TRIBUTE OF A NURSE

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2813, 3 July 1916, Page 3

TRIBUTE OF A NURSE

TOMMY ATKINS: GENTLEMAN

In i recent number of, the "Graphic," Sister . Martin Nicholson writes' an account of "Tommy Atkins" as she found him in France, Belgium, Poland, and Russia' during the first eighteen months of the ,war. After a certain amount of discussion of the admirable qualities of the soldier of each nation, Nurso Nicholson came to the conclusion • that, ns a patient, she liked'tho British "Tommy" best.- I will-quote somo passages of her writing:— .

"Let me state immediately that I am speaking from a nurse's point of view only, ;tho woman who gets tho man'and not the soldier—a man very" often down, and almost out, and always slightly disgruntled. Let us take tho five- gTeat essentials for a patient—endainuice, oourr tesy,. gentleness, cleanliness, and good humour. • - -, .'■• ".'"

" 'Tommy's' endurance,- it will bring him through anything. Grouse! oh, he will grouse; he wouldn't be 'Tommy' it ue'.didn't;.' His grousing is like the almost imperceptible. layer of water on the surface of a great Hock of ice. It makes no difference to the great chunk 1 -' beneath,, though, .only - let the great warmth of kindness, and help, and cheerfulness, shine full upon- it, and agony, pain, endurance, and.grousing will melt into one vast sea of gratitude. Just one example at the clearing station.where I work, somewhere in France. 'A soldier staggered into the great hall 'with his arms about his pal. They had both been wounded early that morning, and ■; ait night, had bumped and jolted their way down in the ambulance to this spot. Nothing would make him nfleaso hisvhold, of the boy in his arms—notning. Motion. . less he had supported hitai, saying no word, making no sign. He had staggered across the courtyaijd, snarling at the orderlies who offered; help. Up he came to me,' his face dead; white beneath the grime. 'Take my pal; nurso, badly wounded—don't bother—lctts--worse than me,' saluted, and fell at my feet dead. Something had 6lipped during the rough journey, and rather than move his pal, who lay asleep in his arims, he had sat with his own life's blood flowing,from him—had gathered- the last remnant 'of his strength to deliver safely his comrade into my ba-ndi, and had given up his life at my. feet. ' ; "Courtesy! Oh, but lffe is an island of joy when the khaki sea surrounds it. From the most' avte-insp'iririg Ser-geant-Major, down to! the newest recruit,' - : ona is treated with the courtesy. worthy of- the good old days .when it Tanked among the'virtues. : 'Oh, but you; are a nurse; of course, they nro nice to you.' How little" '• understanding is that re--mark. Ask the' old peasant man or woman, in' France, ami see what they say of laughing, joking: 'Tommy,' with his ever-ready helping hand. ..; : "Gentleness! Would! you could' see these great big men with a wounded comrade,, a tired nurse, a child or stray animal. Children, riever understand! n.« iv word of 'Tommy's' French, will flock to him. Women in .the villages hail with joy the advent of-,the British soldier, beoause they?}know with'him -the little ones. are. safe.

"T remembered hqw I, laughed' when, ou going through a village battered by the retreating 'enemy bost, I saw one of my men walking contentedly-with a hen nn a lead. ' 'There wasn't a cat or a dog ''.left-to make friends With,'ho exclaimed, ■ so he had ''.made, a, collar, for; the bird. ''■ and taught her to walk alongside. "Tia 'company,' uurse, ajjcV.aure I'm been after teaching, her not to try to get to the other side.' 'One of my, very shattered men wanted some help, just when.l and- '. my, orderly were up to our eyes in work. 'Send Johnson, nurse, will you?' I. look- ' ed at Johnson, Who bad,been: a navvy,', and wondered why the choice, had fallen "on.him, and if I dare risk it. The boy .saw my hesitation. /He has a fist like a ham, nurse, but he's as "gentle andsweets spoken as my- mother,'" and- I watched, and can testify to it. "Cleanliness.' Well, of course, that's

a mania, and trill leave no doubt where the boys will go to, as the virtue is a neighbour to godliness. I have seen them in two degrees of frost, stripped, in the open air, with a towel round their waists, revelling in water with a thick layer of ice on, top. I have seen thorn, one. lather of soap, take up their buckets, and heave the icy contents over one another. Shave! they will shave at any odd time., I have had them arrive covered in vermin, dying for a drink or (wmothing to eat, but not a thing will they touch until the infested clothes aro off, though for weeks, perhaps months, they have uncomplainingly worn tho awful garments. Covered with mud, and blood, and vermin, they are clean, do you understand. You know when you take off the German's -clothes that you aro likely to be sick, that you are'up against real dirt, -outcome., of a longstanding feud with soap and water. 'Tommy's' dirt is acquired dirt, and one's hands 'do' not. feel' stained therewith— nor are-one's nostrils overpoweringly assailed. Bless him, he. is clean right through, from his weather-beaten face to his boot-beaten feet and his generous heart. .'/'.''■ ■ , "Good humour! Upon my word, I believe it is the great rock upon which our magnificent soldiering is built. And yet'it seems more like a mighty river which never run's dry. Right through the lands of agony,.pain, and privation, the forests, of lunger, thirst, and weariness, it flows. Time after time I have thought to have come to my last ounce of Strength,' but some soldier will say something, another will turn his hand to something which will make the ward ring with laughter, and put newlife into one, and all. And the gTeat •beautv of it is that they are not humorous with intention. They never laugh at ■'their own jokes or tales or actions. _ It seems to me that they' aTO by birthright humorous—a birthricrht I would not bar-■ter-for untold-wealth, let,alone a. mess of pottage. I could write a book' on tho humour of the British soldiers' sayings, and their ways, and I cannot be too thankful that I.have been allowed m this terrible-time of strife to bc_ with our men under conditions and circumstances which'should have nipped every bud of the tree .'of _ good humour, but instead has brought'forth sudfTwonderfnl flowers. "' , "Arithmetically I. am far from brilliant, but I ha-ve learnt to do one sum in the problem of/ life, and make the answer correct each time. Do it with me: 100 per- cent. Endurance, Courtesy, Gentleness; Cleanliness, Gcod-humour. Divide by Honour; multiply by Courage —and you will; pet the finest, grandest total in the world— . ■ " 'Tommy Atkins,' Gentleman.

■■ Mrs. .John Farrell. wife of the manager, of tho "Mother, Goose''- Company, left for Auckland direct last evening. Her two children attend a private school at Cheltenham, Auckland.

Some 210 letters ' containing flowers, itaken on' Anzac Day from the graves of our soldiers buried in Cairo and Alexandria, have been sent to the secretary of the Liverpool Committee, in Christchurch by Miss Rout, secretary of the Volunteer Sisterhood,. for delivery to the next of kin. Flowers were placed on the graves oil the morning of Anzac Day, and a few of these,we'.9 gathered in the evening of the same day by members of the Sisterhood for their relatives in Now Zealand.

: One's hair in winter needs particular and careful attention,' and you must know the.head massage'and the right preparations to nse. Miss Mtlsom has studied the hair in all seasons. She will teach vou -how to wash, burnish, and treat your hair in, your own home. A thorough' course* treatment prescribed for dry, dull hair, for greasy, for grey hair, for falling hair. Everything hygienic and'the latest. Clients instructed how to dress their own hair. Instructions 6iinple and scientific, imparted, with whatever , course chosen,- and at most reasonable prices. All face and skin preparations stocked- Call or write, Miss Milsom, 9i Willis Street (4 doors past "Evening Post"). Telephone BH.—Advt.