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[Page 8]
and was finding it difficult to get the artery, he swore at me for using the tourniquet. I looked at the Orderly, a wise old soldier, and at that moment our own ward Dr. walked in and took over. In a few minutes all was well. The Medical officers were wonderful, and things like this seldom happened. At times the Drs. were just as worried as we were but were always helpful.
The Ministers and the priests were a great joy to the soldiers. They would play cards, make jokes and one Padre was very popular because of his clever card tricks. They seldom talked religion, but there was always service on Sundays.
We knew when the patients were taking cordite. Very often the M. O. didn't or pretended they didn't. At last we would quietly tell the patients to go easy as they would go to England anyway.
One day Col. Rudolph said he had put an Australian boy in my ward, I hurried along to the ward and saw 34 patients in perfect order and one as though a cyclone had struck. I read the report to see how sick he was. He was a very young Corporal from Queensland. I suggested, before inspection was due that he get up while I made his bed. After some days we became very short of clean shirts and I asked the orderly why. He said the blooming Australian was cold and had several on.
I couldn't believe it. I watched the Corporal and he did look fatter, so I suggested that he take a bath and wear one shirt under his blues. When I walked up the ward to make the usual afternoon cocoa he came towards me, saluted briskly and said "I'm clean and sweet ~ kiss me Sister"
I said "I'll see you in my office'. There was much laughter and it was a great joke in the ward.
Often when a convoy came in and beds were not ready, the patients would go to sleep standing resting against their rifles. It was terribly heartbreaking. We played and joked over very small things.
If we hadn't seen the funny side I'm sure we would have gone mad.
One night I was wakened up by one of the nurses and she asked me to go down the lines with her as she had ordered some [atropine?] and was sure she'd written a dram instead of 10 drops, and she thought
the nurse on duty so dumb she'd give the dosage as written. We went along to see the C. O. on duty but met up with the M. O. and he told us to go back to bed and he would attend to it. We hurried into the ward
next morning in time to hear the Capt. ask the patient how he was -his reply was "I'm alright in myself Sir, but I can't see and I'm itchy all over." He was sent to the Eye Dr. (a very clever one) who sent him in the next convoy to England. We said nothing. The patients we nursed were mostly British, and the personnel Canadian.