteric in South Africa). It was my
night on duty, and at 11.45 I did not think he seemed
so well, and I found his temperature had run up to
105°, and his pulse was very bad ; we did everything
that was possible for the poor boy, but his tempera-
ture continued to rise and his heart to fail ; he was
dreadfully breathless, and it was so difficult to prop
him up enough in the bunks ; by i A.M. his temperature
had reached 106.6°, and he knew that he was dying,
and was able to tell me where to write to his mother.
He died very soon after.

It was dreadfully sad for the other men, as, of course,
they were all awake, and in such terribly close quarters
— one man in the bunk above him, and two more close
beside him ; and it does seem such hard luck for these
two men to have got through their time in South
Africa and then to knock over just when they are
nearing home.

A nice sergeant in a bunk near by saw that I was
very much cut up about this poor boy, and said,
" Never mind, Sister, no one could have done more
for the poor lad to give him a chance than you have ;
but I know I have seen many men die on the battle-
field, but it's a lot worse to see one die between decks
here." Afterwards we carried him out to a small
bathroom, and he was buried the next day.

I found one of the patients in the hospital was
a Bart.'s student who had been serving at the
front.

Both Lord and Lady Roberts took a great interest

CHRISTMAS DAY AT SEA 237

in the men, and Lord Roberts used to come up to me
in the morning and ask how they had got through
the night ; and he would ask after the men who were
especially ill by name : of course they were awfully
pleased when I told them.

They both went round the hospital several times,
and on Christmas Day they went down and shook
hands with all the men in hospital, wishing them a
happy day, and then they sent down a large sugared
cake and some chocolate for the men who were well
enough to enjoy it, and the very sick ones all had some
champagne ; the men appreciated it very much, and
there was a great demand for envelopes to take " a
bit of Bobs' cake home."

Many of the beautiful baskets of flowers that came
on board for Lady Roberts at the different ports
found their way down to the hospital, and the men
especially treasured a beautiful Union Jack that
came on board at Madeira, made of red geraniums
and blue and white violets.

By the 22nd it had become cooler and rather damp,
so all the men returned to the hospital (from the upper
deck). On the 24th one of the officer patients had
to have an anaesthetic for a slight operation on his
arm ; and I had a busy night in the hospital, as one
man had a fit, and there were several enterics very ill.

On Christmas Day it was good to see about twenty
officers and between forty and fifty men at the early
Communion Service, and we also had a service in the
hospital. The saloon was quite full for the morning
services at 9.15 and at 10 A.M. — there were too many
for all to attend one service.

Sister and I found two huge stockings on our plates
at breakfast time, with all sorts of silly presents in

238 A NURSE'S LIFE IN WAR AND PEACE

them. We had a very pleasant day and a jolly dinner
party at night.

We reached Madeira that evening, and did not
leave again till 2 P.M. the next day, so I had a run
ashore with some people in the morning. On the 28th
we anchored at Gibraltar at 8.30 A.M., and the guns
thundered out such a welcome to Lord Roberts ! We
stayed there till i P.M. the next day, and I again went
ashore with some friends, and had a good look round
the town.

Sir George White and his daughter came on board,
and afterwards Lord and Lady Roberts went ashore.

We had fairly good weather all the way home, but
after Gibraltar the ship was rather inclined to roll ;
the remark on the ship's log was " fresh to moderate
gale, with confused (!) sea." Two of the sisters were
rather bad, so the remaining sister and I had a busy
time between the sick officers and the hospital ; and,
though neither of us was sea-sick, I can't say that
we exactly enjoyed it when we had to sponge a bad
typhoid in an upper berth (to reach whom we had to
stand on a box, and have a man wedged in the gang-
way to hold our basin of water ; never quite sure
whether the next roll would not oblige him to pitch
all the water over either us or our patient) ; and the
daily syringing of the arm of the officer who had the
operation was just about as much as I could stand
on the rough days ; so we were glad when the wind
abated, and all the sisters could take their turn for
night duty, &c.

Lord Roberts was awfully nice to me about having
looked after the men on board, and he asked me
whether I wanted anything he could help me with ;
so I told him I only wanted to be sure they would let

LORD ROBERTS VISITS THE QUEEN 239

me go back and do some more work, and not get
sent to a home station ; so he most kindly sent for his
secretary, and asked him to write to the Director-
General to say he would be obliged if my wishes
on this point could be attended to. Was it not kind
of him ? If I had not been so surprised I should have
asked to be allowed to work for the same Major again,
but he was just chatting in such a kind, informal way
on the deck, that I did not realise how much he could
have helped me if I had thought to ask.

I saw the New Year in down in the hospital, and
the stokers made such a noise to celebrate it, beating
with their shovels, &c. Luckily, by then, all our
patients were improving, though some of them were
still very ill ; all except the very sick ones were
tremendously excited at the thought of getting
home.

We were rather before our time, so, on the evening
of January ist, we had to anchor in Swanage Bay, and
then arrived and anchored off Cowes the next morning
at 10 A.M. It was freezing hard and bitterly cold,
and we were all longing to get home ; but in the after-
noon Lord Roberts went ashore to be received by
Queen Victoria at Osborne. He returned an Earl
and a Knight of the Garter, and I believe the Queen
handed him the V.C. won by his son at Colenso.

That night we anchored off Netley, and the cold
was intense ; we got up to Southampton at 9.30 A.M.
on January 3rd, and such a crowd was there to welcome
Lord Roberts. Of course it was some time before
he got away and we could get our patients landed ;
but as soon as we got into dock some orderlies came on
board from Netley with a good supply of fresh milk,
which was much enjoyed in the hospital, and, eventu-

240 A NURSE'S LIFE IN WAR AND PEACE

ally, we were thankful to see all the bad cases safely
off to Netley — three of them had been so very ill,
and several times we had thought they could not live
to get home.

It is always a little sad saying good-bye to people
}'ou have got to know well on board ship, but not nearly
so bad near home as out at the front.

We had orders to report ourselves at the War Office,
and, after having cleared up the hospital, we were
able to get away about i P.M.

The next day I called at the War Office, and pre-
sented Lord Roberts' letter, and was told that I should
go back ; they would let me know when — and then I
went on leave.

On the 1 5th of January I had a wire to rejoin the
ship for the return voyage on the igth. It was bitterly
cold all the time I was in England, and I had rather
a rush to get some new uniform and other necessaries,
to unpack and " sort myself," and repack again.

When I got on board the Canada I was rejoiced to

find that Sister was returning too, and three of

our original medical officers.

The ship was very full (122 in the saloon), and there
were sixteen sisters and one other lady ; but my old
friend, the stewardess, was kind enough to manoeuvre
so that I got a small cabin to myself.

Just before we got away the Manhattan backed
into our stern, and sent us first with such a bang
against the wharf, that the people standing there
fell down flat like ninepins (and it was raining, so
there were inches of mud for them to fall into !) ; and
then we broke away from our moorings, with some
visitors and the embarkation officers still on board.
After a little excitement they managed to anchor off

REJOIN THE "CANADA" 241

Netley, and found our damage was chiefly to the
boat deck (one boat was stove in) and the railings —
it would have been more serious if our steam had not
been up and ready for us to get away, so they were able
to get her under control at once — but there we had to
remain all the next day repairing, and it was very
tantalising having to waste that time on board,
especially as I have some relations who live within
a couple of miles of where we were anchored.

Before we sailed we heard that the Queen was very
ill, and I fear she has been very feeble lately, and very
much troubled about the war ; so we all feel anxious,
and every night when the band plays " God Save
the Queen," and all stand at the salute, we wonder
how she is.

XLI

S.S. " VICTORIAN " (between CAPE TOWN
and DURBAN), February 1901.

JUST as we got in sight of St. Helena orf February 2nd
our engines broke down, and we had to lay to for some
hours while they were being repaired.

Then, as we steamed slowly up to the anchorage,
H.M.S. Thetis signalled to us that our Queen had
died on January 22nd ; so we ought to have been
singing " God Save the King " for the past eleven days.

The men were all joking and playing games, &c.,
when the news came, and then there was such a hush
of sorrow on the boat, and all the games were put
away. We were at St. Helena all the next day
while the repairs were going on. The Mongolian
arrived with 600 Boer prisoners, and last week they
had 1300 from Simon's Town. Since we were last
here some of the prisoners had made an attempt at
escape, and they had also had a nasty mutiny amongst
the men of the West Indian Regiment, who were
stationed there.

We anchored in Table Bay, after a very uneventful
voyage (with no work in the hospital, except five
cases of German measles), on February 8th, but did
not get alongside till the following evening ; and then
(as we were receiving fresh orders about every half hour)
we stayed quietly on board till the nth — when the
Canada was sailing again.

The only thing that was definite was that the

medical officers and sisters who had been in Natal

242

THE DEATH OF QUEEN VICTORIA 243

before were to return to that command, but how to
get there was a different matter ; the ship by which
they proposed to send us by was not yet in, and it
seemed likely that when the Canada left we should
remain on the wharf sitting on our boxes.

Sister and I were the only sisters who had been

in Natal before, so we saw the others off by train for
Pretoria and Elandsfontein.

Then the City of Vienna came in, and she was so
full she could only just take on the medical officers,
and Sister and I had to wait to go by some other boat ;
but we were told we could go out to Wynberg and lodge
at the hospital till they could find berths for us, leaving
our heavy baggage in store at the docks.

There we were kept waiting ten days for a ship,
and had a very dull time of it, as we were afraid to go
to any distance in case any sudden orders came for us.

Wynberg is a very pretty place in pine woods ; but
the huts were infested with creatures, so that sleep
was difficult, and though we are neither of us very
particular about our food, it was so badly served and
dirty that we could not enjoy it.

I can't understand about the mess, as the sisters
have to pay all their allowance of 2 is. a week for
food, and don't get anything like such good food as
we had at a cost of 145. or 155. a week (though the
actual cost of food is less at Cape Town), and they
have no variety. There were some Pretoria sisters
staying there to recruit after enteric, and I felt so
sorry for them, as the food was absolutely unsuitable
for convalescents ; and they told me they had been
very well cared for all the time they were ill at Pre-
toria, and so they were missing the careful feeding
they had been used to.

244 A NURSE'S LIFE IN WAR AND PEACE

Of course we did not get to know really very much
about the hospital, as we were not on duty, and were
only " lodgers," but a sister who came out with us
was on duty, and was not at all happy ; there were so
many petty rules for the sisters that they seemed to
spend their time in trying to evade them — not a good
hospital tone.

We found no news at all in the Cape Town papers,
but certainly the war does not seem likely to be over
just yet ; they say all civil traffic and mails north
of De Aar have been stopped.

There was a rumour that there were Boers within
thirty miles of Cape Town, so all the Boer prisoners
were being sent away from Simon's Town. Some
naval guns have been mounted on the " Lion's Head "
(a part of Table Mountain), and the Town Guard were
sent up there in watches, as well as some of the regulars.

The Town Guard were most energetic and constantly
drilling. One day I wanted to speak to one of the
Customs' men, and found they were all drilling with
their rifles in the Customs' shed, and the Customs'
business had to wait.

Then, of course, you will have heard there was
plague in Cape Town, and there was some alarm lest
it should get amongst the soldiers, and cripple us in
that way ; but they seem to be attacking it in an
energetic way, and so far it is practically confined
to the coloured people.

As usual it started among the rats on the South Arm
at the docks ; large numbers of them died, and the
rest went off in a body to Green Point, at which place
there is a large military camp, so that the sanitary
officials were rather anxious.

Then the natives got frightened, and wanted to

PLAGUE AT CAPE TOWN 245

go home ; but the Government stopped that by not
allowing any of them to travel by train, except with
special permits ; this was partly to prevent their
spreading the plague about the country, and also be-
cause it would have been difficult to get the dock work
done if the natives had cleared.

At the same time a large native location is being
built on the Cape flats (where they will all have to
live), and a light railway to bring them into their
work.

Rats are being bought for threepence each, and
several hundreds of their bodies are being cremated
daily at the gasworks.

At last we went into Cape Town and saw the P.M.O.,
but he said he could not say when we should get on ;
so we went on to our friend the embarkation officer,
and told him that if there was no transport coming
soon, we would pay our own passage to go up to Natal
by a mailboat rather than waste more time at Wynberg ;
but he promised we should get a ship before the next
mail and save our money, which we were glad enough
to do ; but my private opinion is that we should have
been waiting at Wynberg still if we had not gone
into Cape Town and agitated about it !

We paid a visit to the Yeomanry Hospital at Mait-
land, where a brother of Sister's was in as a patient
(but getting better), and I found several old friends
on the staff there.

At last, on the 2Oth, we received orders to join the
Victorian at Cape Town. It was pouring with rain,

but Sister went off at once to find a cab, while

I hastily packed up, paid our mess bill, &c. Before
she got back, there was a telephone message to tell
us to hurry, as the ship was going soon ; we bundled

246 A NURSE'S LIFE IN WAR AND PEACE

our things on to the cab, and just managed to catch
a train at Wynberg, which (by good luck) was an
express, as most of the trains loiter about at all the
suburban stations.

At Cape Town we hastily cabbed to the P.M.O.'s
office for orders, but were told to go straight down to
the ship ; at the dock gates I sent Sister on with our
small things to the ship, to say we were coming, while
I went to the agents, and was lucky in finding an
empty trolley, and getting them to tumble our heavy
baggage on to it, though they said it was too late for
the Victorian, as she had been hooting for some time ;
however, I got on to the waggon and rattled down to

the South Arm. There I found Sister looking

very melancholy, as they told her on board we were
not expected, and there was no room for us, and
" where were our written orders ? "

Of course we had no written orders, as all had been
by telephone ; but I did not mean to be left behind,
so, taking my bag, and telling Sister to bring hers, I
bundled up the gangway, which they were on the
point of removing, and asked to see the C.O.,
telling them that I did not mind a bit if there was no
cabin, but that we could travel on deck ! Just then
the embarkation officer came bustling along, and said
that he had thought we could not get down in time,
but that it was all right, and they had got to make
room for us ! So some soldiers soon carried our
baggage on board, and as our last box came on the
embarkation officer went off, and we were away.

The cabins were really all full, but, after some delay,
two poor young officers had to double in with some
others and give us their cabin.

The Victorian is rather a grubby boat — a cattle-

WITH BOER PRISONERS 247

boat when she is at home. There are two hundred
Boer prisoners on board, going up to a place near
Ladysmith ; four of them are officers, who are berthed
on the upper deck, but don't mess with us. They
seem quite a superior sort (one of them was a Com-
mandant), and they are very polite to us, always ready
to move our chairs, or to do anything to help us.

There are about twenty officers in the saloon, and
one officer's wife.

The ship is not accustomed to having any ladies
on board, but every one is very good to us, and the
stewards are most attentive (there is no stewardess).

I sit next to the C.O., a Colonel from Australia,
who had had a bad fall from his horse, and is
going back to Australia for the voyage to recruit
(this boat is going to take time-expired men from
Durban to Australia, and will return with a full load
of men and horses from there) ; he and his son have
both been fighting out here.

Just lately he has been a patient in the hospital
where we have been lodging, and he speaks very plainly
about the bad management there, after he had been
very well nursed in another hospital up-country.

There is a very pleasant, and very Irish, R.A.M.C.
Major in medical charge. He has had a rough time
trekking about with his regiment for the last fifteen
months, and is now going for the trip to Australia to
recruit after fever ; he wants us to go with him, as
they will probably send a couple of sisters, and we
already have the promise of " a good time " in Aus-
tralia while the ship is there ; Sister says she would
like to go, but I would like to see this show through
first.

The officer's wife has been in her cabin sea-sick all

248 A NURSE'S LIFE IN WAR AND PEACE

the way, so we have had to look after her a bit. It

has been a little rough, but even Sister has kept

well — we conclude because we had been doing a com-
pulsory fast in consequence of the bad feeding at
Wynberg before we came on board ! We should have
thought the feeding on this boat very poor after the
Canada, but it is first rate after Wynberg.

We shall soon be at Durban now, and then they
say we may have to be quarantined outside for ten
days (on account of the plague at the Cape), but we
hope our services may be so urgently required at the
front that they may forget to quarantine us !

XLII

GENERAL HOSPITAL, NATAL,
March 1901.

WE arrived at Durban on February 23rd, and were
eventually allowed to land without being quarantined.

It was Saturday afternoon, and no orders came on
board for us, and by the time the Boer prisoners were
landed, and we were able to get our baggage ashore,
the Durban P.M.O. had left his office ; so we felt
free to do as we pleased till the following day, when
(though Sunday) we might be able to report our-
selves.

If we had been new sisters arriving it might have
been awkward, but it suited us down to the ground.

Sister just caught the evening train up to

Pinetown to stay with some friends, and I promised
to wire to her if we were needed on Sunday ; otherwise
she would return on Monday.

Then a kind sergeant-major helped me to get our
baggage on to a trolley and take it up to the medi-
cal store, where it would be quite safe ; and after
that I went up to see some friends on the Berea,
and they most kindly took me in.

From them I learnt many things ; amongst others,
that our old hospital had been turned into a Rest
Camp of 300 beds, and that they thought we were to
have the chance of going back there, but, for various
reasons, they strongly advised us not to do so if we
could avoid it ; that our late medical officers had

249

250 A NURSE'S LIFE IN WAR AND PEACE

already been sent farther up-country (we had hoped
to work for them again, but did not succeed in doing so).

On Sunday morning I went to report " ourselves "

to Major , and he was very pleasant and kind,

wanted to hear all about our voyage home, &c., and
asked me where we wanted to go ? So I told him " as
near up to the front as we could get " ; then he told
me that the order from the Natal P.M.O. was for us
to return to Pinetown, but if I liked he would wire
to him to ask him to let us go up-country, and that
we could stay with our friends till he got a reply.

I had a quiet Sunday in Durban, meeting many
friends, and going to church in the evening.

The next morning I met Sister at the station, and
the first thing she said to me (before I could tell her
the orders) was, " Sister, I won't go to Pinetown, I
would rather resign, if they want to send us there."
So then I told her that our fate was waiting on a wire
from the P.M.O. ; and as we walked along to the
office she told me a good deal of what she had heard
about Pinetown — of course we can scarcely judge
how much of it is really true, but at any rate it appears
that some of the sisters now there seem to think that
they have come out to South Africa only to enjoy
themselves, and that they are setting about it in a
way which no lady would care to emulate.

It was rather strange that we should both have
received the same advice from quite different sources :
" Don't go there."

Together we went to the office, and stayed there
some time, but no wire had come ; they thought we
should probably go somewhere by the 6 P.M. mail
train. We were advised to take some food if we went
up, as meals on the way were uncertain. So I stocked

UP COUNTRY 251

my tea-basket, and bought some potted meat, &c., in
case we went. i

All day we had to hover near the office or within
sound of the telephone, and at 5 P.M. a wire came
for us to go up to No. — General Hospital by the
mail train.

One of the medical officers kindly helped us to get
our baggage to the station, and secured a carriage
for us.

It is always a shaky journey up from Durban, but
we got some sleep, and the next morning, when we
were having breakfast at Glencoe, we were delighted

to meet Major , of the Royal Engineers, an old

patient of ours, who has done splendid work up this
side ; he was going down to Ladysmith.

A little farther on we met two officers who had come
out in the Canada with us, so they came into our car-
riage, and shared our lunch, and we brewed some tea
with my tea-basket. At Newcastle General Milliard
was on the platform, and also a sister whom we knew.

We had no . sooner reached our destination than
Sergeant C. came up to welcome us — he had been at
Pinetown — and also went home with us ; he does not
seem at all pleased at being sent here, and is already
trying to get a change.

This hospital has been a " Stationary Hospital "
up to now, but is just being turned into a " General
Hospital," so they say it is in rather a muddle at
present.

Sister and I were allotted a tent with just bed

and blankets — nothing else ; we were not required
on duty that day, so we went down to the coolie store
and invested in some cheap sheets, a bucket, basin, &c. ;
also table fittings, as they told us no plates, cups,

252 A NURSE'S LIFE IN WAR AND PEACE

knives, or anything were provided. Many people
out here prefer to sleep in blankets, but as the army
blankets are dark brown, rather of the texture of
horsecloths, and as these were obviously not new
(and the washing and disinfecting of army blankets
in a satisfactory way is still an unsolved problem out
here), we preferred to put some sheets in between !

The air is lovely and fresh up here, where we are
5000 feet above the sea-level — always hot sun in the
day, but very cold nights.

A most unfortunate thing occurred the first night
we were here : a sister, who came out in the Canada
with us, had two large cases of feather cushions given
her by the Princess of Wales — whom we must now
learn to call Queen Alexandra — with the request
that they should go to men in hospital near up to the
front. She had promised me that if I went up-country
I should have one of the boxes to distribute.

When we arrived here I found a wire from her
saying that she was passing our station about 8.30 P.M.,
and would I meet her ? She was one of the sisters
who had landed at Cape Town, but was now coming
down to a hospital on this side. So, when we had
got our tent straight, we went to the Lady Superin-
tendent and said that if we were really not wanted
on duty, might we go down to the station after dinner
to meet this sister ? She said certainly we might ;
she was sorry she had some letters to write, or she
would have walked down with us.

When we got to the station we found we were rather
too soon, and there were a lot of orderlies standing
about, and a few officers (whom, of course, we did
not know), so I said to Sister, " I vote we walk about
outside till we hear the train coming " ; and we were

UNDER CANVAS 253

just beating a retreat from the platform when an
officer stalked up and said, in a very rude way, " Who
are you ? " We just gave our names, and were walking
away, when he again stopped us, and asked what we

wanted at the station ? By this time Sister

was bubbling over with wrath, but we had to explain
that we had obtained leave to meet a sister. I believe
if I had said that I was expecting a box of things from
the Queen, he would have knuckled under, but I was
not going to trade on that ; and the long and short of
it was that he did not believe that we had been given
leave, and said we were not allowed in the station
and were to return to camp.

Of course we went back furious at his rudeness,
and then discovered he was the C.O. here ! I expect
the Lady Superintendent had forgotten to tell him
we had leave (or something of that kind), but he
might have believed our word, and not been so rude
to us before a lot of orderlies, and she was very much
annoyed with him.

The next morning, when we were formally intro-
duced to him, he was, I think, penitent, and invited
us to go out for a picnic on the following day, when
some people whom we knew were coming here, partly
to inspect the hospital and partly for this excursion.

Sister went with them, but I was going on night

duty that night, so I begged off.

This is a " Ration Station " (as it would be difficult
to buy food privately so far from the base), therefore
we don't get quite so many " allowances," but the
" skoff " seems very fairly good ; they bake bread in
the camp ; and as long as you ^can get decent bread
you can be content.

We are just on the border of the Transvaal, and

254 A NURSE'S LIFE IN WAR AND PEACE

there are plenty of Boers about ; two or three of our
columns are trekking about in the district, and they
say that we often have sick and wounded sent in
from them.

Most of the sisters here seem to ride, but I can't
take to that again yet. The night sisters had a
little excitement two nights ago, when two horses
galloped into the camp, and they — with the help of
a convalescent officer — caught and tethered them.
They hoped they would be allowed to keep them,
but, unfortunately, they were reclaimed by some
Yeomanry men ; but they say that very often droves
of horses pass here, and sometimes a few escape, or
are left behind too sick (or too tired) to go on ; and
then the orderlies catch them and sell them to the
sisters for £i or £2 I

I think there are about 500 beds here, nearly all
under canvas. There are a few buildings of wood,
and amongst them is a small room that the sisters
use as a duty room, and the night sisters (two of
them) sit there, and they have a small stove for boil-
ing water, &c. There is no arrangement for hot water
near the tents for the patients — we used to have (and
I have seen them in other hospitals too) boilers on
wheels with a coolie to keep the fire going, and if
the water was not always hot, the coolie soon heard
about it from the orderlies.

One day the C.O. asked me whether I had
everything I wanted, and I said, " No, I wanted a
good many things for the men, one being hot water " ;
but he said he had never heard of these movable
boilers, and seemed to think them an unnecessary
luxury.

At the sisters' camp we have a comfortable room

THE SISTERS' CAMP 255

that they use as a sitting-room, with a mixed lot of
furniture that has been " commandeered " from
houses in the district. The other day an officer sent
us a lot of china plates taken from a Boer hotel ; they
were very welcome, as we were most of us using
enamel plates out of our tea-baskets, &c. We have
our meals in a tent — just a long table, and benches
without backs.

Our sleeping tents are chiefly the big square kind,
called E. P. tents ; they are supposed to hold four
beds, so we may have to pack tight, but at present
Sister and I are alone. Some of the sisters have
made their tents very nice, and have rigged up curtains
to divide them. At present we use our boxes as wash-
stand, &c., and as a General Hospital is given a certain
amount of furniture for the sisters, we intend not to
buy anything that is not really necessary until we
see what they are going to give us.

XLIII

GENERAL HOSPITAL, NATAL,
March 1901.

Now I have waded (both literally and figuratively)
through my first spell of a fortnight on night duty,
and it has not been pleasant ; but when one thinks
how much worse it must be for the troops out trek-
king, one does not mind.

I have always thought that South Africa without
the sun was rather a poor sort of a place, and, living
in a tent in the wet season, I am confirmed in that
opinion.

It began to rain the first night I went on duty,
and during the fortnight I had only four fine nights :
the other nights it rained — generally in bucketfuls.

The first day when I went to bed it was very hot
and stuffy in the tent, so I did not sleep for some time,
but was sleeping in the afternoon when the rain
began, and soon it woke me up by splashing on my
face ; then I found it was coming down in torrents,
and our tent had been so badly pitched, with no trench
round it, that there was a deep stream flowing through.
I had to paddle about and rescue all our goods from
the floor, pitching most of them on to Sister's bed ;
and she was rather amused when she came over to
call me, to find me fast asleep under a mackintosh
and umbrella, my bed a simple island, and no room
for her to get into her own bed !

Most of the sisters were prepared for this, and had

25$

OUR TENT FLOODED 257

suitable garments, but it was several days before I
could obtain them, so I very soon had not a dry
garment to my name.

Before I leave the subject I may as well tell you
what is the correct garb, and then you can imagine
us sitting on a bench at our mess — and I am sure no
one seeing us would think we were sisters ; with our
lanterns hung up behind us, we look more like miners,
or something of that sort !

The first essential is a pair of knee " gum " boots,
as the grass between the tents is long ; then you must
have knickerbockers, with a very short serge skirt
(some omit the skirt altogether on night duty !),
then a mackintosh. When it does not rain, you sub-
stitute for the mackintosh a " British Warmer "
coat — that is the short khaki overcoat that both
officers and privates wear, a very rough wool with a
warm flannel lining. For headgear we have a sailor
hat, or a wool cap, or a sou'wester, according to taste.
White caps and aprons are quite impossible when you
have to go from tent to tent.

Of course there is no chance of drying anything
till the sun comes out again, and when we get out of
bed it would never do to turn it down ; instead of that
you put anything you wish to try to keep dry inside,
and cover it all up with every rug and blanket and
mackintosh that you can lay hands on.

Our tent was so hopelessly bad, that after some
days they let us move into another, and that one
having a wooden floor, we were better off.

I was so tired after moving our things into the new
tent, and after a heavy night on duty in the pouring
rain, that I slept like a top, and when I woke in the
evening I found everything upset in the tent, and

258 A NURSE'S LIFE IN WAR AND PEACE

evident marks that a cow had been taking shelter
with me !

The sisters gibed at me, and said I should probably
not have waked up if it had been a Boer commando.

There are a lot of men very ill. I was supposed
to have charge on night duty of the medical side
(about 250 beds), and that included the enteric tents
with about 100 beds. They seem to have a mania
for shifting the men about, so it was often difficult
to find the bad cases ; there were generally only night
orderlies in the enteric tents, so that men who needed
much attention in the night were supposed to be sent
to the enteric line, whether they had enteric or not.
To escape this risk of infection for them, we sisters
used to try to do all for them in their own tents as
long as we possibly could, and the poor chaps were
so grateful to us, and the day sisters (who were
equally keen not to have them sent down) used to
tell us that the men always assured the medical
officers that they had everything they wanted in the
night. You know how at home if a sick man wakes
up, and is alone for a few minutes, he thinks he is being
neglected, but these poor chaps must have many
lonely hours in the dark tents, and yet they never
complain ; they know that so many are dying of
enteric, and they seem to have a horror of being sent
down to that line.

It really was pretty horrid paddling about in the
dark and the long grass between the tents ; and it
was so slippery with mud and rain that twice I fell
down, and it took some time before I could find my
lantern and the kettle which I had just boiled up,
and was carrying down to make a poultice for a poor
chap with pneumonia : it was very annoying, as,

A COW SHARES MY TENT 259

of course, it took time to reboil the kettle. The day
sister leaves everything ready, with the linseed in a
bowl, so that I have only to pour the water on, and
then I put everything all ready for the next one ;
in this way we can get fairly hot poultices, though
the tents are a long way from the fire.

The men used to be so sorry for us being so con-
stantly wet ; and many a convalescent man used to
beg me to let him stay awake with a man who was
very ill and give him his drinks, &c., promising to come
and fetch me if he wanted anything, so that I need
not go round so often, — but, of course, I could not let
him do that.

One man (a New Zealander) said to me, " Well,
Sister, I have often grumbled at having to do sentry-
go for two or three hours on a wet night, but I never
knew that any woman had to do it for twelve hours
at a stretch ; I shan't grumble at my share again
in a hurry."

The other day we had in a big convoy of eighty
sick and wounded from General French's column.
They had been eight days in ox waggons coming
seventy-two miles ; poor chaps, they were glad to
get into beds.

Two days from here they had got stuck in a drift
one night, and the Boers came down and fired on them,
killing a corporal and a private of the guard and wound-
ing two others. One man had been shot in the thigh,
and Sister made him comfortable in bed, and the doctor
said they should not do anything till next day ; the
man slept like a top for over twelve hours, and when
he woke in the morning Sister said something to him
about having been comfortable, and he said, " Yes,
Sister, I was not going to miss five minutes' enjoy-

26o A NURSE'S LIFE IN WAR AND PEACE

ment of that bed, for I have not been on a bed for
fifteen months."

This convoy also brought in a lot of Boer women
and children, but they have gone into a camp about
three miles from here.

If you, or any of your friends, care to post me any
illustrated papers or magazines, they would be most
gratefully received, or in fact anything wherewith to
amuse the men. We should be very glad, too, of warm
garments, as the winter is coming on, and the Red
Cross people have stopped sending the splendid big
bundles of papers that our men used to appreciate
so much ; in fact, most people seem to have tired of
sending the things with which we were so well supplied
at first. The poor Tommies feel a little hurt at no
free supplies of tobacco or cigarettes, and I would
give anything to have my old supply of warm shirts,
sweaters, wool caps, &c., for the men who have to go
back to roughing it on trek.

Now that the rain has stopped, we are having per-
fectly lovely days, but the nights are very cold ; they
say that a little later on it is bitterly cold up here.

There were six deaths during my first fortnight on
night duty, and it was awfully sad, as one felt they
had so little chance, and I cannot really see why they
should not be better " done by " ; but the sisters
seem to think that it is the natural order of things,
and that we must just " do our best and leave the rest."

The General was here the other day, and said that
all the men were to have tumblers instead of mugs,
but I suppose he does not know that they have not
each got a mug yet !

There is one enteric tent (the last one opened) of
fourteen beds, and their equipment includes only

NIGHT DUTY IN THE RAINY SEASON 261

four mugs, and not a single feeding-cup at all. One
night I found a man, who had not got enteric, sent
there for the sake of having night orderlies, as he was
very ill ; so I had to borrow a mug for him from another
line, and the next day I bought him the necessary
fittings at the coolie store ; but it won't do much
good, as the orderlies probably won't take proper
precautions to wash up for him separately.

There are some new R.A.M.C. officers here now,
and one of them seems energetic ; I dom't know what
had gone wrong that he was poking into, but one of
the sisters heard him say to a sergeant, " Hospital
scandals are not in it," so we can only hope things
will improve here.

There was much excitement here one night. A
major arrived, sick, in a mule buggy from a column
near here ; the C.O. saw him, and told him what tent
to go to, but he never arrived. After much searching
of the camp, neither the officer nor his mules could
be found ; then the heliograph was set to work, and
eventually he was located at the next station, and
when he was brought back he said the C.O. was so
rude to him that he thought he would not stay, and
had gone to a hotel !

Since I came off night duty I, and two other sisters,
have been doing only " afternoon duty," which means
looking after the camp while all the other sisters are
off duty ; this is because there are more sisters here
than the proper number : if there were only the right
number, two of the sisters who have lines would stay
on every afternoon in turn ; but the stupid thing
about it is that if we were each turned on to a big
tent of enterics (instead of one sister having all the line
on her hands) we might be doing really useful nursing ;

262 A NURSE'S LIFE IN WAR AND PEACE

as it is, there is not much to do in the afternoon,
beyond prowling round and trying to talk to the men
and cheer them up a bit.

The other day one of them presented me with these
lines of his own composition ; he was in a tent when I
was on night duty where there was a very bad case :

(By an Australian Trooper.}

You may talk of our Soldiers and Sailors,

Of our brave Colonials too,
But nothing is thought of our Nurses,

With hearts so tender and true.

They have suffered great hardships, and endured

The trials that fell to their share,
And so caused their names to be cherished

On every Barrack Room Square.

So give three cheers for our Sisters

Who've shown us what they will do
To help the cause of Old England

By nursing our sick soldiers through .

XLIV

GENERAL HOSPITAL, NATAL,
April 1901.

OUR tent has filled up now — four of us in it — so we
feel rather tightly packed. One of the four is a sister
who has been in India, and done some camping out,
so she thinks she knows all about tents and how to
live in them ; we rather trade on this, and when it
rains we assure her she ought to go round and slack
the guy-ropes in case they should shrink with the wet
and pull the pegs up, as she knows so much more
about how to do it than we do ; or if it comes on to
blow in the night we wake her up, and offer her the
hammer to go round and knock in the tent-pegs !

The wind gets up so suddenly here that we have
to be careful not to leave anything] about that is
not tethered, or it may be miles away over the veldt
before we wake up.

I now have charge of a medical line of tents, and
find the work very interesting, though there are many
difficulties to contend with.

The Boers seem very thick in the country round ;
they have captured a train with 250 horses between
here and H., and the other day they took 600 head of
cattle from a loyal farmer only about six miles from
here, and he had to fly for protection.

Some Dragoons, who have been scouring the country
for some weeks, were through here the other day,

and one of their poor horses fell, exhausted, near to

263

264 A NURSE'S LIFE IN WAR AND PEACE

my tent ; after a rest they got him up and went on,
but soon a sergeant returned to say that he had fallen
again, and they were going to shoot him, could he
borrow some mules and tackle to pull his body off
the path ? I said, " Oh, don't shoot him— I badly
want a horse, and I'll get him some gruel and brandy
from the store." He said I might have him if I would
look after him, or else get him shot ; but when we
went out we found the men had already shot the
poor beast.

There are so many dead horses, mules, and oxen
about that it is rather horrid v/alking anywhere be-
yond the camp, and sometimes we hear that the Boers
have put a dead mule (and once we heard some dead
Kaffirs) into our water supply, and it makes us rather
squeamish, as we can't even get our drinking water
boiled here. Some of the officer patients tell us that
they have drunk nothing but boiled water all through
the campaign until they came here, and now they
can't get it boiled for them.

I am beginning to get papers from home, and they
are much appreciated by the men, especially the six
numbers of the Daily Mail that come each week ;
I take one to each of my tents, and then they ex-
change them about. Of course they are a month old,
but, for all that, they are the latest news, and heaps
of men from other lines congregate to hear them
read.

After much trouble I have retrieved that box of
cushions sent by the Queen, and they are treasures
indeed ; nice big feather cushions covered in red
twill, and labelled " A present from the Princess of
Wales." It was a little difficult to know to whom to
give them, as, of course, all the men wanted one.

WITHIN SOUND OF THE GUNS 265

I am trying to give them to invalids who will go home
when well enough, as they will be very useful on the
voyage, and the men could hardly carry them with
them on trek.

We had much excitement here early this month :
one morning wre were awakened at 5 A.M. by the sound
of big guns, and in the course of time we heard that
the Boers had blown up some culverts an the night,
and captured a provision train ; then there was a
heliograph message to say, " Heavy fighting since
daybreak," and they wanted some medical officers ;
so two men went off with ambulances, but it seems
none of our men were wounded ; five or six Boers
were killed, and two of their wounded were brought
here : one poor chap with a shell wound of the head
is not likely to live ; he looked just a rough country
boy in corduroys, but he has " F. J. Joubert " marked
on a handkerchief, so he may be some relation of the
General.

The guard of the train had a rough time, as they
took away his boots, and then made him carry sacks
of provisions for them up a steep kopje.

For the present, they have stopped the trains
from running at night. I do think the railway men
have been awfully plucky in sticking to their work,
when they could never feel confident that the line was
not mined.

We had orders not to go outside the camp for
some days, and the C.O. went round and took
notes of all the men who were fit to take a rifle
if there \vas an attack ; and of course all the men
ride about armed.

We had a quiet Easter Day here. The sisters were
expecting some officers of the 5th Dragoons over to

266 A NURSE'S LIFE IN WAR AND PEACE

tea, but they did not turn up, as they had been out
all night chasing Boers.

A few days later the Boers burnt a hotel and stores
at Ingogo, and some troops were hurried through here
to go after them, but of course they got away.

Still a great many deaths here ; the other day we
had four in twenty-four hours ; one of those who
died was a doctor whom I knew slightly (he travelled
up the coast with us when we first came out). He
had been practising out here, so his wife was able to
come and be with him, and she stayed in our camp.
The poor man had heart disease. Of course he wasn't
in my line, but the sister of the officers' ward had a
case in the theatre, and as he had been asking for me
the Lady Superintendent asked me if I would go
to sit with him if I could leave my line for a bit.
I managed to be with him most of the day, and he
died in the evening, and I went with his wife to the
funeral the next day.

The enteric line is now full, so one of my tents has
been allowed to have night orderlies, and we collect
the bad cases into that.

You would be amused at a " kit inspection " here :
when one is proclaimed, the excitement is great, and
the orderlies, almost tearing their hair, are so dis-
tracted that if the sister has any bad cases, she must
nurse them herself, or understand that they will get
no attention till the inspection is over ! All the ward
equipment, mugs, plates, buckets, brooms, &c., has to
be laid out at the tent door for the officers to count.
In a hospital at home, when " stock-taking " comes,
you know that anything that is worn out, or damaged,
or really lost, will be replaced, and you are glad of the
chance of getting things made correct ; but here they

A "KIT INSPECTION" 267

assure me that things must be correct, or the orderly
gets fined or punished ; so, to avoid this, he resorts
to strategy.

As soon as the officer (with the wardmaster and
orderly in attendance) has passed one tent as correct,
the things may be put away again, and then comes
in the help of the patients (who fully enter into the
game), the most nimble trotting off with a medicine
glass to one orderly who is short of that, or a bucket
to another ; I have known a good broom do duty for
three different lines by careful dodging about.

I find one of the senior sisters here is one who
applied to me when I was choosing sisters to bring
out at first ; but I had many to choose from, and I
made no mistake in thinking others more suited for
the work ! Another sister who did come out with
me has recently come up here, but she has not been
very well since she came, and thinks the life here is
very rough, so she is trying to get an exchange.

Sisters can get away from here only by inducing
others to exchange with them ; and it is not easy to
make any one believe that this is a desirable station.
I have not tried yet, as I want to stick to it if I can
(of course I can't do much, but I can make a few men
more comfortable), but most of the others are trying
to exchange.

Our meat chiefly consists of trek ox, and it is so
tough that it is difficult to tackle ; about once a week
we get skinny mutton.

The bread is all right, but several times lately the
butter has not arrived, and we have to do without.
We buy chocolates and biscuits at the coolie store to
fill up the cracks.

The other day we had in a sick convoy that had

268 A NURSE'S LIFE IN WAR AND PEACE

been seven days on the road, and one poor fellow was
so bad with dysentery that he died an hour after they
lifted him out of the ambulance ; really these long days
of knocking about in the ambulances seem about the
worst of the hardships that the poor chaps have to put
up with, especially for the very sick or the wounded.
You see, most of the waggons are drawn by about
sixteen mules, and sometimes they trot and some-
times they walk, but sometimes they turn really mulish
and won't budge; and then, after much hauling
and thrashing and shouting, they start with a great
bound and go off at a gallop. They are seldom on
anything that you could call a road, and are much
more frequently on the rough veldt.

A man who has been badly wounded can tell you
all about the day when he got knocked over — he does
not care to say much about the long day in the blazing
sun, when he lay thirsty where he fell before the
Bearer Company came along ; and then, perhaps, the
dark night with frost on the ground, or rain falling ;
he shudders when he tells you of the groaning men
who lay around him, and who gradually ceased to
groan, and how he began to think the ambulance
would be too late to pick him up too — but what he
simply can't bear to speak about is the agony of being
pitched about with a fractured bone for days in one
of those waggons.

It is not so bad when the fighting is anywhere near
the rail, as then the wounded are soon placed in the
hospital trains, and are fairly comfortable ; but the
long days of travelling by waggon are terrible.

General Dartnell's column was through here the
other day, and they have gone into camp about two
miles from us for ten days' rest. He has about 3000

HORRORS OF AMBULANCE WAGGONS 269

men with him, and they have about filled us up with
sick, while a good many went straight on board a
hospital train.

Major , of the Commander-in-Chief's Body-
guard, was with this column, and came over to see
me ; his wife was in Cape Town when I was last there,
and went home on the Canada. You know how par-
ticular he is about his horses, &c., at home ? He drove
over to see me in a very ramshackle old Cape cart
with a big horse running as a pair with a rough little
Boer pony. His uniform was in rags, and we did a
little stitching up for him before he returned ; they
are having a very rough time of it.

XLV

GENERAL HOSPITAL, NATAL,
May 1901.

THERE have been some big ructions here lately, but
I think, perhaps, they may have done good in some
ways.

I don't think that I told you of a difficulty with
which I had to wrestle when I was on night duty, and
which bothered me a good deal.

I believe it is a general rule in the Army Nursing
Service that the sisters give all the medicines and
stimulants ; and, of course, I expected to do the same
here, but when I got to the enteric line on night duty, I
found that the day sister left them all to the orderlies
to give in the daytime, and the night orderlies gave
them in the night. Generally there were good orderlies
there, who were quite to be trusted, but every now
and then there were odd men on, and of course I could
not be sure that the stimulants, &c., were correctly
given. The day sister gave me no report of what
the men were on, but it was given to the orderly.

I did not quite know what to do, but I went to the
Lady Superintendent (after seeing the sister of the
enteric line) and told her that if I was to be respon-
sible that they were given, would she arrange that I
was given the report, as otherwise I could not tell
that everything was given as directed ; but if it
was right to leave it in the hands of the orderlies I
would try to see that it was all right, but would not

270

A SUDDEN COLLAPSE 271

be responsible if anything went wrong. She seemed
to think the day sister would not have time to give
all herself (she had charge of only the one line, whereas
the night sisters each had five or six lines). Anyhow,
she did not do anything at all in the matter, so I just
muddled on as best I could, and used always to try
to be around when important medicines were due,
so that I don't think much was neglected. Then,
last month, another night sister was on, who did not
get on well with the orderlies, and she reported one
of them for being asleep, and he promptly replied by
reporting her for not doing her duty and giving the
medicines, &c., so that he had to do it all.

Then came the ructions, and now the sisters have
to give everything, and I believe they are going to
put on a third night sister, so I think things will go
more smoothly in time.

The Lady Superintendent has only once been round
my line since I have had charge of it.

I had a curious case the other day that gave us a
good deal of anxiety — that of a young lance-corporal,
who had been bad with malaria, but was better and
able to sit up in bed. I left him one night very cheery
and bright, and the next morning I happened to meet
the night sister as she went off duty, and she said,
" Oh, Sister, I forgot to report that that lance-corporal
of yours in tent 3 did not seem so well, and he was
sick this morning." I thought that I would go and
look at him first instead of beginning my round in
tent i, and I was shocked to find the poor boy quite
unconscious, and almost pulseless. Of course I sent
for the doctor and got brandy, hot bottles, &c. ; the
doctor thought it was all up, but he injected strych-
nine ; he said he thought it must have been typhoid

272 A NURSE'S LIFE IN WAR AND PEACE

and not malaria, and that this meant perforation.
Anyhow, the boy began to revive ; I hardly left him
all day, but now I think I may say he is out of danger ;
I really think it was heart trouble, perhaps embolism,
but I have seldom seen a man pull round after being
as nearly gone as he was.

Of course you will have heard that the poor old
Tantallon Castle, the ship on which we first came out,
has gone down on Robben Island. The passengers
and the mails were saved, and I was rejoiced when a
nice, soft little blanket arrived that my people had
sent out by her ; I roll myself in it inside my sheets,
and am much more comfortable.

It is a 'curious thing that so many ships in which I
have travelled have gone to the bottom : I made one
trip years ago up the coast on the Drttmmond Castle,
and went down the coast on the Courland Castle ; I also
went home from Tenerife on the Fez — they have all
gone down, and now the Tantallon Castle has shared
their fate.

There was a big dance one night about three miles
from here, to which twelve of the sisters went, and
another night there were some theatricals. I dare-
say I am wrong, but somehow these festivities seem a
little out of place while the war is still going on. Some
of the sisters appear to think that they have come out
here to have as much fun as they can get, and they
talk about very little except the men they have been
dancing with, and so on.

The wind has been tremendous lately, and four of
the patients' tents have been blown to ribbons ; we
seem to spend most of our time on duty trying to keep
the men's tents up (with not more of the gale than is
absolutely necessary blowing round the bad cases),

THE WINTER BEGINS 273

and most of our time off duty in attending to our
own tent-pegs, &c. Of course wind here always
means dust, and sometimes it seems as though the
stones fly up and hit you in the face, and unless one
takes great care the patients' milk is soon full of sand.
Really, if it was not that the men suffered for them,
some of our difficulties would be amusing. When
this hospital was a " Field Stationary " all the men
had warm, grey flannel shirts ; when it became a
" General " they were given instead white cotton
shirts and white flannel vests. That was all right
at first, but recently the hospital has been enlarged,
and, though there are plenty of the cotton shirts, they
have run out of the flannel vests. Now the winter has
begun, and we have many men in with rheumatism
and chest complaints, and the tents are very cold,
but the poor chaps are only given cotton shirts. I
know there are plenty of the old " greybacks " in
the store, but because this is now called a General
Hospital they are not correct, and so cannot be issued,
and the men must wait till more vests arrive ! We
have all fussed about it as much as we could, and we
bought flannel shirts at the store for our worst cases
(a man is always most grateful for an extra shirt to
take with him when he goes away, so they won't be
wasted), and now, at last, the old greybacks have
been dealt out. At last they have got some boilers
on wheels, so that we can get hot water in the tents ;
but why should we have to wrestle so long to get things
that make so much difference to the health and the
comfort of the men ? The Lady Superintendent is
always saying that she does not know how we should
have done in Ladysmith ; but we all reply that we
should have tried to make shift, but we can't see why

274 A NURSE'S LIFE IN WAR AND PEACE

we should have to " make shift " here quite so much,
with an open line to the base.

I do wonder when the war will be over : the poor
Tommies are so heartily sick of it, and are beginning
to try every means to get sent home ; you see most
of the excitement of war has pretty well worn off,
and now they just have to keep on trekking about
the country, destroying farms, and bringing in Boer
women and children to the refugee camps. They
generally collect more destitute people on the way
than they reckoned for, and, as they have to feed
them, the rations for the troops run short, and the
men are cut down to half rations (and sometimes
quarter rations) ; and some columns out this way
have had nothing but " mealie meal " (Indian corn),
and not too much of that, for some days before they
got into camp. Sometimes they have been on such
short rations that men have had to be punished for
stealing their horses' rations of mealie meal. When
they pass through a village, the first place they make
for is the baker's shop, and it is very soon cleared,
and you see the men going on with loaves slung around
them, and rather in the way of their rifles. When you
consider that they are generally marching all day in
a hot sun, and that in summer the nights are often
wet, and in winter they are generally frosty, and the
men just have to lie down hungry on their mackintosh
sheet (no tents), with their greatcoat and sometimes
one blanket ; that they hardly ever have a chance
of shooting at a Boer, but are constantly being sniped
at during the nights — is it any wonder that they are
utterly weary of it all ?

We have not heard so much about Boers being close
around here since General DartnelPs column went

TIRED OF THE WAR 275

through, and now the sisters are generally allowed
to ride again.

Our tent is the last one at this end of the camp,
and when we were told that we were not to go more
than a mile from the camp in any direction (except
along the line) it used to be strange to walk out,
after we came off duty, for a few hundred yards be-
yond my tent, and then sit down on a grassy ridge as
it got dark and watch the heliographs flashing around,
and wonder whether the little lights we saw meant
our men or Boers camping out. Sometimes we used
to imagine they were quite close and watching us,
and used to go back to our tents feeling quite creepy,
and borrowing an extra piece of string to tie up our
tent door !

And then, when we heard the guns in the distance,
it was always a debatable point whether it was worth
getting up and dressing in case any wounded were
brought in soon, but we generally decided to finish
our usual allowance of hours in bed.

People are kindly sending me English papers now,
both from England and passed on from Durban, and
they are very much enjoyed ; the men were especi-
ally delighted last week when they got hold of an
old weekly edition of The Times in which General
Duller and General Roberts mentioned some of the
regiments to which they belonged.

It is getting frightfully cold at nights ; there are
big icicles hanging round the water tanks, and when
one of them overflowed there was quite a little sea
of ice round it ; the water in our tents often freezes,
and it is quite difficult to break it to wash in the
morning.

The night sisters are very miserable with the cold ;

276 A NURSE'S LIFE IN WAR AND PEACE

I shall have to take my turn on night again next month,
and I shall be quite sorry to give up my line, as the
patients are so awfully grateful for what one can do
for them, and I have nice orderlies just now.

We go to bed directly we finish dinner at night,
so as to try to get warm.

XLVI

GENERAL HOSPITAL, NATAL,
June 1901.

THANK goodness the winter will soon be over. I have
never felt anything like the keenness of the cold up here.

On the whole, things have been fairly quiet in the
country round just lately, though once the line was
threatened and some of the trains delayed ; and on
another day there was a rumour of fighting not far
off, and it was said that we had lost some guns, but I
don't think there was much truth in the report.

Things are also going a little better in the hospital.
We have a new Lady Superintendent, the other having
gone home on a hospital ship.

There has been another big dance, to which most
of the sisters went, and some other entertainments.

One night we (my tent full) had all gone to bed to try
to get warm, when some one came banging on the can-
vas, and Sister of the Hospital Train put her head

in ; you know she was an old London friend of mine.

Her train was tied up here for the night, and, as
she had heard our men were suffering from the cold,
she had brought up a noble present of flannel jackets
for them. They really were treasures : of course, I
wanted them all for my own line, but had to be
generous and give up a few to sisters who really had
some bad chest and rheumatism patients.

Talking about rheumatism — I had one man in with
rheumatism who was rather bad at first ; he would

277

278 A NURSE'S LIFE IN WAR AND PEACE

not improve, but remained so helpless that the orderly
had to lift him about. I did not quite know what to
do with him, and began to think that if an R.A.M.C.
surgeon had been on my line the improvement would
have been rather more rapid than with the civil sur-
geon who had charge ! Then, one day, I had a man
bad in the next tent to this man, so I asked leave to
go down to do something for him one evening after
we had gone off duty, as I knew the night sister would
be too busy to go to him when she first went on — and
here there is always an hour's interval after the day
sisters leave the camp and before the night sisters
go down. What was my surprise when I got to the
tent to find my rheumatic patient in there playing
cards ! He had pretended he could not sit up in bed.

I only said to him that I thought it was time he
turned in for the night ; and the next day I handed
his board to the medical officer when he came round,
and said that if he did not mind marking him "up,"
I thought it would do him good to sit out in the sun
in the middle of the day, if the orderly put him to bed
after tea. You can imagine the poor man felt pretty
small, and in a few days he told the civil surgeon
that he thought he felt fit to go back to duty, so we
shook hands and parted good friends. I hope that
he will not get shot, or I shall wish I had let him slack
a bit longer !

We have had a good many Boer patients in lately ;
one poor young captain has lost his leg. One old fellow
used to crawl about on crutches, but he was caught
one night slipping about without them, and a Boer
woman was found outside the fence with his clothes ;
so now all the Boers have been collected together and
a guard posted.

SICK CONVOY ARRIVES AT NIGHT 279

I am now on night duty again, and find the orderlies
more attentive, and the patients (generally) better
nursed.

The first night I was on duty I was just reading
the reports and trying to find out where the worst
cases were, so as to visit them first (I now have 285
beds on my side, instead of the 250 I had when I was
on before), when a wardmaster came to tell me that
a sick convoy had turned up unexpectedly from
General Bullock's column, and one man had been
wounded on the way and had some haemorrhage from
a shattered hand. I helped the surgical sister get
the theatre ready in a hurry, and then she stayed for
the operation, while I went to see the others. There
were only fifteen men, and they were black as sweeps
and very cold ; but they did not seem very bad,
and they were delighted to be in shelter, with the
prospect of a bed.

The orderly officer asked me to give them anything
I liked, and he would order it afterwards, while he
went to the theatre with the case ; the wardmaster
got them all some Bovril, and we soon settled which
of them might have bread with it ; and then I had
not the heart to insist on the usual wash, as it was
so bitterly cold, but I let them all tumble into beds,
and then took round a bottle of whisky and a kettle
and gave them all a hot drink ; there was nothing
more heard of that lot of men (but snores) for a good
many hours ! Poor chaps, they were absolutely tired
out, and the medical officer quite approved, only
saying he thought they might have had two bottles
of whisky amongst them instead of one, but you know
I am a strict teetotaller !

Having settled them, I started my rounds, and soon

28o A NURSE'S LIFE IN WAR AND PEACE

found that the worst case was a poor chap with
pneumonia ; fortunately he was in a building (instead
of a tent), so it was possible to keep him fairly warm.
The night orderly was not a very intelligent youth,
but he was fairly watchful and obedient, and for four
nights I spent every spare minute with this man, and
really thought we should pull him through ; then the
fifth night the day sister met me in a very bad temper,
and said, " What do you think ? they have moved
our poor O. down to a very draughty enteric tent ;
after all the trouble we have taken to pull him round !
I am sure he will die there." I asked why he had been
moved, as there had been no sign of enteric, and she
replied that she could not get any reason, but an
orderly had told her that " the doctor said that he
was going to die, and he did not want any death
up there."

Poor chap, he did die the next day, and of course
he might have done so in any case, but to shift him
then just took away his only chance.

It has been very cold all the time that I have been
on night duty, but two of the nights were so horrible
that I don't think I shall ever forget them. Sister
- is on with me now, so we grumble together ;
for those two nights it was blowing hard, and then a
sleety rain came on that positively cut like knives,
and was almost paralysing ; on the second of those
two nights I struggled back to the duty room and
flopped down by the fire, which was very low, but I
had not even the energy to poke it up ; after a bit
Sister came in dripping wet and looking blue with
cold ; she set down her lantern, and then came to
the fire and gazed at me, and, after a bit, said, " Sister,
you do look ill." I tried to laugh, but I think we

NEARLY FROZEN 281

were both much nearer crying with cold ; so I struggled
up to attend to the fire and brewed some tea, and after
a bit Sister said, " Do you know, Sister, when I came
in I thought you looked as though you were going to
die, and if you had been, I positively had not the power
to set to work to get you a hot drink or anything."

I told her I thought we were both too tough to die
of cold, and then we both (feeling a little better for
the tea and warmth) had to tramp off again to give
brandy to some of the bad cases. After that, they
put on another night sister, so the work was not quite
so hard, and we could take rather longer spells in the
duty room to get warm, but we have not had rain
(as well as the cold) except on those two nights.

Last night was full of excitement : during the day
a poor young Australian lad had gone off his head
and had been put in a guard tent, and he tried to
get hold of the sentry's bayonet. Then there was
much commotion because the C.O. found one of the
signalmen was drunk, and brought him down to

the guard tent. Then Sister found an orderly

straying about, who was supposed to be special
with a young R.A.M.C. lieutenant who is down
with fever, and the orderly did not seem to know
what he wanted ; so Sister flew off to the tent, and
found the lieutenant very much upset, and saying
that the orderly was quite mad, and had refused to
go and fetch the wardmaster when he ordered him
to do so ; he said he could not tell Sister what mad
things the orderly had been doing ; so she had to send
for the medical officer, who got the orderly removed
at once and another posted.

There is not nearly so much drinking as there was
at first, but still they do find ways of getting drunk

282 A NURSE'S LIFE IN WAR AND PEACE

at times. A little while ago there was a great row
because the convalescent officers were allowed to drive
or ride about, and they used to go over to the next
town and bring back whisky and champagne. I
don't think there was much harm in it at first (except
that it was a bad example for the men), and it was
winked at for some time, until they had a very rowdy
lot of men in, and then one day one of them was found
to be suffering from D.T.

I am glad I am not Lady Superintendent up here :
I should find it hard to know where to draw the line
with the present lot of sisters ; at first they were
given every liberty, and were rather encouraged to
go to dances and riding picnics, &c., with the men ;
then, when their behaviour began to be talked about,
the authorities put up notices in our mess-room of rules
referring to conduct of which no lady would be guilty,
rules which were, in fact, an insult to us, but which
we cannot say are unnecessary, because there are just
a few sisters who don't care what they do — one of
them was seen at a hotel at the next station smoking
cigarettes with a most undesirable companion !

We can only hope the war will soon be over, and let
us all go home ; otherwise, the sooner sisters of that
sort are weeded out the better. They seem to have
been choosing the sisters in a very casual way at
home lately, and, though there are plenty of sisters
out here who are working hard and well, they will
probably all get classed together in the public esti-
mation with those who are simply " frivolling " and
getting themselves talked about.

XLVII

UlTENHAGE, CAPE COLONY,

October 1901.

IT is a long time since I have written to you, but for
some time things went jogging on very much the same
as when I wrote last, and there was little to write
about, and then lately I have had a wretched time
of it, so did not feel inclined for writing.

After I finished my turn on night duty I went back
to my line, but soon knocked up, and was ill and off
duty for nearly three weeks ; first with dysentery, and
then my damaged side got bad again.

By the time I got to work once more, the weather
had very much improved, and my tents were very light.
I received from home some splendid boxes of literature,
and also of tobacco and jerseys, and some games for
the men. I taught them to play Halma, and it was
very popular ; they used to make out it was a com-
petition between the different branches of the Service —
the greens were always the Volunteers, the yellows were
the Yeomanry, the reds the Regulars, and the blues
the Navy or the Colonials ; sometimes they could
get a representative of each branch to play the men,
and then there was much excitement as to which
would get in first.

The men in my line got a photographer to photo-
graph them, and presented me with a large copy.
You can understand that we were fairly slack when

I tell you that we used to brew toffee in the duty room

283

284 A NURSE'S LIFE IN WAR AND PEACE

on afternoon duty. I think we were all very tired
of ration feeding, and we were all getting thin, and
when one gets to that stage one has a sort of craving
for sweet things, so the toffee was very popular.

Something went wrong with the washing arrange-
ments for a time, and we could not get our things
washed, so for a week or two we had to wash for our-
selves, and, irons being very scarce, we had to press
our things by putting them under our mattresses
and sleeping on them !

A column camped for a night near to us, and sent
us in some sick, including a good many cases of measles,
that had to be sent to an Isolation Camp. They had
no sisters out there, and it was pretty rough and very
dull ; but the provision cart went out every day, so
I was often able to send them parcels of papers, &c.

Early in September the Town Guard were all under
arms, as there was some looting of stock quite near
to us ; and there were many rumours that we were
going to be attacked (for the sake of the rifles and
ammunition that the patients had brought in). The
rifles, &c., were therefore sent to the next station.

After that there was more fighting down at Dundee,
and then the Natal Volunteers were ordered out again.

All this time I was very seedy, and trying to ex-
change to another station ; but several of us had
rather good reason to believe that, so many sisters
having sent in for an exchange, their applications
were never forwarded to the P.M.O. !

Then they had a " Court of Inquiry " at the hos-
pital, and I was obliged to give some evidence : and
it was simply horrid having to do so. After that I
felt so bad I wrote to the P.M.O. direct to say that
as I could not get an exchange, might I be allowed to

MENTIONED IN DESPATCHES 285

resign ? as my brother was just now in Natal, and I
proposed to go to stay with him, before going to
England.

At last I obtained leave of absence, and later on
obtained leave to resign.

Very much to my surprise, about this time, I learnt
that I had been " mentioned in despatches," and, a
little later on, that I had been awarded the Royal
Red Cross ; I am sure I have not done anything to
earn it, nor have I done as much as many of the others ;
but, of course, it is very nice all the same.

I had such an awfully kind letter of farewell from
the men of my line before I left, thanking me for
what I had done for them.

We had a good many " Gentlemen Troopers " in,
the last part of my time, and some exceedingly nice
fellows amongst them. One, who was especially
helpful, had been an officer on one of the big liners
that came out here, before the war. He is now a
gunner on one of the armoured trains, and has had a
very exciting time of it.

My brother was in Durban, so I left one morning
at 3 A.M. to join him ; I put myself to bed in the train
the night before, but I was prevented from sleeping
by the shunting of engines and by the letting off of
steam, &c. I was the only lady on the train till we
had got some way down the line. We were delayed
for an hour soon after we had started, as there had been
a bad collision the day before, and as the telegraph
line was damaged they had to give us a pilot engine.

It was a very rough line, and the train swayed
about so tremendously that I was feeling quite sea-
sick ; then, when we were rattling down a steep hill,
there was a sudden explosion, which, of course, made

286 A NURSE'S LIFE IN WAR AND PEACE

us think of Boers and many things, and we pulled up
with such terrific jerks that we and our baggage all
became mixed up on the floor. As soon as we could
disentangle ourselves, we looked out — quite expecting
to see a party of Boers — but only saw one man waving
his arms violently, and we came to a standstill just
as we rounded a sharp curve, and found ourselves
immediately on the tail of a heavy coal train that had
got stuck on our line ; the explosion was a fog signal
they had laid to stop us, and it saved us from coming
a very nasty cropper down a steep bank.

I had told my brother I should spend the night
with friends at Pinetown and join him in Durban the
next day ; but when I was leaving I had a wire from
him to say I had better come straight down, as he might
have to sail the next day, so, en route, I wired to my
friends not to expect me.

I had a very early breakfast at Glencoe (and the
usual wash at a tap on the platform !), and we were
so late in reaching Estcourt, where we were supposed
to lunch, that by that time I had a really bad head-
ache, and could only rise to a cup of tea and a roll.

Inchanga is the place where one always dines,
whether going up or down, and we were due there
about 7 P.M., but about 8.30 P.M. we got stuck in a
siding about a mile from Inchanga ; and there we
had to remain nearly an hour because Lord Milner was
dining at Inchanga, and we had to wait till he had
passed ; we did not bless him for taking so long over
his dinner while we starved ! By this time I was
feeling really ill, and thought it might be partly from
want of food, so I made myself eat some soup and
a little chicken ; then I was establishing myself
in the train again (thankful to think that it was a

A NIGHT AT PINETOWN 287

" no stop " run to Durban), when another wire was
thrust into my hand from my brother saying, " No
beds, if possible sleep Pinetown ; not leaving till
following day." I groaned, but bundled out again,
with my kit-bag open, and my rugs, pillow, books,
&c., all loose, just as the train departed. I thrust
my goods into the hands of an astonished little Kaffir
boy, who helped me to pack up my kit-bag, and of
course I had to leave my heavy baggage to take care
of itself.

I did not have to wait long for the " Kaffir Mail,"
which does stop at Pinetown, but I knew my friends
would all have gone to bed as they were not expecting
me, and of course no one would meet the train, and
their house was some way from the station, and it
was raining steadily ! so I felt pretty miserable. I
was put in a carriage by myself, and after we had
started found there was no light in it, and I felt
really ill, and wished I had not made myself eat
any dinner !

However, just as we ran into Pinetown I looked
out, and some one hailed me, and there was one of
my best old Pinetown orderlies (now working on the
line). He seemed so pleased to see me that I felt
inclined to embrace him, but refrained ! As soon as
he had seen the train off and had locked up the station,
he shouldered my bag and escorted me to my friend's
house. They were all fast asleep, but soon let me in,
and I don't know when I have been so thankful to
turn into a comfortable bed as I was that night. It
was a little over eight months since I had slept in a
house.

The next morning they brought me a delicious
breakfast in bed — hot scones, &c. ; you don't know

288 A NURSE'S LIFE IN WAR AND PEACE

what it was like after camp feeding, to have a
pretty tray with a cloth on it, and everything dainty
and nice ; and I was very loth to leave both my bed
and my kind friends ; but about mid-day I again
boarded the train for Durban, retrieved my baggage
at the station, and then found my brother at the
Marine Hotel.

I had time to see a few friends and do a little very
necessary shopping, and then we went on board the
Arundel Castle to go down the coast to Port Elizabeth.

You can't think how funny it was to walk upstairs
again : the Pinetown house was a bungalow, so I did
not have to try stairs till I got on board ship. I still
feel as though I must duck my head every time I
go through a door, and when it blows in the night I
always wake up and wonder whether I ought to take
the mallet and attend to the tent-pegs ; and then,
when I realise I am not under canvas, there is such a
satisfaction in being able to lie down and go to sleep
again.

We did not stay in Port Elizabeth, but travelled
by train straight on here, where my brother has about
three days' work. We have a very comfortable little
house to ourselves, with a garden full of such lovely
flowers — Marechal Niel roses, &c.

This is a pretty little town, and many of the
people, who are most pleasant and friendly, have
called on me. Near to Uitenhage there are still some
wild elephants, but I had not time to make their
acquaintance.

To-day the minister of the Dutch Reformed Church
took us to see the Riebeck Girls' College ; such good
buildings, and such bright-looking scholars. They
have a kindergarten, and then all the standards

UITENHAGE 289

up to the highest — those working for university
exams. The Resident Magistrate took us to see some
nursery gardens that send flowers all over South
Africa. After the barrenness of the Natal uplands
these masses of flowers were quite lovely, and I was
given a beautiful bunch of carnations.

To-night we have some people dining with us,
and to-morrow we return to Port Elizabeth, where
we shall probably stay about ten days.

XLVIII

KIMBERLEY, SOUTH AFRICA,

December 1901.

FROM Uitenhage we returned to Port Elizabeth,
where my brother had about a week's work, and then
we had to wait a few more days for a steamer ; but
several old Kimberley friends were down there, and
a good many other people called, so I had a very
pleasant time.

Port Elizabeth was a little agitated about the
plague ; they had had about a hundred cases, and
about half of that number had died, but just then
there were only twelve in the hospital.

One day I went out with three ladies to a place
they call the Red House, and had a delightful row up
the Zwartkops River. Another day Mrs. - - drove
my brother and me out to her father's country house,
" Kraggakama," about a fourteen mile drive ; a
beautiful bungalow house, and such a lovely garden,
surrounded by dense, semi-tropical woods, with little
paths leading away into the woods ; many monkeys
and other creatures around.

We had lunch out there, and found strawberries
just ripe in the garden.

From Port Elizabeth we had meant to go straight
back to Kimberley, but, after many wires, it was
decided that my brother must go to Oudtshoorn, a
place a long way from the railway, where there had

been cases waiting for a long time for trial, as it

290

DOWN THE COAST TO MOSSEL BAY 291

had not been considered safe for a judge to travel
there.

To reach Oudtshoorn it was necessary to go by
steamer to Mossel Bay, and the mail steamers, as a
rule, do not call at Mossel Bay. Moreover, Port
Elizabeth being an infected port (with plague), the
mail steamers were not keen on taking passengers
from there ; so there were many obstacles to be
overcome.

I packed up my heavy baggage and sent it up to
Kimberley ; then the Norman was signalled, and we
went down to the jetty, and had to be examined by
the medical officer of health for plague symptoms ! and
then the harbour-master took us off in a special tug.

The next morning they put us ashore at Mossel
Bay, and there we had to wait some hours as the
Commandant was very doubtful as to which was the
safest route for us to take ; there were still a good
many Boers in the surrounding country, and, though
they probably would not wish to interfere with us,
they would certainly be very pleased to annex our
provision cart and also our horses and mules ; and the
C.O. had so weak a garrison that he could spare us
only a small escort.

After some time spent in wiring, it was decided we
should drive to George and sleep there. The baggage
and provisions were sent on with a mule cart, and,
after an early lunch, we got away in two Cape carts
with four horses each.

The distance was about thirty miles, and we out-
spanned only once — at Brak River, where we had
some tea, and there an escort of six cyclists met us
from George, and the Mossel Bay men turned back.
The cyclists were very smart fellows ; some of them

292 A NURSE'S LIFE IN WAR AND PEACE

scouted ahead, and the others rode with us very
steadily uphill and down. It was getting dark when
we neared George, and the Commandant and Magis-
trate rode out to meet us, and then stayed and had
dinner with us at the hotel.

George is a pretty place, with streets lined with fine
old oaks, and with big arum lilies growing in the fields
around.

Just in front of the hotel there was a stout little
sandbag fort with a small gun, and, of course, there
was very strict " Martial Law " there ; pickets on
every road, and no one could leave the village or
come in without a permit, and even with a permit
you must be within the picket lines by sundown. No
one might be outside his house after 9 P.M., and lights
must be all out by 10 P.M.

We were to sleep at George, and the Commandant
told us that he had already sent out a patrol of men,
who were to sleep at the top of the Montague Pass,
and meet us there the next morning ; he wished us
to slip away quietly in the early morning, and his
patrol would soon join us, and ride with us till we
met the troop that was being sent out from Oudts-
hoorn to meet us.

The Commandant has about 300 men under him.
They are nearly all local men, in fact many of them
Boers, but he was quite confident of their loyalty,
and said the poor chaps were suffering badly for it,
the rebels burning their farms and doing them all the
harm they possibly could. Just when we were there
he was very sad because one of his scouts, quite a
young lad belonging to George (and very popular in
the place), had been most cruelly shot by them after
he had had to surrender.

WE DRIVE TO OUDTSHOORN 293

The next day we started in our carts about 6.30 A.M.,
every one seeming to think it would be a risky drive.
After we had gone some way our driver began to pull
up and looked scared (he could speak only Dutch),
and we made out that he could see some horses off-
saddled higher up the mountain, and he thought
it was Boers waiting for us. With some difficulty
we explained to him that we expected the George
escort to meet us at the beginning of the Pass, and
then he agreed to go on ; but we were all somewhat
relieved when we got up to the horses and found they
belonged to genuine District Mounted Troops, and
that they had not seen any Boers about.

That day we travelled between forty and fifty miles,
through beautiful mountain scenery, which reminded us
of Switzerland (minus the snow) ; lovely ferns and cool,
dripping water, and quite high mountains all round.

We outspanned only once for a breakfast-lunch at
Doom River about 10 A.M. ; Scheeper's commando
had honoured them with a visit there, for looting
purposes, just before he was caught.

At Hymen's House, about mid-day, we were met
by a captain and twenty-two men from Oudtshoorn,
and the George men went back. We got safely into
Oudtshoorn about 3 P.M., and expected to be there
about three or four days, but the work was heavier
than had been expected, and we were there a whole
fortnight. This was rather fortunate for me, as I
knocked up with a very sharp touch of dysentery
again, and should not have been fit to travel much
sooner.

The Oudtshoorn people were extremely kind, and,
when I got better, I had some charming drives to
visit farms and other places of interest. It is a rich

294 A NURSE'S LIFE IN WAR AND PEACE

farming district, and it was the first time I had seen
anything of ostrich farming and tobacco growing ; so
I found a great deal to interest me ; they also grow
grapes and other fruits, and it is a good corn-growing
country.

The ostriches do especially well all along the course
of the Oliphant's River. I got some good photos of
the ungainly creatures.

Martial law was very strict, and (besides the same
rules as those which I told you were in force at George)
the farmers were not allowed to keep any horses or
food supplies on their farms in case the Boers should
take a fancy to them ; — all horses had to be sold to the
Remount Department at a fixed price, and farmers
and other residents in the district, who were accustomed
to keeping plenty of good horses, might be seen coming
into town with oxen in their traps ; and as they were
not allowed to keep more than a week's supply of food
or forage on their farms, and as some lived many miles
away, they had to spend a good part of their time on
the road in drawing their rations, as, of course, the
oxen are very slow travellers.

They were reaping the corn when we were there,
and it all had to be carted into town and sold to the
military people, as they cut it.

Oudtshoorn, being far from the railway, had been
very short of provisions (groceries, &c.) for some time
past, and the military authorities would not allow
any waggons to go up from the coast without a strong
escort (which could not often be spared) ; but a
convoy had been sent through before we got there,
so there was plenty of food, and our provision cart
had a few luxuries which seemed to be appreciated
at the two dinner parties we gave.

ESCORT TO PRINCE ALBERT ROAD 295

From Oudtshoorn we still had more than a day's
journey to join the railway at Prince Albert Road,
and horses were so scarce that it was not easy to get
decent animals. We sent the baggage cart (with
mules) on ahead, and, eventually, my brother and I
(and our man) got away in a light Cape cart with two
fairly good horses, and the other men had four screws
in a bigger cart. The scenery, as we crossed the
Zwartberg, was very grand, but not quite so pretty
as the Montague Pass. It was very stiff work for the
horses, and we walked a good deal. Our first out-
span was near the Cango Caves, where they had re-
cently had a visit from a Boer commando ; and then
we had to give the horses a good rest at the " Victoria
Hotel," high up on the Zwartberg.

We were rather disturbed to find, when we caught
up our baggage cart, that it had no brake on it : the
road is tremendously steep, as it zigzags down the
mountain ; so the sergeant in charge of our escort
left a trooper to help the boy bring the mules down.

We got in about 7 P.M., but there was no sign of
the baggage cart that night, and the Commandant
(who had ridden out to meet us and then dined with
us) was anxious, because only one trooper had been
left with it, so he sent some more men out to meet
them.

We had to go to bed without our baggage, feeling
very anxious, as every one seemed to think the Boers
would much like to get hold of it, and also of the mules.

I have seen plenty of barbed wire in South Africa,
but have never seen so much as at Prince Albert ;
they stretch it even across the village street at night,
and you can't go many yards without getting tied
up in it.

296 A NURSE'S LIFE IN WAR AND PEACE

The next morning, if we were to catch our train
(and there was only the one train a day), we knew we
must be away by 7.30 A.M. ; but still no sign of our
baggage ; and then, at last, we heard that it was
safe, but the crossbar of the harness had broken, and
they had had to spend the night on the top of the
mountain ; a trooper had ridden in and gone back
with new harness ; so, after sitting at our gate with
the Commandant, with a fresh supply of carts, and a
fresh escort, until it was too late for it to be possible
for us to catch our train, we had to decide to wait
till the next day, and various wires had to be de-
spatched about the railway carriage, &c.

About two hours later the missing baggage-cart
arrived all well, with a very weary driver and troopers
in attendance.

We had a pleasant day at Prince Albert, and the
next day (having sent the baggage on at an early hour)
we had an easy drive of twenty-eight miles with some
excellent horses (most kindly lent to us by the Com-
mandant), to the rail at Prince Albert Road. We
outspanned only once, at Boter's Kraal, where the
final escort met us, the sergeant coming up to salute
and to tell us that he and his men " had searched
the kopjes thoroughly since 4 A.M., and had seen no
Boers to-day ! " but at Boter's Kraal they told us
of a recent visit from Pyper's commando.

Thus ended our 150 (odd) miles of driving across
the Colony in this " sort of a war," without once
having had the excitement of seeing any armed or
hostile Boers. About thirty hours in a hot and dusty
train brought us into Kimberley.

The dull old Karroo country looked much the same
as when I saw it ten years ago, except that every few

BY TRAIN TO KIMBERLEY 297

hundred yards on the line a blockhouse is standing,
and a sentry in his shirtsleeves marches up and down
with his rifle, while the rest of the garrison (some half-
dozen men) come to look at the train, and to sing
out " Papers." They have a terribly monotonous
life, and one throws them every scrap of literature
one possesses.

XLIX

KlMBERLEY, SOUTH AFRICA,

January 1902.

I THINK it is just about ten years since I was here
last ; and how the place has changed ! Many of my old
friends have left, and so many have died that I am
beginning to be almost afraid to ask after any one in
case I should hear of his death.

Of course they have been through all the horrors
of a four months' siege, and there are still many marks
of the Boer shells to be seen ; one of them had made
a hole through our backyard wall and buried itself
in the kitchen wall : Peter (the cat) found this hole
very convenient when going out to visit his friends.

Many people still preserved the bombproof shelters
or " dug-outs " in their gardens, where they used to
take refuge when the shelling was going on, and then
go back into their houses at night to cook the food, &c.

There is a big steam hooter at De Beers Mine, and,
during the siege, whenever the lookout men saw the
Boers preparing to shell the town, the hooter was
sounded, and every one scuttled into shelter ; and
even now, whenever the hooter sounds, people start
up and look inclined to run.

The civilians here cannot say enough for the way
Mr. Cecil Rhodes worked during the siege ; and his
thoughtfulness and consideration for the women and
children were beyond all praise. At one time he had
many hundreds of them in safety down one of the

TALES OF THE SIEGE 299

mines, 1000 feet below the surface, and he took infinite
pains to send them down suitable supplies ; they were
in fairly airy chambers, and had a good supply of
electric light, &c. Of course the military people are
not so enthusiastic about his assistance, but, naturally,
they would not appreciate a man who always liked to
have his own way, and do what he thought best —
and who did it too !

The first thing the Boers did was to seize the water-
works, some miles from the town, and cut off the
water supply ; but the mine-owners came to the rescue
by pumping water from a good spring in one of their
mines that had caused them years of annoyance by
rising and making the working of that mine a great
difficulty ; so the water question never caused them
much trouble, though the Boers were constantly trying
to damage the pumping machinery.

Though the water supply was fair the food supplies
were very low ; and a rich family, whom I know,
told me they were intensely grateful to a neighbour
who sent them a quarter of a bottle of port wine
and half a packet of cornflour as a Christmas present.
They were at that time drawing half their ration of
meat in horseflesh, and, though some people say
they could never touch it, I believe it was not at all
bad, and one girl told me that a little donkey was
" quite nice."

A good story is told of a colonel who was then up
here. One night at mess he said, " Gentlemen, I am
sorry to say we were only able to draw half our ration
in beef to-day; this joint I am carving is beef, at
the other end of the table the joint is horse : if any one
would prefer to try it, perhaps he will carve for him-
self." No one got up, so the Colonel had to carve

300 A NURSE'S LIFE IN WAR AND PEACE

(small helpings) for all the mess. After they had
finished an orderly came and whispered to him, and
he said, " Oh, gentlemen, I am sorry to find I have
made a mistake ; I find this was the horse, and the
cow is still at the other end of the table ! "

There was so much sickness in the town that the
doctors had a terrible time. In most cases it was
suitable food rather than medicine that was needed,
especially amongst the little children ; and, besides
the sickness, there were a great many wounded con-
stantly being brought in from the trenches, or from
skirmishes, and every available building was turned
into a hospital.

I have just been reading Dr. Ashe's book, Besieged
by the Boers, and it gives a good idea of the daily
life up here, showing how men tried to go on and do
their daily round of work in spite of the shells that
were falling and killing not only men but women
and children around them.

The thing that Kimberley people are most proud of
is the big gun " Long Cecil," which was most cleverly
designed and made in the De Beers workshops during
the siege, the shells for it also being cast there ; until
that was built they had no guns of sufficient size to
reply to the loo-pounder that the Boers were using
with so much effect upon the town. It must have
been a huge surprise to them when Long Cecil began
to scatter shells amongst them, each one inscribed,
" With C. J. R.'s compliments ! "

The cemetery is sadly full of " siege " graves,
and so many little children's graves amongst them.
Strangely enough one of the De Beers engineers (an
American) who was chiefly responsible for the build-
ing of " Long Cecil," was killed by a Boer shell only a

"LONG CECIL" 301

few days after the gun was completed ; and, just as
an example of how we were surrounded by enemies
even inside the town, I will tell you about his funeral.

In such a hot climate as South Africa it is always
necessary that the funeral should take place within
about twenty-four hours of the death ; so that it is
quite possible to be talking to a man in his shop or at his
business in the morning, for him to be taken suddenly
ill and die that evening, and the next day, before you
have heard of his illness, for you to meet his coffin
on the way to the cemetery.

Well, this poor engineer was a very popular man,
and the Commandant thought that many people
would wish to attend his funeral, so he gave direc-
tions that it should be at night, for safety from the
Boer shells. Late in -the evening, when it was quite
dark, the funeral left the hospital ; but it had no
sooner started than a rocket was seen to go up in the
town, evidently a pre-arranged signal — for almost at
once the Boers began to drop shells around the ceme-
tery, but fortunately no one was killed.

Perhaps you have heard in England of the little
girl who knew so much about martial law that she
strayed into the Provost's office one day in December
and said, " Please, sir, may I have a permit for Santa
Claus to come to our house ! "

All food seems to be frightfully expensive still :
we have to pay about 8s. for a single fowl or
duck, 45. a dozen for eggs, and 2s. 6d. a pound for
butter.

We have a white woman as cook, and our black boy
rejoices in the name of " Moses." I had not been
here many days before " George " came to see me—
the boy I used to have ten years ago. It is extra-

302 A NURSE'S LIFE IN WAR AND PEACE

ordinary how these natives know when one returns,
even years afterwards. Of course George wanted to
come back, but I found he was in a good place, so I
told him I was soon going back to England, and I
did not take him on.

I have had two offers of rather good posts out
here, but I think I must go home for a time at any-
rate.

There is a huge refugee camp just outside Kimberley.
I am afraid they have had an awful lot of measles in
these camps, and there have been many deaths from
it ; measles wrere almost unknown on the scattered
Boer farms, and now that these people are crowded
together in close quarters, with their traditional ob-
jection to fresh air or cleanliness, it seems impossible
to make them take precautions against infection.

As a rule, the people in the refugee camps have
rations quite as good, and often much better, than
the troops, but they do not thrive on them ; still, it
was impossible to leave them on the farms, for the
only way to prevent the Boers from keeping up their
supplies was to take or destroy the crops, and, after
that was done, it was impossible to leave the women
and children on the farms to starve.

Now they are sending sisters to work in these
camps, and they are doing all they can to help the
people, but I fancy it must be rather uphill work, as
many of the Boer women are so very suspicious and
bitter. I daresay you have heard of the woman
who urged her husband to go and fight, saying, " I
can get another husband, but I can't get another
Free State."

I have had some interesting drives round the country
with a lady who was here all through the siege, and

A PICNIC UNDER ARMS 303

could show me where the fighting had taken place ;
and one day some officers gave a very jolly picnic
at a place called " The Bend," about seventeen miles
from here, on the Vaal River.

It was very hot weather just then, 90° to 95° in the
shade, so we started at 5.30 A.M., and had breakfast
and lunch out there. A mulecart loaded with pro-
visions— delicious peaches and other fruits which
had been sent up from Cape Town — had been de-
spatched in charge of four orderlies (all armed). We
rowed on the river and prowled about under the trees ;
and altogether it was quite the nicest picnic I have
ever enjoyed.

One of the officers of our party had the honour of
being the youngest Colonel in the British Army; he
has been promoted so rapidly during the war.

They had all had a rough time of hardship, but
they meant to enjoy themselves that day, and I think
they did ; but they kept their revolvers handy even
when rowing up the river.

I had been told that I was entitled to an " Indul-
gence Passage " home, as I have served during the
war, and that would mean that I should have to pay
only about £5 for my mess on a trooper, instead of
paying about £35 for a passage on an ordinary mail-
boat; so I went to the railway staff officer, and he
was most kind in arranging about it for me, and (after
communicating with Cape Town) he told me that if
I would see the P.M.O. when I arrived down there,
he would probably be glad if I would do duty for the
voyage, and then I could travel quite free, and re-
ceive pay (instead of having to pay my mess bill).
He also gave me a free railway pass down to the Cape,
which I had not at all expected.

304 A NURSE'S LIFE IN WAR AND PEACE

Now, I must pay some farewell calls ; and then,
once more, I shall soon be on the move again.

It really does seem as though the war will soon be
over now. We hear that some troops are still coming
out, but there appear to be more than enough sisters
for the work that has to be done.

S.S. " ORIENT " (en route for HOME),
March 1902.

I WAS very sorry to say good-bye to Kimberley, but
I was also getting very home-sick, so early one morn-
ing I once more joined the train, to stroll across the
Karroo and down to Cape Town.

I had armed myself with a large stock of literature,
kindly given to me by friends, and also by the librarian
of the Kimberley Public Library (who gave me a noble
stock of back numbers), and this I distributed to the
men at the blockhouses on the way. Poor fellows,
they have a trying time of it, they must be very wide
awake and alert, or any night the Boers may cross
the section of line for which they are responsible, very
likely leaving a little dynamite to wreck the next train ;
and yet for weeks and perhaps months never a Boer
may come near their particular section.

The trains were still not supposed to travel at night,
so we tied up about 6 P.M. on the first day at De Aar.
After dinner I was just thinking it was very slow, not
knowing any one in the place, and I thought I would
go to bed, when I saw a General strolling along the
platform, and with him a young officer whom I soon
recognised as an old Pinetown patient, and whom I
was very glad to meet again.

The General soon departed, and then Captain

took me for a jolly moonlight walk round De Aar ;
he was still a little lame from his wound, so was

306 A NURSE'S LIFE IN WAR AND PEACE

acting as Adjutant for some Yeomanry there. It was
pleasant to hear about many other old friends, and
also a little about the course of the war in that part
of the country.

The next day, as we proceeded down the line, we
passed some troop trains going up with men who had
just arrived fresh from England — I think some of the
Scots Guards, the Manchesters, and the Lancashire
Fusiliers. Some of them were tightly packed in open
waggons, and appeared to think they were having a
rough time already, but, as the weather was warm
and dry, they were not so badly off. They seemed
very glad of the few papers which I could give them,
as they had seen none since they landed. Their
chief anxiety seemed to be as to whether they would
have the chance of firing off a little ammunition
before the war is over.

That night we tied up at Matjesfontein, and I much
regretted I could not stay a day there to explore the
battlefield ; but I did not know which day they
wanted me for duty, so I had to hasten on.

The next morning I arrived in Cape Town ; and,
after a " wash and brush up," I went to see the P.M.O.,
who was most kind, and said that if I was willing to
do light duty on the voyage, I certainly need not pay
for a passage. If I was ready, he would like me to
go on board the Orient on the I2th (it was then the
8th).

I had a few very pleasant days with some friends
at Rondebosch ; but I was unable to get about much
to see other people, as I was again very seedy with
dysentery, and had to doctor myself rather severely
in order to get ready for duty on the I2th.

I came on board that morning at 10 A.M., but there

NIGHT SISTER ON A TROOP SHIP 307

was such a gale blowing that we did not get away
till 5 P.M. the next day.

There are about thirty officers and between 500
and 600 men on board, almost all of them invalided
home, and it is awfully sad to see so many " wrecks "
of the war.

The P.M.O. is a major of the R.A.M.C., and he is
just as strict with the orderlies as the major I worked
with at Pinetown ; so the men are well cared for,
and I am enjoying working for him.

I was the first sister to join the ship, and, as I
found the cabins would be very full, I asked if I might
act as night sister, and thereby I secured a cabin to
myself.

I have had plenty to do most of the way, as there
have been several men and one officer very ill all the
time ; but we have had no deaths on the voyage, and
most of the patients seem to be mending now.

On my first night on duty I had been round the
hospital, and then I thought I would take a look at
the convalescent men in the swinging cots (ninety of
them), and I found there a poor colour-sergeant, who
had been out only a few months, going back with
hopelessly bad heart disease from overstrain ; he was
unable to lie down, and so breathless and blue, I
got him transferred to the hospital, and was able
to make him comfortable with pillows, &c. He has
been such a good patient and has improved a little,
but I fear he can never work again, and he is a
married man.

There are two quite young lads who have been
having epileptic fits frequently on the voyage — I
suppose brought on by exposure to the South African
sun.

3o8 A NURSE'S LIFE IN WAR AND PEACE

A young Yorkshire farmer of the Yeomanry was
invalided home as a " phthisis " case, but he came
into hospital the day after we sailed with a tempera-
ture of 105°, and he has been desperately ill with
enteric all the way (severe haemorrhage, &c.). He
must have had fever for some time before it was
diagnosed — the temperature being attributed to his
chest condition. He is still very weak, but I think
he will pull through.

One night I was told that a man in the swinging
cots was " rather peculiar," so I went down to see him
first thing, and found his cot empty. I flew up on
deck, and met some stewards, who had collared him
on the upper deck. We made him snug in a safe
corner of the hospital with a " special " for that night.
Then, there was one poor fellow who had lost an arm,
and two who had each lost a leg — one of the latter a
sergeant-major, who was wounded at the same time
that Colonel Benson was killed at Vlakfontein. He
was a Kimberley man, and the poor man's wife and
two little children were all killed by one Boer shell
during the siege of Kimberley. He is going home to
get fitted up with a cork leg, and will then return to
South Africa.

Perhaps the saddest cases of all were the eleven
lunatics we had on board. They had to be very safely
kept with special guards and other precautions ; and,
in case they should try to go overboard, they had
a high-railed enclosure on deck as an airing ground.
Some of them are very mad and violent, but some
seemed so nearly sane that it was a question whether
they had not pretended to be mad in order to be sent
home.

I was not supposed to visit these men in the night,

iSOME SAD CASES 309

because, to get to them, I should have had to go a
long way through the troops' sleeping quarters, but
the medical officer went to see them on his last round,
and, every two or three hours, I used to stay in the
hospital while the wardmaster went along, and brought
word how they were.

One night the medical officer went along, and when
he returned he told me he had found their door un-
locked and no guard on duty ; fortunately they were
all asleep. The next day this tale was about the
ship, and very soon it was altered to the following

version — " Last night Mr. had found that all

the lunatics had escaped ; he and Sister thought it
better not to make a fuss. Instead, they caught the
first eleven men whom they met and locked them up ;
they were not the real lunatics, but they had been
bribed with extra ' skoff ' to play the game and say
nothing about it : but the real lunatics were still at
large!" After that, if any one came up to a man
rather quietly, there was a big jump, and " Hiillo !
are you one of them ? " and then a great chase round
the deck !

There were some hard cases, too, amongst the officers ;
two of them who had thighs broken by Boer shells,
but were just beginning to walk again — one, however,
with a short leg, and the other with a stiff knee.

A Yeomanry officer, badly shot in both arms, had
one hand still quite useless ; but I hope an operation
may improve matters. He had had a dreadful time
in the jolting ambulance waggons, unable to hold on,
or to save himself with either hand.

Then, there was a young doctor who once, when
our men were surprised and many of them taken,
was going round dressing the wounded, when some

310 A NURSE'S LIFE IN WAR AND PEACE

Boers came up and shot the wounded as he was dress-
ing them, and afterwards led him out several times
saying they were going to shoot him, but eventually
he got safely away. There were two officers shot
through the lungs, but I think they will recover in
time ; and there was another young fellow shot in
the region of the spine, and paralysed all down one
side and leg ; and yet another (quite a boy) shot in
the thigh and paralysed on that side. Neither of
these two could move without assistance ; and, though
they were all wonderfully bright and cheerful, I know
I often found them lying awake for hours together,
and it is hard for a young Englishman to face
the thought that he may never be able to walk or
ride again, even when he has received his wound in
defence of his country.

As I finish this letter, we are just anchoring for the
night in Southampton Water, off Netley Hospital ;
and, curiously enough, it is March 3rd, the very day
I sailed for South Africa two years ago. To-morrow
we hope to land at Southampton.

After a little time at home, I hope to persuade a
sister of mine to pay a visit with me to another brother
in the United States, and to some relations in Canada
and Nova Scotia ; then I must settle down to some
steady work in England.

I would not have missed nursing through this war
for a great deal. We have often had rough times,
and anxious times, and of course I have not been able
to do much, but I have been able to help a few men
to recover their health and strength ; and, perhaps,
also to help a few in their last hours, men whose own
relation^ would have given much to have been in my
place, where it was not possible for them to be. And,

HOME ONCE MORE 311

however busy I was, I could at least find time to re-
mind them that ..." God shall wipe away all tears
from their eyes ; and there shall be no more death,
neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any
more pain." . . .

Still no one, who has not seen it, can realise the
sorrow and the suffering that war entails ; and I am
almost inclined to agree with a man who was in Kim-
berley during the siege, who helped Mr. Cecil Rhodes
in his work there, and who afterwards, when asked if
he was not glad that he had had the chance of assist-
ing Mr. Rhodes in his great work, said, " Yes, but when
I think of all the suffering those unfortunate women
and children had to endure, I think if I was ever
again in a country where war was imminent, I should
take a ship to the other side of the world, and stop
there till it was over ! "

I fear that we are not likely all to be able to do that ;
but I trust this war will have had the effect of making
people think, and that should there ever be another
war in our time, we may be better prepared for it.

War must always mean suffering, but the suffering
might be enormously lessened if we were better
organised in times of peace.

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The Centenary Biographical Edition

of the Works of

William Makepeace Thackeray.

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A.R.A.

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CHARLES KEENE, Sir J. E. MILLAIS, Bart., A.R.A.

P.R.A. SAMUEL LOVER.

The last volume includes a coloured portrait of Lady Ritchie, from
a water-colour drawing by her father, and a sketch of W. M. Thackeray,
from a drawing by Lady Ritchie, both hitherto unpublished.

Sir Henry Lucy. — ' If you seek Thackeray's best monument you will find it in this
splendid edition of his works.'

Sphere.—' Now at last we have an ideal edition of Thackeray . . . beautiful
books, well printed on good paper with adequate margins.'

PROSPECTUSES POST FREE ON APPLICATION.

London : Smith, Elder & Co., 15 Waterloo Place, S.W.

Finance

Crown 8vo. 3s. 6d.

Lombard Street :

A Description of the Money Market.
By the late Walter Bagehot.
15th Thousand. With a New Preface by Hartley Withers.

Financial Times. — ' This well-known work represents a standard manual of the
Money Market, and the new edition, brought up to date, will be appreciated by those
who have derived help from the earlier editions."

Financial News.—' Thsre is no city man, however ripe his experience, who could
not add to his knowledge from its pages.'

IVorfa by Hartley Withers

Large post 8vo. 7s. 6d. net each.

The Meaning of Money.

9th Thousand. 3rd Edition.

Financial News. — ' There can be no doubt that Mr. Withers' book will supersede
all other introductions to monetary science . . . readers will find it a safe and in-
dispensable guide through the mazes of the Money Market.'

Daily Mail.—' A book for the average man. Volumes upon volumes have been
written to explain and discuss our monetary system. Now we have a work worth all
the rest put together in clearness of exposition and elegance of diction.'

Manchester Guardian (leading article). — ' No common measure of literary accom-
plishment, a lucid, forceful, and pointed style, and a great store of material for apt
and often amusing illustration have lent both grace and charm to a work of quite
exceptional utility.'

Stocks and Shares,

World. — ' " Stocks and Shares " is attracting a lot of notice in the City. It is full
of information for both speculator and investor, and is written with a brightness and
humour that prove the possibility of dealing with the driest of subjects in an attractive
manner.'

Morning Post.—' It is a good book, it is sure of its public, and if the laymen who
read it will only follow Mr. Withers' advice more than one " bucket-shop " will be
closed till further notice.'

Daily News. — ' Should be of the greatest value to investors and all who take an
interest in City matters. ... It is eminently readable, and the description of a
typical flotation, " Hygienic Toothpov/der, Ltd.," is a literary gem.'

London: Smith, Elder & Co., 15 Waterloo Place, S.W.

At all Booksellers and Bookstalls.

Smith, Elder & Co.'s
New Is. Net Series.

1. Deeds that Won the Empire.

Dr. W. H. Fitchett.

2. The Cruise of the "Cachalot" Round the

World after Sperm Whales. Frank T. Buiien.

3. Fights for the Flag. Dr. w. H. Fitchett.

4. The Log of a Sea Waif. Frank T. Bullen.

5. The Gamekeeper at Home. Richard jefferies.

6. A Londoner's Log Book.

Rt. Hon. G. W. E. Russell.

7. The Sowers. H. S. Merriman.

8. JeSS. H. Rider Haggard.

9. Vice Versa. F. Anstey.

10. Woodland, Moor, and Stream. j. A. Owen.

11. The Tale of the Great Mutiny.

Dr. W. H. Fitchett.

12. Sixty Years in the Wilderness. Sir Henry w. Lucy.

13. A Vision of India. Sidney Low.

1 4. The Defence of Plevna. Capt. F. W. von Herbert.
With an Introduction by General Sir JOHN FRENCH, K.C.M.G., K.C.B., etc.

15. The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes.

A. Conan Doyle.

16. Nelson and His Captains. Dr. w. H. Fitchett

17. With Edged Tools. Henry Seton Merriman.
London : SMITH, ELDER & CO., 15 Waterloo Place, S.W.

RETURN TO the circulation desk of any
University of California Library
or to the

NORTHERN REGIONAL LIBRARY FACILITY
Bldg. 400, Richmond Field Station
University of California
Richmond, CA 94804-4698

ALL BOOKS MAY BE RECALLED AFTER 7 DAYS
2-month loans may be renewed by calling

(415)642-6233
1-year loans may be recharged by bringing books

to NRLF
Renewals and recharges may be made 4 days

prior to due date

DUE AS STAMPED BELOW

MAR 21 1989

SENT ON ILL

AU6 t fl t993

U. C.BERKELEY

MAY 2 4 2000

APR 0 5 2005

U H 347
L3A3

BIOLOGY
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UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY

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