VENISON IN HOSPITAL.

Press, Volume LII, Issue 15773, 14 December 1916, Page 10

VENISON IN HOSPITAL.

PATIENTS USE THEIE GAS MASKS

The kindly practice of sending game to tho hospitals after a day's shooting is faithfully observed this year, as it. has been in the two previous autumns whilst the, war went forward (writes Sir Henry Lucy in. the "Sydney Morning Herald"). It is, however, handicapped |by a curious disability. You may, as the proverb says, take a horse to tho water but you cannot make him drink. Similarly you may, by taking thought, provide ciLoicc game for the wounded soldier in hospital. But you cannot make him eat. Housekeepers know of tho curious prejudice domestic servants have against game. Beady enough to nva.il tnemselves of tho opportunity ot' sharing the good things served in the dining-room, all kinds of game arc absolutely safe in tho larder. This is not an individual prejudice met with here and there. It is common to a class owning no blood relationship, living widely apart, under diverse circumstances. It is equally marked in the ease of their fathers, brothers, uncles, and cousins who have joined the army. The monotony of bully beef they do nob tire of. But they turn aside with instinctive aversion from a young partridge or a daintily cooked grouse. A lady acting as matron for a military hospital in Kent tells a delightful story in illustration of this inexplicable prejudice. A noble lord sent from a neighbouring park a haunch of venison for the delectation of the wounded patients. The cook was in despair, knowing trom experience that the men would r.ot touch venison. In this particular case the objection would bo strengthened by the fact that the haunch was approaching the condition approved by the gourmet 'as "'high." Tho matron, also experienced in tho matter, shared the cook's discomfiture. It was a pity to waste a splendid haunch of meat, peculiarly suitable for convalescents. A happy thought struck her. "Cook it," sho said, c *and send it round at dinner without naming the dish. They will think it's mutton, and enjoy it accordingly. Instructions "were obeyed, and the matron visited tho ward at meal time to see how her innoccnt ruse bad. worked. She tound the patients all sitting up in bed., with their gas masks cn. They had evidently noticed what they regarded a s a smoll familiar in tho trenches.